After The Party

Thanks to a big hockey tournament, my son had only female guests this weekend - although he was perfectly happy with his party, it did reinforce a certain forgotten birthday party rule: ALWAYS CHECK BEFOREHAND THAT KIDS CAN COME ON THE DATE YOU'VE PICKED. Learn from my mistakes, people!

But he had a lot of fun, and it was a great little party. Look at the fantastic cake his dad made:

It was a big hit, although the kids really favoured certain colours over others - the red and white pieces were eaten up quickly, while we had quite a lot of blue left over and the yellow was absolutely untouched. There's probably some interesting psychological reasons behind all of that, but the cake itself was unvaryingly chocolate AND made from a mix, since kids rarely eat more then the icing and frankly, my feelings get hurt when my homemade chocolate cake is uneaten.

My husband makes all fancy birthday cakes in our household - I'm in charge of mixing together the cake mix, since apparently that's REALLY HARD, and then my husband cheerfully puts together something remarkable. He's made trains, Legos, a monkey, a fairytale castle - all of which astonishes some people, which in turn surprises me. My husband is an artist - why would he also not be good at decorating cakes? He's also the one who decorates for birthday parties, for the same reasons. Birthday parties, apparently, are Women's Work, and even though my husband is vastly more talented at creating them then me, it still startles people to hear that it wasn't yours truly who stayed up until midnight making the cake.

We had the grandparents in for cake last night and I went into the kitchen with the cheerful intention of making a buttercream meringue icing, which then FAILED UTTERLY. I served bare cake to our parents - luckily, angelfood - with the grim feeling that I'd ruined The Boy's birthday, who sat there happily eating his favorite kind of cake, cheerfully unaware of my angst. Sitting here now, though, I can tell that he had a good, happy birthday, with friends and phonecalls from far-away family and lots of presents and several cakes and he settled down to bed last night contented and pleased.

Our living room is still awash in red, yellow and blue streamers and swags of red, yellow and blue balloons - we'll leave them up until next weekend, and then let the house be bare for a week until the start of February. The kids have big plans for decorating for valentine's day after that, and then it's Easter and then it's only a hop skip and a jump until my daughters' birthdays, time fleeting past us unnoticed and my children waking up bigger every morning.

Comments

[RachtheBach]

How creative...very cool!

[maggie]

totally great cake.

[Michelle]

Your husband is so talented and creative! I love seeing the pictures of the cakes he creates! Glad the party turned out so well despite the big hockey tournament!

[Alyssa Goodnight]

He did a lovely job! And it doesn't look like it was easy!

[Kath]

...sure makes sense that an artist would be great at cake decorating, too. My hubby is no artist though, so I keep him away from the piping bags.

[Kelley]

I'm completely in awe of your husband.

[amreen]

that cake looks amazing!i am so amazed by your husband

[Susanne]

After all that partying and cake I'm surprised he did settle down. LOL.

The lego cake is wonderful. Now I would totally have picked the yellow myself. Now what does that say? Hmmm. I'll have to think on that.

[Marta]

The cakes are great! Your hubby is so talented. And you always make every celebration so much fun for your kids. Lucky them!

[Angeline]

You make delicious looking pancakes and your husband bake cakes that looks too good to eat. Which couple can be more compatible than the 2 of you!

[morning]

Your husband's a genius -- bookshelves and cakes. I'm jealous. Well, at least mine can fix a computer, that's something.

[nomotherearth]

I would have thought the white and yellow cakes would go first, as blue and red dyes sometimes don't taste as good as they look. But kids are wildcards.

Your husband has some mad skillz!

[Painted Maypole]

what, you're not decorating for mardi gras? ;)

[edj]

Husbands and wives rarely fit into all the stereotypes. In any given relationship, I think both will fit some stereotypes and not fit others. My dad was an artist and made me the best Holly Hobbie cake EVER for my 11th birthday--I still remember him spending all day perfectly doing the icing. He died when I was 15, so it's a really special memory.
With us, I do the cakes (NOT as beautifully as your husband!) but Donn is very talented at fun games. We're a team--like you guys.
Glad your boy had such an awesome birthday, and that he's in such a great family--not that he realizes it just yet. But he will.

[Randi]

Another cute cake! Your guy is quite talented!

Interesting about the colors. I personally would pick the white, but that is because i wouldn't want blue-stained teeth. ;)

[crazymumma]

Happy birthday little dude!

Interesting about the colours............

[slouching mom]

Wow! Those cakes look great! Could I borrow him, umm, two days a year?

[Soul-Fusion]

The cake looks fantastic! Maybe I need to start hunting for a creative-type husband so he can make up for my complete lack of a right brain.

And I'm with you on the hurt feelings . . . I really try not to take it personally when people don't eat my baked goods but it is hard.

[tulipmom]

Now THAT'S what our Lego cake was supposed to look like. I'm still mad I didn't just do it myself. Your hubby did a fabulous job ... I love that he did 4 different colors. Very interesting about the kids' color choices ... I too would have chosen yellow but I've been partial to yellow ever since I was a kid (I had yellow bedrooms in a few different houses).

Thanks for sharing.

[Stephanie G.]

The cake is delightful and it sounds as if the Boy had a wonderful day.

And there you go again with that killer last sentence.

