The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

With much joy I get to plan a child's birthday twice a year!!  Having a boy and a girl makes it double the fun!  For my son's second birthday we settled on the theme around the book by Eric Carle "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  Months before the party my son requested that story to be read over and over.  We even watched the cartoon made from the story.  So choosing the theme was not difficult! 

I should mention, the daffodils are a tradition that we started from the first birthday of our son.  My husband loves daffodils and now it simultaneously reminds us all of our son's birthday.  Here is what our Birthday Party looked like:    

The sandwiches decorated by veggies and cheese made into butterflies, lady bugs, and beetles.   Three varieties of salsa with different chips. 

The cake was ofcourse-the Caterpillar itself.  Fruit on wood kabob sticks/skewers.  Stained glass Jello which is not photographed.

For activities:  My lovely sister read the story by Eric Carle "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  She read it in English and retold it in Russian.  We have three languages within our family :-)  Russian, Spanish, and English...so it's very interesting at time!  The kids enjoyed the traditional "pin the tail on the donkey" activity: which they loved!  We also did "grow animal capsules" and the kids guessed which animal they had before they fully formed.

I hope this will give you some ideas if you're planning a party around "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story.  May your birthday celebrations bring you joy and happiness!

DIY Layered Ribbon Vintage Flower Hair Clips

One of my simple pleasures in life is making hair clips.  I love making them not only for my daughter, but for myself as well!  This is my first attempt to do a blog on how I make hair clips.  I wanted to create something bigger and different than your ordinary clips that could be purchased at the accessory isle.  I was very happy with these vintage looking flowers that will be perfect for my daughter's pig tails!  These can also be glued to a headband or sewed onto any article of clothes! 

What you'll need:

©      2 Ribbons of choice (mine were about 15inches long and 1.5inches wide)

©      Button of choice

©      Clip of choice or headband

©      Needle

©      Thread to match the ribbons

©      Felt or other material

©      Hot Glue Gun

Directions:

1.  Sew a running stitch on one side of your ribbons.  You can also do this on a sewing machine if you would like. 

2.  Gently pull the thread to make the ribbon form a flower.  Secure both sides to make sure you don't pull the thread completely out.  (Pull only one thread if you used the sewing machine to gather your flower.)

3.  Sew a running or hemming stitch to bind the ends of the ribbon to secure the flower. 

4.  Stack two ribbon flowers together and attach the button of choice using the needle and thread.  Dont' worry if it doesn't look neat, it will be covered up :)  If the button appears too small and is falling through the center of the layered ribbons; simply tighten up the ribbons by pulling on the thread. 

5.  Cut a circle out of the felt/material big enough to cover the back of the flower.  Using the hot glue gun, glue the cut out felt circle to the back of the flower. 

6.  Use a strip of felt, ribbon, or any material to secure the clip onto the flower.  The clip can also be completely lined with ribbon to hide the metal clip. 

I am forever thankful for having a little girl!!