“It’s Me, Hi, I’m The Birthday Girl!”. We are in our Taylor Swift era. So naturally, for her birthday, my daughter wanted all things Taylor. Sarah came through as usual, she does all of our cake toppers (isn’t she amazing?!?!). All I said was, Taylor Swift, sparkles, and FUN! Needless to say, this cake was a hit!

Summer birthdays are hard with friends on vacation and at camp, so we decided to hold off on a party until the fall, but for our family celebration, I made this fun cake with bright colors and fancy sprinkles.

Here is a close up of the awesome cake topper!

Topper: SHRH Designs https://www.shrhdesigns.com/

Cake sprinkles: Sprinkle Pop /https://sprinklepop.shop/

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By the time those summer birthdays come around in our family, I am burnt out. My daughter loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I whipped up this fun little cake with rainbow frosting.

And just because you’re celebrating a birthday, doesn’t mean you have to bake. How cute is this stack of frosted (!!) whoopie pies from Concord Teacakes? Throw on a fun cake topper and you have an instant party!

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored. All opinions are my own.

I have to admit that Bluey was not a show that we regularly watch in our house. Right now it is all Pokemon all day every day, cringe. So I had some catching up to do. I made a Bluey cake to get us in the mood. A supermarket cake that I did a little surgery on, cut it up, scraped off the frosting, made it multiple shades of blue, added some bits of chocolate for the eyes and nose and viola! Kids were impressed at this weeknight special treat!

So off in the early morning to the city to catch the Saturday 10am performance of Bluey. Two bigs and one little. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with the little, could she handle 50 minutes of sitting in a seat? We were about to find out. Of course I forgot the snacks in the car, but luckily we were able to head downstairs where JP Licks was sampling their new Bluey flavored ice cream. Success! It was a hit all around, 4 thumbs up. We grabbed some Bluey coloring and activity sheets, some crayons and headed up to our seats.

Pleasantly surprised at the show. It kept the kids interest and even made me tear up for a hot second. The “puppets” were amazing. There was a little bit of audience participation in the middle of the show which was fun.

The best part came at the end when there was a surprise…

A big game of keepy uppy in the audience, using these enormous balls!

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Every year for the kids, I get them one “fancy” cake (read: professional), and then one cake that I make. My son has been very in to making paper airplanes, so naturally, I made him paper airplane cake toppers. I Googled some colorful maps, printed them out and carefully folded them into small planes. I glued them onto toothpicks, and viola! Simple, yet fun.

A simple two layer vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and Oreo crumbles in the middle.

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Before the pandemic, we didn’t have any screen time. I’m not saying that to brag. When the kids were at home when the pandemic started, we quickly went from no screen time to a few shows a day. That’s in addition to the time they spent on the computer for classes. At 2, my youngest was watching television with the “big kids”, because how do you say some can watch but others can’t. I would NEVER have let my oldest watch television at 2. Funny the differences with a first child and any other children that come after :).

So when I needed time to make dinner, what happened? Television. I needed to clean the kitchen after a meal, yup, television. Judge all you want. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Tell me you’ve been there…

When I pictured myself as a mom, I never pictured myself as having television show themed birthday parties, but here we are, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t a bad show. I remember it from when my niece was a kid. Friendly for all ages and has multiple seasons – which is key when you are in a pandemic. There is nothing worse than a show with annoying voices that get stuck in your head, or a show that only has one season and a) your kids are upset when there aren’t any more new shows, and b) you have to watch the same six shows OVER AND OVER AGAIN (because I can definitely recite some shows basically word for word). Don’t even get me started on humming the theme songs even when my kids aren’t around!

My kids LOVED this cake by the way. Tell me your favorite shows for younger aged kids and how your screen time has changed during the pandemic.

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Can I be honest for a minute? The one thing I actually don’t mind about the pandemic is that birthday parties have gone away. (EEK, I admitted it!) The BIG ones, the ones where you invite the whole class, you know what I’m talking about. And if you had more than one kid, forget about free time. Our weekends used to be PACKED with birthday parties. I would have a steady supply of LEGO kits and birthday cards at the ready in our house and sometimes we would be DOUBLE BOOKED.

I kind of like having just our immediate family over (socially distant of course) in the driveway – keeping focus on what is important. My kids don’t need 8,000 presents, which they would previously rip through at lightning speed. They wouldn’t even get to enjoy what they received because there were 20 other gifts to open. I ask my parents to get them experiences, not toys. I ask family to get practical gifts like clothes, art supplies or books.

Last year, we had a friend surprise one of my kids with a Birthday parade – all the kids from class made home made signs, beeped and waved from their cars. I think that was one of the best birthdays so far! There was a lot of love that day!

Have you scaled back on birthday parties? Tell me what you’ve done to celebrate – I’d love to hear your ideas.

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Finish this sentence: “You know you’re a mom when…”

Mine is when you pick up your own birthday cake. Since this was a big birthday for me, I decided to go big or go home. That means, not just one cake, but three. And my husband came through with a cake as well, even if it was a few days late (better late than never).

Every month, Blackbird has different flavor cake in addition to the standard vanilla and chocolate. They claim that it serves 2-4 people, but in this case, I made my own suggestion that it was really a single serving! I mean, it did say “personal sized”. This one was two vanilla doughnuts with house made jam and vanilla buttercream frosting. AMAZING. I could have eaten this alone in my closet and it would have been my best birthday ever. I think I was smart enough to make a homemade cake as a decoy cake – the kids ate that one and I had this one to myself…

Blackbird Doughnuts Locations in South End, Fenway, Harvard Square, Beacon Hill, Brighton and Newton Centre

Order cakes online through the catering menu.

