Poster

Next on my list of party details, was getting a poster made. I went through many old photos of Jason, trying to decide which one would best show his "eightiness" and may be even a little embarrassing.

Many of these were too cute.


Any one of these would do!
But this one seemed perfect for the poster!


Gotta love the "Q-tip" hair-do, older-style glasses and white pants.
I had Costco blow it up to poster size 20"x 30". At the party, we put a Sharpie next to it for people to sign.


"Stay Cool Dude!"

Third Time

Is the third time really a charm? Not in this case.

I had this great idea....actually it was more than great, it was an AWESOME idea! I wanted to make a Rubik's cube cake for the party. I thought about it and planned it, weeks in advance. --As part of my preparation, I watch a lot of Food Network and TLC, especially the cake challenges. I had to get myself psyched up and ready to take on my own cake challenge. (Ok, I would watch those shows any way, but I really do think it helped.)

Weeks in advance, I baked several square layer cakes, wrapped them in wax paper and tinfoil and secretly put them in the freezer for a later date. --My family was curious about the foil-wrapped squares. When asked about them, I played dumb again.

Next, I had decided that sugar cookies would make perfect "buttons" for the Rubik's cube. I researched and found what I thought would be a good recipe. I needed a cookie that would hold it's shape, as it was baking. Blob buttons wouldn't cut it.

First attempt. The recipe called for vanilla and almond extract. I added the vanilla but didn't have any almond extract on hand, so I added the next best thing.... butter extract. NOT! The cookies tasted like homemade salty play-dough. Yuck! BUT... they did hold they're shape quite nicely.

Second attempt. I had wasted so much time with the first batch, with the second I went the easy route... pre-package, store-bought sugar cookie dough mix. This time they tasted really good, BUT they didn't look so good... blob-like.


Third attempt. I made up a triple batch of the first mentioned recipe. This time I added the almond flavoring as it suggested. It was better, but not that sweet. Oh no, could this be another fail???

I rolled and measured and cut and spatula-ed (nice word, eh?)the little squares onto the cookie sheet. Although the 3 attempts had been spread out throughout two weeks, I was starting to feel exhausted. I thought this cake could be so cool if it all worked out. I crossed my fingers again.

The last cookies came out pretty good. They weren't as sweet as I was used to, but after adding the royal icing, they tasted pretty good.

I also made Pac-man shapes and ghosts. The small Pac-mans went on cupcakes and the others were for snacking on at the party.

**Side note-I think I've figured out how they make those candy buttons. You know those little candies on the paper backing. Using thinned royal icing, you can make your own homemade version. Look what I found when I moved the cooling racks... candy buttons.

The day of the party finally arrived. We had decorated the Stoker's house and I was ready to put together my awesome Rubik's cube cake. I was happy with the shape I was able to get...fairly squared, but I was disappointed with the color. I frosted it with chocolate and then had a black food coloring spray that I thought would make the frosting black. It didn't, only a darker brown.

Next, it was time to put the cookie buttons on. We started puting them on.... they weren't fitting.... they were TOO big! Grrrrr. My awesome Rubik's cube cake was not meant to be.
We pulled off the buttons and set them aside to be eaten as cookies. Big bummer.

Costco... here we come!

Overboard???

When planning a party, I find myself wanting to go ALL OUT.....maybe even a little overboard. This may be the case with this little project. You be the judge.
I purchased King-sized white sheets, second-hand, for about $1 each. I waited until there was no snow on the ground, no rain in the forecast and no one home (except for Abree). Then, I snuck out to the back yard (while she was distracted with a friend) and tacked the sheets up to our fence, using push pins. Next, I got out my paint and went to work.

I splattered, I spattered and drizzled and dotted to my hearts content. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped they would dry before the kids got home from school and Jason got home from work.(They were mostly dry when I folded them and put them away.)
Abree did actually catch me and ask what I was doing. I played dumb, to no avail.

She said, "Are these for dad's 80's surprise party?"

What?! Where did she hear that? Did I spill the beans unconsciously?

I said, "What are you talking about?"

She said, "Oh yeah. Shhhhhh."


Voila!

I used these sheets as a backdrop for 80's couples pictures and for covering couches and tables at the party. What's more 80's than a paint spattered sheet?



Ok, tell me. Overboard or a total 80's necessity?

The Invitation

I haven't been posting much recently because my creative attention has been focused on a SURPRISE... a 40th birthday surprise party to be exact.

Jason will be turning 40, this Saturday (we had his party a week early). I decided months ago that I wanted to throw him a surprise party. The creative juices started flowing and the

"AWESOME 80'S SURPRISE 40TH BIRTHDAY PARTY"

was born.

First up, the invitation...

I cut, cropped and pasted many, MANY multi-colored little squares onto a black background for the Rubik's cube-like invitation.

***WARNING***

The next several posts will contain party details; pre-party preparation, party set-up, and the actual party. Hopefully it will not bore. There were a lot of details and I documented many of them.

Leftovers?

Do you have left over candy canes from Christmas?

I didn't. At least not in the mini variety.

I had to search many an after-Christmas sale to find these. I finally found them at Walgreen's.

I wanted to try making these cute hearts that I'd seen all over the blog-o-sphere.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. De-wrapper the candy canes. Put the candy canes together in twos and bake.

They melt into this cute little heart shape. (Sometimes I had to pinch the ends together to form the point.)

I also made these lollipops with cherry flavored candy canes. Think the pre-schoolers will like them for their Valentine's Day party?

Make it a Happy Valentine's Day

I came across this blog "Let Me Count the Ways" and thought I'd share. It has LOTS of cute, fun, sweet, cheesy, and romantic (and more) ideas for your Valentine. Check it out!