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A Turtle Themed Birthday on a Budget

Turtle Birthday Theme on a Budget #partyplanning #party #birthday #turtles #diy #cake #chalkboard #breakfast

My baby turned 4 last week. Four! It’s hard to believe. But he loves turtles. Has for a while now. We were supposed to do a turtle theme last year, but it was the week my husband had off to work on the house (and make me shelves), so the kitchen was out of commission. We hung streamers and blew up balloons at my mom’s house instead.

This year was the year of the turtles. I started with my chalkboard (I love my chalkboard!)

Breakfast was waffle turtles (Pinspired here, other ideas on my board) and pond water (apple cider). The kids thought the pond water was a mixture of funny and gross. It was perfect. That means they approved!

The cake was inspired by one from Cake Adventures. I wasn’t bold enough on my colors and it’s a little messy, but the kids loved it and it wasn’t hard. I didn’t even have to bake the cake in a bowl. I used an 8 inch and a 9 inch cake pan, layered them with ganache in the middle and carved it into shape with a knife.

I rounded out the decor with green streamers, green balloons and green plates. It was the perfect family party (we even had friends over this time). Maybe $10 tops (beyond food/ingredients we already have on hand) for the whole thing and a memory they will cherish for years to come. That’s the important part!

Turtles Birthday Theme on a budget #partyplanning #party #birthday #turtles #diy #cake #chalkboard #breakfast

Gathering here.

Simple (and cheap) Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

It’s a chocolate themed birthday party! Super inexpensive, simple and fun. The kids loved it and so did my mom (the birthday girl).

Mole Chicken - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

So, a couple weeks ago we celebrated my mom’s birthday with a chocolate theme. We often go out for dinner on her birthday, but there is chocolate in Mole sauce and she LOVES her Mole. No question… I would be cooking. (We got our all-you-can-eat sushi a few days later!)

I kept the decorations pretty simple. I spent August trying to recover and catch up from the unexpected 10 days we spent in the hospital with my daughter in July. Only now am I starting to feel we’re back to normal.

I made the Hershey Kisses by wrapping foil over upside down bowls of various sizes. The paper is just printer paper I cut into strips and put messages on. Are they perfect? No. But they were well received and did their job. The little ones in the next picture (on my shelves) can also use the top of a water bottle instead of a little bowl, but I forgot to keep the ones we had. If you do that, you can fill them with candy and give them as party favors too. Since it’s always just us at these parties, we didn’t need the candy or the favors. 🙂

The Chocolate Tuffles and Cupcake cards could have been framed, but I didn’t get to the store for the frames, so they were cute on their own. My mom has since framed them and hung them in her chocolate themed bathroom. They doubled as gifts.

The chalkboard frame is just a cheap white frame (my go to frame for all my artwork because of it’s simplicity) from Walmart with a black sheet of paper in it. I used a white water based paint pen to do the illustration of a mug and hand lettered “just add chocolate and cream please” on the side. I love that frame! Silly that it took me so long to pull it together!

Chalkboard - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

As you know if you’ve been around for a while, I decorate my large (husband made) chalkboard for birthdays and events too. Everyone has come to look forward to it and uses it to help determine the theme for the day when I keep it a secret. This one says “birthday wishes and chocolate kisses.”

Brownie Cake - Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

This brownie cake on the back of a Ghirardelli Brownie box mix was the inspiration for the theme. This past spring, my mom saw the picture of that Ombre Brownie Cake on the box and declared that she wanted to try that. I decided that day that we would do it for her birthday.

I’ve never made ganache before and as you can see, my cake doesn’t look exactly like the picture. It was a good first run though, and I hope to do it again because it was yummy!

Note: Not all (or any) of your plans have to work out just right. The person or people you are celebrating will still feel loved that you tried to make their day a big deal! Don’t let fear of failure (or failure itself in my case so often) keep you from going all out!

Gathering here.

