Cake Ideas for Boy Birthdays

So I have a confession to make... are you ready?

I don't like cake.

Phew!  I said it and I'll say it again...

I don't like cake...

(at least I didn't before my last pregnancy, but that's another story).

At birthday parties, I normally keep passing the plate around and decline the offer to have my own piece of cake and it's not because I am on a diet... I just really do not like the taste and texture of cake.

Apparently my kids have inherited this trait of mine as well...

PARTY TIP:
For a pool party, pool-shaped cake (easy peasy)
and for easy clean-up, just stick your kid and
his/her smash cake inside of a kiddie pool!
Hose off the pool (and your kid) =  no mess!

Despite not liking cake, I understand that the CAKE is sort of like the keystone of the party.  It's almost as if it's not a real party unless there is cake.  I mean, you can't really sing the "Happy Birthday" song without sticking a candle inside of what?  Oh yeah, a cake.  So, I get it.  I really do.

Now, I am not a baker (perhaps my not liking cake and not liking to bake is related), so if my child's cake is not store-bought it means my sister-in-law made it... and she makes gooood cakes, or so I hear ;-)
(She made both of the boys' smash cakes for their first birthdays shown above).

So here is my one and only attempt at baking my kid's birthday cake... wait... no... my HUSBAND baked these cupcakes (from a box) and I decorated them... but it was my first attempt at decorating with icing.  ::sigh:: I am much better with a paint brush.  Anywho, when choosing (or decorating) a birthday cake, I always have my child in mind (and I sometimes ask for their opinion, though that can sometimes ruin the whole look of the perfect food display table)...

Me:  "What do you want your cupcakes to say?  'Happy Birthday?'"
James:  "No, I want them to say, 'Hello.'"

At this Toy Story themed party, I let the kids decorate their own cupcakes because I figured they could do a better job than me...

 And of course, because he's my child, he only ate the icing and sprinkles, but not the cake.

Ok, ok... perhaps letting my kids decorate their own cakes may be a little bit overboard for party guests.

My younger son always asks for cake and just kind of stares at it, so for his birthday parties, he always gets powdered doughnut towers instead of cake.  Cupcake toppers sit nicely inside of the doughnut holes.

Well, now I've decided to start putting a little more effort into this key element of the party...

For my oldest's Angry Birds birthday party, we ordered green pig cupccakes from Target 

(the bakers were so confused as to why we would want GREEN pigs), 

and we ordered a cookie from The Great American Cookie Company 

(they, too, were confused as to why they were only decorating the bottom half of the cake).

We then added nutter butters and green gumballs to build the piggy towers on the giant cookie.

So we there was at least a little effort on our part here!

Then we actually attempted to make cake balls 

which were BY FAR the most effort we have ever put into a cake-like treat.  

See the link above for the how-to on how to make these.

Since cakes aren't my forte', I reached out to friends to share their brilliant birthday cakes from parties past.  Here are some of my favs...

CONSTRUCTION PARTY:

 The cake is a chocolate cake/pudding mixture with chocolate rocks purchased from a cake decorating store on top.  I LOVE that the cake is INSIDE the dump truck!  Brilliant!!!

CARS/CARS II PARTY:

By CoraBells Cakes by Robyn Wimberly

River Ridge, Louisiana

Oh my goodness this cake AMAZES me!  And I LOVE the matching smash cake!  Oh man, my boys would be so jealous if they saw this cake!

Robyn has a great tip for those of you who like to use fondant on your cakes:

"Wilton fondant is not nearly as good as Duff's but you get more for your money with the Wilton batch.  I would recommend using Wilton for sculpting decorations and Duff for covering full cakes."

Thanks for the tip, Robyn!!!

 WINNIE THE POOH PARTY:

Also by CoraBells Cakes by Robyn Wimberly
River Ridge, Louisiana

Ok, so this was for a baby shower, but would be perfect for a little boy's first birthday!  Don't you just LOVE the honey pot???

