My oldest son Asher turns 6 at the end of July and is anxious to pick a new theme for this birthday this year. It looks like a “dragon theme” is currently winning. Since most of these pictures never made the blog, I thought it would be fun to do a review of his themed parties over the years.
Year 1 (2005): Puppy Theme
In typical first born fashion, I went overboard for this one and loved every minute of it! The ears, nose, and feet are made from cupcakes. The spots and eyes are courtesy of junior mints and peppermint patties. The mouth, eyelashes, and outlined ears are made from black twizzlers. The tongue is a candied cherry. The collar was made from fruit by the foot, M&M’s and a necco wafer for the tag.
I made a separate “destroyer cake” for Asher’s pleasure. This one I made into a dog bowl by baking a circle cake with a pyrex bowl in the center. I used fondant to cover the cake and handmade the letters and paw prints. The “dog food” is Eddy’s ice cream bites.
Asher loved the ice cream bites and threw the cake on the floor :). I’ve spared you from those pics.
I designed a doggy footprint stencil on the computer, cut it out, and used blue chalk to make footprints leading up our path.
I purchased an old bed skirt from a thrift store and using blue craft paint and my stencil, I made a little paw print trail.
Paw print cookies, puppy chow chex mix, jello jiggler bones, and hot dogs kept the kids happy.
Spinach dip, bean salad, various cheeses, curried chicken salad bone sandwiches, and strawberry spinach salad kept the adults happy!
I purchased dog dishes from various dollar stores and served our food and condiments in these containers.
Doggies bags were given out to each child with various doggie related items.
Year Two (2006): Zoo Theme
This was a quieter party just between family. I made a lion cake using a bowl cake pan. The nose and ears are cupcakes. The eyes and inner ears are marshmallows. The mouth and spots are cake frosting. The pupils and nose are various chocolate pieces. The mane is toasted cocounut.
We took a trip to the zoo and then enjoyed a quiet dinner as a family.
Year 3 (2007): Dinosaur Theme
My older sister Kim is the true cake and party genius in the family. For this party, I asked that her gift to Asher be his Stegosaurus cake. Don’t ask me how she did it. No idea. I was just THRILLED that I didn’t have to make the cake this year! The only thing I do know is that the spikes down his back are cut graham crackers dipped in dyed white chocolate. The orange spots are Vanilla Wafers covered white chocolate.
I made Dino cupccakes by making nest cookies and topping them off with marshmallow dino suckers. The kids loved these!
I always try to rename everything at the party to fit the theme. Notice the Forssil Fries and Herbivore’s Delight below.
I lucked out and found a bunch of safari items at Target’s Dollar Spot. Each child recieved their own vest, hat, and binoculars.
Kids could use their dino foam stickers to decorate their vests and hats.
These are all of Asher’s cousins!
I baked clay fossils and buried them in a baby pool filled with sand for the paleontologists to find.
There were so many cute games and details of this party but I won’t bore you with all of them. Okay, well maybe just one last detail! We had a Dino Egg Hunt (very, very similar to an Easter egg hunt). At the end of the hunt the kids had to go into a tent and steal a big dino egg from this little dinosaur. I had Zeph all dressed up as a dino, sitting in a nest in the tent. It was adorable!
Year 4 (2008): Creepy Crawly Theme
This was by far the easiest cake to make and the easiest party to throw together.
Toys from Target created a nice centerpiece and kept our guests occupied at the table.
I created a butterfly out of balloons for the b-day boy’s chair.
The boys made door hangers (kits purchased from the dollar store) to keep them busy. We then took a trip to a local reptile house.
Year 5 (2009): Sea Creature Birthday
This cake looked like a hot mess until at the last minute I decided to save it with marshmallow fondant. The eyes and tentacles are cupcakes (and yes, I know there should be eight but we just didn’t need that many cupcakes). The head was made from a bowl cake. I placed the cake on bubble wrap to give it a watery appearance. The suckers are smarties, eyes are marshmallows and junior mints, and the swirlies are just blue frosting.
Buckets of sea creature toys served as table arrangements and to keep little ones occupied.
We made sea creatures out of balloons to decorate above the food bar.
Year 6 (2010): Dragon Theme???
Photo davidandkate95 (flickr)
I’ll keep you posted on our birthday theme for this year. Any ideas for me?
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Ok, I completely enjoyed this post. I just love parties. I have boys too so I've done a couple of these themes. Your dog theme was TOO FUNNY! 🙂 And you had so many perfect details. You do such a fabulous job with everything you do.
By the way, for some reason your posts don't show up in my blog reader 🙁 I may have to re enter your blog??
How can we possibly consider ourselves good mothers after reading this post? The bar's too high! I loved each one, Beth!