Take a Hike – How I Made a Sloped Birthday Cake

Turns out I had to come up with my own plan for this hiking theme cake. I searched and searched for ideas. I have some on my Hiking Party Board, but nothing was going to work with the time available and I didn’t need 30 people worth of cake. In addition to that, I made a camping theme cake several years ago for the same kid, so I wanted it to be different. (aka no tents)

Hiking Trail Cake -- Easy Hiking Theme Birthday on a Budget

As I mentioned earlier this week, the end of July we spent with our oldest daughter in the hospital, leaving very little time for preparing for this birthday. I made the cake (from a box mix) the night before, but I set the temperature wrong and it turned out dry. This set me behind. Usually I freeze the cakes before assembling and frosting them, but after our birthday breakfast we made a new cake (thankfully we had a back up box of cake mix!) and set it to cool on the counter.

First of all, I baked the cake with these even-bake strips from Wilton. They help the cake to rise more evenly. After lunch I was ready to begin frosting the cake. I leveled my cake layers like this (a great video about leveling and frosting cake layers.) I set the tops off to the side to be used later (I had to guard them well as there were several children floating around looking for scraps. )

Frosting the layers was little trickier since they weren’t frozen, but it worked. I did something different for me this time and used a piping bag to pipe the frosting between the layers. (Here is another great video about frosting cakes.) Piping it on helped greatly since the cake wasn’t frozen and was apt to fall apart as I spread. I’m still not great at all the techniques of cake decorating, but I’m having fun learning with each new birthday. 🙂

The Layers

[Ack! There are no pictures of the process. Time was short and I was working as fast as I could to get done in time for an early dinner and celebration. But I’ve drawn pictures for you… I hope they help!]

One of the cakes was falling apart on one side (whether this happened coming out of the pan or with the help of one of my smaller children is undecided). It worked out though, because I used that spot, after the second layer was on, to cut and shape a slope out of that layer down to toward the first layer(see diagram… these are not to scale!!).

Then I frosted only part of the top in a semi-circular way. Then I placed one of the cake tops (saved from before) on top of the frosting and trimmed away the cake that went over the side.

I then added frosting to that layer and repeated with the second cake top saved from before, but I offset it even further (see diagram… still not to scale!!). Then I trimmed away the rest of the cake top and handed out scraps to the hovering children.

This is what it looked like from the side when all the layers were ready.

I then applied the crumb coat and stuck it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden so that I could finish the decorations (and make more frosting.)

I frosted the whole thing with a light green buttercream frosting I made from scratch.

the Creek

On top of that I used blue cookie frosting we already had on hand. I don’t recommend this particular icing, though, because it took a long time to set and ended up sagging down the slope after the pictures were taken. I can already tell in this photo that it had begun. I picked a random place on the cake for the creek and worked a line across the cake and down to the cake plate. Then I just did that several more times to make it thicker . The lines of it melded together nicely.

The Path

I mixed in some white buttercream with chocolate frosting I had in the freezer, left over from another birthday, and it made for a nice “path” color. I piped that onto the cake, making sure to cross the creek, and ended it in a larger area at the top. The kids decided that the picnic tables would go there (the imaginary ones). 🙂 My oldest son figured out how to cut a pretzel so that we could use it for the bridge. Good luck with that, mine kept breaking! 🙂

How I made a Sloped Cake for a Hiking Themed Birthday

The trees

For the trees on the cake I used left over Cupcake Icing we had from another birthday and used the star tip that came with it. I don’t know what color it was because I used the last of it and threw it away, but it was super handy for a quick decorating job. You could do the same thing, though, by making your own frosting and using a star tip. It worked a lot like “spray cheese.” I made both the trees on top of the cake and the ones on the tall side of the cake. Then I put “bushes” around the cake on both sides of the creek until I ran out. The trunks on the back trees are the chocolate frosting I had kept back before adding the buttercream to make the lighter brown for the path.

A few hints on tree placement:

1. I put several “trees/bushes” close together at the start of the creek to give the illusion that it started there in a hidden spring under the trees.
2. I put a tree in the crook of the path to give a reason for the sharp bend in the path.
3. I put several trees at the top around the “eating area” of “path” frosting to mimic a shady picnic area.

