Makenzie's 5th Birthday Party

We recently celebrated Makenzie's 5th birthday with a party at a pottery studio called Color Me Pottery. Makenzie and her buddies were able to paint their choice of figurines available. We had so much fun and, of course, I made the birthday cake. The party had a ladybug theme. If you are wondering how I selected that theme, the answer is very simple... Ladybug is one of Makenzie's nicknames. I just so happened to come across a ladybug theme invitation on punchbowl.com and my mom took it from there. I crafted an idea to add black dots to red gift bags to mimick the design of the body of a ladybug. I created a tablescape that included an array of balloons and a red tablecloth with black plates and utensils. The best part of the table setting was the ladybug placemats my mom found! The items inside the bags included ladybug erasers, ladybug crayons, ladybug bubbles, a ladybug coloring book and a few other items that were off the theme but too cute to pass up. All of which either came from Party City or Target.

It was only fitting that the cake follow the theme! I just couldn't help myself. I made a delicious strawberry dream cake with cream cheese icing and fresh strawberries between each layer. The cake itself was a 2-tier cake with embellishments made of fondant. I used 2 6-inch pans and 2 9-inch pans to bake each layer.The cake came out better than I thought it would but I had to put a few hours into decorating the cake, which is fine because it's for my child. I am not giving out my recipe that I have perfected, so don't ask... Sorry! I found the letter candles at Party City.



Strawberry Dream Cake



My mom thought that the party would not be complete without the birthday girl wearing a ladybug costume and I totally agreed!! It was adorable.

The smiling birthday girl!

Makenzie wearing her ladybug wings.