Friday, June 11, 2010

Starting to plan the 2nd birthday party

Between working on things for my Healthy Living Event I have been doing some searching for ideas for Ethan's second birthday which is coming up in 2 months! I know, I know, it's strange I'm even LOOKING at cakes (made with non organic sugar and  white flour!). However, it's a birthday and I think it's perfectly OK to have some treats on these occasions. I do make everything from scratch and know what goes into my cakes, no hydrogenated anything.

As for the theme I'm doing Maisy Train. Maisy is Ethan's favorite cartoon. I am adding the train theme as well because there is an episode (and a book) with Maisy riding on a train with her friends. Also we had purchased a wooden train set for Ethan over a year ago (we had a gift card at a train store we needed to use up) that we planned to give him for his 2nd birthday. My husband loves trains and still has his packed away from his childhood. When we move into our new house this fall we will be decorating Ethan's new room in a train theme.

Maisy is a European cartoon and is not very popular here in the states. So I am going to be making do with what I can create from scratch and not order any Maisy birthday supplies. There are some cute birthday supplies for 2nd birthday in a train theme, but I don't really like spending so much money on decorations that are paper and will be thrown away. I like a simple look and enjoy using cloth table coverings and some nicer accessories. I am going to try to make my own invites with the Maisy image here, but if I can't get it to look right I have found a lady on Etsy that has an adorable one.

I looked at all 90-something pages on cake central at train themed cakes (that's a lot of cakes!). I found several for inspiration. There are so many talented women out there! I have the website link under each picture to give these women the credit and if you want to see any more photos of the specific cake. These are the cakes I really like and I want to incorporate some of the ideas off of each one into my own creation.





I can't decide on the topper of the cake. I also love the size and style of the train on top of this cake. I could mold a Maisy to be in the train. Adorable cupcake display. I did a small cake with cupcakes for Ethan's first birthday since I wasn't brave enough to cover a cake with fondant yet. If I wanted to go with a cupcake tier I would do this whole creation- it's perfect! I have my heart set on making a two tiered cake with fondant this time though.



Or there is a smaller train I could make to run on the bottom of the cake or bottom tier like this.


I have also spent countless hours looking online for inspiration for decorations, favors, etc. Then I found season 1 of Cake Boss on Netflix and have been watching that all week! Oh my, I'm addicted to that show now ;-)

After watching my friend do the fondant on my friends lingerie shower cake I feel confident in covering my own now. I attempted to cover my first fondant cake a year ago and it wasn't pretty. However, I now know there were several other steps I need to do to prepare the cake better and get the fondant the right thickness. I know I can do it. I'm planning on making a 2 tiered cake for the 4th of July for practice.

Any ideas or suggestions??
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4 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't believe our boys are going to be 2 so soon! Cute theme idea & cakes! I'm still trying to decide- mainly because I'm sick of Toy Story! :o)

ReAnna said...

I love trains too! I am sure whatever you decide to do it will look great! The cake that you two did for me was so pretty so I know you can do it for E man. And you know ne I am all about not eating hydrogenated crap!! Yay!! 2 I can't wait !! I am thinking about going part time billing and doing nursing so I don't have to work so much and if that is the case I want to see you lots more!!

N.D. said...

I absolutely LOVE the train idea. I think cupcakes are really cute too. ALl of these cakes look incredible - I don't know if I could do it myself. Soo exciting, can't wait to see your cakes !

Jill said...

Since he still has a summer birthday, something simple like popsicles (if you guys allow them) would be a great favor. You could get the ones that are mostly ice that could be sent thawed, and then the parents could freeze them at home and then the kids could have them whenever. Inexpensive and consumable. Not little stuff to just junk up and get thrown away. Another idea would be to make a small gift bag, I mean SMALL with one toy train or other themed thing in it, or just hand out stickers when the kids leave, etc, to save the bag. I am personally not into the goodie bag thing, I think that the birthday is for the child and that the kids attending should learn that the day is about them on THEIR birthday, and that they get 'gifts' then. But that's just my very humble opinion. As for decorations, if there is something you could re-use in his room, that would be awesome! Again, 2 is kind of small to even think about decorations per se, I mean they'll see them, but they won't really 'get' it. Save your money for future birthdays and skimp while you can!

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