A “Cookie Monster” Birthday

So much preparation for a little birthday party! The past week has been a blur of icing, frosting, flour, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

At the time that I picked the theme for his party, Ben was into two things. Cookies and Cookie Monster. So I decided to go with “Cookies and Monsters”.

My sister in law, Wendi, made the invitations. At the time, these were the colors I was going with, but as the party evolved, the colors changed. As it turned out, Wendi made a LOT more than just the invitations.

We had the party at My Little Adventures. It is a local kid’s gym that also offers many classes for kids up to age six. We were so happy with the party itself. They really went above and beyond to make the birthday boy, his sister, and every single guest feel special.

Isn’t the shirt cute? Wendi made that, too. I had actually ordered a shirt from an Etsy store back in January, and at the last minute (meaning last Tuesday) I got a email saying she couldn’t complete the order. Oh well, Wendi saved the day and I LOVED it! Here’s the back:

Now, I’ll bet you’d like to see the treats?

Here’s a close up of the cake:

And here’s an even better shot:

The inside was polka dot, but it was cut up and handed out before I could get a good picture.

Can you see the polka dots? I got the idea from this post that I found via Pinterest. I baked up some blue, green, orange, and yellow cake pops in Wendi’s Baby Cake Cake Pop machine (there’s Wendi, saving the day again!) and baked them into   the cake. I used Sweetapolita’s chocolate cake recipe and got so many compliments on it. It’s definitely my new go to chocolate cake recipe! I topped it off with some cake pop eye balls like this cake, also found via Pinterest.

To make things a little less messy for the two-year-olds, I made some monster cupcakes.

So, I’m not kidding. I said before I have been having computer issues, and my lap top just decided to freeze me out of my photos. So I will have to let the computer rest for a little bit and hope I can get in there later to share the cookies and party favors.

Ellie’s 5th Birthday Cakes

So, my husband and I had a little disagreement last night. He can’t understand why I stay up until 2 am making cakes and cupcakes  when it is much easier, and actually a little less expensive to go to a bakery and buy something. He actually could not see the parallel when I asked him why he wants to get up at 4 am to go spend the day on a boat with a fishing rod when I can just go to Whole Foods and get something that has already been cleaned and deboned.

I guess he had a valid point, though, when he asked WHY I needed to make 5 different versions of cakes and cupcakes for Ellie’s birthday.

#1- This was the cake that we had at her party two weeks ago. The theme was Alice in Wonderland.

#2- These were the cupcakes for the party, just in case there wasn’t enough cake (there was).

#3- These were the “Mad Hatter Cake” inspired cookies that were the party favors at her party.

#4- These were the hot pink and yellow cupcakes that the princess Ellie requested to bring into camp the day before her actual birthday (since she would not be there ON her birthday).

This was the cake we had last night to celebrate her ACTUAL birthday. (Sorry about the blurry picture. I forgot to take one before bringing the cake to the table, and I was getting yelled at to cut the cake instead of photographing it!!!)

The second set of cupcakes and the second cake are made from the recipe Glorious Treats posted recently. I loved it. The frosting is my favorite from I am baker (and the rose cake is also inspired by hers).

I don’t care what he thinks, by the way, my peanut is worth every bit of butter, flour, sugar, and vanilla. <3