Bug Party

Cut card stock into the shape of a jar, and glue pictures of bugs from magazines or clip art. Write a message in “bug speak,” such as, “Our little bug is turning 1! Come and grab the party bug!” Inside the invitation, provide all of the details. You can use bug speak here as well: “Swarming Season” for the date, “Infestation Time” for the party time, “Habitat” for the address, etc.

For the Decorations:
Use buggy colors for the party. Green for grass would be obvious, but you can also use yellow for butterflies and bees, red for ladybugs, and black for ants. You can draw bug eyes on helium balloons for authentic-looking decorations. You could also find some actual bug balloons to tie to the birthday kid’s chair.

Spread little plastic bugs all over the party table. Depending on if you are planning a party for a girl or a boy, you may want to go pure bugs, or something a bit more dainty, like butterflies.


For the Crafts:
For crafts, have the kids draw little bugs on small terra cotta pots and perhaps even plant a small flower in each pot. You can place these on the party table as decorations. You could also have the kids make bug antennae upon their arrival using pipe cleaners and pom poms. They can wear these during the party. Another fun craft would be to have the kids make caterpillars using egg cartons. Cut out two to three humps for each caterpillar, and have the kids glue them together and decorate them using markers, glitter, sequins, google eyes, etc.

For Games and Activities:
Have a bug toss where the kids throw small bean bags into terra cotta flower pots. Have different sizes, and paint different bugs on the pots to keep with the theme.

Play “Pass the Gardening Gloves“, where the kids pass a pair of inexpensive garden gloves to music, maybe a CD of bug sounds. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gloves is out. The last one in wins the gloves!

You can also play “Pin the Spot on the Ladybug” — a version of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”, of course!

Hand out bug jars with ladybug facts on them so the kids learn a few things, and have them catch ladybugs. You can get ladybugs from your garden store or here from Amazon.com, and release them at the party for the kids to catch. This will be a lot of fun. They can take them home and release them later in the day.

For the Menu:
Using a favorite sub sandwich, make a giant caterpillar! Use olives for eyes and carrot sticks for legs.

Serve ants on a log: peanut butter on celery with raisins. If the kids don’t like celery, substitute graham crackers.

Serve raisins as ants and Cheetos as worms.

Make spiders out of peanut butter and/or cream cheese on Ritz crackers with raisin eyes and pretzel stick legs.

Pepperidge Farm butterfly cookies and crackers would be perfect for this party!

Serve a berry salad.

Serve drinks out of a watering can. You can fill it with “bug juice” — lemonade or any other drink you would like to serve.

For the Birthday Cake:
Cooks.com has an awesome dirt cake with worms.

For the Goody Bags:
Send the kids home with their little decorated flower pots or decorated bug jars filled with goodies: little packets of gummy worms, seeds for the flower of your child’s birthday month, a plastic garden shovel, sheets of bug stickers, etc. If your guests are very young, plant the seeds of your child’s birth flower in small flower pots with your child’s name and birth date painted on them, and give the pots to parents. If you don’t want to plant the flowers, just provide the seeds, pots, and a few small sand toys. You could also include bug coloring books with crayons.

For more bug party ideas, or if you are looking for a slightly different theme, check out our Big List of Birthday Party Ideas.