For my son's 1st birthday we had a bug themed party. I found adorable wrapping paper with cartoonish bugs all over, with matching invitations and thank you cards. I used the wrapping paper to make Bug Bubbles as party favors; basically just bought individual bottles of bubbles, taped the bug paper over the label, and wrote "Bug Bubbles" with a silver paint pen (available at art supply stores).  Other party favors were inexpensive sippy cups, which come in assorted colors, on which I used the silver paint pen to write each child's name, as well as "Cameron's 1st Birthday." Also I found bug-themed coloring books and a mini box of crayons for the older kids.    I blew up bags of yellow and red balloons and scattered them all over the house. Each red balloon had dots drawn with black sharpie marker so it would look like a ladybug, and the yellow balloons had black stripes to look like bees.   I found a great recipe in Parents Magazine for bug cupcakes which were a huge hit for the bigger kids and the adults, but a bit too advanced for the 1 year olds. Basically you frost cupcakes with green icing, and then make bugs that sit on top of the "grass." One bug was made out of 5-6 Froot Loops stacked on their side for the body, and a large gumdrop head with licorice whip antennae. I used white and brown decorative icing (in the tube)to make eyeballs.  Ladybugs are made from colored Nilla Wafer cookies. A brown one for the body, and a red one, cut in half and stuck on top of the brown one with icing for the wings. And using white icing I stuck on little ball shaped candy decors for the eyeballs.  Then I piped black dots on the wings with the icing.  There were also butterflies, made of four halved marshmallows, sprinkled with pink and purple sprinkles on the sticky side. I rolled the cupcakes in flower shaped sprinkles while the green icing was still wet (but before putting the bug on). It looked like each bug was in his own green garden. They took a long time to make but turned out wonderfully.   For Cameron's birthday cake, I made a snake consisting of cupcakes lined up in a snaking "S" shape. Each cupcake was decorated with a different pattern of icing. I used an assortment of icing colors, and for the snake's head I used the bug decors to make eyes and antennae. The cupcake snake was arranged on a tray that was covered with green Easter grass. The #1 candle went in the snake's head!  My son wore a king's crown when we sang Happy Birthday. I just got a paper crown from Burger King and painted it with poster paints, then adorned it with glitter paint pens. I also wrote "I'm 1" on the front. I couldn't bear to write King Bug. It seemed too cruel. The kids drank bug juice (watered down fruit punch) and snacked on the adults' food. Since parents were invited, we ordered party trays of cold-cuts, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, and fruit salad to keep everyone happy.   I used a large posterboard to paint a huge, friendly bug and cut out a hole where it's head would be for each child's face to peek through. This colorful bug was adorned with glitter paint and pipe-cleaner and styrofoam-ball antennae that were punched through the top of the posterboard. At the bottom of the posterboard a caption said "Cute as a Bug."  Each child sat on his/her parent's lap while the parent held the poster so their kid's face would show through the hole. We snapped photos of each kid, and sent the picture along with the thank you notes. They were very cute! Even though a party for one year olds isn't really about entertaining the kids with games, the kids just played with all of my son's toys, old and new, and everyone had a great time.