Peter Rabbit Inspired Easter Party Ideas

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. Read my full disclosure policy here. #SnackPackMixins #CollectiveBias

Do you remember the story of Peter Rabbit, that naughty little bunny who disobeyed his mother, snuck into Mr. McGregor’s garden and very nearly was baked into a pie?

The Beatrix Potter tale is a favorite of kids and adults alike, and it inspired this yummy Easter dessert party I threw for the neighborhood kids.

Do you see Peter there, sneaking around those Snack Pack pudding cup carrots and cabbages, hoping to snag a tasty treat?

Hands off, you sneaky bunny, or Mrs. McGregor will make a pie out of you!

I had such a fun time styling this party, creating the food and tending to the details to bring a beloved book to life.

I started out by making a simple party banner featuring images from the book.

I photocopied some of the books illustrations, cut them out and attached them to some burlap textured paper. I used blue-and-white grosgrain ribbon to accent and string the garland.

I used a paper grass tablecloth (which I also used for my Minecraft party) and shopped the gardening department at my local Walmart to find other items to fit my theme.

These seed starter pallets were perfect to hold a variety of mix-ins for our chocolate and vanilla pudding cups. Since the seed starters are made of peat, I lined them with cupcake liners before adding crushed Oreos, crushed Honey Maid Grahams, Crunch N’ Munch popcorn, candy bird’s eggs and jelly beans, mini Nilla wafers and green candied Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn (which looks a lot like lettuce or cabbage).

Instead of spoons, I used dollhouse mini garden tools for serving the Snack Pack mix-ins! I love the little details and special touches.

Like these cabbages I made by twisting and scrunching together green and pink cupcake liners. (You could also make smaller versions of these coffee filter cabbages.)

The kids (and adults, too!) had so much fun planting their own edible gardens.

Aren’t these pudding cups topped with crushed Oreos and candy carrots just the cutest? (I made the carrots by melting fruit chews candies in the microwave for a few seconds and then shaping them into carrots. I had to add some green food coloring to a yellow candy to make the stems. While these may look “fancy,” it took me only a few minutes work to make a bunch of carrots.)

I served them in peat pots and made the garden markers out of wooden ice cream spoons.

These bags were another fun detail. I found some vintage advertising images online and used them to make iron-on transfers for these little muslin bags. (I’ll be sharing the tutorial and free printable soon.)

I filled the bags with jelly beans, crushed Oreos and crushed graham crackers — perfect “soil” for our garden.

The pudding cups were definitely the star of the dessert table — and the most popular treat, too. (Shh… don’t tell the kids they have the same amount of calcium as an 8-ounce glass of milk. That, combined with the great flavor and the easy-open lids, make these a perfect lunchbox dessert.)

At the party, the kids also enjoyed some spring Oreos with yellow filling and these Lemon Oreos. I turned the lemon ones into flowers by inserting paper straws in the creme filling, between the cookie layers. (Just pinch the straws at the end. And use a piece of foam to hold your cookie pops.)

As you may remember, Peter escapes from Mr. McGregor’s garden, but just barely. His jacket gets snagged on a gooseberry net, but some friendly sparrows help him escape. Later, Mr. McGregor winds up hanging Peter Rabbit’s jacket on a scarecrow to frighten the blackbirds from his garden.

Since birds are part of the tale of Peter Rabbit, I also served some bird’s nest pudding cups.

To make these, I made sleeves for the pudding cups out of scrapbook paper that looked like birch wood. I sprinkled some green coconut (dyed using food coloring) on top of the vanilla pudding, then added a butterscotch haystack cookie and a few colorful candy eggs.

You can get the super-simple haystack cookie recipe here, just omit the nuts when using them as birds’ nests and flatten out the cookies a bit so you can balance the “eggs” on them. (You may have to slightly adjust the amount of butterscotch chips and chow mein noodles you use to make up for the missing nuts.)

I’m really pleased with how this party turned out, and how easy it was to throw together with snacks and supplies I picked up at Walmart.

I hope this inspires you to throw your own Easter party inspired by Peter Rabbit or another favorite children’s book. Here’s a coupon you can use to get 50 cents off your purchase of Super Snack Pack pudding.