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.

Hot diggity dog…dogs

Bread shaped to look like dogs with hot dogs stuffed in each dog's mouth

*insert collective “awwwww!” here*

Yep, another adorable creation that isn’t mine nor do I have an original source for it. I love when other people play with their food. <3

I can’t quite tell what the face is made out of? Is that raisins maybe? I can’t think of something that would go well with hotdogs but is black/dark colored, so my mind is failing just a little bit.

10 Fun Facts about Slurpees for 7/11 Slurpee Day

fast food, freezer, fun, fun facts, lists, PSA | July 11, 2012 | By

Yep, today is 7/11 and that means another year of free Slurpees from 7-Eleven between 11am-7pm. I don’t have any where I am, boo! To celebrate, though, here are some fun facts about slurpees.

All the flavors of slurpees from 7-eleven gas station convenience stores on National Slurpee Day

  1. In Australia, Slurpee Day is on November 7 because Aussies are crazy and put the date as day/year…and therefore, it’s 7/11.
  2. Canadians purchase more than 30 million drinks every year, with 189k of those being from Winnipeg.
  3. The Piña Colada, Twizzler Strawberry, Tropicana Grape Wild Strawberry and Monster Black flavors are the only slurpees that aren’t kosher-certified.
  4. In 1970, 7-Eleven released a 45 titled "Dance the Slurp" that was given away with Slurpee purchases. The B-side was a comedy bit detailing "strange things" that happen to people who "slurp" at 7-Eleven.
  5. The edible straw was introduced in 2004.
  6. In Australia on September 21, 2011, customers could bring in their own cups (or container, regardless of size and fill it full of Slurpee for only $2.60 (a portion of the price of a Super Slurpee) as long as it would fit through a cutout hole limiting the size; this however did not stop people from receiving up to and above 5 liters of Slurpee for less than the price of a Super Slurpee.
  7. A dual-chambered Slurpee cup was announced for June 2011 release which uses a double straw and switchable valve to allow consumers to drink either of the flavors alone or both flavors simultaneously.
  8. The 7-Eleven chain where Slurpees are sold exclusively (with the exception of a few deals such as with Six Flags) turns 85 this year.
  9. Since it was introduced in 1966, around 6.5 billion slurpees have been sold. That’s enough for everyone in the world to have one.
  10. The scientific name for “brain freeze” is “Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia.”