So much creativity on display at Aanya's second birthday party. Sunitha fills us in on the delightful details: My inspiration was Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar. Although it has been done many times, I just love his books and so does my daughter. So, I started early and did my own invitations, birthday banner, goody bags, bean bag toss game and fruits for the game.

On the party day, guests were welcomed by 2 huge caterpillars in our yard made by bouncy balls. I had the caterpillar cupcake cake and food was pretty much what the caterpillar ate and then some. I made balloons to form a caterpillar and had it hovering over the food. All the fruits and cheese had holes in them just like the book.

For games, we had a bean bag toss game, lacing race (I had bought the Eric Carle lacing cards for my daughter and the kids were in a race to finish them) and we also had "wrap the cocoon", where the kids were supposed to wrap and adult taking turns in a given amount of time. For a craft, we made thumbprint bookmarks using a red stamp pad for the head and different shades of green for the body. Kids and parents alike loved this idea.

For goody bags, I ordered green pencils from Oriental Trading and glued on red and green pom poms at the end to form a caterpillar. I printed out Eric Carle activity books which they could use with their new markers. I had a centerpiece with lollipops and swirly pops that the kids added to their goody bag.

It was an unsually sunny day, so the kids had fun playing out in the yard. All in all it was a fun party to plan and host.

Thanks Sunitha!