Do you have an event coming up that could use a sloped mountain or hiking cake?? Pin it for later. 🙂

Gathering here.

Easy Hiking Theme Birthday on a Budget

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make this “Hiking” themed birthday different from the “Camping” theme we did a few years ago, and let me tell you, inspiration was not coming. I had only general ideas going into the evening before the big day, but hopefully that is just proof of how easy and budget friendly this whole theme was.

Birthdays are a big deal around here, and if you’ve been around a while, then you know that there is always a theme. I was really struggling with what the theme would be this time around since the interests of my now nine year old haven’t changed much over the last few years. I’ve done all the themes already. What he really wanted was a hiking theme, but I kept fighting against it since we just did a camping theme a few years ago.

Added into all that, my husband and I spent 10 days during July in the hospital with our oldest daughter and, while she is in full health now, the week we got home was full of recovery and catching up from being away from home and the rest of the kids for so long. That left only a few days to figure out what I was going to do for this birthday.

Finally I gave in. Hiking theme it was… but I had no idea what I would do. Pinterest is always a huge help, but most of the “hiking” searches brought up tons of great “camping” themed party ideas. Or “national park” themes. Still not exactly what I was looking for. (See my Pinterest board for more ideas!)

One thing I did find was cute hiking signs I could print… but my printer wasn’t working at the last minute, so we didn’t have those.

So what’s a girl to do with no balloons, no streamers, and no idea what to start with? I headed upstairs to to the attic for the Christmas/winter decorations. Yes I did! You may recognize some of these from the Cozy Mountain Lodge Women’s Retreat I decorated for earlier this year too.

I put some of these decorations on my much loved shelves.

Adventure Awaits Hand Painted Card -- Easy Hiking Theme Birthday on a Budget

And I try to paint/illustrate a little card for each of the kids on their birthday. It’s become something that is really special to them. This time I thought it fit nicely in the decoration. You could totally do this painting. I painted the green part of the tree loosely, leaving gaps here and there in a light green. After that dried, I did it again with the same paint, but not going all the way to the edges. Then a third time after it dried again. Once it was all dry the fourth time, I added the brown trunk. Sometimes I simply use a tall triangle for a pine tree. It works great!

The mountains I put on a pedestal in the middle of the breakfast table. (Excuse the wrinkled tablecloth… the epitome of last minute.)

Birthday breakfast was cinnamon roll mountains. Super easy! Two cans of cinnamon rolls from the refrigerated section of the grocery store (though you can make your own if you have the time and inclination). I just unrolled each one and re-rolled it in the slightest cone shape. A little tip: don’t go too high with your cone or it will topple over… but I just made that one mine. 🙂 No big deal.

I made little flags out of scrapbook paper and glued “take a hike” circles on to them. The stick is a skewer I cut into three parts. I hand wrote the “take a hike” but you could use something printed off the computer or even stickers if you can find something you like.

Life's An Adventure... Go Hiking! Chalkboard -- Easy Hiking Theme Birthday on a Budget

The chalkboard was really easy to do. Honestly, the hardest part was the lettering. Again, you could even use a simple tall triangle for the tree if the scribbled lines are too much. I found that the orange chalk gave enough of a brown feel over the black of the chalkboard that it worked perfectly.

The cake was the most last minute of all. I baked the cake the night before… but I used too high of a temperature and it was dry. So my daughter and I remade it that morning. That afternoon I was assembling my cake unfrozen (freezing them first makes it super easy to assemble and frost!!) and with no real idea of what I wanted to do. None of the 2-3 pins I found were what I wanted/had time for, so I was on my own. The cake has it’s own post! Click over to find out how I made it! 🙂

And that’s how we did our easy hiking theme birthday on a budget! To top it off, we recommended some hiking themed birthday presents to family who were looking for ideas, so the back pack, nature journal and compass really added to the excitement! 🙂

Gathering here.

Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

My youngest daughter loves ladybugs (she’s 7). I am glad for her sake that they always seem to be in the house. She get so excited, carries them around, and then, begrudgingly, lets them go free when it is time.

It wasn’t hard to pick a theme for her birthday. A ladybug birthday for my little ladybug!

