Tuesday, October 28, 2014

A Flower Party

The Girl turned 7 last week.  What?!?!  We had a party at home over the weekend.  She requested a flower theme and burritos this year.  So a flower theme and burritos is what she got.


I did ground turkey (cooked with taco seasonings the day before) and refried beans in the double crockpot.
Mexican rice, that I also cooked the day before, then rewarmed in the oven - and then forgot it was in the oven until after dinner.
Whoops.
So we have a vat of rice to get through for the rest of the week.
Cheddar, Pepperjack, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Shredded Lettuce, Cilantro, and Salsa for toppers.

To go with dinner, I did a big fruit platter with pineapple, red and green grapes, apples, and persimmons.

For appetizers, I made a couple batches of salsa with all the tomatoes and peppers still in the garden.
I also made Shrimp Ceviche and put it in little flower cups that I made out of wonton wrappers.
I got the idea here:

Flower Appetizer Cups

She used a cookie cutter with fewer petals, so they looked more like flowers.
My sister thought I had just used Scoops brand chips.
Um, clearly I should have, 'cause that would have been a heck of a lot less time-consuming.
I looked at a few Ceviche recipes online, then ended up sorta faking it.
I used a pound of cooked shrimp, each one cut into three pieces, diced cucumber, tomato, yellow bell pepper, jalapeno, red onion, and avocado.  Chopped cilantro, the juice from one lime, and salt.
Pretty easy.  I don't do shrimp, so The Dad was my taste tester and said it was good.
I didn't fill the cups until just before serving, 'cause I didn't want them to get soggy, which they did after setting for awhile.









I also tried the molded jello in my cake pan that has flowers on it.
You couldn't really tell there were flowers on it when it was all said and done, but oh well, it was colorful.
I found Jolly Rancher brand jello and used two watermelon, two green apple and two blue raspberry.
You can find the instructions for it here:

Rainbow Jello Mold



For decorations, I made three different sized paper dahlias.
The instructions I found were for the largest one, so I just winged it to make the other two.
The tutorial is here:
I hot glued some ribbon on the back to hang them.
The pictures aren't great because of hanging in front of the window, but they turned out pretty cute.









For the table, I cut up the fake grass from The Kid's football party to make a runner and placemats.
Flowers in the yard were slim pickin's, but I was able to get enough Dahlias for the middle.
The plates, cups and napkins are from Target.
I was originally just going to use regular dishes, but when I saw them, I couldn't leave the store without them.
I had the little wooden flower pots in my stash, so I painted them with chalkboard paint, stuck a little piece of floral foam down in, covered that with some mossy stuff, then poked a flower down in.
(More on how I made the flowers in a minute.)
I used a chalk pen to write the kids' names on them.














Gummy butterflies, just for fun.





For dessert, I made a cake that I've always wanted to try, and just needed a good excuse.
I tried a new frosting recipe that I thought was nasty, but the kids inhaled it.
It supposedly holds better for decorating, but I didn't think it did any better than a regular old buttercream.
Needless to say, I'll never make it again.
The cake itself was Betty Crocker's Banana Cake and it's delicious.
The decoration inspiration came from here:

It took a really long time to fill the whole thing in, but it was pretty cute.
I used four colors: light pink, dark pink, green, and turquoise.
I made all the colors with a regular box of food coloring.
This is a good post that shows you how to make lots of colors from a regular grocery store box:

I had three grass tips, which really helped.  If I had only had one, it would have taken even longer.
A two-pound bag of powdered sugar made enough frosting to cover and fill between the two layers.







The other dessert I made just because I came across them and thought they were so dang cute.
The tutorial is here:
I had a really hard time finding flowers that I liked.
Of course.  
They're everywhere when you aren't looking for them.
But I found some paper stickers that had the leaves behind them, so I took them apart and glued them to toothpicks.
I also got a couple sprigs of fake flowers to fill in 'cause the stickers were expensive and I needed 24.
The pot is sugar cookie filled with chocolate ganache.
Crushed Oreos for the dirt.











Aren't they fun?
Here's all the treats on the table after dinner.






I have lots of party pictures, but I'll save those for a Life Snippets post.
I do have to throw in one of the birthday girl, though.


Mission Flower Birthday Party:  Accomplished.


Please see my sidebar for the parties I link up to.




13 comments:

  1. Wow, you are so uber talented! Very impressive and happy birthday to the birthday girl!

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  2. Mindy, everything was soooo darling! I love the paper dahlias and the cake is beautiful - I love the grass tip pixels and know that must have taken FOREVER. The flower pot cookies are adorable. I always use scrapbook stickers on toothpicks for my cupcake toppers :) So glad someone else is out there that doesn't do shrimp....me neither

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  3. Not only do your real dahlias rock, your paper dahlias look like real dahlias! Your cake is fabulous ~ my daughter's seventh birthday was the weekend we moved and I had a cake made for her that was gorgeous but next year, I'd like to make a layer cake like yours. And I am surprised you don't eat shrimp - that is like the only seafood I will eat! Happy Birthday to your daughter!

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  4. I'll bet she loved her special day. You really went all out. The paper dahlias are amazing!

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  5. Mindy, you are amazing! Everything is so adorable. You really put a lot of time and effort into making your daughter's birthday very special.

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  6. You outdid yourself, Mindy--everything looks so beautiful! I especially love the flower pot cookies--what a clever idea. Your real dahlias look wonderful as well--I've been picking mine, too, and bringing them inside for flower arrangements.

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  7. When I get home I am pinning everything!!!! What a brilliant and beautiful job you did Mindy!!!! My goodness! The table is gorgeous!!! What a lucky little girl!!! Happy day you! Nicole xo

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  8. First, your daughter daughter is so pretty!
    Second, you nailed it! Great job, Mindy!!!
    I LOVE every. single. thing you did/made!!
    WOW!!! I think I might go back and enjoy your photos all over again :0)
    Happy, Happy Birthday to your girl!
    Suznane

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  9. A flower birthday party - great idea. I really love the paper Dahlias and The flower pot cookies. Everything is absolutely gorgeous!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Charlotte. She really loved it and I had fun putting it all together.

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  10. Mindy. AMAZING. All the details!! It's hard to pick a favorite, but those cupcakes. LOOOVE.

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  11. Absolutely fantastic posting! Lots of useful information and inspiration, both of which we all need!Relay appreciate your work. 192.168.l.254

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