Kid Birthdays
Andrew will be 4 next week and I'm excited about celebrating his birthday. I started thinking about it, and apparently I must like doing creative stuff because I always find myself running around adding little details to make my guys' birthdays extra special. I remember icing Gregory's cake when he was one- I was so stressed about it, but still took pride in my homemade cake and icing. It was a lesson learned though, to not leave making the icing and then icing the cake in the last hour before the party. It was warm out and it was a little too soft. I thought I had it all under control until then!
The more creative ventures didn't take place until Gregory turned 3. I decided I wanted to hand decorate his cake with characters from his favorite TV show, Peep. I was so proud of myself. A few months later I had decorated all the cookies for my best friend's baby shower. Again, I got out the piping bag and worked really hard, but I enjoyed it so much. People think I'm crazy for doing this, but really- it's the only excuse I get to play with this stuff! I do have a passion for it, so I seize the opportunity. :)
On Gregory's 4th birthday I kept it pretty simple, but more notable was the "pin the Scooby Snack into Scooby's mouth".
Andrew's 1st was pretty simple as well...
When Andrew turned 2 he was very much into a show called "Yo Gabba Gabba". I came across an idea somewhere online for a Plex cake (the yellow robot). It was fun to make, very simple and he totally loved it! It was just 4 layers of circle cake stacked w/ a donut and a cereal straw for the antenna (with a red lollipop for the glowing light on top of the antenna). It definitely was a hit.
When Gregory turned 5 he had a birthday party for friends at school. His birthday is right near Halloween so we did Halloween cupcakes. I went all out, even making my own chocolate cookies to crumb to resemble dirt. I had a few different varieties of Halloween cupcakes; gummy worms coming out of dirt, a cat face with ears cut from the thin chocolate cookies and spiders. My camera wasn't very good then and the only shot of them I got is blurry. :( For his family party I made a basic cake and decorated it with the "Ghostbusters" logo since that was what he was into at the time.
Andrew's 3rd birthday he really wanted a Captain Hook Cake. I was too daunted to take that on and somehow convinced him to let me do a SpongeBob and Patrick cake. I enjoy the challenge of hand-icing a cake, usually I sketch out a picture ahead of time to practice. (That's why I canned the Cap'n Hook idea, I had too hard of a time with it!)
When Gregory turned 6 he had another friend party- this time almost the entire class came (as opposed to the previous year when only FOUR came! -- almost no one RSVP'd and that was super annoying!). We planned out a few games and did Halloween cupcakes again. This year I didn't go all out, just did some spiders and shoved some candy corns into the icing, we made and iced some Halloween cookies as well because we just love them so and they're fun to do! Our favorite creative element we brought to the party was our pinata. Greg and I made it from scratch and it turned out awesome- it was a Black Halloween Cat and it looked so good! For Gregory's family party we did a "Litterbox Cake"- which was super easy and yummy. Most of the adults were too grossed out to try it though since it looked too realistic! It's just cake and cookies crumbled with pudding mixed in and tootsie rolls on top as well as buried within! Definitely gross looking!!
Now with Andrew's 4th birthday quickly approaching, the pressure's on! I already finished the "pin the lightsaber to Darth Vader" activity (actually, all I've finished is Darth Vader himself, lightsabers are next). I got some "Star Wars" cookie cutters and am excited to use them! For his cupcakes at the friend party, it'll just be simple. I may end up shoving a lego candy thing into the icing to make it fit the Star Wars/Batman Lego theme. The cupcake papers are Batman. Greg and I are thinking of making a "Death Star" pinata, we'll have to begin that SOON. And as for the cake, I think I'll just do a regular 9x13 cake and cut the edges into the shape of Boba Fett's (or Jengo Fett's) helmet. I'll ice it to resemble the helmet. I really am looking forward to it all! Even though I get a little stressed out, it's fine because I truly enjoy doing it! :)
The more creative ventures didn't take place until Gregory turned 3. I decided I wanted to hand decorate his cake with characters from his favorite TV show, Peep. I was so proud of myself. A few months later I had decorated all the cookies for my best friend's baby shower. Again, I got out the piping bag and worked really hard, but I enjoyed it so much. People think I'm crazy for doing this, but really- it's the only excuse I get to play with this stuff! I do have a passion for it, so I seize the opportunity. :)
On Gregory's 4th birthday I kept it pretty simple, but more notable was the "pin the Scooby Snack into Scooby's mouth".
Andrew's 1st was pretty simple as well...
When Andrew turned 2 he was very much into a show called "Yo Gabba Gabba". I came across an idea somewhere online for a Plex cake (the yellow robot). It was fun to make, very simple and he totally loved it! It was just 4 layers of circle cake stacked w/ a donut and a cereal straw for the antenna (with a red lollipop for the glowing light on top of the antenna). It definitely was a hit.
When Gregory turned 5 he had a birthday party for friends at school. His birthday is right near Halloween so we did Halloween cupcakes. I went all out, even making my own chocolate cookies to crumb to resemble dirt. I had a few different varieties of Halloween cupcakes; gummy worms coming out of dirt, a cat face with ears cut from the thin chocolate cookies and spiders. My camera wasn't very good then and the only shot of them I got is blurry. :( For his family party I made a basic cake and decorated it with the "Ghostbusters" logo since that was what he was into at the time.
Andrew's 3rd birthday he really wanted a Captain Hook Cake. I was too daunted to take that on and somehow convinced him to let me do a SpongeBob and Patrick cake. I enjoy the challenge of hand-icing a cake, usually I sketch out a picture ahead of time to practice. (That's why I canned the Cap'n Hook idea, I had too hard of a time with it!)
When Gregory turned 6 he had another friend party- this time almost the entire class came (as opposed to the previous year when only FOUR came! -- almost no one RSVP'd and that was super annoying!). We planned out a few games and did Halloween cupcakes again. This year I didn't go all out, just did some spiders and shoved some candy corns into the icing, we made and iced some Halloween cookies as well because we just love them so and they're fun to do! Our favorite creative element we brought to the party was our pinata. Greg and I made it from scratch and it turned out awesome- it was a Black Halloween Cat and it looked so good! For Gregory's family party we did a "Litterbox Cake"- which was super easy and yummy. Most of the adults were too grossed out to try it though since it looked too realistic! It's just cake and cookies crumbled with pudding mixed in and tootsie rolls on top as well as buried within! Definitely gross looking!!
Now with Andrew's 4th birthday quickly approaching, the pressure's on! I already finished the "pin the lightsaber to Darth Vader" activity (actually, all I've finished is Darth Vader himself, lightsabers are next). I got some "Star Wars" cookie cutters and am excited to use them! For his cupcakes at the friend party, it'll just be simple. I may end up shoving a lego candy thing into the icing to make it fit the Star Wars/Batman Lego theme. The cupcake papers are Batman. Greg and I are thinking of making a "Death Star" pinata, we'll have to begin that SOON. And as for the cake, I think I'll just do a regular 9x13 cake and cut the edges into the shape of Boba Fett's (or Jengo Fett's) helmet. I'll ice it to resemble the helmet. I really am looking forward to it all! Even though I get a little stressed out, it's fine because I truly enjoy doing it! :)