A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

For my son’s 2nd birthday, we went with a safari theme. My good friend made him this adorable cake, complete with elephant, giraffe, monkey and lion.

Here’s a closer look at the top of the cake.

And that cute little party lion on the side!

I don’t even want to tell you how many leaves I cut out for this party – some to line the banister and then others to cover the sliding glass doors to make it look more like a jungle. I just found the printable online and cut them out after the kids went to bed while watching tv.

I found these cute Pillowfort animal head wall decor pieces that I attached to the slider with suction cups. You can grab them up at Target, but I also found them for much less at TJ Maxx and Home Goods.

I always do their age spelled out in wooded letters. Normally I do spray adhesive with scrap book paper, but this year I tried washi tape and loved the way they came out. Party favors were boxes of animal crackers and seating assignments were little gold animals with name tags tied around their neck. I found these in the dollar section at target, but you could certainly do them yourself with animals you might have laying around the house – all you need is a can of gold spray paint!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, oh my!

Pillowfort Animal Head wall decor: https://www.target.com/p/lion-head-wall-d-233-cor-pillowfort-153/-/A-50075588

Tags: birthday, cake, dessert, party

My kids have really been into dinosaurs these days. When my daughter turned 2, we threw her a dinosaur themed party. My mom makes the kids cookies with their age on them every year. Just a simple sugar cookie recipe with Betty Crocker vanilla icing and sprinkles.

I bought the Caspari “partysaurus” plates and napkins on super clearance at the Paper Source (always check the clearance wall for good buys) but another secret place I love to go to is China Fair in Newton. Such cute things at a fraction of the price, and added bonus, it isn’t Party City! (Am I the only one who dreads that place?)

We did three cakes this year: one Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cake (bottom left), one cake from AJ Cakes (right, second down) for her family party, and my friend made her the cake shown below. I made the T-Rex on the top of the ice cream cake – I bought a Kid Made Modern paper dinosaur from Target and painted it green. I cut out a little party hat and attached a fun shiny pom pom to add a little glam and attached with tape. There were three brontosaurus’ on the table that were painted in the same color to tie everything in.

I made a lot of salad-y kinds of things for the party, since making a full meal is challenging for so many people. I loved a peach, prosciutto and mozzarella salad (hold off on adding the balsamic until right before serving or leave on side for guests to add on themselves). I also made a corn, feta, tomato and scallion salad that was a big hit (bottom right)

How adorable is this cake? I love the little dinosaur on top!

A little bit of a different angle – vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream.

Caspari plates and napkins: https://www.casparionline.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=partysaurus

China Fair: http://www.chinafairinc.com

AJ Cakes: http://www.aj-cakes.com

Target Kid Made Modern Dinosaur: https://www.target.com/p/kid-made-modern-paper-mache-brontosaurus/-/A-50408093

Tags: birthday, cake, dessert, party