Birthday Celebrations and Inspirations

The following are ideas that we have put to use in our kids' birthday celebrations.  You will see that our birthday parties have evolved over the years ... and probably will continue to.  Enjoy browsing and be sure to send along any ideas you would like to share!

First Birthdays
First birthdays are so very memorable ... the first cake, presents, candles!  Be sure to take lots of snapshots!  We chose characters or themes that were familiar with our toddlers so that they would be excited.  Aaron loved "Clillord" (aka Clifford, the Big Red Dog) ... and memories were born!

Waiting to blow out the #1!

Getting ready to get messy!

A few times I have baked a cake for the adults and then cupcakes for the kids.  It makes serving in cinch!

For Norah's first party we asked everyone to wear red ... in honor of our little Lady Bug.  It's fun for pictures to see the guests all playing along!

That's a lot of red!

For this cake, I chose to use a bundt cake and then used the top of a cupcake as the lady bug.  Along the side are lady bugs piped on:  red dots with black designs; and little red hearts.

For Ashley Mae's first birthday, my mom sketched and watercolored a little cow for her invites.  Simple, but sweet.  Ashley's moo cow was a toy from her Auntie.  It is standing in a field of coconut colored with green food coloring.  I used pretzel sticks as the fence and ran pink wrapping ribbon in and out of the pretzels to finish it off.

Little Le-Le looks unsure :)

For Lydia's first birthday, we were inspired by her Halloween costume.  She looked so cute as a zebra, we needed to see that again!  For that party we requested our guests were black and white (stripes were optional!)

Mama Zebra and her filly!

For Lydia's cake, I chose not to use black icing --- blech!  Instead I went with a little tan for the squiggles.  The zebras are from our Noah's Ark Fischer Price set and the trees were from another Safari play-set.  Again, the zebras are standing in green food colored-coconut.

Almost too cute to cut!

Second Birthdays

Second birthdays are really the last time you get to make all the choices for the party.  Next year they kiddo is going to want to have a say!  So have fun!

For Aaron's second party we celebrated Sesame Street-style.  We had a large #2 on the cake and had a couple cars being driven by Ernie and Elmo cruising the cake.  We also used Sesame Street books and dolls as decorations.

Norah had a flower party for her second birthday.  This was super easy to decorate ... lots and lots of fresh flowers!  I used a bundt cake for this cake and stuck fresh flowers on top and on one side as decorations. 

For wall decorations, I cut large flower petals out of colored paper and large yellow circles and made daisies to tape to the wall.  Very girly!

Ashley chose "Monkey Joe" (aka Curious George) for her second birthday.  We played "Pin the Banana in George's Hand" with the kiddos.  My mom used a projector to make the poster and each banana had one of the little guests' names on it.  We also used this back drop as a photo spot.  I had Ashley stand with each of her guests and then I printed the pictures and sent out the appropriate picture in each thank you note.  Fun and personal!

Say, "Cheese!"

For the cake, I had to get a little creative.  Ashley didn't like cake ... only the ice cream.  So I made an ice cream cake.  I baked the oval cake and when it was cool, I cut it in half horizontally.  I froze each slice individually.  When it was ready to assemble, I let the ice cream sit out and soften for about 20 minutes.  I laid the first layer of cake on the platter, topped with a generous layer of ice cream and topped it off with the second layer of cake.  I stuck it back in the freezer and let it set.  The next day (you have to plan ahead!) I pulled it out and iced it and decorated it.  Then it was back into the freezer until it was time to serve it.  It was a lot of work, but delicious!  And the birthday girl enjoyed it, too!

Ooo, Eeee, Eee, Aah, Aah!

Third Birthdays

By the third party ... kids are wanting to have more of a say.  They also have begun to form some fun interests that you can use to make their celebration all about them!

Aaron was interested ... uhhmmmm ... okay, obsessed with construction trucks.  It was an easy choice for us to do a construction-themed party for him.  All the guests wore plastic construction hats we picked up from the dollar store.  I found a tablecloth from a local party store that was construction themed, too.  I also picked up some "Danger" tape from Home Depot to use in place of streamers ... the perfect touch!

