Stamp Camp: Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

My son Connor turns one on Thursday and we gathered today to celebrate a few days early so all the grandparents could be there. The book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle has been a staple in our household. The colorful illustrations and interactive pages delight Molly and Connor. But actually the book is a great metaphor for Connor and therefore made a very fitting party theme. He IS a hungry baby boy who over the last few months has really blossomed into a very special boy. As he gets older, he becomes more and more of a person with a personality, likes and dislikes, and become an integral part of our family. Today was an emotional day for me - turning one is a milestone. A baby becomes a toddler and never goes back to a baby again! Here is a look at all the Hungry Caterpillar party details.

I found Hungry Caterpillar printables on Etsy from Ven's Paperie. After you purchase, they personalize a host of files for you with the desired name/age and then email you with a link. They're yours to download, print and use for crafting! A welcome sign, happy birthday sign, cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, food tents, toothpick flags, pennant flag banner, happy birthday banner, party favor sign, thank you notes, and so much more was included.

I printed the letters and created the banners, hung them using twine from The Twinery. I purchased paper fans from Oriental Trading Company.

I also found a Hungry Caterpillar Hat and Bib on Etsy. I ordered the bib from Monkey Pants and hat from Dainty Couture.

I set up a kids table for my three-year old daughter Molly and her friends Parker, Griffin and Russ. Their mother's are good friends of mine and have been very instrumental this past year in Connor's life. At the kids table, I hung paper pom-poms by Spritz available at Target.

I cheated on these party hats (I didn't make them from scratch this time, buying them is so much faster!) I bought them from Target and then added the "Connor's 1st Birthday" stamp by PSA Essentials. (I used the gabby personalized stamp and had it personalized for my occasion!)

The coloring pages were great because they kept the kids entertained while they were waiting for their brunch.

I did simple party favors - crayons, bubbles and loli-pops. I stamped "Connor's 1st Birthday" onto 2" inch round stickers.

I found these cute bookmarks on Amazon.com and intended them to be party favors for the adults.

Here's a few more table decorations and this "ONE" sign that we created at home. I bought "O", "N", and "E" from Michael's in the wood section and Mike nailed them in. Then Molly and I painted it blue. It made for a nice centerpiece.

I tried to add some photo personal touches too. For the last 11 months, I have been taking pictures of Connor on the 17th of every month (he was born 5/17/12.) I purchased the stickers on etsy and stuck them on whatever he was wearing and did a photoshoot. It's so fun to see his transformation month to month. I am waiting until Thursday (his actual birthday) to do the month "12."

I also have been working (tirelessly) and Connor's scrapbook. Scrapbooking is exhausting and I've learned that I don't love it as much as digi-scraping or photo books. But I did a huge one for Molly so felt compelled to do it for Connor too. His has 30+ pages of events in his life in here and now that he's 1, I am finished! :) A blog post to follow soon...