What do you like to do for children’s birthday parties? Do you go all out? Do you invite lots’s of children? Keep things simple and easy? We recently celebrated Greta’s second birthday with family, and I wanted to share some of the details from the big event!

When I was little, I always thought it was so cool when mom’s made cakes for their kid’s parties. I don’t know what it was because the cakes were never that elaborate, or like anything you’d see on Pinterest today, but a homemade cake just seemed extra special to me, and I told myself that when I grew up, I wanted to be one of those moms that made cakes for their kids. Now that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love all the Baskin Robbins cakes that I got every year for my birthday (ice-cream cakes were a tradition in my home), but I just loved homemade cakes.

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I did make most of the food for the party (minus the charcuterie), make sure you keep reading for tips on how to get it all done! It does help that I’m able to work for myself, so I can move around my schedule to accommodate some cake decorating, but planning things out in advance definitely helps! With baby #2 on the way, we will see how long I’m able to keep all this up…

PARTY DETAILS

It is hard sometimes not to get carried away for kid’s birthdays. Especially while they’re young, I have so much fun seeing the excitement on the kids faces when they come down and see the kitchen all decorated for the party. Greta was so excited about everyone coming into town and celebrating, she woke up at 6:30 A.M., and had nothing but PARTY on her mind! She also endlessly entertained herself running up and down the ballon garland. 

While I like putting together fun decor and treats for the kids, I’m trying to avoid making parties too big too soon. I kept the party to just family, instead of inviting a bunch of her friends (although I’m sure she would have loved to see everyone!)

PARTY MENU

Since her birthday was early, I kept the menu to a light lunch. Okay, a cheesy lunch. I don’t know what it is about parties, but I always end up making things that require lots of cheese. The good thing about that though, is that everything pretty much get’s eaten!

Since the party had a tropical theme, and I cored out pineapples for the floral arrangements, I wanted to incorporate all that pineapple into the menu too. I found an easy Pineapple Bacon Bite recipe on Pinterest (you definitely need to try this, it’s so easy and good!), and also put pineapple on some of the pizzas (Hawaiian Pizza).

The truffle popcorn was big hit for the party as well. I love popcorn, and love that it is an easy finger food that everyone enjoys nibbling on. The truffle flavor just makes it a little extra special for a party (and the kids and adults both loved it). I picked this recipe up after our trip this summer to Banff, Canada (You can read all about that trip HERE). We ate at this delicious steakhouse in Calgary the night before we flew back home, and they served us this truffle popcorn as an appetizer! It was so good I asked our waiter how they made it, so I could make it at home too. All you do is pop your popcorn (I did mine the old fashioned way, on the stovetop), and drizzle melted butter mixed with white truffle oil, and season with salt. To die for!

• Charcuterie Board (with Assorted Cheeses and Meats from Trader Joe’s)
• Carmelized Onion Dip (from Trader Joes) with Crackers
• Spinach Artichoke Dip with Chips
• Pineapple Bacon Bites
• Grilled Pizza
• Truffle Pop Corn
• Sweet Tea
• Cucumber Lemon Water
• Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & Vanilla Ice Cream
• Royal Icing Cookies
• Cake Pops

For the treats, I made Greta a seven inch, three tiered cake. I alternated strawberry and chocolate layers. I’m not a huge fan of frosting, and buttercream frosting in general, so I opted to use a cream cheese frosting to put the cake together and for the base frosting layers.

Now I know I should have used buttercream to do the decorations on the cake, but I had so much cream cheese frosting left over after putting the cake together, I just decided to use the cream cheese frosting for the detailed part of the cake as well (I hate to waste!). It did not turn out as good as it would have if I used a buttercream. The cream cheese started to get a little runny, and the ruffles did not want to stay in place (and they did get a little droopy in some areas, but I tried not to picture those ;).

This was only the second cake I have ever decorated, so I’ll get my techniques down eventually! See the first cake I decorated, from Greta’s First Birthday Par-Tee Here.

If you’re wanting to decorate your own cake for a party, don’t make the same mistake as me: use buttercream!

I had some leftover cake from only baking a seven inch round cake, I decided to make some cake pops as well. It was my first time making cake pops and I didn’t use a kit or anything, so they varied a little in size and were not perfect. But they did taste good!

Royal Icing Sugar Cookies are a skill that I’m working to build, so I also had to make some of those for the kids as well! It is a good treat for the kids to munch on while they’re waiting (im)patiently for some cake!

Find the Royal Icing and Sugar Cookie Recipes that I use HERE.

SHIPS TIP:

To keep yourself from having to do too much labor right before the party make as much as you can in advance! I made the cakes and cookies a couple weeks before the party and froze them so they would stay fresh for the party, so all I had to do right before the big day was frost everything. For cakes, wrap them well in press n’ seal wrap and then wrap them again in tinfoil. For the cookies, store them in an airtight tupperware.

I also prepped as much as I could, food wise, before the party as well. Pizza doughs, dips, etc., can all be thrown together and refrigerated a few days before the party, so all you have to do the day of is throw them in the oven. I try to make one thing a night leading up to the party, so I’m not doing too much at once and don’t feel rushed.

FIND ALL THE SERVE-WARE YOU NEED FOR YOUR NEXT PARTY HERE:

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FIND YOUR TROPICAL THEMED PARTY SUPPLIES HERE:

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FIND MY OUTFIT DETAILS HERE:

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SHARING IS CARING!

Enjoyed this post? Make sure you pin it to Pin it to Pinterest and share with your friends who might be planning a tropical themed party of their own. Also, be sure to leave a comment to tell me what you liked about this party, or if you have any tips for pulling of kid’s parties of your own!

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