Martha Redux
If it weren't for the whisker-shaped post-traumatic stress syndrome I'm currently suffering from, I might not believe that I did it all. As it is, it's a good thing there are photos to prove that while I'm lazy, it's a choice. It's not that I can't be crafty and such, it's that I choose not to be. The thing is that I also choose to be cheap. Apparently cheap wins out over lazy. Or something.
When I asked Alexis to pick a theme for her birthday party, she was torn between Hello Kitty and Hannah Montana. I promptly threw Hannah under a bus ("I heard Hannah Montana thinks 5-year olds are babies." OH, YES I DID.), and Alexis happily decided to go the Hello Kitty route. We spent an evening on Etsy finding invitations and TAH-DAH! her party theme was born. She wanted "rock star Hello Kitty."
Easy enough!
Except . . . not. I couldn't find anything that sort of matched the invitations. All of the locally available Hello Kitty party stuff was pastel-sugar-coated-pukey Hello Kitty, not emo-shops-at-Hot-Topic Hello Kitty. So, FINE. I decided to make everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. (Important note: I gave birth to a child who thinks everything should match. People, she matches her underwear to her shirt and socks every day. There was no convincing her that the pastel Hello Kitty was good enough.)
I made the treat bags.
Which, honestly, were easy. I just printed a Hello Kitty on some card stock, cut out the pieces, traced, and then glued it all together.
I never want to see a little black whisker ever again, but the rest was super easy.
(We won't be talking about how the bags themselves were made of fairy farts and fell apart the second anyone looked at them.)
I also made some of the decorations.
That was a print/cut/glue job as well. The idea originated from something I saw on Etsy, but cheap won out over lazy, so I had to make it myself. No, really. I HAD to. I had envisioned it on the wall like that, so it had to happen for real or a black hole would have opened up below our house and the world would have ended.
Then I got all wild and crazy and made cupcakes for the party.
Although, the only thing even remotely complicated about them was that I made them rainbow cupcakes.
I also made the cake. And decorated the cake. With buttercream icing that I made from scratch.
I KNOW. I don't recognize this domestic-crafty-weird version of me either.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Reader Comments (30)
I don't know if we can be friends anymore.
Heck, I like you enough I'm willing to over look this but remind me to not speak to you (or read your blog) in the month of January next year and we shall not speak of this again. You are making the rest of us look bad.
@Michelle Smiles--Don't worry, it will NEVER happen again. Promise.
OK, just STOP IT. You're making the rest of us look bad.
Wow! I super duper love the banner!
Oh wow that is seriously impressive!
There is a machine called a Cricut. It has every cartridge imaginable. (even hello kitty) you put paper on a mat and it cuts out shapes and letters. I have one. Its AMAZING! If you are going to continue to do these kinds of things i recommend getting one. I use it for my scrapbooking ALL the time. It takes all the work of cutting out. Also they make a sticky dot paper that you just slap the piece down, peel off and its sticky! If you ever have a project again feel free to ask me for tips! I love crafty stuff!
It was wonderful. But you *are* getting kind of creepy.
@Karyn--I almost talked myself into buying one, but then was all NOOOOO. ONE TIME ONLY. Heh.
Awww! Cute! So did you have the Hello Kitty cake pan, did you modify another cake pan or did you make it all up as you went? Master J has requested a Star Wars themed birthday this year and I'm frantically searching for an R2D2 cake pan that isn't $75 or more (because seriously?) Either way, you did a great job on her theme. You ought to go into party planning as a lucrative side business. There are a whole lot of people out there with more money than talent/time that would be willing to pay for such services.
Incredible! Can you please be mom to my kids? As apparently I am even more of a slacker than I thought. :)
@Mirth--The Hello Kitty cake pan was $11 (and I thought that was too much--ZOMG at the R2D2 price!). It took a couple of tries to get the cake to come out of the pan cleanly, but it wasn't a big deal since I had to make cake pops as well.
Ah, poor Hannah! Monday when Youngest Boy got into the space shuttle after school he loudly and very excitedly announced: "WE'RE GOING TO HOLLYWOOD! I KNOW YOU THINK IT'S FOR PRETEND BUT IT'S FOR REAL!!" Then he said, "Where's 'Hollywood'?" Before I could answer Oldest Boy said, very matter-of-factly, "That's where Hannah Montana is." Huh?
