The Birthday Bug
I had originally wanted to do his birthday at Insectropolis, the Bug Museum in Toms River, NJ, but I thought that many people would not come because it was over an hour away. I remembered the great show we had seen Rizzo’s Reptiles do over the summer, so we decided to go with them, which turned out to be wonderful! While the kids waited for Mr. Rizzo to set up, they made bug sticker scenes that I purchased from Oriental Trading. Mr. Rizzo himself did the show and he is quite the character. Not only did he entertain the children for an hour (and keeping the attention of 3 and 4 year olds for an hour is no joke!), but the adults, too. He presented the animals to the children, allowed them to touch and explore them and told them facts that were easy for them to understand. He goofed and joked with the kids and the parents along the way!
The first animal he brought out was a Hissing Cockroach.
Hissing Cockroach
Next - a scorpion. The Destroyer, surprisingly, wanted NOTHING to do with the bugs. He was so hell-bent on a bug party, but seemed freaked out by the bugs. Thankfully, there were only 2 and he warmed up much more to the other creatures.
Scorpion
The tiny crab was a HUGE hit! All the kids loved him.
Mini Crab
The tomato frog was also cool. He hopped around with the kids.
Tomato Frog
As you can see, Mr. Rizzo is a funny guy!
Snake Glasses
The mini turtles were another big hit. These reminded me of the mini pets we see on the streets of Chinatown. I just giggle every time I see the pictures of them.
Mini Turtle
Next up was the big turtle - a box turtle, if I remember correctly.
The Big Turtle
Finally, out came the snakes. CheezWaster was the only volunteer brave enough to stick his hands into the snake bag.
Snake Bag
Finally, was the GIANT snake. It took 4 adults to hold this thing and it was STILL heavy!
The Giant Snake
The kids loved the show and it was very reasonably priced. Many of the parents commented on how they couldn’t believe how long their children sat quietly and attentively.
I was torn on what to do about a cake. In the past, we’ve always had decorated bakery cakes and we wind up taking half of a cake home. So, this year, we went with simple cupcakes. I made CheezWaster a caterpillar for his candles. I used the basic picture from Eric Carle’s The Very HungryCaterpillar. It was simple and quick. I used colored sugar on top of the icing and twizzlers/m&ms for the facial decorations. I made all of the other cupcake different shades of green and inserted cupcake pics that I made from the printable rainbow bug party from Paper & Cake. I also used this printable file to make a banner, a paper chain and bug signs for the party.
Cupcake Caterpillar
I made bug cookies using Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, Wilton tube icing and the Wilton Bug Buddies Cookie Cutters. We also served normal party food such as chips, animal crackers, veggies and fruit. I purchased spider chip bowls on clearance after Halloween.
Bug Cookies
We did a Bug Hunt for the kids. We bought a ton of plastic bugs of all sizes (another great Halloween clearance bargain) and scattered them all over a room. Each child was given a big plastic cup and could take home whatever they “captured”.
The Bug Hunt
The favors for the party consisted of mini eye spy bags that the very awesome Greathouse Women made in bug fabrics, Bug Coloring Book sets from Oriental Trading, and a Battle of Nara Battle Bug that I got on an awesome deal from Woot.com.