Step aside, Martha Stewart, there's a new girl in town!!!! Wow! Who says it's harder to do a cute boy party than a girl party?!! Not you! Awesome, awesome, awesome! -Dawn
These are all simply charming, and I've never seen such careful, clever attention to detail.
I'm so glad I stumbled in, and will be back often, for it's so welcoming and enjoyable here, and I'm forever interested in fun things to do with/for the GRANDS.
rachel
Cute post – love the puppy theme!
THANK YOU, Beth, ever so much for blogging about me!
Tootles,
Sandy @ My Shabby Streamside Studio
http://myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.com/
Every kid loves a circus! That is my next theme and I have given myself 6 months to plan it.
Those are such cute ideas! I love them, love them, love them! I may have to refer back to this post for party ideas in the future! Thanks for sharing!
W-o-w!
I'm loving the different cakes. I can't pick a favorite. Maybe the dog bowl??
So clever!
HIRED! I need one adult boy party in November and the worlds cutest 3year old in May.
What fun birthdays! My favorite of my little brother's birthdays was "Down on the Farm." It was a total blast! Lots of yummy food. Projects were a "hay ride" in the back yard, "picking" our own corn, we did an egg hunt (but of course they were "chicken eggs") and I think we had a craft of some sort. Can't seem to remember. He's 18 now. 🙁
Looks like you go the fun-parties-at-home route just as I've always done. Most memorable among ours were the Cowboy party (complete with pony rides, thanks to a good friend), the Snakes party, the Super Bowl party (in which we spray painted XI on the lawn and let the boys play football), and the Helicopter party. The Helicopter cake was the easiest thing in the world–I simply decorated a sheet cake as a helicopter landing pad, then put a toy helicopter on top.
My boys always loved creating treat bags that went along with their party themes. I think those parties are some of their best memories.
Way to go, Mom.
you make the cutest cakes and parties – can I be your kid?
I pitty the women who marries these boys. They are always going to be compared to the parties "my Mom did" 🙂 awwwww, dont you love it? And here I though I was creative. I had Barney, Mickey, Power Rangers, Harry Potter, and even a M&M party (my Fav) and now its staring again with my little one. I love your talent. I never baked the cake, always had it made. I cheat like that.
Okay, I'm just going to have to tell you, you desperately NEED to be a preschool teacher!! I teach preschool and just KNOW that the kiddos would LOVE your creativity. I know you used to be a counselor, but if you consider going back to work you should really think about preschool. You would be awesome!!
My fav moment is Zeph as the dino!! So cute! Can't wait to see what you do for Asher's 6th birthday!
What fabulous cakes! That dragon one should be no problem for you. I love all of your themes.
You are, like, the best mom ever!!!
I think the octopus cake was cute. You do a great job with the details. 🙂
I'm doing a Cinderella themed bday for Natalie in December and one for Michaela Byrd in January (yes, they have both already decided that's what they want, and I don't mind recycling decorations!! 😉 It's pretty hard to plan parties/decorate for them around Christmas, but we make do. 😉
Awesome ideas, Beth! They are so creative and original! I really loved 'How To Train A Dragon' and the cake idea is amazing. Part of me wants to find an excuse to have a party just so I can have that cake, haha.
You are amazing, Beth! These party themes were great and all of the cakes are fantastic. I almost want to make a cake now! : ) {Just a plain GF one with some cream cheese frosting would be fine for me}. The dragon theme sounds like a winner and I'm looking forward to that cake!
All I have to say is………WOW!! Your parties are the best. I think my favorite was his 1st birthday, love the puppies theme. I think I will hire you for my next party. 🙂
If he wants deagons you could go with a knight themem to go with the dragon. All of the boys could paint sheilds that are cut out of cardboard and have swords to slay the dragon. When my son had a knight party my husband was the dragon and all of the boys chased him with their capes, sheilds, and foam swords. It was a fun party and you can also tie in the biblical themes of armor of God and such. Oh there is so much you can do with this one!
holy inspiration batman!
you are amazingly talented, and you deserve major credit! and on a budget, too, even the activities you do with the kids. you rock!
thank you so much for sharing all of your son's birthdays with us…what a treat! And I love the all the ideas. My favorite was the doggie dish with the ice cream Nibs! That was sooo cute!
Your parties are awesome, so clever and creative. I really liked how creative you were with the food at the puppy party.
SO for ideas, since the previous parties all involved animals, how about action figures, or sponge Bob, race cars, trucks, sports…whatever you decide will be great. Your boys are blessed to have you as their Mom!
You are fantastic in the cake making department. Love all the different themes. The puppy dog was my favorite~SO cute!
I like the idea of using a bed skirt for a table cloth, very ingenious!! You should be a party planner, Beth!! 🙂
xoxo
Janie