Our hungry little caterpillar turns 4!

I LOVE Summer birthday parties. These are so much easier to deal with than Winter parties that so often have to occur indoors in our climate. 

Mietta celebrated her birthday with a Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. Just 24 hours prior, it was going to be a tea party... but then a change of plans as I didn't think the little boys would cope so well... and besides, we had a hard time finding old teacups and saucers at the local thrift shops. I had always secretly wanted to do a Hungry Caterpillar Party - and I figured this would be my last chance! 

Our cupcakes easily transitioned into a caterpillar cake. Eric Carle made planning the rest of a Caterpillar party menu foolproof - as the whole menu is listed in his book and is very straightforward: apples, oranges, plums, pears, strawberries, watermelon, pizza, salami, cherry pie... easy! 

Once Mietta saw her cake, she was sold on the idea - PHEW!

I made some pizza dough and made pesto and tomato and pepperoni pizzas, bought some salami, swiss cheese, cornichons (for pickles) and a readymade cherry pie. 

 A quick trip to our local International Market helped to fill our Goodie Bags with exotic treats: puffed rice, mango jelly, rice crackers, milk caramels, ginger chews... and of course, Lollypops (from the book).