Watermelon Birthday Cake & Party

Watermelon birthday cake with chocolate chips, ants, and picnic basket 

One of the great things about having so many girls is that it means even more birthdays. More birthdays mean more excuses for parties and cake!

Sometimes that means wondering what the next theme will be, but somehow, a comment is always made or a picture is seen or personality trait is shining….and suddenly, all the pieces start coming together. Before we know it, the cake is planned and an entire party theme has been born.

This party was no different. Instead of being “just a special cake,” it turned into a full fledged “picnic party.” There’s a picnic basket, picket blanket/tablecloth, watermelon trays for chips, sandwiches, bubbles, and watermelon…both of the real and cake varieties.

So the page doesn’t take forever to load, check out the summery flower collage below. As usual, mouse over them to pop up a larger version or see all of them in their full-sized glory in the QuirkyCookery PB album.

Here are some of my favorite moments, stories, and pictures of the day:

My mom is going to hate me for posting this picture. And yes, hate is still considered a “bad word” so I’m going to surely get in trouble for that, too, but she’ll agree as soon as she catches wind that I had the nerve to post it:

Icing mess Licking icing off fingers

Totally worth it. The left is cleverly posed so that her face won’t be shown, but the look of sheer shock and disgust as my sister licks the icing ‘mistake’ of her hands is one I can’t possibly censor with black bars. Golden.

If it makes you feel any better, I do often take the time to edit pictures so that nobody is left looking bad. I mean, like this gem:

Bad pictures of ice cream bubbles and kid

Who would want that posted publicly, right? Oh wait…. ;)

Anywho, I’m this far into a birthday party post and you haven’t even seen the birthday girl yet! This is N from 2009, pre-party:

Dirty kid holding ears

Yes, covered in dirt, holding her ears, and waiting patiently for someone to come and retrieve her for cake time. You haven’t forgotten our tradition, right? Note to self…I have a video of this tucked away that I should upload, too.

Covering eyes for surprise Photobucket

And in case no one believed me that the cakes and party scene are kept a complete secret, there’s an example of a (very ugly) covered doorway to prevent peeking, too.

Child getting ready to blow out candles on watermelon cake

Even she doesn’t want to peek, and she’s sitting at the table! The anticipation is a wonderful thing. <3 Oh, and to the far right of that picture is an example of a themed present, too….watermelon scented body wash and shampoo.

Kid scowling while eating sub sandwiches

^ The “sweet innocent one”….until she gets food. :P

And in case you don’t click through to the rest of the pictures like you should, here’s the inside of the cakes.

 Watermelon cake with red inside and chocolate chip seedsCovered end of watermelon cake with chocolate inside

White/red cake for the chocolate haters and chocolate for the rest of us, mmm. Take note of how realistic she made the rind icing, too….it’s squiggly/wavy/textured all the way down like the lines of a real watermelon.

Every toddler mommy needs a hot dog cutter

barbecue, kids, products, summer | June 22, 2012 | By

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No, I’m not being sarcastic either. Really.

Hot dogs are one of those strange foods that kinda creep me out when it comes to letting kids eat them. Unfortunately, I’m not even talking about nutrition. How many hot dogs you feed your kids is your own business and I‘m not going to judge at all much. ;)

No, actually it’s the slippery, slimy texture and kids’ tendencies to take bites too big that cause my hear to skip a beat or two when I see parents hand over whole dogs to their one year olds. And if I’m watching your kid, you better believe it will always be cut right down the middle length-wise and then sliced across into several rows.

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Which means I need one of these. This is exactly how I cut them and there aren’t any blades either, so even the kids can take care of chopping their hot dogs in one smooth, adorable move.

 
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Come on, it even has a food/water bowl to add in ketchup or other random condiments. Yes, yes, I know it’s a silly, unnecessary unitasker….but for only 6 bucks? You’ll save more than plenty of time by not having to slice every one over the years by yourself, and you won’t have to pull me out of your throat when I jump down it for you not cutting them. :P

7 little monkeys, hanging on a cake

Monkey cake with nutter butters, vanilla wafers, chocolate icing and faces drawn on

Bs last birthday, they did make.
Mama was the baker and the baker said
”One slice, two scoops, ‘til everyone’s fed!”

Okay, so maybe she didn’t, but at least it rhymed, right? And this is another flashback from 2009, so it wasn’t even the last birthday but….oh whatever, it worked, leave me alone. ;)

Birthday cake banana drawingMonkey cake with nutter butters, vanilla wafers, chocolate icing and faces drawn on 

Normally I like just letting the pictures speak for themselves, but as I look back at some of these pictures, I realize that some of the little tidbits that were unique stories back then, aren’t necessarily obvious to the outside eye…and that means I’m way more likely to forget them myself, too.

Monkey cake with nutter butters, vanilla wafers, chocolate icing and faces drawn on - Could be cupcakes instead with bananas, too

Like how each one of those 7 monkeys (signaling her age, of course) has their own personality. No, I’m not joking. Take a closer look. Each one has a different hairstyle. They don’t have identical mouths. And yes, some of them even have different eye colors.

Little girl blowing out candle for birthday cake
And that look? That’s the look of “Are you calling me crazy? A monkey? What?!”

Young child blowing out candles on a monkey birthday cake

But that sly grin as she blows out the candles? Oh she knows how bananas she is! 

One scoop of ice cream with birthday cakeTwo scoops of ice cream with cakes

And a story I’ve already forgotten is why it was important to take identical pictures of the cake….but one with one scoop, and the other with two.

Animal zoo crackers on ice cream icebergs with cake

The animal crackers were a minor detail that tied things together back then, but I wouldn’t have been able to recall without this picture. It was “a zoo” and the animals were escaping. Duh.

And sure, at this point it’s obvious that the “theme” was sort of that “jungle/zoo/crazy” vibe, but chances are, most people wouldn’t notice all the dollar bills in the next pictures had I not pointed it out, right?

Monkey birthday cake table with presents and platesMonkey cake with nutter butters, vanilla wafers, chocolate icing and faces drawn on 

7 year old girl opening birthday presents

Cash is pretty standard as a birthday gift these days, but it can also be pretty boring to open up cards….so we tucked single dollar bills everywhere instead. In the hairties, around the gameboy, under the cap of the body wash, in the thinking cap….

Thinking cap game as birthday presentOpening birthday presents/basket of goodies

Maybe it’s easily forgotten, but at the time, it’s small details like that which can make “yet another party” feel like something special and exciting.

Or maybe it’s the bug audience that does that…

Eating birthday cake with plastic insect bug toys