Brick House Party

It's been a long time since I've taken time to post, but life, blah blah, you don't care; it's boring. Pregnant again, some more. This time it's a girl. Anywho. I'm back. This summer we were gone for H's birthday and between friends' vacation schedules and other availability I'm having his party a month late. Sooo...I thought I'd finally post about his last birthday.

I had a lot of fun planning a simple Lego-themed party. Pinterest is awash with crazy complex cakes and ideas, but I just don't have the time or patience to work with fondant so the cake I made (following this tutorial) ended up looking really, really sad but the kids thought it was fun. That's what matters, right? RIGHT?!

The Lego Candles really take the cake, right? Punny.

The cupcakes were the Best White Cake {Ever} recipe (and it really is) with simple buttercream frosting, and I made yellow mini-figures using candy melts and these molds, plus pure candy melt bricks out of the second mold in the set. They're silicone so they clean up really easily, which is always a plus for me.

Instead of filling the pinata with candy, I bought the big box of Lego Bricks and filled it with that...which was kind of a disaster when the legos flew everywhere on my patio but, again, the kids loved it and they got them all, so it was fine. It wasn't until the moment right before it busted open, however, that I realized what I'd done by filling it with tiny pieces. Ah well, live and learn.

After gathering their legos with lightning speed and playing outside for a bit, they brought their sweaty selves in for some cake, presents and lego-building with the leftover time. 

The one thing I didn't take a picture of, was the gift bag; it was cheap and easy. Just the way I like it. Instead of buying a bunch of colored handle bags, I busted out my package of 4,000 count brown paper lunch sacks, went through my paper stash and found primary colored card stock (which you could buy and it'd still be cheaper than buying colored bags) and cut a rectangle the same size as the front of the bag and affixed it with glue. Then punch out six to eight 1-or 2-inch circles with a large circle punch like this one, which you can usually find at a craft store with a coupon, and affix them to the front with 3-d foam squares so that they look like the studs on the Lego bricks. Boom, cheapo goody bags. In the bags I put a couple of the candy bricks in a melamine bag and they got to put their pinata haul in it for the rest of the goody. I'm not big on doing a huge gift bag for each person, but it's nice to have the bag for them to put candy or treats in if you're doing a pinata.

My bags were based on this idea...but cheaper ;)

That's really all I did. It doesn't have to be fancy to be fun!

This year Henry has request a Red Velvet Cake with Ice Cream filling for his birthday party. Thank the lord for Pinterest. 

Baby On Board

(redacted for privacy, created by Announcing You)

My Sister-in-law is due with her first baby this spring, so my other sister-in-law and I had a ton of fun putting together a surf themed baby shower for her. With a simple menu of cauliflower hazelnut and chicken bacon kale handpies (made by Heidi in advance and frozen to be baked off that day), salads and, of course, cake we were all well-fed and enjoyed visiting with family and friends while we celebrated Laura and the impending birth of baby D. The chicken-bacon handpies were made with Heidi's bacon bourbon jam, which is ahhhhhmazing, and will be added to my 'to can' queue as it added so much flavor and dimension to a dish that's so simple.

Heidi used fabric to create a rustic bunting and paired with some paper lanterns and a fun tablecloth that she made for another occasion, the decor was simple. A metal surf board-laden VW bus played up the theme, in addition to a pier piling ocean cake and sharky cupcakes. The cake was chocolate with salted caramel cream cheese buttercream, while the cupcakes were a simple vanilla with vanilla buttercream. I used the 'Best. White cake. Ever.' recipe, and it really is amazing. With 5 eggs, 2 sticks of butter, buttermilk and my own vanilla it was rich, dense and delicious. The frosting ended up being pretty sweet and I think I'd do a cream cheese buttercream next time, but I didn't get any complaints!

Washi tape graced the sides of the cupcake tower, and I found a printable on etsy that I used to create the shark fin cupcake toppers. Buttercream dyed to have an ombre effect, topped with a single sandy, surfboard cupcake created a display of caloric decadence. A big green salad and some ginger-limeade rounded out the food. 

No games, but we did have two crafts ;) Message to the parents on midnight diapers, and an ABC book with a letter page decorated by each guest with stickers, drawings or a message.

1:1 Gingerale and Simply Lime, my favorite party punch!

The next morning, I had breakfast with my girls at Tasty n Alder, then stopped in at Blue Star for treats to bring back to the boys. After the drive home from Portland, they made for the perfect Breakfast for Dinner.

Cointreau Creme Brulee for Mama, though I snuck a bite of J's Blueberry Bourbon Basil, it was amazing. I would get it next time; clean, not too sweet and the basil flavor was the prominent note: delicious!