"That was OK, Mom!"

For the cake, I really had fun!  I had to get pretty creative for this bulldozer.  I baked two 9x13 cakes to cut up.  One cake I cut in half and then stacked for the body of the truck.  The other cake I cut into three parts:  one for the bucket in front and two pieces to stack for the cab (with a little cake left over).  I propped the body of the cake on a box wrapped in foil (you can see a little silver peeking through the wheels).  I used foil for the windshield and foil for the hub caps on the tires which were cut out of card-stock.  The "boulders" are marshmallows tossed in cocoa.  The construction worker was from our Fischer Price construction set.  So fun!

Caution:  Construction Zone

For Norah's third party ... we had a fun Princess Party!  Of course the decorations were pink and silver ... and we asked our guests to come dressed-up.  Little Norah wore a velvet outfit ... very girly.

Norah's cake was in the shape of a castle, complete with turrets!  I constructed the cake out of two 8x8 cakes stacked on top of each other.  This would serve as the adults' cake.  For the kids (and the turrets) I baked cup-cakes inside the ice cream cones.  Set the cones on their bottoms in muffin pans and fill them half way with cake batter.  Then bake them as usual.  I used a piping bag to ice a pretty pink swirl on the top of each one.  For the princess on the cake, I overturned a plastic bowl wrapped in foil on the top of the cake and piped icing around the bottom edge and across the top.  Then I inverted an ice cream cone on top (stuck down with icing) and put the princess on top.  For the flags on the battlements :) I wrote little birthday messages on craft paper, cut it out in triangles and then taped them to toothpicks.  Voila!

Presenting ...  Your Royal Highness!

For Ashley's third birthday, she chose a Minnie Mouse party.  My mom and sister had been at Disney Land just one month before so they bought a few things there to help ... some wonderful authentic touches!

For her cake, I bought a star cake pan.  This cake is two stars stacked on top of each other.  I used mini-Oreo cookie halves as the polka-dots.  Simply give them a twist and press the frosting side into the frosting.  The characters were from Nana & Auntie Allie ... they are just stuck down with a dibby-dab of frosting.

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E !!

Then I made ears for all the kids to wear.  I bought some cheapo headbands and cut out a bunch of circles out of this polka-dot craft paper.  With my handy little glue gun, I wrapped a bit of the paper around the back of the headband and glued it in place.

Little Liddy Mouse :)

We did play one game at this party:  "Pin the Bow on the Minnie Mouse".  I cut out one large circle and two smaller circles from some 12x12 craft paper.  (I think I actually made several of these to use as wall decorations, too.)  Then for the "bows" I took sections of streamer paper and made little bows with tape on the back.  

Be sure to get the big kids good and dizzy!

Fourth Birthdays

We have had some lively fourth birthdays ... the kids have been much more involved in the planning stages and sometimes have wanted some challenging things.  Just more opportunities to get creative!

This year, Aaron was transition from construction trucks to monster trucks ... but big and noisy!  And so was the party!  We had good weather which allowed us to be outside  which helped a lot.  We played two games this year.  First we played "Pin the Wheel on the Monster Truck".  My mom sketched monster truck on some poster paper.  We used black paper plates as the wheels.  Super easy and fun!

The flames make it look cool!

Next we took some swings at the dump truck pinata (courtesy of Grandpa).  It was filled with tons of silly stuff ... the kids loved it!

Give it a good whack!

For the cake, I used many of the toys that Aaron enjoyed at the time.  I used Oreo cookies to line the bottom of the cake (just for fun) and then ground up some cookies to make the mud bog that the cars were sitting in.  Using graham crackers and some strategically placed frosting, I built a ramp for the monster truck.  Aaron loved it ... and loved "cleaning" the tires off, too.

Vrroooommm!  Vrrrrooooommm!

