Have A Ball Birthday Theme

Invitations

When I originally thought of the invitations I wanted to put them in little plastic balls. Unfortunately I couldn't find any in the size I wanted so I went with these instead. To be honest I think they turned out better. I found the envelopes and cards at Target for only a few bucks. I bought 2 packs and 2 packs of round stickers. I then used my printer and printed the following message onto the cards...

"Andersen's first birthday has rolled around

We are celebrating Memorial Day too

We are going to have a ball!

You're invited to celebrate

Saturday May 26th!

The party kicks off at 4pm

We hope to catch you there."

I loved all of the puns I threw in there for fun. Be as creative as you want with this. I read one person's invite that read "Be there and be anything but square... No triangles either" I thought that was adorable. Once I printed them I added the stickers and cut the access from the sides. I then added the lines as if the "balls" (stickers) were bouncing with a fancy ball pen.

A great new trend in cakes is of course the cake pop. Naturally these little guys came in handy when coming up with a cake idea. I got my recipe from here http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cake-pops-by-duncan-hines/detail.aspx

I will say these little guys were the definition of ridiculous to make. But after a few days (yes days) and a curse word or two, I finally got them to work the way I wanted them to. Here are a few suggestions if you do go with this recipe. First of all the freezer will be your new best friend (I decided that on my second batch). After you crumble the cake and add the frosting, freeze for about an hour. Then roll the mixture into the ball shape and freeze again until you're ready to dip in the candy melt. When you are ready to dip, only take a few pops out at a time. I found that once they thaw a bit, they start to fall off the stick (which is where you insert the curse word). After you dip in the candy melt tap the access off in the glass and then return to the freezer to make sure it hardens quickly. Then stick in your foam or cake pop stand of your choice. (I used a cake pop stand purchased at Walmart for $3.50 then decorated it) I wanted them to look like bouncy balls in grass. I think they turned out well.

Baby's cake

I wanted to make a bigger version of the cake pop for my son to devour. So I went to Hobby Lobby for a cake pan. They had a ball shaped pan in the cake area for 12.99. I managed to get 40% off because of their weekly coupon. (Note they usually have this coupon every week and you can access it through their website on your smartphone and show the cashier. No printer needed!) I purchased a white cake and white frosting (for messy purposes) and baked according to the instructions on the cake pan. It was a lot simpler than I had anticipated (which was good because after the cake pop epidemic I needed a break!) I just added food coloring to the frosting and purchased a tube of frosting for the lettering (you can buy at any grocery store).

I thought a ball pit would be perfect for the pint sized guests and boy was I right. It was a big hit. The best part is it literally took me a few minutes and $1 to make. I had a baby pool laying around so I cleaned it up and set it out. My neighbor was at a garage sale and happened to find me a whole trash bag of balls for $1! She couldn't pass it up and snatched them for me. Trust me I lysoled the crap out of those balls! Such an awesome easy activity. In fact we still have it set up. Andy loves playing in them daily. Way cleaner than any sand box or pool of water... and more fun to boot!

Invitations

Invites

Baby's cake