[Kyla]

You guys are so fun. And I am glad the Boy had a good birthday.

[Omaha Mama]

An artist for a husband, that's the trick! :-) Women's work, that made me giggle. I can appreciate that people are surprised though, because many of us have husbands who use other parts of their brain more efficiently. Like the football watching part or the grumbling about money, housework, etc. part. I'm just sayin.

Sounds like a great party, I'm definitely keeping that one in the back of my mind for little boy parties at our house in the future.

[Cyndi]

So far, my husband does the birthday party decorating and has done a much better job than I could have done. That cake looks really fun.

[Hetha]

I love it! I think it's so very sweet that your husband is involved to this level in the birthday goings on. I guess there are no written rules that it's women's work, but that is usually how it goes isn't it?

[Janet]

I should have read your post before I asked how the birthday party went, huh? ;)

I had to come and look at the cakes, though. Awesome.

[Maddy]

Good for you! I'm all for birthday cake, but I'll probably skip the ice-cream.
BEst wishes

[Peanut Butter and Jelly Boats]

OH my goodness those cakes are AWESOME!

[LoriD]

I'm stealing that Lego cake idea for my next party. It's awesome!

[chickadee]

what a great husband. those are great looking little cakes.

[bren j.]

Whoa that cake looks good. (Are the top round parts made from cupcakes?)

I am NOT showing this to the Husband who will only end up demanding a Lego party for HIS next birthday.

[Rosebud & Papoosie Girl]

When I was in elementary school we used to go to the Science Centre a lot (our school was not too far away) I remember an experiment where were given an orange candy and a blue one and we had to say what flavour they were. Of course they were the same flavour, but no one could make their brain think that.

For the record, all cake is good!

[Aliki]

See--I would have dug right into the yellow piece! But you're right--the kids seem to go for blues...

[Guinevere Meadow]

That is one talented Hubby you have there!!

I'll have to tell my hubby about your Lego birthday party. My Hubby ADORES Lego. Our office is adorned with two shelves full of Star Wars Lego masterpieces,including the Millenium Falcon, R2-D2, several figher jets(x-wings?), Yoda's house, and there is a third shelf with a large pirate ship and a Formula One racecar set.

He loves Lego so much that our one-year old son already has two tubs of Duplo and a tub of Lego for when he is old enough not to eat them.

It's pitiful, really.

[Tracy]

Your hubby is so darn clever!!! Oh, if only the Boy were a bit older, he could BRAG that there were only girls at his party!

[Suz]

I wouldn't want the yellow either. Wonder why. Poor yellow.

[Mad Hatter]

I am making a luscious, homemade blueberry cake for Miss M's day care celebration of her birthday this Friday. For her home party on Saturday (the actual day of her birthday) I totally caved at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago when she spotted the Barbie cake from a distance and begged for it. Next year, I will know better and avoid the cake aisle from Christmas onward. This year I am a putz but at least I am not a putz stuck making 2 cakes.

[Becky]

Those lego cakes are amazing! Your artist/husband does a wonderful job. I am sure the Boy feels special after such a great party and chocolate cake. I would.

[meredith]

I'll have a piece of the yellow lego cake, please. Tell your husband congratulations, the lego cake is awesome!

[Pieces]

That's funny about the cakes. Yellow would have been my first choice.

[tracey]

The cakes look cool! Blue frosting though, is a pain to get off of stuff. Maybe you should be glad that it wasn't the favorite?

I am always so happy to have time off from decorations. I only decorate for the fall, Christmas and birthdays. OTherwise, I'm left feeling like there isn't any off time to just BE, you know?

[Mary Beth]

I love the cakes and I'm glad The Boy had a good birthday weekend! The color choice is definitely something related to childhood cause I know I'd have gone for the yellow!

[chelle]

Fantastic!!!! I am so glad all went well and mmm if that cake tastes as well as it looks!!!! YUM!

[Kathryn]

Your house sounds like one big party with only a few days out of the year when it is not decorated for some fun event. What a lovely place to live! And what lucky children you have. Happy Birthday to the boy!

[Becky]

Great cakes! I might have to tuck the Lego party idea into my back pocket. ;) And more power to your husband. Personally, I enjoy being the cake decorator in our family, but there are plenty of tasks around our house that my husband is much better at than I.

[Heidi]

Great cakes! That is so funny about the colors, although I totally understand that there is some unwritten child rules for color choice that we somehow forget as we grow up.

I think my son would be perfectly happy with female guests too.

[Mary-LUE]

The cake does look great, Beck. Sorry about your failed buttercream merengue. I'll tell you what an utter kitchen failure I am... I don't know what a buttercream merengue is. Buttercream I know. Merengue I know. The combo? No idea.

I'm so glad your son had a wonderful party.

[chrissy]

That is absolutely adorable. What a creative husband you have. I have a friend whose husband decorates cakes and sews dresses, and people are always puzzling about it.

[Sister Honey Bunch]

That cake is fab-u-lous! Great idea!

[Kathryn Scheibmeir]

Amazing! I'm so glad his birthday went well...and I'll be borrowing this great cake design sometime, I'm really appreciative that you share these glimpses into your world to help make ours a little more fun, a little brighter, and make our kiddos happy with such things as Lego cakes!