When you live in a small-ish house with a big-ish backyard and you have kids with summer birthdays, you tend to subconsciously pray for sunshine all spring so you can have outdoor parties.
But over the past week, I watched the weather forecast show big fat rainclouds and ugly yellow thunderbolts sitting smack on top of Wednesday, Stacey's 5th birthday party. The party that eleven Kindergarten girls were coming to. In the house that can't fit eleven kids.
But over the past week, I watched the weather forecast show big fat rainclouds and ugly yellow thunderbolts sitting smack on top of Wednesday, Stacey's 5th birthday party. The party that eleven Kindergarten girls were coming to. In the house that can't fit eleven kids.
Not surprisingly, I woke up yesterday morning and it was pouring rain. So I sucked it up and started in on Plan B. Rather than picnic tables outside, we would have a picnic party on the floor inside, and I would have to somehow convince Andrew to hold the piñata while the kids beat it with a baseball bat because there's nowhere inside to hang it. My last big genius back-up plan was to just turn on the Disney Fairy movies The Secret of the Wings or The Pirate Fairy when kids started going nuts. (It WAS a fairy party, after all, and watching movies is KIND OF like doing an activity, right?)
I hung the tissue paper pom-poms (great tutorial here!) inside rather than outside under the pear tree, moved the furniture out of the way, and shoved our dining room table into the corner to give the kids room to play.
I hung the tissue paper pom-poms (great tutorial here!) inside rather than outside under the pear tree, moved the furniture out of the way, and shoved our dining room table into the corner to give the kids room to play.
The party hats rested on the radiator instead of out in the sun.
BUT... since when can weathermen predict the weather, let alone the future? 100 points if you can correctly identify the movie and the character who said that line.
Miracle of miracles, that awful rain trickled to a stop and that crazy, gorgeous sun started melting the clouds away about an hour before party time! I mopped off the deck, hung the piñata in the pear tree, and set up the fairy scavenger hunt in the gardens. Game was ON!!!
The girls spent the afternoon decorating fairy wands, scavenger hunting, playing in the playhouse, playing Pin the Wand on the Fairy, eating junk food, and generally just scrambling around, in and out of the house.
I knew I couldn't top Stacey's Rapunzel cake from last year, so I went a different route. Each girl got their own little fairy cake, and I made a layer cake for the parents and brothers to enjoy.
Miracle of miracles, that awful rain trickled to a stop and that crazy, gorgeous sun started melting the clouds away about an hour before party time! I mopped off the deck, hung the piñata in the pear tree, and set up the fairy scavenger hunt in the gardens. Game was ON!!!
The girls spent the afternoon decorating fairy wands, scavenger hunting, playing in the playhouse, playing Pin the Wand on the Fairy, eating junk food, and generally just scrambling around, in and out of the house.
I knew I couldn't top Stacey's Rapunzel cake from last year, so I went a different route. Each girl got their own little fairy cake, and I made a layer cake for the parents and brothers to enjoy.
I cleaned Toys R Us out of their fairy dolls last week, brought home 14 of them at 30% off, and wrapped each one in plastic wrap up to her waist.
The dolls were about four inches tall, so since standard cupcakes would be too small, I baked extra-tall cupcakes in a popover pan. The popover-sized cupcakes were still a bit short, so I cut a hole in each with my (rarely used) apple corer for the fairies' legs to fit into, and I torted and filled each cake with buttercream in order to provide a base tall enough to hold the fairies up. I used my offset spatula to smooth on each buttercream skirt, and piped on a rosette detail with a small star tip to complement the layer cake.
The dolls were about four inches tall, so since standard cupcakes would be too small, I baked extra-tall cupcakes in a popover pan. The popover-sized cupcakes were still a bit short, so I cut a hole in each with my (rarely used) apple corer for the fairies' legs to fit into, and I torted and filled each cake with buttercream in order to provide a base tall enough to hold the fairies up. I used my offset spatula to smooth on each buttercream skirt, and piped on a rosette detail with a small star tip to complement the layer cake.
There were a few conflicts over favorite colors, but in the end I think the girls were quite fond of their fairy cakes.
I had wanted to swirl the pink and green together on the layer cake a bit more this, but I didn't have quite enough time or patience, so it didn't turn out quite as planned. But my girl got to blow out her five candles with butterfly wings on her back and a ring pop on her finger.
My awesome mom had spent the morning making tea sandwiches and slicing fruit and veggies for the kids, and all the parents pitched in to help serve and clean up and generally make the party a success.
Here is two-year-old Clara on the scavenger hunt with the big kids. She can't wait for her birthday in August.
After a long afternoon of playing outside, the remaining kids eventually did get to watch The Secret of the Wings. All's well that ends well, right?
Happy 5th birthday Stacey!
PS I do realize that by saying all those mean things about the weather, that I have totally jinxed myself and it will definitely rain next year. 100%.
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