We threw a small-ish birthday party yesterday to celebrate Lucy’s one-year status. I’m not sure if she knew the party was for her, but she definitely loved having all the people around. And Mama succeeded in not staying up all night preparing for it.
Jon will confirm the fact that I can easily go overboard in trying to plan a “special party.” So I made it clear from the start — this was to be a simple party, no clowns or cowboys or fairy themes. No elaborate cakes or fancy appetizers. No complicated party games. Just grilled meats, chips, cake, and fun.
Mostly, I stuck to my plan. But there were three areas in which I just couldn’t help myself:
*Lucy’s throne.* You may have noticed pictures of this glitzy treatment for Lucy’s highchair in our other “birthday post”:/news/2007/like-papa-like-lucy/ (and here’s an extra one, at left). I saw a special “first-birthday” kit in some catalog which promised to make your daughter into a princess with velvet and tulle covering her highchair. “Sheesh,” I thought, “I can do that myself!” Lucy and I took a trip to Vogue fabrics last week and got some great remnants to drape over her high-chair. Easy assembly, inexpensive, and oh so photogenic!
*A Name Game.* The night before the party, I badgered Jon a bit. “Shouldn’t we play at least one game? It might help people have more fun to have an activity to work on.” We decided on a version of a game that I’ve played in a few different settings. Jon wrote up a list of 15 characters from children’s literature. We taped one on each person’s back. They could ask yes-or-no questions about who they were, but only three questions in a row to one person (to encourage mingling). Everyone had fun, and “Pippi Longstocking”:http://ramonamae.com/ guessed her character first.
*The cake.* We knew that Lucy would be experiencing the traditional Boyd birthday cake (angel food with cocoa whipped cream icing — yum!) on her actual birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Boyd here. So we needed a different cake for this party! I waffled for days about what to make, reading a variety of recipes, until Jon said, “Two words: _cake. mix._” He was right, I should just use a cake mix — they really are quite yummy — so that’s what I planned to do. But the day before the party, I just went into a baking frenzy for three hours and baked a yellow cake from scratch, whipped up some real buttercream frosting with eggs (heated to 160 degrees to pasteurize them), plus two dozen chocolate cupcakes. I just couldn’t help myself. Jon just rolled his eyes, but was very supportive, especially as Chief Birthday Cake Froster. (He has managed to down his share of the product, too!)
Alas, Lucy still doesn’t like cake, although I think some of the chocolate cupcake got smeared on her face somehow. She enjoyed her birthday pear yogurt much more. But in her parents’ opinion, everything was quite yummy! I still haven’t found a yellow-cake recipe that turns out as light and tender as cake mixes. Go figure. The buttercream frosting was good, and very pretty with a glossy finish, but I think we prefer good old “butter-and-powdered-sugar frosting”:http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=ec47542a0780f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f2ef61876e70f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent&lastnavigatedchannel=ae0cdc53f03ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD to the fancy stuff. The “cupcakes”:http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=7a61e38e6ec0f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=chocolate%20cupcakes&rsc=ns2006_m8 (which had the good old frosting) were fabulous. This is our favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, and we love it — tender, but sturdy enough for cupcakes, and very chocolatey. In fact, I baked these cupcakes “in anticipation”:/news/2006/labor-projects/ of Lucy’s original birth-day!
Despite my last-minute “scope creep” with adding these extra features to the party, I’m glad that I succeeded in enjoying Lucy’s birthday party nonetheless and not just running around trying to make everything “perfect.” But most of all, I’m pleased with my little girl and happy that she enjoyed it too!
Hi Boyd family,
I’m catching up on the Boyd news for the past 2 mos! Happy (belated) Birthday, Lucy! Ann, is sounds like the party was a huge success. I totally relate with you about the “perfect” party planning. I have aimed to be Martha Stewart worthy for far too many parties – finding myself completely exhausted by the time guests arrive and just wanting to go to bed. So, I’ve really had to chill when it comes to hosting. Obviously, since Eli’s arrival, I’ve not had time to host the way I’d like when people come to visit and I think it has helped me to not be so OCD. None-the-less, I bought a book at B&N the other day. It has all kinds of different cake ideas for children. I’m already planning Eli’s 1st birthday cake. :)