Norah's fourth party was easy.  She wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween and seeing as her special day was just a week earlier, we knew we could do Tink then, too.  She received the costume as her birthday gift from her Auntie so it was perfectly natural for her to wear it for the party!  We played "Pin the Wings on Tink" using a poster that my mom sketched for us.  (Norah had that poster hanging in her room for the rest of the year!)

For the cake, I baked two star cakes but left them un-stacked.  I decorated one green with yellow stars and one yellow with green stars.  She had a little Tinkerbell figurine that we used as the decoration, along with good ol' number 4.  I also bought some edible glitter (fairy dust) to sprinkle on top.

Our sweet little fairy!

Ashley chose to celebrate her fourth birthday with Strawberry Shortcake and friends.  She had been "handed over" a sweet little Strawberry Shortcake dress ... and seeing as "it's all about the dress" we decided to base her entire celebration on it! :)  She had been gifted a Strawberry Shortcake play set earlier in the week and so I used that as part of the decorations on her cake.  To add to the strawberry theme, I cut strawberries in half and then notched their tops to make them look like hearts.  I nestled these around the side of the cake.  (Just a side note:  the strawberries juiced a bit and I ended up having to pierce them with toothpicks to hold them on.)  For the strawberry on top, I made several cuts to the strawberry and folded back the "petals" to make a rose.  The leaves are from a celery stalk.  We also served chocolate dipped strawberries on the side.

Strawberry Goodness!

Fifth Birthdays

We have had a lot of fun with our fifth birthdays ... a lot more input from the kids and a lot more planning with them instead of for them.

Aaron chose a pirate theme for this birthday.  We started with a scavenger hunt for the pirate treasure.  I had a series of clues hidden inside and outside of the house.  It was fun to watch the kids running as a pack up and down the stairs looking for the next scroll.

For Aaron's cake, I stacked two oval cakes and iced them with vanilla icing mixed with cocoa.  Not too chocolatey ... more "old map" brown.  I used gold coins (the ones with the chocolate inside) as part of the decorations.  I also piped part of the treasure map on the top of the cake with chocolate genache (melted chocolate chips).

Aaarggghh, Matey!

For another photo backdrop (like we did for Curious George), we made an anchor out of black streamer paper and had each guest stand in front of it with Aaron for a snapshot.  We then included that picture with each thank you note.  A fun keepsake!

Norah had a Fancy Nancy party for her 5th birthday.  And fancy it was!  We requested in the invitation for the guests to come fancy and they did.  We had ties, a tuxedo or two and some fancy hats!

Oooh, Lah, Lah! :)

We also played a relay in the front yard where the kids had to dress up in a variety of girly things:  feather boas, veils, capes, hats and gloves.  Great for pictures!

For Norah's cake, I used the star pan again and stacked two on top of each other.  I used a little purple icing for the piping and then sprinkled the top with purple sprinkles.  The candles were sparkly when lit and the crown on the cake had lights that flashed.  Very fancy!  We also used lots of the girls' pretend jewelry on the table as decorations ... for for extra bling if some came looking a bit boring!

So sparkly!

Sixth Birthdays

The kids had their sixth birthdays planned months in advance!  Now it's mommy's job to try and make it all happen!

Aaron chose a Star Wars theme for his sixth birthday ... which was easy because of all our Star Wars stuff!  We made a Death Star pinata out of a balloon.  We painted it black and drew the details on the outside with silver paint.  We loaded it with loot and let the kids have at it with a plastic light saber!

For decorations, we used many of Aaron's ships, AT-AT, Jedi Starships and Ti-Fighters as table decorations.  For his cake, I cut up two 9x13 cakes into irregular shapes and stacked them on the cake to make it look like an alien terrain on which the characters were battling.  I used toothpicks with some of the figures to help them stand up, but most of them were just stuck in the cake.  The candles on this cake were sparkly which added to the effects!

May the Force be with you, young Jedi.

Norah decided in March that she wanted a Leprechaun party ... what a funny girl!  I was able to buy some of the decorations after St. Patrick's Day and that made it easier in October.  Of course, each guest came wearing green and we painted little shamrocks on their cheeks when they came in the door.

