A "Buggy Bash" by Traci

My college friend Traci (aka T-MAC) sent me this email last month:

Okay, party genius!  I thought of you this morning as I was trying to nail down a party theme for Pax's 4th (and realized you'd be more rational than a 4 year old, who is full of good ideas, but...)

He wants either... 

a dress-up party (everyone dresses funny, gifts could be simple things for his dress up box - old ties, funny glasses, etc.),

a truck party (have a friend park an excavator in our yard and do truck stuff), or
a bug party (his obsession right now is beetle bugs, digging, building habitats, etc.).

Would you mind telling me if you've seen any good ideas to go with any of those?  Party favors or games?

Whatever you have time for, I'd appreciate!

"Party genius??"  Hardly...

I did try to come up with some ideas to help her brainstorm a fun party.  We both quickly knew what the theme should be.  These were my thoughts.  I underlined those that T ended up using, in addition to some of her own awesome ideas!

I kind of see this being a little passion of Pax's following your blog.  He has his momma's love of nature in him for sure! :-)  There are tons of bug themed-things out there now that it's spring. Oriental Trading would be good and even dollar stores.  You can probably find nets and bug boxes CHEAP!  Lots of good color opportunities here too.  My kids get bugs from the treasure chest at school all the time that would be cute for this kind of party.


Cake: Toy bugs could be easy cupcake toppers!  Butterflies, ladybugs, bees (for girls) and worms, beetles, dragon flies, aunts grasshoppers (for boys).  I also saw an Oreo dirt cake with fake flowers on it with gummy worms that you could cover with bugs!  It was in a plantar too!  Or you could make little dirt cakes like cupcakes with owrms and bugs on them with a fake flower - cute!

Games/Activities: Bug hunt: Like an Easter egg hunt where you hide bright-colored toy bugs around the yard, or a REAL bug hunt - most bugs gets a prize?  Dress-up: Make antenna headbands to wear with pipe cleaners (maybe sparkly for girls), bug color sheets, pin the wings on the bee/butterfly, make wings or stingers to go with antennae? - then they get to dress up like bugs.  Bug art: Get foam shapes of butterflies, ladybugs, or make ants/beetle shapes to glue on hats or paper, pompom caterpillars, pipe cleaner spiders...

Favors: Toy bugs, antennae to wear, bug boxes, nets and/or stickers

Decor: You could hang bug shapes around the patio or from ceiling from fishing line, bug shapes as confetti on tables, I bet there are cute decor ideas that I have yet to see. An ant garland or banner would be cute since ants walk in a line.  Maybe I could make and send a banner pattern/stencil for you to cut out and put together!

Food: Snacks could be gummy worms, those Keebler bugs grahams, raisins (ants), etc.  Ants on a log - celery filled with PB and raisins on top!

She flattered me with this reply:  

You just rattled all those ideas off the top of your head??  Those are great! I'm with you, I'm more excited about bugs and dress-up because it's more specific to him.  Thanks SO much - I'm really excited now, I needed a little spark to jog my mind a bit today and you did it!

With that, the party planning began.  Being 3 hours away, I really wanted to contribute something.  I ended up spending a whopping $3 on this:

...and created this! 

Along with a small gift for P, I shipped T the roll of ribbon and all 36 shapes to decorate as she wished.

I wanted post this to share what T-MAC came  up with!  Congrats, Traci, on creating the cutest little "Buggy Bash" for the cutest little bug lover ever!  Blog worthy, no doubt! :) You go, Girl! 

Happy Birthday, Pax!  Wish we could've celebrated with you!

With Him in mind,