Wall-E Party

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.

The youngest party-goer.  Ty loves babies.

Party favors included Flying Saucers and Milky Way candy bars.

The birthday boy with all his pals.  I think they all had a great time!

Thanks for stopping by today and letting me share with you.  Now it’s time to start working on the next party.  It’s only a month away!

Lindsey

My Little Monkey Is Eight!

Eight years ago this week, my precious little monkey, Ty, was born. 

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been eight years.  The Tool Man and I agree that we can’t fathom what our lives were like before becoming parents.  Children are game-changers, that’s for sure!

Here’s a picture we took the night before Ty was born.  We had no idea what was about to hit us! Ha ha.

And here’s a pic of the proud new dad introducing Ty to his family.

Kids look forward to their birthdays so much.  I really wanted to make sure that Ty had a day that was worthy of all the anticipation, especially since we won’t be having his official birthday party for a couple of weeks.

The first thing I did was blow up dozens of balloons and spread them out on his bedroom floor after he went to sleep the night before his birthday.  That way he would awaken to a sea of colorful fun on his birthday morning!  Little did I know that Ty would find the balloons in the middle of the night.  He came into our bedroom at 4:30 in the morning asking, “Why are there balloons all over my floor?”  Even though it was 4:30 in the morning, I couldn’t help but be tickled that he got a kick out of his little surprise.  (Thankfully, he returned to his bed to finish out the rest of the night.)

Ty’s next treat came at breakfast.

Birthday Pancakes!

I did something similar to this for his seventh birthday, and Ty requested that I do it again this year.

Not wanting anyone to feel left out, I cooked up a little girl pancake for my little girl. (I have to say that this is quite possibly the cutest little face I’ve ever seen…I’m speaking of Lucy, not the pancake, of course.)

I mentioned earlier that Ty’s official party won’t be for a couple of weeks. (I simply had too many cakes on the books to work a party in this week.)  Ty was kind of bummed when I told him this, so I decided to have a mini surprise party for him at Fox’s for lunch.  A couple of friends, a pizza, a cookie cake, and a present or two, and voila! Instant party.

For all of you who might freak out over this next picture, it’s just a glorified pellet gun.

Ty also received a pogo stick for his birthday!  It didn’t take him long at all to get the hang of it.  He’s had the best time bouncing on that thing.

You know I have an awesome cake planned for Ty’s big party, so I took the easy way out on this day and made him a pretty generic cookie cake.

If you can’t tell from this picture, Lucy really enjoyed her piece of cookie cake…or at least she really enjoyed the icing.

I think our little get-together satisfied Ty’s party itch for the time being.

Meanwhile, Ty and I are planning his big birthday party.  After going back and forth on several ideas, he finally settled on a Wall-E theme.  I’ve got some cute ideas for his party, and I can’t wait to share them with y’all.

Last but not least, here’s Ty’s picture at his exact birthday time, 2:11 p.m.

Love my little monkey!

Lindsey

Pretty Princess Party

Hey y’all!  Remember me?  I’m the lady who used to blog here.  Ha ha.  I’m glad to be back with y’all today with a post about a fun party Lucy and I attended this weekend.

Little Miss Meri Hobbs turned the big 5 and celebrated with a pretty princess party.  All the little princesses in attendance had so much fun getting manicures, playing dress-up, and having their hair fixed.

Cassie T. and Abigail were proud of their pretty nails.  And how ‘bout those dresses?!  Several of the girls brought bags of dress-up clothes, so there must have been close to 50 dresses for the girls to choose from.

Some of these girls changed outfits at least a half a dozen times during the course of the party.  My favorite outfit of the day, though, was worn by Miss Kassidee.  Gotta love that hair!

This was one of the few times I actually got to see my cake handiwork being enjoyed.  I think Meri Hobbs loved her cake.

Mrs. Stacy worked hard to have everything looking cute for the party.  She’s a cookie making machine!  Check out these adorable little crown cookies.

All the little princesses enjoyed the delicious party treats.

There’s my favorite little princess in her Cinderella dress.  She loved getting all dressed up and partying with the big girls.

Mmm.  Nothing beats Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla!

Lucy really enjoyed getting pampered at the hair and makeup table.  She chose a glittery, sparkly nail polish.

And she couldn’t wait to have her make up done.  Lucy picked out a pretty shade of purple for her eyes.  (Gotta love it, Car Car.)

All done!  Time for a peek in the mirror.  Gorgeous!

Thanks, Meri Hobbs for hosting such a fun party.  What a fun day!

Lindsey

HOT Rock Blog

Finally, finally!  My wonderful assistant, the Tool Man, was able to help me get the HOT Rock blog up and running.

Hopefully, from now on, I’ll be able to publish all cake related posts over there.  And this blog will be reserved for, well, everything else.  Ha ha!

So don’t forget to head on over and take a look-see.  I’ve only got a small fraction of my cakes uploaded so far, but I’ll be adding more all the time.  And, of course, I’d be honored if you’d follow!

Lindsey

What’s New in the Bakery

I’ve got a little pop quiz for y’all today.

Don’t worry.  It’s an easy one.

Q:  What could possibly be better than moist, delicious cake?

A:  Moist, delicious portable cake!

I’m excited to introduce y’all to the newest member of my bakery menu.

Drumroll, please………

Cake Push Ups!

Aren’t these the cutest?!

How much fun could I have with these?  Imagine the possibilities.  The flavor combinations, the color combinations.  These could be tailored for any occasion: baby, birthday, graduation, holidays, etc. etc. etc.

Who needs a fork?  All you have to do is inhale the goodness!

So, if you’d like to serve some of these little cuties at your next party, just give me a shout.  They are $30 per dozen.

Lindsey