Tea Party Lunch - Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

She wanted a tea party like her sister (and her brother for that matter), so we made lunch into a tea party complete with flower shaped pb&j. We had pink juice int he tea cups.

The children loved getting to make the paper flower and ladybugs on the table. (pinspiration here) It may not be as cute to us moms as the pin, but the kids had so much fun and the birthday girl loved that they made them for her.

Ladybug Apples - Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

Ladybug finger foods - Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

Other foods were ladybug apples, ladybug bruschetta, and ladybug cheese and crackers.

Red Dots inside the cake - Ladybug Cake - Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

Ladybug Cake - Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

I made the cake with red “dots” inside as a surprise. There are several ways to do them. I just made mini-muffin cupcakes and shaped them with a knife. They also make sphere pans for making them, but we couldn’t find one last minute.

I followed this tutorial for making the little frosting ladybugs. I did it all with frosting instead of edible pen, but it worked too.

Ladybugs on grass Hand lettered Psalm 150:6

And I made this for her also. (I told you in that post that I’d share this party, but never did. Sorry you had to wait so long! (UPDATED: a revised version of this painting is available in my Etsy shop!)

I try to illustrate and or paint something for the kids birthdays when I have the time and inspiration. She loves this one and put it in her school binder to see everyday. Makes my mama heart smile.

Gathering here.

Ice Cream Parlor Birthday Party with Food and Artwork to Match

This one’s late, sorry.

Last summer, one of my middle kids really wanted ice cream with his birthday cake. It was a big deal. He had been talking about it for months.

Ice cream with the cake. Got it.

As the months of reminders continued, I decided that an Ice Cream Parlor theme would be perfect for his 8th birthday. Then I had to ask him how important the cake was. 🙂 The theme was a surprise, but when I assured him that his dessert would match the theme, he decided that the cake was optional. The ice cream was not. No problem.

Somehow there is no pic of the finished result, but we started the day with Scrambled Eggs and muffins in Bacon Cones (though mine didn’t work great, they were still fun) and 4 ingredient chocolate banana “ice cream“.

I decorated with balloons with and without cones around the walls. (Pinspiration here.)

Ice Cream Parlor Chalkboard for Ice Cream Birthday Theme

And, of course, I decorated my chalkboard (I changed his name in photoshop.)

Tacos in a Cone for Ice Cream Birthday Party Theme

For dinner we had taco cones and ate them out of hand just like an ice cream cone.

Ice Cream Cone Cookie Dessert for Ice Cream Birthday Party Theme

For dessert I made a huge round cookie with a pizza pan and cut it into wedges. I put two scoops (size dependent on the age of the person eating) of ice cream, Reddi-whip, and a cherry on top. It was a hit. And oh-so-good!

I try to paint a little something for the kids on their birthdays in place of a card. They love it. It doesn’t always work out, but this time, I painted a simple ice cream cone and signed it “mommy”. He put it in the clear cover of his school binder so he can see it all the time.

Find more ideas for your own Ice Cream Parlor Party on my Ice Cream Party Board on Pinterest. I’m continuing to add more ideas all the time, so click follow while you are there. And, while you are at it, feel free to follow all my boards for other creative inspiration! (Shameless plug.) 🙂

Gathering here.

A Simple Little House Birthday Theme for my 11 year old

Simple Little House Birthday Theme for Tween Girl from Mama's brush - chalkboard art, centerpiece, cake, meals and more

There are a lot of ideas out there for cute cute cute Little House birthday parties! Believe me, I pinned some of them. But I ran into two problems (if you can really call anything in the party planning world a “problem”). First, we don’t really do “parties”. We don’t invite friends and we aren’t looking for activities most of the time. For our family, we are a party already! When my mom and sister join us (the most local family we have), we are already 10 people. I do choose a theme for the day, though, and we try to keep as much of the day on theme as possible. “Problem” 2, most of the little house parties I found online were for little girls, not tweens. While I did use many of those parties as inspiration, I wanted something a little older… and simpler.

