21 Nov 2013

A 5th birthday party - part 1

My little girl is turning 5 this year. Where has the time gone? Of course this has to big a big party so I had to get started early. 




Thankfully she decided on a mermaid theme early and hasn't changed her mind, so I started with a few crochet creatures to get the creative juices going. 
The pattern was taken from here. I have since added another octopus, another fish and an orca.

The next thing I thought about was the cake. I had seen a few I liked on Pinterest and decided that there would be blue buttercream icing with fondant coral/seaweed on top. I got myself some gum paste mix at Spotlight and had a go at mixing it up. I have never worked with gum paste before but this was pretty easy to make. After last year with the marshmallow fondant I figured this would be a piece of cake, but it's trickier doing 3D shapes. The first lot sank on itself as the mix was too soft, so the next time I used toothpicks to hold it up. I am slowly improving and plan to try a pillow for a little Ariel doll to sit on.
Lots of coral and seaweed
Then I thought I'd better get on to the invitations. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and little girl agreed. I wish I had a colour printer here in Perth, but I don't so I had to go old school and draw with a coloured pencil and glue on cut outs.


Chloe wrote the names on Post It notes so mistakes could be easily re-done


Added to the pile was a treasure chest (see top pic) to be filled with chocolate coins. I am also in the process of making scallop shell goodie bags so will post pics when they are done. Only 3 1/2 weeks to go and little boys 3rd birthday the day before, and he has been requesting a dinosaur cake...