Steve's birthday bash

Everyone who knows me knows that birthdays are important to me. I believe that everyone deserves a big deal to be made about them on their birthday (even if you have to make the big deal yourself!). August is a big birthday month for me because not only does my birthday fall in the middle of the month, many of my friends and family are August babies as well. This year my friend Sharon wanted to celebrate all the August birthdays in her life by having a party. The secret was that it was really for her husband, Steve, even though he thought it was for everyone. We thought the best way to make the focus about him was to create favors and a cake that set the mood, and since I'm rarely one to turn down a project, especially one that involves cake, of course I volunteered to make them.

I chose a bright summery color palette of blue, green, and yellow, and created a graphic that said "Steve's birthday bash" to use on favors and the cake. Since it was a pool party and it has been such a hot summer, the first thing I made were fans that looked like popsicles with a bite taken out of them. This was actually pretty simple. I printed two each on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet, and cut it lengthwise down the middle, so that each sheet would make 2 popsicles. Then I folded each one over and glued a popsicle stick inside. I made myself a guide for the rounded corners, cut each one, then used a scallop shear on one side to make it look like a bite had been taken out.





For the cake, I enlarged the 'Steve's birthday bash' graphic and printed it, then I cut it out with an x-acto knife to make a stencil. (This would have been a great thing to do with a silhouette machine. Hmmm... maybe I'll get one for my next birthday!) I made a 3-layer yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting between each layer, and I used the chocolate fudge frosting as a crumb coat. After it chilled, I frosted the entire thing with white buttercream frosting. I laid the stencil on top of the cake and sprinkled over the letters in a gradient pattern of blue, green, and yellow sanding sugar, to match the favors.



As a parting gift, I created little favor bags for the guests to take home with them using M&Ms in matching colors. I put them inside little clear bags and stapled them with a tent tag to make a perfect little package.



All it takes is a little creativity to make someone feel extra special on their birthday. I hope these inspire you to create favors for your own parties!