Bug Party

For my sons first birthday party we went with a bug theme...

The invite said... Our little bug is turning 1!
Fly on over....the date
Bee there...the time
To reserve your exterminator...r.s.v.p
You could also use words like buzz,crawl,slither,etc too!
For the decorations I bought bugs from all over... I wanted lots of variation! I scattered them all over the place.. I also used fly swatters as centerpieces..I found a web site with interesting bug facts.. printed them out and placed them all over the walls.. Interesting facts like " Did you know roaches vote on where the live!" People loved learning these crazy facts!
For the cake I was very inexperienced at baking. I wanted to make his cake but I knew I needed something super easy.. So I made a bug mountain cake I used a rectangular cake pan and a round cake pan to create a mountain.I iced it with chocolate icing then crumbled up 3 different types of chocolate cookies and sprinkled them all over the cake.. Then I arranged the bugs in , around, and walking up the mountain. Of coarse I had bugs and creepy crawlers floating in the punch too!

I also took a poster board and drew a big lady bug with the head cut out.. It said cute as a bug and I had all the guest put their face in the hole and take pictures. Even the parents got involved.I sent the pictures with the thank you cards. People really seemed to appreciate that.
For party favors I bought mason jars..poked holes in the top..filled them with a paper green shred to look like grass..then added bug stickers, bug candy, magnifying glass and lots of other junk... On the out side with sticker letters I wrote things like "Bee crazy" "Lets get buggy" "Give me a buzz" I can't really remember all of them!
Since we didn't have many kids there I did a game for the adults.. It was a questionnaire to see who knew the most about Aidan. Milestones, favorite food,favorite toys etc... The prizes were bug spray!
I really wanted to order live lady bugs and hand them out as party favors..I thought it would be nice for the guest to go home and release them in their yards but they were "out of season" I was upset about this but the party was a blast!
One more thing for some of the special guest (family and very close friends)I made a little picture book with pictures from Aidan's first year! For example There would be a picture of him taking his first steps. I printed up a little box on the bottom that said "I took my first steps on..." Then I took all the pictures to kinkos and shrunk them to about wallet size. I made a copy of his invite as the cover. I assembled little books buy poking 1 hole and putting those little metal t things in to bind it.You know you put it through the hole then bend the tongs outward...People loved these I still have mine! It was a very special keepsake!! Hope this gives you some ideas..