Monday, March 30, 2009

Happy Birthday

The birthday girl poses with her grandparents
My little princess turns 8 today. We are having a joint birthday party after Pascha for her and the crocodile hunter (he gets to celebrate turning 10 on Holy Pascha this year!). So since I don't have any party photos for this year, I decided to post some from her birthday last year that I never got around to posting :) Now, I am known for going overboard when it comes to party planning, but since we don't really buy them a gift for their birthday (with 5 sets of aunts and uncles and 2 sets of grandparents, it really is not necessary), I consider the party to be their gift. Not to mention it's just so much fun! Last year she wanted an Alice in Wonderland party, which is a great theme to work with. For invites I found a great picture of the White Rabbit and printed that off my computer, then backed them with a layer of red paper and a layer of gorgeous black and white diamond paper. Party favors were easy, since her birthday the month after Valentines day, I got lots of great heart related things on clearance - lollipops etc, and found really cute flamingo gummies and miniature playing cards from Oriental Trading Company.
The cake was the most fun one I have made in years. I saw something like this years ago at an ICES convention and always hoped someday to recreate it. The entire cake is edible, even the tea cup, mouse and roses are made of gumpaste and fondant.

We don't invite lots of friends, usually it is just family and one friend invited, but since there are 10 cousins it is quite a group. The guests came in their maddest hats, and the birthday girl had her very own Alice dress (completed by a very tired mommy at 2:00 am the morning of the party).

The food was of course traditional tea fare - devonshire cream and scones, raspberries, cucumber and watercress sandwiches, lemonade served in tea cups and cookies that said "Eat Me". And to finish it all off, a round of flamingo croquet (put pink socks over croquet mallets, and set out a few flamingo lawn ornaments among the wickets) on the very wet and dreary lawn (weather is not very cooperative for March birthdays!) So that was a peek at last year. This year - Charlotte's Web!


the girls enjoying their tea time

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That cake is incredible! I know from my sister that the crooked cake is not the easiest thing to pull off. She charges a pretty penny for something like that.

Your birthday party makes me rethink waiting until after Pascha for the boys' celebrations. Our little vegan cake just doesn't compare to that and they're only young for so long.

Can't wait to see Charlotte's Web.

In Christ,
katherine from evlogia

Pres. Kathy said...

The party looks beautiful! The cake is so cool! Have a blessed week.

Anna said...

thanks - the crooked cakes make me a nervous wreck and I could not do it if I had to transport it anywhere! I loved looking at your sister's cakes - I used to be a wedding cake decorator, but these days stick to the family parties and occasional family weddings. As for the celebrating after Pascha thing - sometimes we will celebrate during Lent - I used to do that and keep the fast with the meal - but I always broke the fast for birthday cake. Depending on when Pascha falls, it is usually easier to just celebrate after - and seems more appropriate for a big party. My husband usually takes them to dinner or something on the actual day of their birthday so we still celebrate in a small way then.

Erin said...

Great photos! And Happy Day to the sweet girl! I doesn't seem like 8 years, does it? We've been talking about her this week and sorry we missed sending a greeting yesterday! We're planning a King Arthur party for #8 and the planning is a topic of conversation almost everyday. That's leading to plans for a Wild Things (as in Maurice Sendak) party for #4. But seriously, 6 months ahead might be too early for party planning! We can't help it, I just LOVE kid parties, too.