This year, Myla decided she wanted her birthday party to be Adventure Time-themed…and I was TOTALLY down with that.  Because I’m a pretty big fan of Adventure time.  And all of the characters.  And songs.  And everything.

I always look forward to the cake, because even though I stink at cooking a meal, I can bake the heck out of a cake.  And when I decorate, I pretend like I’m on Ace of Cakes or something, and do my best to make it special.

I started by sculpting these Marceline and Marshall Lee figures from Sculpey, and building a little cardboard ax guitar and bass for them, since Myla requested they be the centerpiece.

And although I know kids aren’t a huge fan on fondant, I had read that you could paint on it with food coloring, so I gave it a try…

I started by rolling out a little plate full to practice on, and gave Myla a plate full to let her try it, too.  I had read that you can put food coloring onto a plate like paint, but instead of water (which makes fondant gummy), you can mix it with vodka (don’t worry–the alcohol evaporates!).  So we gave it a try, and it was SO MUCH FUN.  It wasn’t even a struggle–it was just like painting with paints!

Once I decided it was going to work out pretty well, I settled on that as the final decorating method for the cake.

The night before her party, I baked, iced and cooled the 2-story cake.  I broke a chunk out of it, which thankfully I could piece back together and glue down with icing, since it’d be covered in fondant.  And since I’m terrible at fondant, it was full of wonkiness and lumps, which I promptly covered up in more decorative icing.  BOOM.

Next, I waited til the kid was in bed so I could reeeeeally focus (plus, I told her that the final cake should be a surprise), and got down with painting TONS of characters all over the cake, around the clay figures.  (I realize cake pros would cringe that the centerpiece isn’t edible, but I’m an artist, and I do what I want.)

I had intended to color it all, but as I started working, I realized I really really liked it in just black outlines, so I went with that…

(I swear, I love SO many of the characters on this show, and they’re SO much fun to draw….)

So there it is!

We blew up some purple balloons, which I decorated with Sharpie markers to look like Lumpy Space Princess, and downloaded these fun Adventure Time character masks from HappilyAfter Designs on Etsy.

I got several little goodies for the take-home bags, like Adventure Time slap bracelets and figures from Ebay, little individually-wrapped burger gummies, and random dollar store things.  I also got some blank wooden beads and painted very simple character faces on them, and tossed them in little snack bags with random handfuls of beads and necklace string so people could build their own necklaces.

The least expensive goody bags at the craft store were these blank white ones, so I kept up the plain character theme, and drew them again on each bag, in Sharpies.

And that was that!  Along with a few helium big balloons we bought online that my husband filled at a flower shop and a plastic table cover, it made for a pretty good Adventure Time-themed party!

Myla chose to have her party at a gymnastics center, where they have trampolines and a huge foam block pit with a rope swing over it.  The good thing there was that they gave the kids an hour to play, a half hour to eat cake & ice cream, and then they boot you all out of there!  So cool.  No big cleanup, no mess at home, no all-day event.  And the kids get worn out!  WOOHOOOOOO.

And the cake?  Yeah, the cake was a hit.  Yay!

And remember my birthday sewing story a few posts back?  Well, I took the fox pattern I bought from DolphinWing and made Myla the little arctic fox character who wears an orange shirt that she’s drawn for awhile and created herself.

(I think the dog approved.  I’m not sure.)

So aside from all the party planning and prep, the big news is that WE HAVE AN EIGHT-YEAR OLD ON OUR HANDS, PEOPLE.  She’s still so sweet and kind, smart and creative.  I couldn’t ask for a cooler kid.

She’s a funny little goofball who still loves to draw and create, and had the best birthday week ever!  Happy birthday, Myla!