Zita the Spacegirl Birthday Party

My big kids have been big fans of Ben Hatke's artistry and work ever since we kidnapped him (well, before that, actually). They have passed that love along to their little sister by reading to her almost daily from the Zita books (but Julia's House For Lost Creatures and Little Robot have recently become every night requests too!). Cupcake LOVES Zita and all the other characters in these space adventure stories. (Truth be told, I think she has a little crush on Joseph!) When it came time to think about a birthday theme for her 4th birthday earlier this month, there really was no doubt what she would choose. Zita the Spacegirl!!! {Amazon affiliate links!}

The kids helped decorate her table with their own ideas... 

She was just a little excited to see all the decorations. She specifically requested this party game. (More on that later.)

~Breakfast~

Star heart muffins... guaranteed not to give you a heart attack. 

~Costumes~

Her dearest request was for all of her siblings to dress up in costume for her party. She picked out characters for everyone and they obliged. Her wish is their command!

She was so delighted to see them all dressed up. OK... so maybe she has a little crush on Piper, too!

As you can tell, the wig didn't stay on for long. 

Even my mom dressed up as Mouse for the celebration. 

The Birthday Zita and her crew. 

~Special Gifts~

I don't normally post about the gifts our kids receive, but these little dolls turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I thought about making them myself, but my sewing skills are not up to this kind of quality. A wonderful seamstress on Etsy made them for me just by looking at the pictures I sent her from Ben's books. Cupcake was so excited. They have been her constant nighttime companions ever since she opened them. 

~Games~

Miss Cupcake still talks about going Moon Bowling for her second birthday and asked if we could do that again. So... Zita the Space Bowler!

She also wanted to play "Pin the Z on Zita". I drew this Zita likeness on a poster board and cut out the Z's from black cardstock. 

Whoops!

~Screed Piñata~

I haven't checked to verify this, but I'm pretty sure this is the world's first Screed piñata. When Cupcake asked for a Screed piñata, I kind of whimpered. I have a love hate relationship with piñatas. I don't mind tiny little ones, but the big ones that you beat to death, well... that's just not my idea of a good time. So, when I found a pull-string piñata, in the shape of a disco ball, it was a "hallelujah" moment! I used a silver paper plate, some silver paper cups, a paper towel roll, black crepe paper streamers and some chrome duct tape to create the rest of the look.  When it was time to open the piñata, we took off the cups and streamers. Everyone had a turning pulling strings until the secret panel opened. 

~The Cake~

Please don't look at this cake. This is the ugliest cake I think I've ever made... but it's exactly what she wanted. It's supposed to be a portal button. Zita's adventures begin when she finds a big red button. A big red button on a grey square. I've already petitioned Ben to think of something cuter for his next series. Maybe in pink? ;)

The cake was an 8x8 inch Chocolate Chocolate Chip cake with a thin 6 inch round on top. I didn't want to try to make red icing, so I used a red sugar sheet, which you can see, didn't really want to conform to the round, button shape. Sigh. Should have just bought red icing in a tube, but I really hate that stuff. But frankly, I couldn't care less when I saw the look on her face!

Happy birthday, sweet girl! We can't even remember what our family was like before you came along. We thank God for the gift of you!

A Redwall Birthday

{This post includes affiliate links, but you probably already knew that…}

So, the day after Sunshine celebrated her Sweet Sixteen, we celebrated BigBoy's 11th birthday... Redwall style! Last summer, when he participated in our library's Summer Reading Program and read for enough hours to get to take a ride on a fire truck, most of those 100+ hours were spent reading all of the 22 books in the Redwall series. Yeah. He kind of likes it, I think.

~ Decorations ~

BigBoy has collected stuffed animals for years. He loves especially unusual animals like ferrets and otters, not just teddy bears. He even has a stuffed meerkat that he adores. We took some of his stuffed animals and dressed them up like characters from the book using rope belts, sword charms from the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby and some sword-shaped letter openers we found. Most of the fabric, I had in my scrap box. I did purchase some red for the badger's tunic. He was thrilled with them and hasn't removed their costumes yet.

“Defend the weak, protect both young and old, never desert your friends. Give justice to all, be fearless in battle and always ready to defend the right."
—The law of Badger Lords

Felldoh with his javelin sitting next to Cornflower (who ended up being Cupcake's favorite, of course.)

We decorated our breakfast table with a red tablecloth, the characters, a map of Redwall, some favorite quotes and a scone breakfast that Abbot Mortimer would surely approve of.

I made a banner using a medieval looking font called Prince Valiant and some artistic representations of Redwall characters for spacing. Lord Brocktree is one of his favorite characters so he had to be included.

The cards they make for each other are always opened first thing and enjoyed immensely.

Knowledge is a thing that one cannot have enough of. It is the fruit of wisdom, to be eaten carefully and digested fully, unlike that lunch you are bolting down, little friend.

~ The Feast ~

For dinner, we prepared a Redwall type feast and tried to incorporate some actual dishes mentioned in the books but had to settle for dishes that sounded like they could be in the books.

Strawberry cordial… ginger ale, Cran-Apple juice and lime. No strawberry at all, but it is red!

“Dairy produce?”“Oh that, I’ve got a cheddar cheese that four badgers couldn’t roll, plus ten other varieties.”

 By my count, that makes 11 cheeses for this 11 year old's birthday. So we set out a tasting tray with 11 cheeses on it. 

 Just a Shepherd's Pie but we made it work. 

"I am that is, my sword shall wield for me."

~ a gift ~ 

I don't usually post about the gifts we give our children here, but this is one I think others might really like to know about. It's a Hero's Edge Latex Rubber Foam Battle Sword that is rated as suitable for LARPing (live action role playing). This thing is heavier duty than something like a Nerf Sword and really well crafted but still soft enough that two big boys can use it for pretend sword fighting (like my two big boys still enjoy doing). 

"Who knows, my friend? Maybe the sword does have some magic. Personally, I think it's the warrior who wields it."

Afterwards, Miss Cupcake announced it was time for cake… she takes her job as official party horn blower at all festive events very seriously.

~ The Cake ~

Oh my goodness, this cake. I had such plans for this cake. I wanted to make a castle and decorate it with little cardboard characters. Maybe some frosting grass and frosting flowers and a little path leading from the front gate. But this boy child of mine had specific requests. Yes to the castle cake pan. OK on the little figures. But he desperately wanted my caramel frosting on his cake. This caramel frosting is a cooked frosting that you basically pour over a cake and let it firm up.Think ganache but brown sugar flavored. You can see it on the cake in this post. There is no way to decorate with it. You can sometimes smooth it out or shape slightly it once it's cooled and firmed up, but even that runs the risk of making it look grainy instead of smooth like it's supposed to. I checked and double checked the whole day through… "So, you still want that caramel frosting?" 

"Look how awesome the castle looks! Are you sure you want that caramel frosting? It's just going to cover it up."  

And then even right before I dumped it on the cake…

"I'm just going to dump it on now, okay? That's what you want, right?"

Yes, yes and yes! This big guy knows what he likes.  He still let me use some of my little figures. 

Happy Birthday, BigBoy! 

You will always be our most brave, most kind, most amazing Loverlove.