Baby's Breath and Checked Cloth Centerpiece - Little House on the Prairie Birthday Theme — I brought home the baby’s breath from the women’s retreat and put them in a canning jar to use for our centerpiece. I set them on a red check napkin to tie in Ma Ingall’s red check table cloth.

I picked the Little House (or “Laura and Mary” as my kids call it) theme for my daughter. This past fall she told me she wanted a “homemaker” theme for her birthday. While I found that precious, you may be surprised (or not) to hear that there is just about nothing on Pinterest under “homemaker birthday party theme”. I found all sorts of tricks for cleaning my house and for being content as a homemaker, but nothing for party decorations or cake themes. (Shocker, right?) When I thought of the Little House books, it seemed a perfect fit. Laura and Mary were little homemakers in training from the time they were little, and while the theme did become more “Little House” and not as much “homemaker” specific, it still worked.

Prairie Girl Chalkboard Welcome - Little House on the Prairie Birthday Theme

Birthday themes start with decorations the night before, but because a birthday in the Ingall’s family would have been pretty simply decorated, I stuck with the flowers and red check cloth on the table and the chalkboard sign I made. I had worked on sketching the prairie girl while I was away last weekend, but the “Have a Prairie good birthday” came to me while I was working on it Wednesday night. I wanted something to help her know what the theme actually was if she was up before we were Thursday morning.

Pancakes for breakfast - Little House on the Prairie Birthday Theme — I used a squeeze bottle to make some shaped pancakes like this “cake” shaped pancake with candles on it. I also did bonnets and her name.

Breakfast is the next big thematic moment… when a theme and time allow for it. Pancakes were the sure decision. I mixed up the batter the night before so I wouldn’t have to get up too early after my late night. Most of the pancakes were normal ovals (rather than circles to fit more on my skillet), but I did do some “picture” pancakes as well.

"Log Cabin" made from Bananas - Little House on the Prairie Birthday Theme

And my sister decided to make a banana “log cabin”. I figure it’s a lot like the way their cabin in Kansas looked before the roof was on. 🙂

Daddy always comes and takes the birthday kid out for lunch, so that isn’t themed. Sometimes we do a thematic activity, or coloring sheet. This year, I let her work on one of her sewing projects on my machine. It seemed appropriate.

And she and her sister get bonnets. They have been asking for them for a while now and I figured this was the perfect time. Because of the women’s retreat being last weekend, I didn’t get both finished, and even this one still needs it’s ties, but she is pretty excited about them none the less. I used this tutorial from Jamie Sanders at Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.

Simple cake with pennent banner - Little House on the Prairie Birthday Theme

Dinner was very thematic too. We started with a recipe for Oyster Soup from the Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker. Then we had rotisserie chicken (instead of me roasting one), corn bread and baked beans. And a simply decorated cake for dessert. I know that to be completely accurate the cake would probably have been dusted with powdered sugar or something instead of frosted with buttercream, but this was a compromise. 🙂 It was also supposed to have a layer of ice cream too, but it wasn’t working and it never did fully recover after I took it out. I am grateful that the children see my intentions more clearly than the end result!

Have you ever had a Little House birthday?

Gathering here.

Cozy Mountain Lodge Women’s Retreat Wrap Up

This past weekend was our church’s Cozy Mountain Lodge Women’s Retreat. We were at a new venue, which turned out just right. It was in the mountains, we were in a lodge of sorts, and once we were done with set up, it was decidedly cozy!

Decorating - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up — Pre-cut fabric squares strung up with mini clothes pins were a cute and colorful addition to our mantle. The fabric was an adorable cabin in the mountains theme. Sorry, I don’t remember what it was called.

Unfortunately, though I promised myself I wouldn’t let this happen, I got so busy that I forgot to stop and take pictures of everything. These are the few there are. 🙂

Lit Tree and Snow Blocks on the Piano - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up — White lights added a whimsical touch. Since we used the lights and trees the church already had, it was also a huge budget helper!

When I put away my winter decor at the end of January, I put a number of pieces into our retreat box. The snow blocks, wooden trees and the jar of “snowballs” were some of the ones from my kitchen. And since the mountainside out our windows were covered with snow, it was perfect!