PIZZA PARTY:

By Margo Smith's Cake Creations

Goldsboro, North Carolina

GENIUS!  It's a pizza!  It's a cake!  It's a pizza cake!  This sugary delight might actually shock some of the kids who are expecting to take a huge bite into a pizza.  Even as a non-cake eater, this cake looks delicious to me!

MARTIAL ARTS PARTY:

By Margo Smith's Cake Creations
Goldsboro, North Carolina

What a great idea for a young green belt!  This cake would also be awesome to celebrate when your son/daughter advances to a new level of martial arts!

(PURPLE) BIG RED DOG / CLIFFORD PARTY

What do you do when your child requests a PURPLE Big Red Dog party?

You turn all of your Big Red Dogs PURPLE!

Just a few of a little boy's favorite things:  fruit roll ups, chocolate chips, whoppers and purple big red dogs!

Tip from Chesnye:

"The fruit roll ups disintegrated in the refrigerator, so they should be put on at the very last [minute]."

Another great tip!  See, we can learn so much from one another's trials and errors!

Have a great cake idea?   Tag @kidspiredcreations in your photo on Facebook and I will share it on this post!  Also, my next post will be about other creative party ideas (i.e. favors, decorations, etc.) so if you have a great idea, tag me in those pictures as well!

Ribbon-Inspired Bow Holder

I found this beautiful ribbon that I thought would be just perfect for a teal/pink room!

I absolutely love the lime green and yellow that's thrown in there!

I also sewed loops on the bottom to hold headbands.

Now that I'm a mommy of a baby GIRL, I totally get this necessity.

Mod Dot Nursery

My friend Cristina is about to give birth to her second baby boy any day now!  Our oldest sons became best buds when they were in the same Pre-K class together last year, and now, I have the pleasure of designing her baby's nursery in her new home!  I feel so honored and blessed that she asked me to help her nest because, as you can probably assume, nesting is my favorite part of pregnancy!  It's such an amazing feeling to have the nursery complete right before baby comes.  It makes you feel relaxed and READY!  I am so happy to be a part of that experience for families.

I love the simplicity, yet the boldness of the bedding design.  I went to Cristina's house and drew up a few ideas for wall decor in the nursery.  Together we decided on a plan!  Since her son's name is Daniel, she really wanted a Bible verse about Daniel to hang in his room, but she also wanted to incorporate a few of her favorite verses as well.  Decisions, decisions... well... let's use them all!!!

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 4:8

"My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions.
They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight."
Daniel 6:22

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."
Jeremiah 29:11

Since the circle design on the bedding is very symmetrical, I wanted to maintain symmetry by incorporating 6 paintings in a grid pattern.  I also wanted the paintings to stand out so I incorporated different patterns using the same bold colors as the bedding.

The bedding came with two window valences, but the nursery only has one bedroom.  I used the other valence to make simple wall decor using embroidery hoops that I purchased for $1.50 a piece.  The circles from the bedding pattern fit PERFECTLY into the hoops.  This was MAJOR coincidence!

In addition to the circles, this collage also includes sentimental decor.
If placed alone on the wall, the decor would have looked smaller and bare,
but by grouping it together it adds interest and fills an otherwise bare space.

The only thing missing now is a baby!

Lavender Monkey Theme Bow Holder

Cocalo:  Jacana Crib Bedding

One of my college roommates is expecting her first baby!  A baby GIRL!  She is going to be a great mommy!  

I asked her what she needed for Sophia's nursery and she hinted that this little girl needs something functional... like...a bow holder!  Perfect!  I mean, in the world of hair bow fashion, who doesn't need a bow holder???  

Don't you just LOVE her lavender jungle themed bedding?  For those of you who follow my blog, you know how much I LOVE a good jungle theme!  But the star of this theme is the adorable monkey with a flower tucked behind her ear.  

