The Chronicles of Home



Bakery Birthday Party

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Today my sweet Ada is four.  I could wax on about the profundity of it all and how bittersweet it is to watch my baby grow, but today is all about the party!

This past Friday we hosted Ada’s preschool class for a bakery-themed birthday party.  I had seen Courtney’s Bake Shoppe Birthday Party last April and thought it was so adorable.  Ada loves to help in the kitchen so this was the perfect party theme for her. 

We started the party making aprons.  Each child got an apron with their name on it and a baggie of felt shapes.  The other moms and I helped the kids glue the shapes onto their aprons to make little winter owls.

Here’s Ellie wearing hers while sampling the fruit platter.
After we finished with the aprons we had a pizza lunch.  I also served baby carrots, pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blackberries.  For drinks I used small clear plastic cups and cut striped paper straws in half.  I made a “soda” for the kids by stirring together cranberry-raspberry juice and sparkling water.
After lunch was the centerpiece activity – cake decorating!  I had made a small chocolate cake frosted in white buttercream for each child.  
On the table I set up mini condiment bottles (I bought a set of 18 made by Wilton from Amazon but saw them at Michaels as well) filled with green, blue, and purple frosting.  I bought an assortment of edible decorations from Sur la Table (made by India Tree) and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds from Whole Foods and had those set out in little bowls.
The kids were super excited to get to work on their cakes.  The 3/4 year old technique seemed pretty consistent – smash as much frosting and as many decorations on the top of the cake as possible.

I wrapped all the cakes up in small boxes (purchased at Michaels) so the kids could take them home with their aprons as party favors.

The last part of the party was singing “Happy Birthday” and having cupcakes.  I made coconut vanilla cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream.  The little winter owl toppers were a Home Goods find.

I did all the prep and set-up for the party ahead of time and even with the large number of kids here, was really able to enjoy the party myself.  The kids seemed to love it and Ada was so happy, which was what I most hoped for from the day.
I kept clean up easy by using paper plates and napkins, plastic forks, and a vinyl tablecloth (EBay)…though the floor did need a thorough vacuuming and light mop afterwards :)

For details and tutorials on the circle garland, owl aprons, chocolate cakes, coconut cupcakes, and buttercream frosting, see these posts:

Linking to The Shabby Nest, Happy Hour, The Winthrop Chronicles, Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia