the allen's: June 2012

It’s birthday season at the Allen household again. I admit I always look forward to planning and preparing for the monkeys’ birthday parties. Birthday parties are the perfect excuse for me to get crafty and creative with food and decorations. Even though things get a little crazy, and I get a little stressed on party day, I always insist on taking the party theme to the extreme.

Let’s do a quick run-through of Ty’s previous party themes.

2005 – Bon Voyage! We were leaving on Ty’s first cruise on his first birthday.

2006 – Mexican Fiesta

2007 – Pink Panther Party Who says pink is just for girls?

2008 – Pirate Party

2009 – Puppy Party

2010 – Super Mario Bros.

2011 – Angry Birds

This year Ty went back and forth between several different themes before finally settling on Disney’s Wall-E.

Hmmm… Wall-E. It’s one of Ty’s favorite movies, but how in the world does one design a party around such? Well, if you know anything about the movie, Wall-E is set in the future, and a lot of the movie takes place in outer space. So I decided to use space as the inspiration for the food and decorations. I also chose to stick with shades of yellow and black since that’s what color Wall-E is.

First let me just say that this was the party that almost wasn’t. Turns out June is not an easy time to plan a party. All of Ty’s friends were super busy with all-star baseball games and practices. At the last minute we cancelled, then rescheduled and downsized the party. Next year I’ll try to have his party closer to his actual birthday.

Welcome to the party! Here’s the decorations I put together to welcome the party guests.

Let’s begin the party at the food table. ‘Cause, let’s face it, the kids may be preoccupied with presents and games, but the adults are only concerned with the food! Like I said earlier, I stuck with a yellow and black color scheme, and I kept the space theme in mind when planning the dishes.

Fruit and veggie trays are pretty self-explanatory… If you know nothing about Wall-E, the whole point of the movie was finding signs of vegetation growing on abandoned planet Earth. EVE was the name of Wall-E’s robot-friend.

Craters…Crisp eggroll wrapper cups filled with chicken and crab salads. (Usually I would have made the salads myself, but I took the easy way out and just purchased these at the deli counter.) I was really pleased with how the eggroll wrappers turned out. I cut uncooked wrappers into squares, pressed them into mini muffin tins, sprayed them lightly with cooking spray, and baked them at 350 for about 7 minutes. They turned out beautifully golden brown and crisp. They’re the perfect vehicle for all sorts of fillings, savory or sweet. Be sure to try these for your next party.

My Mini Moon Pies are simply Ritz Cracker and peanut butter sandwiches covered with melted chocolate.

My sweet friend Ellen supplied a yummy black-eyed pea dip for the Space-Chips.

The Meat-eors were meatballs simmered in alfredo sauce. (Yes, I took another shortcut here and used frozen meatballs.)

We also had Flying Sausages (the Tool Man’s homemade smoked venison sausage), Trash Cubes (peanut butter krispie treats), and Rocket Fuel (lemonade).

Looks like Cassie enjoyed her meal!

Now for the cake. Not exactly the cake I had intended to make for Ty. I had every intention of making a replica of Wall-E, but I simply ran out of time. Instead I went with a very artistic (and simpler)interpretation of Wall-E and EVE. I think Ty was pleased with his cake in the end.

In the movie, Wall-E finds one lonely little plant and keeps it in a boot.

Hard to believe, but I didn’t have a single birthday candle in the house. Instead we just lit a match and stuck it in the cake. Hey, it worked!

My sweet little girl went straight for the icing! This monkey loves her sugar.

Presents! I’m hoping this Ranger Rick subscription will encourage Ty to read. I’m afraid he inherited his lack-of-love for reading from his mom and dad. Oh, well, if we survived, so will Ty.