The Boy Version Ruffle Cake

So I have been slightly obsessed with ruffle cakes. 

Mainly the ridiculously cute pink girly ones... like this! 

via

I often think of how perfect this would be for a little girl's birthday party! So so lovely! With two boys I only get to dream of throwing frilly parties and making ruffled cakes.  

Well this past summer we went back to the states for my SILs wedding. While we were there we had a pre-birthday celebration for Mr. Jack! Since we live in the Caribbean our family wouldn't get to see him dig into his first cake so we celebrate a month early. It was a pretty last minute, thrown together kind of a party. And I knew I didn't have time to create a cute fondant cake... so as I began to start decorating his cake, I came up with the boy version ruffle cake! I really needed an excuse to try out the ruffles! 

I guess for Jack's sake I shouldn't refer to them as ruffles. 

I am no pro at ruffles this design but it was actually pretty easy, especially since it was my first time attempting it. 

Sometimes it helps to watch someone do it before you attempt. Here is a great video tutorial. Or Martha has a pretty good write up tutorial as well. 

The frosting tip used to make those adorable ruffles looks like this.

via 

 I used a 6" cake pan for this cake. Although, I think for a first birthday "dig into cake" 

I would probably use a 4" next time. 

Wait for it...

Finally! Planning his attack!

Using your hands is such a waste of time...

... and in a manner of seconds the cake is destroyed!

"Where the Wild Things Are" Party

Picking the theme for my (then) 3 year olds party was easy. 

I decided to do a party themed from his favorite book, Where the Wild Things Are! 

I have decided that choosing a theme for a party from your child's favorite book is best way to go, especially for a 3 year old party! 

Here are the invitations I made up! One of my favorite parts of this party! 

I superimposed Crew's picture in place of Max. 

{and note that this party was from two years ago- so don't judge the awful quality photos}

When the guests arrived, they got a crown a mask.

We started the party off by reading the classic story, Where the Wild Things Are. (I was pregnant with Jack here so don't judge the belly.) 

The kiddos loved it! They wore their crowns just like Max and got to pretend they were Wild Things with their scary masks. We marched around and they "roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth."  

Next we played "Pin the Tail on Max"!

For this game, I found a picture of Max, had it enlarged to poster size, then laminated it. Having the poster laminated is crucial if you want to reuse the game. If you don't the tape will rip your poster when you pull off all the pins. 

Then I cropped the same picture down only to show the tail and had them printed on card stock. I cut them out and had them laminated. To differentiate whose tail was whose, I cut out circles out of colored paper and glued them to the tops, making sure I had a different color for each child.  

The game was a hit!  

We kept the party pretty close to an hour. Which for my 3 year old, was perfect. We sent the kiddos home with a cupcake, topped with Where the Wild Things Are ring from here. I thought it was a genius idea since we were living in a small place at the time. Could you imagine ten 3 year olds eating cupcakes in a small confined, carpeted place? That was exactly why we sent them to go... that and they did make a pretty cute thank you for coming treat!

The Wild Rumpus didn't end there! We had a family party for him the next day! 

We used the book and the left over masks from the party to decorate the table. 

Pirates of the Caribbean Party

It had to be done. I mean, we are living in the Caribbean, 

Crew is completely obsessed with pirates,

and parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed here in Dominica...

so it only seemed logical to do a 

Pirates of the Caribbean Party! 

We had Crew's friend party all planned out to be on Saturday, Feb. 4. We got a call a few days prior telling us of a baptism that we needed to be to. So his party got post-poned to Friday, February 9. Which seemed fine... until I realized too late that is was the weekend before Broc's test. Note to self: don't plan a party before any exam! Things to check before planning such an event! Oh well, it worked- it was just stressful trying to get everything set up and organized by myself- with a little Jack crying and pulling at my leg because he didn't want me to set him down. But it turned out great and the kids had a great time!

We sent out paperless invites since we don't really have the means here to buy cute paper and print in color! So while it wasn't what I would have normally chose, it worked.

The wording on the invite said,

"Yo ho! Ye be invited to join Captain Crew at his Pirate Party. 

We be huntin' for treasure so don't be late! 

Pirate snacks will be served for me hearties. 

Please no presents for Captain Crew, just come and enjoy... if ye dare! 

The last one there is a scury dog!"

It had been raining off and on right before the party started. Adding a little more stress- since the party was outside! But it stopped long enough for me to get everything set up. Luckily it didn't start up again until after the party was over!  

Crew chose lemon cupcakes. So we had lemon cupcakes with a lemon/orange marshmallow cream frosting. (dang heat always melts my cupcakes)

The cupcake holders and toppers I got from here.
I had brought them back with me the last time I was in the states. 

Well our resources are limited here, but thank goodness for pinterest. I found this cute idea for pirate hooks made out of plastic cups and aluminum foil! Genius! Pirate telescopes were made out of paper towel rolls. (I would have covered them with some cute pirate paper... but since we didn't have any here they just got to be brown!) Oh well the kids didn't notice!

The pirate hooks were a hit!

Gaston even came dressed like a pirate! It was adorable! 

Crew with Marley, our old neighbor in Glanvillia. 

Face Painting... mustaches of course! Every good pirate needs a black mustache! 

They didn't seem to last very long as the sweat seemed to wash them off. 

The lady pirates weren't about to have a mustache on their face so they got a pretty ta too instead!

Captain Jack Sparrow! 

Even if they didn't last that long. Those mustaches made for some pretty cute pirates!

Pirate Snacks:

• Scurvy Dogs {aka- hot dog slices}
• Golden Treasure Mac & Cheese {homemade of course}
• Pretzel Planks
• Dead Man's Punch 

Next me hearties had to walk the plank!
They had to walk the plank while keeping the marshmallow on the spoon. 

Then they had to drop the marshmallow into a jar. 

{Inspiration for this game came from a game we played at my 5th birthday party...  dropping clothes pins into a mason jar.}

If they made it in, they got to eat a marshmallow!

Next,  the pirateers found a treasure map! Of course when it comes to a pirate... there is always a buried treasure to be found!

huntin' for the golden treasure... trying to find the 33 steps that lead to the next clue

33 steps - FOUND!

After trudging through some mud and scaling down a scary staircase (literally) the pirates found the buried treasure!

X marks the spot! 

The pirates with their loot! {This was about the time Crew was wanting to sing, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..." It was a long day for the birthday boy... no nap... and too much noise...}

The Pirates scored some gold rings, chocolate gold coins, pirate flag, pirate light up sucker all in a black skull and cross bones cup! Oh so fitting!

Crew with some of his new birthday treasures! {notice his frostingless cupcake... eats the frosting, could care less about the cake!}

This was the thank you that I put in all of the treasure cups!