Mason's First Birthday

When Shelby turned one I really tried to go all out. I threw two parties because my family and my in-laws are so big. I made 2 cakes and did two different games (with prizes). For Mason it may look like I went all out, but I really didn't. I always have grandiose visions in my head of perfectly crafted sugar cookies and a five tiered cake, but after the Superbowl party six days earlier, I really had no energy for royal icing or more baking than was necessary. However, his party turned out perfect and I still cannot believe my little man is one.

Here's the party invitation. I used my Cricut Mickey Mouse cartridge to cut out the Mickey heads and ears. I cut out the letter M with my Lyrical Letters cartridge and used Microsoft Word for the invite itself. I found a really cool free Disney font on Pinterest that worked really well. Though, it was a hard font to read. Everyone mixed up the time for the party. Some came at 6, some came at 6:30 (the actual time), and some came at 7. Whatever, but if you ever use the Disney font, make sure any details are very readable.

 For Mason's birthday we got him the Little Wheelies Amusement Park. He loves cars, and he got a Batman raceway for Christmas, so this was a great compliment. It makes lots of noise, perfect for mom, but he loves it and so does his sister. It's hard to have a birthday right after Christmas. My kids get so much, but as parents I guess it's easy to buy more. I've never had a hard time spoiling my kids, sadly. Pretty soon the house will overflow and I'll start sending home toys with random neighborhood kids who just came over for a playdate.

These strawberry cream sodas were the hit of the night! I served them in Mason jars (because his name is Mason right) that I had collected from my summer canning. I used cupcake liners for lids and paper straws. I love the look of paper straws, but they get soggy sort of fast.

I felt a little cheap because I made this birthday banner, but it turned out darling! I used my Cricut and my scrapbook software (MemoryMixer) along with that free Disney font (again). It sort of brought everything together.

 

And here's the cake! The bottom tier was chocolate with salted caramel frosting. The top tier was red velvet, also the flavor of his smash cake. I made the ears with fondant and rice krispie treats. I wish the ears were taller, but it takes a surprising amount of rice krispies. I also did the ears last, which I'll never do again. It took forever for the cereal treats to cool. I'll definitely make this first if I ever do a Mickey/Minnie cake again.

Remember how my kids have too many toys? Well now they have a Bat-mobile. It's all my fault really. We were going to buy him a Fisher Price car and then I found this on Target's website, and it was on sale, and we got free shipping, but he loved it!

Happy Birthday Little Man!