Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Party!

Ok this is late...as always, but time flies when you are having fun...or doing laundry....either way, it is late.

We had a fantastic joint birthday party again this year.  For stress factors we kept it small...just family and close friends.  In keeping with our literary theme (last year we did The Very Hungry Caterpillar), this year we went with a family favorite, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.  So fun and so stinkin' easy!

The invite I designed.  Email me if you would like a custom invite designed for your party! laceyruhge at gmail dot com

 

Above it the embroidered applique shirt I made for Rylan for the party.

The Palm Tree Favors

 I got the plastic tubes from this Ebay Shop . The green foam I had on hand.  

I cut palm leaves(or something kinda like them) from the foam and hot glues them to the lid of the tube.

Then I filled the tubes with M&Ms.  You could fill them with just brown m&ms or even go with a mix of hot pink, bright orange, and bright green, but I went with the easier cheaper route and just bought a giant bag of regular colors. 

 Later Hayden and I put self adhesive foam letters on the leaves.  I found the letters at Office Max....But I am positive you can find them at a better price somewhere online.  I was in a pinch and couldn't wait for shipping.

 They made a nice simple center piece for the dining table.  I also threw magnetic letters I already had around to add to the theme.  HINT: Give these to the kiddos as the LEAVE your house.  Otherwise you will have M&Ms everywhere!

Each family went home with a paperback copy of the book and a package of magnetic letters.  I got the books from this Ebay Store. Each book was only $4+ combined shipping.  A benefit to having a smaller party is that you can afford to give great favors!

 The Entertainment

 Every bit of decorations came from the Dollar Tree!  They had an enormous amount of palm tree decorations!  Can't go wrong with the Dollar Tree!  I had several of these palm trees up and had more of those foam letters available for the kids to decorate the trees!  It went over pretty good with the littlest ones.

For the bigger kiddos we did several rounds of coconut bowling!  This went over VERY well and was easy-peasy to prepare!

 The Cake!

I spent a few days with the cake preparations.  I bought premixed gum paste from our local craft center.  4 days before the party I got to work on the gum paste pieces...  Gum paste starts out like play-doh and after a day or so it dries as hard as a rock.  You want it completely dry before you do anything with it.

 I was feeling too stingy to buy the whole alphabet set of cutters so I free handed them...they are not the prettiest, but it worked. :)  I colored the gum paste with the gel colors I had on hand.  I was surprised as heck to find that I had brown coloring...why or when I bought that I have no idea!  I did have the round cutter for the pink polka-dots.

 I had gum paste leaf form from Hayden's jungle party a few years ago...so that is what I used for the palm leaves.  A helpful hint for making leaves is to let them dry on a curved surface...like this bowl or a rolling pin.  When they are completely dry they will keep the curled shape

For the trunk of the tree I used some cardboard and tape and made a crooked tree trunk form and then covered it in a thin layer of gum paste I colored brown.  I then used a knife to texture it a little bit.

 

Three days before the party I used green colored royal icing to "glue" the leaves onto the tree trunk...I also used a few pieces of floral wire stuck through the leaves into the trunk for a bit more security.


Two days before the party I baked the cakes let them cool.  I did a three layered 9in cake and a two layered 6in cake.  After they were cooled I did a buttercream "crumb coat".  This more or less seals in all the crumbs and keeps the cake from drying out as fast.  It also allows you to even out any surface imperfections.

 The day before the party...I began putting the cake together.  I don't have a many (or any) process pictures here because I was apparently in the zone and forgot to take any. So I will try to explain sans pictures...

• I mixed up my buttercream frosting using the crisco recipe.  I colored it.  I frosted each cake using this AWESOME "Viva Paper Towel" method.  I do not own a paddle smoother thingy so I just used my hand and it worked ok....but the paddle would be great to have.
• After each cake was frosted I worked on stacking them.  I measured how tall I needed my wooden dowels to be.  I marked them and had the husband cut them with a handsaw.  Below is a picture of the wooden dowels I used...I think they are 1/4 inch dowels.  I got them in the cake isle.  I also got this plastic tier separator.  You can see the bottom of the tier separator has the circlar thingys where the dowels fit in.

 

• I lightly put the separator on the top of the bottom cake and let the circular thingys imprint the icing.  I removed the separator and then knew where to place the dowels. I pushed the dowels into the bottom layer and then put the separator in place.  And then I carefully put the 6in top cake on top of the separator.
• I then did my decorative blue boarder and it covered up any hint of the separator.
• Then I placed my gum paste polka-dots, letters, and coconuts.  There was really no rhyme or reason to their placement...other than I saved the R & H to put up top the tree(the birthday kiddos' initials).
• I then measured and placed a dowel into the top layer of the cake that stuck out a few inches.
  
  
  

This is the dowel that the coconut tree would fit over...and give the tree stability.  I moved the tree down the the garage because it was cold down there and I was assured no one would bother it there....and there would be no cars being parked in it while the cake was in there.  (The garage had just been thoroughly cleaned!)

I grabbed my royal icing and "glued" the R and the H to the top of the tree.  I used the paper towel roll to hold them in place while the icing dried. Royal icing, much like gum paste dries VERY hard.

The finished product:  Except for a few not so perfect places in the frosting I was Extremely happy with it!  I had never made a two tiered cake before and it was pretty easy when all was said and done.  The hardest part was the tree, not the layers.  LOVE IT!

 Thanks for reading!