When your child says he wants an insect themed party for his small get together at the local Birding Center, you can either accept the challenge with excitement or fret about what you’re going to do. I chose to go with the challenge as I don’t see eye to eye with anxiety!
If you’re unsure where to start, just do what I did and I promise you will have a successful, bug inspired party.
How to throw an Insect or Bug themed party.
1. Pick or create bug inspired invitations for your guests
It would have been fun to create our own but with it being the end of the school year I was more than a little swamped with a bunch of kid related commitments at both schools. So yes, I took the easy route out and ordered our bug invites!
2. Plan the menu
You can do something simple like ordering pizza and throwing a few plastic bugs on the same or you can go way out with your creativity. Our menu had some fun stuff like silverfish croissants and caterpillars. I couldn’t help but reserve a dedicated post for my Food Ideas for an Insect/Bug themed party!
3. Don’t forget the cake
I wish I knew how to get fancy with fondant et al on cake but sadly I’m still a kit-kat cake person. (The kids don’t complain though!) To run with the theme, I did my traditional kit-kat cake, crushed chocolate Oreos (removed the cream filling before I did this) and generously covered the top of the cake. (The crushed Oreos were held on with the Nutella frosting.) To bring character to the cake I poked in a few gummy worms. (Eeyeeew!)
4. Get insect themed decor and partyware (or if you’re crafty, make your own decor)
Since the kids were only going to be in the Birding Center hall to eat, we didn’t go all out to decorate. We hung up a bug silhouette birthday banner, had a cute tablecloth and apt bug partyware. Mommy guilt gnawed on me a bit so I made a little bug bowl , using chenille stems, googly eyes and glue dots, to hold the lollipops in. (I found adorable ant counters on clearance while shopping on Oriental Trading‘s site and just stuck them on the lollipops with glue dots.)
5. Plan fun party games and/or activities.
If you want the easy way out, host your child’s insect/bug themed party at your local Nature Center/Birding Center. The kids had fun going on a scavenger hunt through the Park, looking for all sorts of creepy crawlies.
They ended the day by dip-netting for inhabitants from the dragonfly pond.
If you plan to have your party at home, you can play
a. Pin the bug on the flower (Similar to pin the tail on the donkey),
b. Digging for worms (First person to dig out gummy worms from a plate laden with whipped cream, with their nose, wins!)
c. Bug-gy round-up!(Hide plastic bugs around and see which kid gets the most bugs in a given amount of time.) and
d. Cocoon (Divide the kids into two teams or teams of three or four and see which team can wrap one member of their team with toilet paper, from shoulder below.)
e. We’re going on a bug hunt (Hunt out bugs in your backyard. Before the activity, give each guest a pencil and a notepad and have them draw/sketch the bugs they find. If the kids are older, ask them to bring cameras/phones to snap up pictures of what they find.)
6. Thank your guests with the perfect party favors in bug bags!
I’m not a fan of candy so our party favor bags had none whatsoever. We chose to give each child a bug activity set, a magnifying glass and a ladybug water squirt. And yes, we placed them all in our bug bags.
And there you have it, your insect/bug themed party is done…
unique, fun and memorable not just for your birthday baby but also for your guests!
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Those are all such cute ideas. I love the worms in the dirt!
What adorable ideas! Too bad, for now, my gals are freaked out at the sight of a bug. Maybe if the bugs were candy bugs it would make it better?
Bugs creep me out too so I’m not sure if that would help either! 😉
Such cute ideas! I love these theme!! Bugs are interesting and fun!!
My little guys LOVE bugs, so I might actually consider throwing them a bug themed party!
I love the butterfly sandwiches. So easy to do! The gift bags are cute too and would be easy to mix up to other bugs.
What, no chocolate-covered crickets? You can’t have a bug party without those!
Eeeeyeeeew Scott! Did you know there’s a zoo that actually serves up creepy crawly delicacies like chocolate dipped worms. Bleugh!! https://mommysnippets.com/its-all-about-chocolate/
Oh how I wish my daughter was still little enough to do a bug themed party! These are all such awesome ideas, especially the gift bags – so cute!
Oh my heart, that party is just so stinking cute! I have some boys who would be over the moon excited about this one!