This is the pie of my dreams: the party pie sampler from Elm Street Sweets, a sister bakery to the Rosebud in Somerville. They hibernated over the winter, because it just wasn’t feasible to keep it open, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it re-opens. The pie is 9″ and has two pieces of cookie dough brownie pie, two pieces of cookies n’ cream pie and two pieces of peanut butter fudge pie.

Elm Street Sweets Pickup at The Rosebud in Somerville or Posto in Bedford

Next up, New City Microcreamery in Hudson, MA. I love this ice cream cake because it actually has CAKE in it. Make sure to plan ahead if you want a customized cake, three days ahead actually. They do have pre made cakes in the freezer should you need one last minute. Choose up to two different kinds of ice cream and one “funk”. We went with the mint chip and the chocolate chip cookie dough. Cakes come in three sizes: 6, 8 or 10 inch – we went with the 6″.

New City Microcreamery 29 Main Street, Hudson, MA

I first fell in love with Milk Bar when I went to New York a million years ago. Their now called “Milk Bar Pie” is one of my all time favorites. I was also in love with their corn cookies. You used to be able to buy the mix and make them at home. The ones at the store in Harvard Square are good, they just aren’t the same as I remember. Side note, you can buy Milk Bar truffle crumb cakes at Target, and they will definitely tide your craving over. Back to the cake: 6″ will feed 8-12. Its three tiers of rainbow flecked vanilla birthday cake with birthday frosting, crunchy birthday crumbs and of course, rainbow sprinkles. My husband gets brownie points for this one!

Milk Bar Boston location at 3 Brattle Street in Cambridge but they ship!

So tell me, have you ever picked up your own birthday cake(s)?

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Don’t worry mom, not my baby.

We ended 2019 with a whirlwind of parties. We went right from Thanksgiving to a baby shower, then a kid’s holiday party with Santa, a neighborhood adults only party where I cooked for 40 people, Christmas Eve with the cousins and Christmas Day with good friends. I needed most of January to recover.

We have one of the best neighborhoods – summer block parties, holiday parties, Thirsty Thursdays – I couldn’t ask for a better community for my kids to grow up in. So, when our new neighbor found out she was having a baby, I wanted to give back and host – since the other ladies of the neighborhood were kind enough to throw me a shower (for my third no less).

I hosted with another young mom/friend in the neighborhood and she loves a good theme for a party. We decided to go with blue and gold.

I had been waiting for just the right moment to order macarons from Mac Lab, an amazing bakery in Georgia. These geode macarons come in a variety of colors and are almost to pretty to eat. They are mailed individually wrapped, so you don’t have to worry about them breaking in the mail. The gold macarons are hand painted and are coffee flavored.

I’m a big fan of candy boards – just a fun thing for the guest to pick at while they are gathered around the kitchen island. This time I chose blue rock candy lollipops, blue fruit slices, Jelly Belly jelly beans in a few different colors, sour laces, blue cubze by Happy Chocolatier and prosecco balls from Sukker & Sweet.

While the candy bar is fun, I wanted guests to be able to take home soem treats too – so I added some Lindt chocolates to the table as well. The sequin runner was from amazon and I made the baby letters using wooden letters from Michaels, spray adhesive, scrapbook paper and an exacto knife.

My friend who made the cake also made these delicious chocolate covered pretzels. They’re my absolute favorite!

Don’t worry, we did have real food at the shower as well. Keeping with the board theme, I went to my favorite cheese shop in Wellesley, Wasik’s, to pick up some things for the charcuterie board. We went with a Bavarian Blue from Germany, a Brie de Lyon from France (cow cheese) and Ossau – Iraty from France, a sheep milk cheese. I added blueberries, mixed olives, spicy soppressata, truffle salami, dried apricots, raincoast crisp crackers, and Effie’s Oatcakes.

I love edible (or drinkable) favors for parties. We went with LaMarca prosecco, blue and gold paper straws attache with some cute blue heart washi tape.

5 Things to Bring in Your Hospital Bag

I packed all of my things in a Sea Bag XL tote, it was big enough to hold all of my things and if it got dirty, you just wipe it down – no muss, no fuss!

1. Phone Charger: Seems obvious, but buy an extra one to just leave in your bag so you don’t have to race around looking for it when you go into labor. While you’re at it, download some shows to binge watch while you’re at the hospital!
2. Snacks: There will be moments when you get hungry and the cafeteria isn’t serving meals – and all the nurses station has is saltine crackers. But also, line up those friends to bring in sushi or cheese or whatever you’ve been craving for after your delivery!
3. Your Own Towel: When we got married, the woman who helped us register told me I HAD to get the bath sheets – you know, those enormous towels that you can only put on in the washer? Never used it…until I had a baby. The towel that they provided was like…the size of a face cloth…and that’s not what you need right after you’ve given birth.
4. The Most Luxurious Bath Products You Can Find: That first shower after you have given birth, for me, was life changing. I think I stood in the shower for a good hour, probably using up all of the hot water. I turn to look for soap and they have one of those hand dispensers with that “hospital smelling” soap in it. Trust me, enjoy this moment with the nicest smelling things you can find.
5. Clothes: Bring that cute matching outfit for you and the baby for that Instagram photo, but bring a couple of extra outfits for the baby. Also, bring clothes that you don’t mind throwing away…because after giving birth, things can get messy.

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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

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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

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