Pages

Monday, December 7, 2009

Mia's Jungle-rific Party

Since about 30 minutes after her birthday party last year, Mia has wanted to have a pink crocodile cake for her 4th birthday. I have no idea where she got this idea, but I agreed to it. Mostly because I thought she'd either forget or change her mind. But, lucky for us, she remembered and became increasingly specific as the birthday month approached. The crocodile needed to have lots of pointy teeth, but be smiling to demonstrate it's kindness. It needed to have yellow cake inside, and big, happy eyeballs.

Yes, ma'am, I said. Anything for you, princess, I said.

And then I panicked. I had no idea how to make a crocodile cake, much less make sure it was smiling.

Somehow, with extensive research and much fretting, a pink crocodile cake was born.



For accompaniment, we came up with a few jungle-themed goodies:

Monkey bait (bananas) and Croc Rocks (malt balls and gummy candies).



Laguna Tuna (Swedish fish and Goldfish).



And Jungle Juice (Cocktails for kids. Er, I mean, juice boxes.)



Mia was quite pleased with the outcome, which made it worth the effort. Even if I thought the crocodile looked somewhat pink-poodle-ish, Mia loved it. When we all gathered around to sing the birthday song to her, Mia soaked it up in her shy way and beamed her happiness from shining eyes.

I only got teary eyed once.

During the song, anyway.



Lauren wasn't allowed within 3 feet of the cake until eating time, due to her criminal history. (Which, by the way, didn't harm anything after all. I just used the chocolate cake to cut out pieces for the head and tail, saving the un-marred yellow cake for the body. All's well that ends well.)



When the time came for presents to be opened, Mia got a little bit bashful at first.



But she warmed up when the papers and bows began ripping away, revealing wonderful new gifts. Crocodiles, of course.



I had so much fun watching her open her gifts; she was gracious and excited. Before any birthday party, I've always had a niggle of worry about how she'd receive her gifts -- would she remember to say thank you? Would she express disappointment in a supposedly boring gift? Would she yell out that she already had something if it was a duplicate?

My worries were all unfounded. Mia behaved as beautifully as I knew she could.



I can't believe she's old enough to behave graciously. She's not a baby, not a toddler -- she's a little girl. Almost 4 years old.

And her party was a success...



...as evidenced by the mess left behind. A fun, celebratory mess: the best kind.

21 comments:

  1. Sarah, that cake is AMAZING! Really! You did a great job. The themed snacks were very cute, but not nearly as cute as your almost-4-year-old. That's awesome that she showed gratitude for all her gifts; it's always nice to see that you're doing SOMETHING right as a parent, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness, that cake is AMAZING!!! Congratulations on an awesome cake, an awesome girl, and a great celebration through and through!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That cake is adorable! I am very impressed that you made it, I could neer make anything that cute!!
    Happy Birthday Mia!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That cake was amazing!!! And what cute ideas! Nice work, lady!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am in awe -- you've got some mad cake decorating skills. Please don't make me remind you how stressed out I got over having to frost a simple round white cake for Lily's birthday. Your crocodile rocked!

    And kudos to you for the creative names of all those jungle treats! Are you available for help with party planning? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. The pink crocodile cake turned out beautiful.
    You are more creative than you give yourself credit for...look at your wonderfully creative blogs!
    You have a beautiful family!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That cake looks TERRIFIC! I'm impressed. My daughter's birthday is on Friday and I have intimidating cake-making plans, too - but I'm going to remember your success and go in with my game face on ; )

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOVE it! You have mad skills when it comes to cake decorating... and writing... and coming up with creative names for treats... and poetry... and mothering.. etc, etc! Goodness, girl! What CAN'T you do?!

    Glad the party was a success! Happy Birthday, Mia!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fun party and the cake looks great! I love that toothy crocodile smile!

    ReplyDelete
  10. leprechaun kicks and pink alligators. girl, you gots skillz. just sayin'. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Totally cute cake! Not pink poodlish at all.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm too amazed to type coherent comnt. wow the cak.

    WOWWOWWOWWOWWOW

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am so impressed with that cake!! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That is one CUTE cake.
    I'd never seen such a friendly crocodile.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sarah, Great cake! I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  16. WOW, I had no idea you were so talented! Great theme, and the cake is unbelievable. Mia is very lucky to have such a generous and hardworking mom.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cutest cake ever! She's so lucky to have a mom who delivers!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Awesome cake. I love it.

    Kudos on having a polite and gracious daughter. Lauren opened each gift at her party and said, "WOW! . . . next."

    ReplyDelete
  19. You are so creative and talented!! Not that I expected anything less

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am ridiculously impressed... First, I want to eat that cake. The pink icing looks awesome. Second, the details are amazing! The eyes and nose, the "scales" - so creative!! Way to go!

    ReplyDelete

Hmm...And how did that make you FEEL?