Valeria Out Loud

My daughters have been obsessed with the TLC network’s show, Cake Boss, for the past three years. Everything about it. So much so, that the girls, in 2011, wanted a Cake Boss themed birthday. There was no budging, these girls were adamant. So we took on the challenge!

*Photo above is from last year. On our way to Philadelphia, we surprised the girls with a stop in Hoboken, NJ,.to visit Carlo’s Bakery!

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A Cake Boss Themed Birthday Party
The decor.  With the Cake Boss theme given to me, at first, I was stumped at trying to keep it youthful, feminine and cake related.  For some inspiration, I started going through my stash of party supplies.  Years ago, I had bought some paper tablecloths from Pier 1, that struck me as perfect for the girls’ party.  I always buy things on sale if I like them cause you just never know when you’ll need them! These tablecloths were bright pink, white, and lime green floral; very shabby chic. These tablecloths gave me the color scheme for the party; bright pink and lime green.  To coordinate, I had bought lime green colored tablecloths for the food table, and bright pink matching tableware for lunch, and, lime green for dessert.   To add the cake inspired whimsy, I made two types of garland; one from white doilies and another from multi-colored cupcake liners. The doilies were strung side by side to make a wide, chic garland for above the drink table. Then for the other garland, I strung a few left over doilies along with cupcake liners in a pattern, all different pastel colors and the aluminum ones, too, through the centers to create a ruffled effect. These were strung along the doors and inside the kitchen. Both were so darling.  Then I made paper flowers for the tables. Shaped cupcake liners with my fingers to appear like flower petals.  Some were flattened open, some were crinkled, and some were glued in a folded patter to simulate a flower’s center. Then poked pipe cleaners through the centers, and fashioned them as flowers in glass milk containers scattered around the tables. Super cute!

To add more color, I grabbed bright pink, lime green and white lanterns, and strung them across the branches of the giant pine tree that hangs over part of our patio, where the tables were sitting.   Then placed pink and white latex balloons, along with cupcake and birthday related mylar balloons, scattered all around the yard. It was vibrant and pretty.

The Invitation. Brainstorming invitation ideas is the best part of planning a party, for me. Anyone can go to the store to buy a box of invites, but we like to use our creativity to make something uniquely branded for our children (as a keepsake). My husband and I have collaborated and designed every invitation, and announcement, since our oldest daughter was born. It’s our way of making something special for our child(ren), and it allows us to use our creativity on what we want/how we want.

Since we nailed down the theme by this point, my thoughts for the invitation were to keep it focused on the girls and the theme. With the shortest conversation ever about an invitation,  all I mentioned was that it should look vintage with the girls at a bakery, my husband created below.

Still amazes me after all these years that he can take a snippet of my thoughts and create exactly what I was imagining.  I know, I am lucky to have an artist at my fingertips., especially an intuitive one, which I know most people don’t have. BUT, if you have ideas.. a computer, access to a printer, photos of your children, and fonts..well, you can create fun invitations, too! I’ve done it on my own many times, and they were always appreciated.  Also, there are so many creative people who are amazing at designing invitations. Unfortunately, my husband isn’t technically for hire, so if you need a reputable graphic designer, comment/message me below!

The girls outfits. The girls wore matching vintage inspired apron dresses. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any dresses in the theme colors at this time, but the ones I found were perfect and comfortable for them to wear. Which is the most important thing. The base of the dress was white with printed blue and pink cakes and cupcakes all around. Then it had light blue gingham straps with buttons, and matching tie backs. The shape of these dresses were a-line. Super cute, and a score at TJ Maxx for under $16 each!!

The food. We decided, for the second year in a row, to have the girls’ party catered with BBQ from Blue Ribbon out of Arlington, MA.  I highly recommend them! We supplied a ton of beverages and a  generous salad along with the catering.  We had everything you could imagine.. pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, corn bread, mac n’cheese, mashed potatoes and an insanely delicious black-eyed peas n bacon dish. Blue Ribbon also supplied the buns for sandwiches, three types of BBQ sauce and their pickles, so good.

Now, I want BBQ.

The crafts (which were also the goodies to take home).  We worked on three crafts with the children this afternoon.  The first two: Each child was given a colorful goody bag on top of a chef’s toque (tall chef’s hat) and an apron. Within the goody bag, each child was given a special felt animal sticker and the letters to spell their names out in peel n’stick foam stickers. These were to be used on their hats, or, on their aprons, if they chose.

The chef’s toques were child-sized, and made of paper. Very easy to size on each child’s head. Then each table was topped with a bowl of pom poms, Halloween themed foam stickers, doilies, glue sticks, glitter glue and other stick on decorations for the kids to decorate. The aprons; I had bought them at our local dollar store and came in a variety of colors. The only issue was they had cartoon animals/bugs on them, like frogs and ladybugs, as they were being sold for bug capturing. So, to fix that issue, I had created and affixed a themed pink and green sticker across the chest that read: I am the Cake Boss. Unfortunately, the kids peeled them off to reveal the cartoons cause they loved them more, it was still cute, but I wasn’t able to take photos of them in the aprons with the stickers.

Here is the image I made of the sticker:

After lunch, and running around the yard, the kids were gathered around their table for their third craft. They were given a homemade cupcake of their flavor choice, either chocolate or vanilla cake, wrapped in a cake themed liner. Then they were given a bowl of our white buttercream frosting along with a plastic spoon and knife. Then each table was supplied with sprinkles, marshmallows, white chocolate and milk chocolate chips, candy corns in traditional shapes and pumpkin shapes, and gel tubes of icing. The kids were also given a paper plate to place the cupcake, to sprinkle and draw on, but none of the kids wanted to use them.  I don’t know why. But. The kids had a lot of fun piling their toppings sky high.

The crafts were great for all ages. This party had 15 children under the age of 6, and one child was 9!  They all enjoyed making a mess and creating something special, and yummy.

The cake.  Figuring the children would be hyped up on sugar from the cupcakes, the cake was a simple strawberry shortcake in a whipped cream frosting; my children’s choice.  Decorated with the girls names and a few strawberries around.  We went to our local bakery in North Andover, Tripoli Bakery, for this delightful cake. We served all types of berries on the side, and other fruits. It was a HUGE hit, cause it was real light, delicious and a perfect end to the day!

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More photos of our day: