My son wants a bug themed birthday party, what suggestions might anyone have for party favors/take home items for the children? Also any games or activities would be great. We have a huge backyard and most guests will be boys with lots of energy.
A great take home for the kids would be a Bug House. These can be made quite inexpensively if you have a jig saw. Cut a rectangle 3 x 5 or whatever size you like. Cut two squares the same width as your rectangle. Round the top corners on each square. Drill a hole in the center of one square to put a cork in. This will serve as an entrance to the bug house. Attach the squares to each end of the rectangle. Cut a piece of screen to fit over this frame and staple in place. Stick the cork in the entrance hole...A wonderful cage for collecting bugs...or as with my grandson...he loves to collect lizards in his. He observes for a while and then releases them.
There are no coincidences in this life!
You can always adapt "pin the tail on the donkey" to fit any theme. Maybe pin the bee on the hive? Or pin the spider on the web? If you were able to lay hands on some Halloween decorations, they usually include spiders & webs.
Becki in IN
We are having a bug party for our soon to be 6 year old. Instead of goodie bags we are making some bug jars with tweezers and magnifying glasses for the kids. For games we are planning Pin The Spider On The Web & A Spider Race. Another cute idea is dying rice green to look like grass and putting plastic insects and letting kids search for them with tweezers.
My son is having a bug theme party. I am making a caterpillar cake out of cupcakes and green icing with dyed green coconut. For a craft to keep them occupied we are making caterpillars and ants out of egg cartons that they decorate themselves. I found bug masks, a grasshopper and a butterfly that I am copying and making up to hand out to kids as they enter.
My invitations were made by finding 3D bug stickers and I placed them on blank invitations and wrote:
"Bug out with, (son's name), on his 3rd birthday"
and inside it read
"Bee there:---(date)"
"Fly on over to:---(address)"
"Infestation time:----(time)"
"Buzzzz me at:----(phone number)"
"Thank you for joining my swarm!!!!"
I have a recipe for a punch where you take green sherbert, pour ginger ale on top and add spiders made out of little marshmallows and black licorice whips. For party favors, my son and I are painting rocks as ladybugs for magnets or paper weights, throwing in some plastic bugs, and gummy worms and buggy pencils and stickers. I went to a dollar store and found some big plastic bugs that I am decorating the table with I hope this helps! Have fun!
Use yellow balloons and black construction paper and crepe paper to make bumble bee balloons. Take yellow balloons filled with helium, and attach black string. Next tape the black string to the middle of the balloon in order to make the balloon look more like a bee shape.
How cool, bugs! That's what we are doing this summer for my 7 year old. We found nets at the dollar store and we bought bug catchers at the feed store and got a discount for buying more than 12. We are going to go on a hunt to see who can find the first bug!
One thing the kids are each going to do is get their own clear plastic cup which we will make our own bug gardens. To do that you'll have to make one super size batch of Jello choc pudding about 6 boxes and dispense it out so they can crush Oreo cookies on top and put there gummy worms in there "garden". I also have on order plastic safari hats for the kids to wear while out hunting for bugs! I am putting in the invitations please wear old jeans and tee shirts we will get dirty.
My little guy also is in love with bugs. He turns six this month and we are having a bug themed party. One of the things we are doing is having a scavenger hunt. We found plastic bugs at the $ store. We will scatter the bugs around and the guests will have a card that reads 1 green grasshopper (and show a pic of the grasshopper), 4 black spiders, 2 lady bugs, 3 worms, etc. They will also have their own bug box to collect their fake & real finds with! Love some of the other ideas on here...we should all have fun!
Most party stores, or even dollar stores sell rubber/plastic bugs. Another idea is worm shaped gummies. Maybe you can even play 'pin the stinger on the bee'! LOL
If it's a party for older kids, you can borrow the book Draw Insects by Doug DuBosque and have them learn how to draw the various types of bugs (it's a great book!).
For younger kids (4 to 7), borrow Play and Find Out About Bugs by Janice VanCleave for activity ideas.
Have fun!
I have seen gummey spiders which would be a great party favor. Also check out the site www.familyfun.com they have a party planner that is really neat. Also www.activitiesforkids.com and are very helpful sites.
Extra cute ideas you all! I belong to a fraternal organization and every few years somebody has to put those little realistic ant stickers on our paper plates. We are all trying to flick off those peskie ants! all evening long!
Lota of fun!
We are also having a bug party for my son's 5th birthday. Here are a lot of helpful hints: for the invitation you can cut red circles out of card stock and glue black dots on- then write the details- such as the woman said above. For favors you can give bug lollipops which are edible, stickers, plastic bugs, magnifying glasses and things such as that.
For food there is dirt cake which there are varying types of recipes everywhere. serve any kind of juice and call it bug juice. There are also cds out there called- gross songs that children love. You can also make spider cupcakes- just use licorice for the legs. Decorate the party table with gummy bugs. for healthy snacks you can have grape kabobs which look almost like a caterpillar or watermelon bug salad- cut a rectangle out of the watermelon - take some of the watermelon out and replace with fruit salad. You can mix in some gummy worms if you like- for the face use and orange peel, grapes for the mouth, and bananas for the legs- attach with toothpicks.
During the time that the children are eating I was going to read a bug related book to them. I am also have the party at the insectarium where they will go on a tour and see all the different bugs. Have fun and I hope my ideas help!
Those are really great ideas. For my cousin's birthday's we're doing a bug theme too. One of the games we are going to play is Duck-Duck-Goose, but instead have the kids say Bug-Bug-Sting or something "buggy" like that!
There is a great website for cute bug favors! www.FantasticFavor.com check it out!!!
You can buy live lady bugs online! Its great fun to release them!
I took the great ideas from this site to do a bug party for my two year old last summer. Every one loved it and said it was one of the best birthday parties they had been to!
We did a picnic "bug part" at a nearby park:
"Party favor - Give child Safari hat or antenna when child arrives
- www.birthdayinabox.com/
- www.orientaltrading.com/
Decorate Bug Jar: Clear jar (got from Hobby Lobby) with holes punched and child's name on it Jensen's Bugs Child decorates with bug and butterfly stickers.
Go on a bug hunt - Before the party buy plastic small bugs and hide them in the grass and trees on in your house (get colorful bugs so the children can see them in the grass and save a few in case some children don't find any). The children can go on a 'bug safari" and put them in the Bug Jar they made.
o Prizes: Bugs for boys and butterfly piggy bank for girls
Bug Tattoos put on child's hands
o www.orientaltrading.com/
Food: picnic food (sandwiches and chips) and bug decorated cupcakes
o Order bug cupcakes from my friend, owner of Pink Cake Swirl baked goods. See photos and order here: www.pinkcakeswirl.com/
Bug Garden: Kids get their own clear plastic cup to make 'bug gardens'. To do that you'll have to make one super size batch of jello chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo cookies and gummy worms. We did a layer of pudding on the bottom, then Oreos with the worms, then another layer of pudding.
Bug Trivia Questions (for the parents)
- Download the question sheet I made: www.pinkcakeswirl.com/
- Download the answer sheet: www.pinkcakeswirl.com/
Hope you have a great time!
We bought bug rings and bracelets as favors at www.lucitetreasures.com
