Ninjago Cake - Kevin's 4

Nothing calls for celebration like a "birthday" does.  This is the only occasion, event, tradition that I follow religiously.  Especially when it comes to my little ones, my excitement rivals theirs!

My son Kevin turned 4 last month.  Last year, I made my very first venture into making a fondant decorated cake - Pocoyo themed - and he loved it.  So I was sure the cake was going to be the highlight again.  His birthday fell on Memorial Day this year so we all spent the day with him - no work, no school.

My plan for the day - decorations, cake, new clothes (it is an Indian tradition), his favorite candies, balloons, presents, flowers and lots of hugs, kisses and love!

I took my older one, Krish, and Kevin to bed the night before, waited till Kevin fell asleep and stepped out to the garage to smuggle all the stuff from the car.  I came back and thought - Krish is bound to be awake because he knew my plans.  He and I are so alike - we enjoy the process as much as the outcome.  I thought it would be only fair to let him have his share of the fun.

I tip-toed into the bedroom and just as I thought, he was waiting for me to come get him - he knows me too well!  We commenced on our tasks.  We brought out the boxes and rummaged in it.  Whatever decorations, party ware, I buy, I save them till they completely fall apart.  The decorations we chose to put up in the living room this year were from Krish's 3 year birthday party, and some from his 5 year birthday party.  I try my best to be economical and environmentally responsible in anyway I can.

Krish said I should hang one of these right by the bedroom door so Kevin will see it first thing when he walked out.  Man was he right!  Kevin walked out, saw this and his mouth opened so wide in surprise and joy!

The only new decorations I got were two dollar store helium balloons - they are super, I tell you.

Once the decorations were done, presents wrapped up and placed in strategic locations, we sat down to make the fondant decorations.  I had just put in the cake to bake in the oven.

I watched a lot of interesting videos on youtube.  The following ones inspired me:

Ninjago Lego Fondant Cake How to make by Piece of Cake by Ilse
Behind the Scenes: Lego Cupcake Ninjas | Cupcake Jemma

I followed the idea in this mainly:

How to make fondant Lego Ninjago figure / Jak zrobić figurkę Lego Ninjago

I am extremely grateful for technology and to these people who share so freely, their expertise and ideas.  You can learn anything you fancy, sitting right at home, by your own schedule, at your own pace, without a cost.

Here is my take on it:

Needless to say, Kevin loved it.  He never eats cake, so it is all about playing with it!

He enjoyed and appreciated all the things we made to make his day special.

Recipes:

Chocolate Cake Recipe
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Fondant:

Wilton Primary Colors Fondant
Wilton Natural Skin Tone Fondant - I used only a little black, but these colors are always useful.

I used a black food marker that my friend, Surabhi, gave me.  If I hadn't had that I would have bought the food paint and brush like in the video.

Try it. :)

Mickey Mouse Pirate Party

Mickey Mouse Pirate was my son's choice of theme for his 4th birthday party.  Since his baby brother was expected to arrive three weeks before his birthday, we decided to have his party hosted at Pump It Up so that the organizing, setting up, cleaning up, catering and entertaining the kids would all be taken care of.  All that was left for me to do was somehow tie in the theme.

So here are what I made:

Invitations (sort of) - to hand out to the kids to establish the theme.

I love to use Trader Joe's brown paper bags in ANY way I can!

I copied the idea from : http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/60/d6/96/60d69669c1b3ebed7befd682c28d93a1.jpg. I am unable to find the original post, only the link to the image from http://www.pinterest.com/explore/bag-lunches/.

The words on it were made up with help from my brother and my husband.

Pirate Hats and Eye Patches - for the kids to get in character.

For the hat, I used freehand drawing and made a template out of A4 paper.  I sealed the sides and the top and found that it did not fit my son's head.  I was wondering what size the paper should be for the hat to fit.  I made another trial one with 9x12 inch card stock, stapled the sides and left the top open - this made the hat one-size-fit-all for adults and kids alike.

Here is how I constructed it.  I took 9x12 inch card stock and folded 1 inch along the length.

I took 2 such sheets with folded edges facing outside and folded them in half lengthwise.

I placed the template on top for reference and cut out the curved shape.

I opened it up, stapled the sides at the bottom and left the rest open.

I cut out circles and glued them to the front of the hat to give it a Mickey Mouse touch.

And that's all there is to it!  I realized you could make hats like this for any theme with just a little imagination.

For the eye patch, again I used freehand drawing to create a template and cut out the shape from a foam sheet.  I made holes on the sides and threaded a 1 mm elastic chord through them and secured it with knots.

Here is how it looks!

Treasure Chests - for party favors.

Here is a find that I treasure:

http://www.hgtv.com/video/paper-treasure-box-video/index.html

I made treasure chests of smaller dimension and used rubber bands to keep the lids closed.

My son also wanted pirate ships, so I made Origami boats to serve as thank you notes.

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-boat.html

 The Party Room

I got balloons and serve ware in black, red with/without white polka dots to represent the theme.