Under the Sea Birthday Party!

Today is the big day of my daughter's 3rd birthday party!  I have had so much fun planning this party and getting C's feedback on decorations and food.  Though I will say that getting back from a week's vacation, then right in to Thanksgiving, and then right in to a birthday party all in one week is not my ideal situation!

The attendees made 'jellyfish' with paper bowls and lots of different colored streamers and ribbons.  They also made 'headbands' using foam stickers in under the sea themed shapes.

Here are some of the fun details from the party...

"Big Kid Mermaid Juice" and "Little Mermaid Juice"

Sweet tooth fish (my kids and I love to talk about our 'sweet tooth' issues!):

"Octo-hummus" dip and veggies.  Gotta love an octopus created out of a bell pepper and some strips of bell pepper for legs.  The eyes on the octopus are hard sugar 'eyes' that you can buy at baking or craft stores (typically for cookie decorating).

PB & Jellyfish Seastar sandwiches.  These were so cute and so fast to make.  Nothing makes a kid like a sandwich more than fun shapes!

Lagoon Jello... this was probably the biggest hit of the party!  Who knew blue jello would be so interesting to kids!?

My personal favorite were the 'oyster' cookies.  I searched high and low for cookies that had a 'shell' appearance.  Finally I found some lemon Pepperidge Farm cookies!  I dyed some store bought frosting to a light shade of pink and added a yogurt covered raisin for a 'pearl'.

A mermaid photo opportunity!  I took a big piece of folding cardboard meant for presentations and painted an underwater theme.  Here is my boy mer-man testing it out!

Each attendee received a homemade barrette made with real shells.

As well as a goodie bag filled with an under the sea pearl bracelet, gummy fish and bubbles.

Seashell Pasta Salad.  

The food display:

And the birthday girl, not so sure about the sparkler candle!

Happy birthday to the sweetest little mermaid I know!

Baking a Ombre Cake

Tomorrow is my daughter's 'under the sea' 3rd birthday party.  I wanted the cake to be shades of blue to go with the decor and chose to make four layers, each with a different shade.  Light purple, light blue, mint green and white.

The baked cake color results...

For the frosting, I made a basic buttercream and dyed it to match the cake layers, and also had a bowl of white frosting.

I put on a thin base layer of frosting to the bottom and top layers, and then froze the cakes for a bit before adding the final coats of frosting.

The end result was a multi-colored cake.  Not sure if I loved the frosting colors or my new cake decorating turntable the most.  Why didn't I buy one of those sooner!?

The finished product with a seastar, three light blue candles and a sparkler '3' candle.

The inside of the cake...

Another Birthday!

Today is my daughter's birthday.  She turns a whopping three years old and had very specific requests when it came to her cake.  I am ashamed to admit that her cake came from a mix... I guess going to Maui, planning for her birthday party with her friends, and other plans resulted in mismanaged time.  But this gal got exactly what she wanted... a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, pink sprinkles and a mermaid on top.  A big shout out to Target for my frantic last minute trip to the store and you having a mini mermaid toy on clearance! Score!

She was also specific about dinner.  We had to go to 'sue-see' (sushi) at the place with colored, round plates that move (Blue C Sushi).  Happy birthday sweet C.  We can't wait to celebrate again with you at your party this weekend!

Birthday Love

This year I was fortunate enough to spend my birthday in gorgeous Maui.  Upon our return we had a fantastic dinner made by my mom.  Followed with a chocolate chocolate cake decorated by my two lovely children.  As you can see from the photos below my kids must really think I'm special.

A golf flag, horse, trumpet, clown head, santa, balloons, two people talking on phones (one apparently trampled by the horse), and many candles.  Nothing says love like a body-less clown! 

The cake was very good and my kids were so proud of the cake they helped make and decorate.  Thank you B & C! You're the best!

Birthday Pie!

My son who is obsessed with chocolate and all things covered with frosting threw me for a loop.  Instead of his usual birthday chocolate cake with chocolate frosting request he asked for birthday apple pie!  Say what?  Is this what happens when your 'little' boy turns 5 and suddenly seems so grown up?

This new request wasn't all bad.  It meant I didn't have to blow his past birthday cakes out of the water (airplane theme and train theme) and didn't have to deal with any frosting.

Extra pie dough is your friend.  I always use leftover dough to make patterns for the top of the pie using a cookie cutter or a sharp knife to cut out letters. 

The birthday boy even received his own personal apple pie...

Baked and ready for five candles and a birthday serenade!

The desserts... And yes, I made chocolate brownies as an emergency backup.  My son has never requested pie when given any dessert option.  I wanted something chocolate in case we had a birthday party meltdown.  In the end, it was my daughter who had a meltdown about pie... 

One very happy 5 year old! 

Special Cake for a Special Girl

Tonight we had a family birthday party for my little C.  I wanted something girly, feminine and simple.  I made mini tulle pom poms and made a garland for the big cake, decorated in white frosting.  I then made a pattern of pink pearl balls on the sides of the cake.

C's personal cake was decorated with white frosting as well, with pink balls along the top and bottom edges.

Sometimes even the most simple decoration can make a big, and pretty statement!

Tea for 2 - the Details

Today was C's 2nd birthday party.  The 'Tea for 2' theme was too much fun!  I had so many more ideas, but knew they'd be lost on our little guests.

The Details.....

Each guest took home a little box of animal crackers that were by our front door.

I filled pink, purple and white Glassybabys with roses and baby's breath and placed them throughout the party areas. I also filled a few of my grandma's (C's namesake) with roses as well.

For food I borrowed a few fun ideas from other toddler parties I found on the internet.  Paper cups filled with individual servings of strawberry yogurt:

Tea sandwiches made of cream cheese and jam, soynut butter and jam, soynut butter and banana, all cut in to small triangles or heart shapes (I used a heart cookie cutter).  We also had some mini blueberry muffins, and pinwheel sandwiches for the adults.

And for a buffet tablecloth, I spread a few yards of inexpensive pink fabric across my kitchen counter.

My favorite idea! Fruit salad served in ice cream cones.  Brilliant!  The kids seemed to enjoy biting the fruit off of the cone and then eating the cone too! This also helped avoid the mess of fruit rolling all over each person's plate. I plan to do this for an adult party soon...maybe our summer pool party?

Dessert was vanilla cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream frosting, topped with shiny sprinkles.

Great Grandma C's teacup and saucer filled with roses.

A banner for some added decoration.

As well as pink balloons and poms that I made out of varying shades of pink tulle.

Another fun food idea for toddlers... a cereal bar!  I found these great containers for only $4 at Ikea and used a scoop for serving the cereal on to plates.

Each guest received a teacup and saucer and a personalized spoon.

The food spread.  Drinks for the kids was milk (you could do a pitcher of pink milk for older kids and decorate rims of glasses with pink sugar).  Drinks for adults was pink champagne!

We put a big sheet of butcher paper on our table so the kids could color or create fun tiaras with stickers.

The birthday girl wearing her crown and blowing out the candles.

What a great day and a fun event.  Now its time to sit back and relax, and start thinking about B's 5th birthday party in a few months!