We had a leprechaun hunt in the front yard for the little green figures (I got them from Oriental Trading) and then each guest went home with a little pot of gold, chocolate coins.

Luck o' the Irish to ye!

I made cupcakes for this party and topped each one with a green shamrock and some edible glitter.

Seventh Birthdays

For this year, it was fun to see the kids take a little bit of ownership with their parties.  Norah made her invitations and Aaron helped with the cake.

My Lego Master Aaron naturally chose to have a Lego party.  As he suspected, this also almost guaranteed him a new Lego set or two, or three, or four. :)

We did a fun activity after dinner with the kids.  Before hand, I had put together on ziplock bag for each team of two kids with matching pieces.  We then divided up the kids (one little kid with one big kid) and give them a bag of Legos.  We gave the teams about 10 minutes to construct a ship and develop a name and job for the ship.  At the end of the 10 minutes we interviewed (video-taped) each team as they described their ship.  It was fun and priceless!

Aaron and his cousin's creation

For the cake, I made an enormous Lego piece ... out of cake and cupcakes.  The base of the cake is two 8x8 cakes stacked on top of each other.  I then took the bottoms of four cupcakes and placed them on top like the pegs of a Lego piece.  After icing the cake, Aaron helped me to decorate it by pressing some of his favorite Legos into the cake.  It was fun to see his pride in his creation, too!

Notice the "Lego" on the pegs ... authentic!

Norah just celebrated her seventh birthday ... our house is still decorated! :)  Norah being our gymnast was very excited to have a gymnastic party.  She made her own invitations with clip-art I found on-line.  I made two banners with my mom and sister that she can later use in her room as decorations ... more bang for your buck!

We invited people to join us in their work out clothes or leotard.  Only the little girls came in leos ... I guess that's a good thing! :)  A friend of ours had a gymnastic mat that we put in the family room.  Three different times during the evening, the girls lined up to take turns doing somersaults, carthwheels and handstands.  At one point there was also the Aladdin soundtrack on and then the girls got really into it!  Great entertainment for the adults and the girls were having a ball!

A Perfect 10!

For Norah's gymnastic cake I baked two star cakes and stacked them.  I used a white icing to pipe swirls on the side and the words on top.  For the cake topper, I used black foam board and cut out a sillouette that I had found on-line.  I used an exacto-blade and then sanded down the rough edges.  I then sprayed it with a glitter paint to make it sparkle.  I added two rhinestones to her pony-tail for bling.  The medals to either side of the cake are medals that Norah had received at two meets that she was in.  Definitely a celebration of our Norah!

Eighth Birthdays

We have only had one eighth birthday, but it was fun!  Aaron was playing tackle football at the time (Go Utes!) and he actually had a game scheduled for that day.  We invited our guests to join us at the game and then come back to our house for a tail-gate party!  We set up tables in the garage and loaded them up with food.  We grilled in the driveway and had lots of game-time eats:  chips and queso, potato salad and soda.  I made banners to hang up with his number and different cheers on either side of the garage door. 

Eating in the garage kept the house clean, too! :)

We also moved the gift opening to the front yard.  Aaron sat on the front steps where he could be seen by everyone...

The birthday boy!

And everyone had brought the lawn-chairs, so they were comfy, too!

I love that so many wore red ... Yeah, Utes!

For Aaron's cake, I baked two 9x13 cakes and stacked them on top of each other.  I sprinkled the top with coconut colored with green food coloring and then drew lines over the top to make it look like a football field.  I printed out three pictures of Aaron in his uniform and in action, cut them out and pasted them to cardstock, and taped toothpicks to the back.  I stuck this collage into the cake as a backdrop for the cake.  Finally I used a little football we had gotten somewhere and propped it up with a toothpick so that it faced out.  I loved showcasing my boy ... and bringing such a big smile to his face!

Way to go, #95!

Here's to many more birthday celebrations!

If you have ideas you'd like to share, send them along to morgan.shapshots@yahoo.com.


Thanks!