Leighton's Birthday Party

On Sunday we had Leighton's birthday party at Michaels.  You all know just how much Leighton loves arts and crafts, so it was a great place to celebrate his 5th birthday with his friends.  We had toyed with the idea of a party at home since we have the big yard and bouncy castle, but I was nervous we'd end up with rain and everyone inside, so we took the safe bet and booked a location instead. 

With the help of the managers at the store, I chose 2 crafts for the kids to do (bird houses and picture frames).  All I had to do was purchase the supplies and bring them the day of the party and the party leader took control of organizing and explaining the activities.  That meant I could spend the party taking photos, chatting with our guests, and helping Leighton & Riley.  It was fantastic all around and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.

And look!  I stole some pictures from my Mom's camera, too!!  Well, I didn't steal them really.  She gave them to me :)

One of the nice things about the Michaels party was that they didn't have any rules about food, so I was able to make my own cake (lots of places require a commercially-prepared cake for legal reasons) and we could bring whatever food for the guests that we wanted (many places provide pizza but not much else and/or the extended menu is way overpriced).  We got pizzas from Costco (brought 8 to the party ... brought 4.5 home ... guess what we ate for dinner and lunch for a few days???!!!) and brought some chips and lots of fresh fruit.

Now, let's start this segment on the cake with a few disclaimers.
1. I have never taken a cake decorating class (I know, I have mentioned this in previous posts).
2. I like to think I can make cakes I likely shouldn't attempt.
3. I have never taken a cake decorating class (Just making sure you are paying attention).
4. I live in Houston.  It's hot and humid here.  Not all cake decorating materials behave consistently (or well) under these conditions.
5. I am stubborn.  Well, the jury (aka my Mom and Roy) decided last night I am not stubborn.  That's too negative, apparently.  They didn't decorate me with the 'persistent' label that was being discussed either, however.  So, you can decide what to call me after you read the following and see the pictures.  Possibly just glutton for punishment will do?!?!

So, the cake.  I knew I wanted to do a fondant covered cake.  My one (apparently fluke) success with making and covering the cake in marshmallow fondant last month turned me into a bit of a dare devil.  I figured I'd go simple (hah!  Note to self: Marshmallow fondant on a 4 layer, 9 inch round cake is not simple for an amateur!) and just do colored fondant stars or dots or something to decorate the cake.  Roy voted stars, and so stars it was.  I had seen some shooting stars cakes that I really liked but didn't have the wires so found these shooting stars cakes with sticks to use as inspiration as well.  I was going with a teal and orange color scheme, as those are Leighton's favorite colors and we weren't doing any other big theme.  So, I was all set.  I got the fondant made in the afternoon on Saturday, and after going back and forth about how much cake to make, I decided on a 4 layer cake with an additional 2 layer cake as back up in case we needed more.  After the kids were asleep, I got to baking.  This part was without incidence.  Leighton had requested a rainbow cake again this year, but I wanted to not do the exact same rainbow cake and instead just did teal, orange, and white).  I used a friend's white layer cake recipe and mixed up the batter, filled the pans, and began the baking of the 6 cakes.  Easy peasy.  I whipped up some buttercream as well.  Again, easy peasy.  No problems. Now it was time for stacking up the layers and rolling out the fondant.  Um, yeah.  About that.  The fondant this time was much, much stiffer.  I proceeded.  I muscled my way around the rolling pin and got a piece big enough to cover the cake rolled out.  I tried to lift it.  Rip.  Tear.  Mess.  Not to worry, you can put this back into a ball and try again.  Guess what?  Rip.  Tear.  Mess.  Hmmmm .... I decided it was too dry.  I melted some more marshmallows and kneaded them in.  Roy said it sounded better (thanks, dear!).  Mom said it looked way better and easier to roll.  My Dad kept reading and saved his critiques & commentary for later!  As I lifted this time, guess what?  You got it.  Rip.  Tear.  Mess.  I calmly made it into a ball once more.  Kneaded in a little more marshmallows and began to roll.  I could tell there were doubters in the crowd.  I think it was close to 10pm by this time.  Riley was due to start her multiple night wakings any minute.  I pressed on.  (Stubborn?  Persistent?  Glutton for Punishment?)  I rolled some more (I have bruises on my wrists to prove it!).  I lifted carefully.  I got it over the cake.  Rip.  Tear.  I DON'T CARE!  Onto the cake this one went!  I didn't have it perfectly centered so it was too short on one side.  There was a large split right down the middle on the top (this is when my Dad wanders in and asks what the rip in top is for and if we knew it was there.  And he was serious!).  And the sides were ripping and dropping off in chunks.  I tried to smooth what I could and patch areas that could be patched.  Yes, I do know the whole purpose of fondant is a smooth finish.  Hah!  At this point, I wasn't feeling overly optimistic, but it was late and we needed this cake.  No way was I buying one in the morning.  My Mom was my faithful assistant squirting on the gel coloring as I kneaded it in to make the orange and teal for the stars.  And she helped with the fondant cutters as I placed the stars on the cake to cover as many or the rips and tears as I could.  It was starting to appear like one big mess, but miraculously, it somehow came together over the next couple hours.  It wasn't perfect.  But compared to the starting point, it was amazingly impressive!  I only wish I took a photo of the scary sight before the stars went on to prove to you just how bad this could have turned out!  But I was a little too worried at that point to get the camera out.  So, now for your viewing pleasure, here is the cake (and the smaller, quickly slapped together, back-up cake, too).  And he loved it.  That's really all that matters in the end!

Of course, I also felt the need to make some cute goodie bags, too.  I got some arts & crafts themed items and used some inspiration from Pinterest to do bag toppers in the orange/teal/white color scheme.  We don't have a paper cutter or printer at home and I started figuring this out 2 days before the party, so it was all done by hand, but I was pleased with my homemade result!  Leighton was very cute reading the names on the bags and handing them out.

Soon we were on our way out to the car.

And then home to open Leighton's gifts.  Luckily, some friends had brought belated birthday gifts for Riley too because she wanted in on the opening present activity as well!