I wanted to make this bow holder multi-functional, so I decided to attach the ribbons to a chalkboard so Mommy can write baby's age, or new milestones, or love notes!

Kidspired's Creation:

 It's funny how before I had my own baby girl, whenever I would make a bow holder, I didn't have any bows to model on it.  Now that my house is filled with bows, I actually got to CHOOSE which bows to put on here for picture's sake.

 I added four clips to the ribbons to hold wrap-around, elastic head bands.  I had to think outside the box for a good way to hold these because if you have bows, you also have elastic head bands to hold them.

 I sewed loops on the end of each ribbon to hold regular, non-elastic head bands.

The clips intended for the elastic head bands can also be used to make the ribbons shorter if necessary and to add an additional loop for more non-elastic head bands.  When she gets older, she will probably have less wrap around head bands, and more regular ones.  Multi-functional.  Bam!

Congratulations, Katie!  I am so excited for you!

Lightning McQueen Bulletin Board

I just shipped off this super fun Lightning McQueen bulletin board to one of my former Pre-K students!

When his mom asked me to paint something for his room, of course I was going to make something for him to display all of his school work!!!

Once a teacher, always a teacher...

 It was definitely hard to find a box this size, so I had to improvise by tearing a box apart and piecing it back together around the bulletin board.  Sorry, you aren't REALLY receiving a 20" flat screen TV.

 My little helper carrying the package into the post office... my arms were full of more orders to ship out.

He wasn't too thrilled that I was taking the time out to take a picture while he was doing all of the heavy lifting.

Craft Dreams and Pinterest

Have you ever had a craft dream?  I am not always sure if I am completely asleep when I have these dreams but when I wake up I get this insane urge to craft... immediately.  And if I don't do it immediately it's as if I have this itch that just won't go away.

Well, a few nights ago, I had this dream that I turned my laundry room sliding door into a huge chalkboard!  It drove me CRAZY, but I had to wait a week to do it... you know, a little thing called LIFE got in the way of my crafting.

Perhaps I have these dreams thanks to late nights spent perusing Pinterest boards... perhaps...

Just a few coats of chalkboard paint found at the local hardware store.

I can't take credit for dreaming these next two up on my own.  I definitely found these on Pinterest...

A place for a family of 5 to place our used cups so we don't go through so many throughout the day.
A scrap of 1x6 board, drawer handles and coasters.
I first painted the board black, then painted it sea grass,
then lightly sanded the board to expose some of the black paint.

Our new prayer board.
"Pour out your heart like water
    in the presence of the Lord. 
Lift up your hands to him
    for the lives of your children..."
Lamentations 2:19
I saw this on Pinterest a while back.  My sister had actually given me a few of these frames and I decided that since I was already crafting, may as well finally do this project, especially since I already had the paper and letters as well.

Speaking of Pinterest, please follow Kidspired Creations @ kidspiredcre8!  And feel free to pin any pictures on my website... just make sure it is linking back here!  Thank you!!!

Who Dat Jerseys

The thing I love best about Kidspired Creations is that it's ALWAYS something new.

There are no limits to creating kidspired decor and no two creations are the same!

And even better, I love CHALLENGES!  

Something different from painting stripes and polka dots.

But when my friend sent me this email...

I wanted two saints jerseys with a personalized name. But the company will only do one. Could u paint something similar with two jerseys with a personalized name?

I kind of doubted my abilities.

However, this is KIDspired Creations and 

I got her permission to use some kidspiration to make this painting...

Did I mention this is a teacher appreciation gift???

Now those are two very special teachers!!!

This customer had the great idea to put the numbers 20 and 12 on the teacher's jerseys to represent the year

(and of course it had to have the school's name on the bottom).

I love using multiple brains to put a project together!

If you have an idea for a project or painting and do not see an example on my blog, 

please feel free to e-mail me and I am sure we can work together to create a great design!

kidspiredcreations@gmail.com