Bug Party  My son loves the outdoors & bugs, so choosing a bug theme for his 2 year old birthday party was easy.  First, I reserved an outdoor picnic area at the city's Nature Discovery Center where a small house is located that has all sorts of learning materials about bugs, animals and the outdoors.  The house is hidden in trees and sometimes hard to see, so I made signs with green, yellow and purple balloons and crickets on them showing guests the way to the party.  I covered the picnic tables with green plastic and made balloon centerpieces with green, yellow and purple balloons. I also hung a banner with bugs on it that said, "Happy Birthday Kirby." When guest started arriving at the picnic area, I had already set up a planting table that had chocolate mint plants, small terra cotta pots, potting soil, digging tools and water. The children along with their parents then planted the plants.  The children loved playing in the dirt and the parents loved having a plant to leave with. I had wipes handy for cleaning hands and nearby was a water hose.  For alternate activities, guests could also play with bubbles in a bubble tub I had set-up nearby or search for bugs with microscopes I had provided. When everyone was finished with their plants, we all went inside where a bug story was read to them, then we preceded to go upstairs and look the bug stuff. Afterwards, we came back outside and sung "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream.  The cake was decorated to resemble green grass that had plastic bugs crawling all over it.  After cake, I handed out small black boxes with handles that had each child's name printed on them with bug stickers all over the outside. Inside the box was: a sheet of bug stickers, gummy worms in a plastic bag with green, purple & yellow ribbon, and clear glycerin soap that I had made with a bug in the middle.  I wrapped each soap in clear plastic wrap and placed a sticker that had the grasshopper on it and said "Thank you for celebrating my birthday with me!  Love, Kirby"  For thank you notes, I made note cards with my son's name on top and then placed a bug sticker on the bottom right hand corner. The grasshopper appeared on the outside of the envelope, also.  It was a great party and everyone loved the plants and still talks about it.