Spiders are one of the creatures most feared by children and adults alike. However, even though they are scared, children also have a fascination with these eight legged arachnids. Since the ‘real thing’ won’t actually be around (at least, not unless you want one to), why not make spiders the focus of your child’s next birthday party?

With television shows out like Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids, you could make Miss Spider the main character of your party. However, a popular ‘spidery’ character with boys is Spiderman. If you want to have an all around good time, use them both in games and crafts to keep all the guests at the party interested and having fun.

At the beginning of the party, greet the guests with a jar full of gummy bugs or plastic spiders. Have them each guess how many are in the jar. At the end of the party, announce the proud winner of the full jar, which will be the person who guessed the exact or the closest amount.

To continue the fun, you can have an exciting game of “Catch the Fly” outside in your yard. (If you have ever played the game “Pie” in the snow, this idea is very similar.) Make a large ‘web’ on the ground with white paint or chalk. Place four or five large dots in various places on the web for “safe” spots. Now, pick one guest to be the ‘spider’. Everyone else is a fly! Staying on the painted lines of the web, the spider must run after the flies until he or she catches one…but if they are on one of the dots, they are safe. If a fly is on a safe spot and gets tagged by another fly, he or she must move off the safe spot to make room for the new occupant. When the spider catches a fly, that fly becomes the next spider and the game starts over again!

Once the guests are tired from all that running, you can sit down and have fun creating some ‘spidery’ crafts. With round Styrofoam balls, black markers, googly eyes and black pipe cleaners you can make great spiders! Just color the Styrofoam ball black, stick eight pipe cleaners in the side and bend them to resemble legs, and stick on the googly eyes! With black construction paper, white yarn and glue, you can make a web for your spider to live on. Just squeeze the glue onto the paper in a web design and lay yarn over top of it. Let it dry and you have a great looking web!

Food at your party can center around what spiders usually eat – bugs. Gummy bugs can be found and you can make a snack called “ants on a log”: Spread peanut butter on celery sticks. Place raisins on top of the peanut butter. You can follow the book “Miss Spider’s Tea Party” and serve tea, cakes and other goodies, as well.

The “spidery” theme is easy to find in many party outlet stores. You will be able to find plates, cups, napkins, decorations, invitations and thank you notes, mostly with a Spiderman design. If you are interested in focusing more on Miss Spider, check out the Scholastic website at www.scholastic.com for Miss Spider party announcements and invitations. If you have trouble located the paper products you want locally, go to your computer and look at the many quality party stores that are located online. (Tip: when ordering online, leave plenty of time for shipping!)