Centerpieces - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up

The centerpieces were simple. One of the families in our church had a baby shower this past fall with a woodland animals theme. I was able to use the same tree trunk slabs they had made for that (another budget saver!) Baby’s Breath flowers in Ball jars with rocks were inexpensive and gave a lot of bang for their buck. The little birds in nests were in our decor closet at church as well. That was an exciting find. And for the tables, we used Kraft paper. Simple, less expensive than cloth, and more durable than plastic. Plus it had that rustic quality I was looking for.

Centerpiece - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up

The framed cabin print was one of the ones I painted (now available in my shop). All 7 of the tables had one and they were given as prizes as part of the “door prize drawing”. Each person got something. When it came to these prints, they were allowed to choose between one of those or one of the remaining prizes that I hadn’t painted myself. That way ladies who wouldn’t have a use for the artwork, had a choice to opt out. 🙂 I was super excited to see most of them taken.

Birch Tree Pretzels - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up — Mountain

Mountain Rice Krispie Treats - Cozy Mountain Lodge Women's Retreat Wrap Up — Mountain

The food table we set out in the evenings was more elaborate than these pics let on, yet still simple. Not only had I brought the Birch Tree Pretzels and Mountain Rice Krispies Treats, but also some veggies and dip, chips, pretzels and popcorn. And other ladies brought things to share also. No one ever had cause to be hungry! 🙂 And my kids were thrilled with some left overs!

DIY Chocolate Wrappers - Cozy Mountain Lodge Woman's Retreat

The custom chocolates I left on everyone’s pillows (read that post here) were a big hit too. And even though I had a ton to do, I disappeared to put them out myself. I’m so glad I did! I didn’t want anyone to know they were coming (even the other helpers) and I wanted a chance to pray a few words for each of the ladies who came.

Get going... in step with the Spirit - Galatians 5:25

The remaining artwork I created for the retreat (available here) was framed and left around the room in cozy places where the ladies sat to visit, read their Bibles, or crochet. Sorry there aren’t any pics of that. Each one has it’s own post: Get Away, Get Going, Get Cozy, and {God’s Got this} Let the Adventure Begin.

God's Got This - Hand Lettered Artwork - Joshua 1:9

Are you planning a mountain themed retreat? I’d love to hear about your plans! Share some of them in the comments for others to enjoy!

Gathering here.

Old MacDonald’s Farm Birthday Theme

Just after Thanksgiving, one of my little guys turned 5. He wanted a tractor birthday… but not a construction tractor, a farm tractor. And if he had anything to say about it, there should be a barn and a pig. Well… I had to see what I could do.

I try to do a little painting to go along with the theme of each birthday. The kids love them and have come to expect them.

I think this was my first pig. And barn and tractor and hay pile actually. I was pretty happy with them. I love that art can be art even when it’s not perfect. But I’m pretty sure my son thought it was perfect.

Hint: if you are just starting out, make stuff for your kids. They will think you are great even if you don’t! 🙂

For example… the cake. While structurally sound, it’s not the most attractive cake I’ve attempted. But, except that it was supposed to have a man on it (who went missing at the last minute) and that the cow was “supposed” to be in front of the barn (my bad), he thought it was great!

Breakfast and dinner went much better. Missing from this post is the pic of “pigs in mud” (baked beans and dogs) that we had for dinner. A nice and simple meal.

And there you have it… our Old MacDonald Birthday.

Gathering here.

Tag: theme

A Turtle Themed Birthday on a Budget

Recommended Reading:

Simple (and cheap) Chocolate Theme Birthday Party

Recommended Reading:

Take a Hike – How I Made a Sloped Birthday Cake

The Layers

the Creek

The Path

The trees

A few hints on tree placement:

Recommended Reading:

Easy Hiking Theme Birthday on a Budget

Recommended reading:

Ladybug Birthday Party Theme

A Simple Little House Birthday Theme for my 11 year old

Cozy Mountain Lodge Women’s Retreat Wrap Up

Old MacDonald’s Farm Birthday Theme