I decided on a Miss Spider (by David Kirk) theme for my three year old daughter's birthday. First, I made invitations using pictures of Miss Spider and her Sunny Patch Friends from the Web and creating a grassy border with cute insects around the page. These were folded like a letter, sealed" with a foam bug and hand delivered by the birthday girl herself. I made butterflies by painting coffee filters with water colors and acrylic paint (and of course glitter) with colored clothes pins in the center for their bodies.  The butterflies were finished with pipe cleaner antennae. These were suspended for the center of the party area ceiling at various lengths with fishing wire. The fans in the room helped make them appear to fly.  I bought bug stickers plastic insects and bug houses at the dollar store. The main party room was decorated with pink and key lime green streamers and balloons.  I managed to find Miss Spider themed plates napkins and tablecloths (although these have been discontinued). Large plastic ladybugs and beetles for sitting on the tables.  Each party attendee got their cheek painted with a bug of their choice by a crafty girlfriend of mine upon arrival. Then off to paint and decorate egg carton bugs - Googly eyes pipe cleaner antennae and cutsy pom-pom balls helped finish these off. We then stood in a large circle and formed a web by throwing a large ball of white yarn to the person standing across the circle (while still holding onto a piece). I made this more fun (for the older kids) by asking some insect trivia.  They learned that dragonflies fly up to 50 mph and the mosquito is the most dangerous insect of all! They also had to identify the 3 main parts of an insects body and try to tell what a "exoskeleton" is. For the younger ones I asked what color a ladybug is and how many legs does a spider have. We played pin the spots on Miss Spider from a large poster of Miss spider I had painted. The older kids were blindfolded and spun around for this and the younger ones wanted to be blindfolded too!  Then we went outside to do a bug scavenger hunt.  We had hidden plastic bugs that are rather realistic looking around the yard and placed them along branches and nestled in bushes.  I had two of each insect so the kids had to find their pair.  They got a real kick out of this activity and I think there is still a nasty looking spider out there somewhere!  I spent days making a Miss Spider pinata out of paper mache.  A large balloon was used for body and a smaller round one for her head.  These were paper mached separately for the first three layers then "fused together using a paper towel roll and lots of tape. I added her 4 spikes tuft of hair and nose using cardboard from a cereal box making cones for the spikes and gluing them to the head. The hair piece was cut from the box and curled back and paperclipped. It held the shape and turned out adorable! I paper mached over this two more layers then painted her entire body yellow. The spikes and hair was painted bright red.  The final touches were her blacks spots on her back and painting her blue eyes with long black lashes and red smile. This pinata was hung in the garage.  A Miss Spider cake was also created by me using a 9" round cake pan for her body and a 6" pan for her head.  The kids and adults all loved how cute she turned out.  Cake and Ice cream was finally followed by a water balloon toss in the driveway after opening presents. Each party attendee went home with a bug house (Dollar Store) filled with stickers their bugs from the scavenger hunt gum and their pinata candy.  This was the best party yet!   "