The past few weeks have been hectic. After the next week I think my work will finally begin to slow and Isa will be done with her school for the month of August. Hopefully we will be able to take advantage of this city and all it offers in the summer time. I would like to say the next few weeks I will post photos from neighborhoods and adventures all over the city, but I'm not making a plan. If nothing else I am done making plans until September.
A major event of the past week is that Isa is now 3, or as she says, "I am Big now". She had a week full of festivities and enjoyed her birthday more than any other child I have seen. She chose a Monster theme for her party that nearly pushed me over the edge. I love her creativity but monsters in July are not easy to come by. Princesses and Cars are much easier options. But Monsters are what she wanted and of course I like the challenge, so Monsters she got.
The venue was easy- Vesuvio Park. It is close and has a pool with lots of tables. Unfortunately weather may be an issue but I pretended it wasn't and willed it away much like when I willed Isa to stay in my Belly a few more days until I was more prepared. I have a strong will.
Monsters were more difficult to locate. I went to Party City expecting to walk out with all my needs filled. Instead I walked out with a bag of 12 popping plastic monster heads, but it was a start. Remember those rubber monsters that we put on our pencils and fingers when we were little.....can't seem to find them anywhere in NYC.
Quickly realizing I am not going to find anything else related to Monsters I had to get creative. So I did the most sensible thing I could think and called my mother. She agreed to bake the cake and cookies and I would decorate them. It would save me time and since I truly have not clue about pastry construction it would save me a headache as well. So 24 little cookies were supplied for me to decorate. At first I used the new and very convenient cake markers, however I am much better and faster with the paint so I chose to use food coloring and water to paint the faces on Isa's cookies. The trick here is that you need to have round sugar cookies and cut circles in fondant to match. Place the fondant on the cookies and let sit for 24 hours. After that the white circle becomes your canvas. Using a clean and new paint brush you can basically take a bit of food coloring to the brush, add water, and paint whatever you like.
The next lesson I learned was never ask a soon to be 3 year old what flavor cake she wants, or at least do not allow Strawberry to be an option. Strawberry in Summer just does not work. It soaks up moisture like a sponge and does not cooperate when being frosted. It took me hours and layer upon layer of frosting before there were no longer hints of pink in it. The best frosting for summer is of course not buttercream, unless you want a liquid fiasco, but is what I consider impostor buttercream. Replace butter with Crisco. It stands up better again the harsh sun. Additionally refrigerate as much as possible, unlike myself who decided to begin the cake at 9pm the night before. Another hint; buy frosting bags before beginning this process. I for so
me reason forgot to purchase bags and spent many hours frosting details with a frosting tip and manually pushing frosting through with my finger. I thought for some reason a plastic bag may work if I cut the end off....it didn't.
Of course in a city like New York people pay lots of money to have parties hosted by the hippest or newest kids play area. I looked into these for inspiration. Luckily she was born in the summer because I would never be able to justify the $400 and up price tag that accompanies such parties. I originally though I would have a yoga instructor come and do a session and follow that with a craft project. Yoga instructors are expensive (and rightly so) but yoga instructors for children's birthday parties are even more expensive. So no yoga, which in the end no one missed and with the heat the kids would most likely have fainted left and right. Instead we all gathered away from the heat under the playground to create our own monsters. This is a great idea that looks time consuming and expensive, but if you have access to a sewing machine it really is simple.
- Draw the shape of you Monster onto a piece of paper (the simpler the better). Use this as your pattern.
- Pin or trace the shape on white cotton fabric.
- Cut out shape
- Sew Monster leaving a hole in the top of head for stuffing.
- Turn Monster right-side out and stuff with Polyfill
- Sew hole shut
Decorations:
- Pre-cut felt for eyes, mouth, nose
- Glue
- Markers to use to draw fur, scales, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
I had all the white stuffed Monsters on the mat before the kids got there and also scattered a variety of markers, glue, and felt shapes. Most of the children attending Isa's party were around age 3 so I kept this simple and limited choices of decorations to pre-cut felt or glue, however you can adapt and add materials for older age children.