For my son's first birthday party we had a Bug Bash!
I made the invitations with bug rubber stamps. The RSVP was decorated with a dragonfly reminding the guests not to keep "drag -on" their feet and RSVP today. There was also a bee stamped on the outside of the envelope and I asked the question "What's all the buzz about?". All the guests wore a bug name tag, the adult guests were asked to guess the amount of gummy bugs in a jar and the winner took the jar of gummy bugs home. The local bakery made a beautiful cake decorated with bugs and made matching cupcakes. I took my son's mobiles apart and hung the bugs from the ceiling with fish line as well as a few other stuffed bugs and some cardboard bugs from a party store. The children played, Bug Toss, tossing four beanie bugs into a basket, Caterpillar Limbo, the limbo under a pool snoodle to the song, "There ain't no Bugs on Me", and also played, Pin the Stinger on the Bee. My sister made all the posters for the games and also one for Face Painting. All the children could have a bug of their choice painted on their cheek or their hand. The children were given prizes , all bug related such as a butterfly net, bug puzzles, or a magnifying kit, wrapped in bug wrapping paper. The party favors for the children were bug catching buckets with assorted trinkets and for the children under one, their bug buckets contained bug sippy cup holders. The adult party favors were chocolate bugs I made and put into little bags for all to take along. The tables were decorated in plain white tablecloths and we put bug stickers on them to dress it up a bit. I also found tin bugs that held a tea light which I gave as gifts to my helpers. Most of the party supplies and prizes came from the local dollar store, a great place to have an awesome party without a lot of expense. A friend found bug party supplies at a craft store to put the right touch to the theme for the food table. My in-laws brought their soft ice cream machine along for all of us to enjoy on the hot July day. We had a great time and everyone loved the bug theme party. A friend even stamped bug thank you cards for me to send to thank everyone for sharing in our son's first birthday.