The cocoon race is brilliant. I don’t have a reason to throw a bug party, but I think my kids will love it anyway. LOL
I love the cake! What a fun ida. I think I will make one just for fun this summer. I know it would be a hit with my kids.
OMG Marina, this is ADORABLE!!
What a neat theme! I may consider that this year! Love the food items!
I love that you have a place to hold such a party!
My friend throws AMAZING parties! She recently did a carnival party and it was just phenomenal!
We actually have two in our area. That carnival party sounds fun. I would have loved to do something like that if we had a larger backyard.
I can’t wait to use some of these ideas for my sons party. Thanks
The scavenger hunt is a great idea and that worm cake would be a bit hit with any kid!
This looks like a totally awesome party. For the future scientist in the family, this would be absolutely awesome to do for them. I love the decorations and the cake you all choose.
I am loving all your great ideas. My son would have flipped for a party like this when he was younger.
That scavenger hunt sounds especially fun! Bugs are such an awesome kids’ theme for a party!
What a fun summer theme! My sister had a bug themed baby shower. Maybe this would be a good 1st birthday idea!
What a very unique and awesome idea for a kid’s party! I love how you accepted the challenge with excitement and I say you did a magnificent job with it, too 🙂
I had Vegas themed birthday party when I turned 17 which was probably my favorite so far!
I love the idea of a bug hunt. That would be fun and educational! And the cake reminds me of those earthworm and dirt pudding cups we used to make when studying insects.
I think my favorite themed party so far has been a scuba party. The kids actually got to learn to scuba dive. It was pretty neat.
Oh my goodness, I can’t begin to tell you how awesome this is. I love, love, love how you made it so much fun. thanks so much for sharing
The earth and dirt worm cake is sooo cute!~! Love the worms!
What cute ideas! My kids would love to go to a party like this!
What a fun themed party. This would be great for kiddos who like to adventure into nature.
My favorite has to be when my youngest had a Mickey party. I made a lot of the items and really enjoyed it.
Ok. That is adorable. What a wonderful idea.
omg I love the little bug baskets!! So cute!
Very cute, love the wormy kit kat cake
I loved organizing my kids birthday parties when they were younger. Thank you for sharing such great ideas.
I’m loving this, it’s giving me an idea to throw my own.
I also seen some large bug catching nets at the dollar store, and some bug containers. Dollar store is my fav for party stuff. These are very cool ideas. Especially the dirt with worms.
I love all the ideas; so adorable! I can’t wait to use them for my nephew’s next birthday party.
What an awesome idea! Too bad my 8 year old’s birthday already passed, because some of these ideas would have been great for him. He gets a kick out of creepy, crawly things.
That is a really clever idea! And bugs are everywhere so its so much fun too. I think C would like this as much as P!
I like that it’s CUTE and not icky and gross themed LOL The worm and dirt cake is freaking genius though!
I love theme parties; they are so much fun to plan. I guess the best one we have had was a Dr. Seuss party complete with a crazy, gravity defying cake.
What a cute, fun & educational party theme.
What a cute party! I would love to attend a party with bugs like that. 🙂
What an original idea. I am always on the look out for something new for my kids, and this is one. Their birthdays fall during mostly warm weather, but not too hot. This bug theme is going to be a lot of fun, and I sure I can handle all the prep work. Great idea.
Super cute ideas! I really love the worms in dirt.
I love themed parties and used to go all out when my now 16 year old was little. One of our favorite theme was under the sea. We had all the guests decorate frames with seashells and star fish. I made a strawberry cake and painted a colorful seascape and made a giant octopus pinata. It was a blast!
The kids would love to do these. I dont like bugs, so I would have to have someone else throw it. lol
What great ideas for a summer bug party. I love the pin the bug on the flower game the best along with digging for worms in whipped cream. These ideas would make a great Just Because It’s Summer Party.
What fun ideas! I love the cake with the little gummy worms coming out of the dirt! 🙂
My girls have notified me that they want a bug party too. However, they said no spiders!
What a cool party! you did an awesome job! love the cake.
This is so cute! Thanks for sharing at the #WWDParty – Happy Summer Solstice 2014!
Looks like a fun party! The worm cake looks good