Way to make the rest of us feel like crap about our craft skills!!!! My 3 year old will turn 4 in Aug and she's already informed me she wants a Mermaid cake - I've always made her cakes but I'm afraid this year I'll be out of luck!!!! She hasn't much cared before so some icing and M&M's in an easy pattern were good enough! I tried a tye-died cakes for my nephew's b-day - what a pain in the rear that was!
I'm very impressed!
@Mel--I was SHOCKED at how easy buttercream icing is to work with. I procrastinated decorating that cake until the very last second because I was convinced it was going to be a giant pain in the ass, but it went right on without incident. It took maybe 20 minutes to finish.
BTW, my secret go-to cake decorating solution is the little figurine toys from the Disney Store and such. I couldn't find them for Hello Kitty at a reasonable price, but I bet Little Mermaid would be easier.
@mirth: I'm thinking a creative combo of a 9 x 13" and a 9" round could get you a pretty good R2D2
@Kristin: Thanks, that's a really good idea. I was debating just doing a layer cake frosted in deep blue with white stars and slapping some action figures on top, but I suspect my son would probably like your idea better.
@Kristin--You're pretty much a genius.
Very impressive work, and I am very respectful of the theme. Hello Kitty is only a little younger than I am. I loved her when I was a girl. (Actually, I preferred My Melody, her bunny friend, but I had a lot of stuff for them both.) Back then we were living in San Francisco and had to go to the Sanrio store in Japantown to get my fix. I've been tickled with the Hello Kitty resurgence and am hoping that this baby girl will appreciate the wonder of Hello Kitty as well.
And anything you can do to make a girl NOT like Hannah Montana is fair game in my book.
I am beyond impressed. I was proud of myself for just FILLING treat bags let alone making them and just putting sprinkles on cupcakes. Your daughter is a lucky girl.
Dude. This is like awesome. I think you really are Martha, masquerading as Burgh Baby's Mom... ;) Seriously, great job lady! I am SUPER impressed!
It's only gonna get worse from here. You will be a bit fluffy princessy mom before you know what hit you. That's the power of the girly girl daughter.
if you don't adopt me i am calling child services and telling them you beat me.
wait.
that won't work.
stupid logic.
But doesn't it feel so GOOD to do it yourself?
I went a little crazy for my son's first birthday party by making everything, too ... And he was ONE! He didn't care about the party, let alone the theme it had!! ;)
LOL. Well my creative game has disappeared...so maybe you stole it from me when you came here at Thanksgiving?? ;)
Looks like a fun party...I need to get my game on. Only a little over 2 months until we have a 5&6 year old party thing.
@Emily--It DOES feel good. I didn't do anything the first few years (except the cupcakes) since I knew Alexis wouldn't remember. I was saving up for now, I guess. ;-)
@Sarah--You can't have it back! Don't even try!
Dude. Seriously? Put afreakin' warning on posts like this. A warning along the lines of "don't read this with your 5 year old in the room or you WILL have to answer why SHE didn't have stuff like this at her party."
I love you. You're awesome. Clearly. But, if you keep doing things like this, we may not be able to remain friends. ;)
(Seriously, though....you outdid yourself! I am beyond impressed!)
Amazing the hidden talents we find....awesome party!
(1) I love Alexis for matching her shirt, socks, and underwear. She makes this 30-something feel a little less Type-A-crazy and a little cooler. (Just a little - but enough.)
(2) I love that you threw Hannah under the bus! C.ooper has mentioned her a few times as of late thanks to the company of 5 and 6-year-old girls he spends his mornings with at school. I may or may not plug M.aren's ears everytime her name gets mentioned in the hopes that she will just stick with the Disney Princesses.
(3) Oh, Martha! LOVE IT! I can only imagine the look on Alexis' face when she took it all in. You are awesome!
I am SO proud of you. Mostly for the Hannah Montana comment, but also for your inner martha coming out.
Excellent! Gracie's birthday is at the end of April. Plan to arrive a week before to help with the gluing and cutting and bedazzling.