Birthday Cake

A couple weeks ago we celebrated my little boy's 2nd birthday. We did a "Monkey" theme this year which was topped off with a "Monkey" cake. I found a great tutorial online for how to make it. There's a bunch of other great ideas there as well, so check it out! By the way, I am NOT a cake decorator by any means. I'm definitely an amateur so this simple cake was perfect for me to tackle. I think the trick with cake decorating is just having the guts to try it. You'll probably be surprised at what you can pull off. Anyway, it turned out cute, it was easy, and most importantly he LOVED it!

Birthday Dinner

Doesn't that look good? This, my friends, is a grilled hamburger. And that is what I would always choose to have for my birthday dinner.

On the other hand, my little brother would choose Fettucine Alfredo.


2 Reasons why you should let your children or spouse choose their Birthday dinner:

1. It will make their birthday that much more special.

2. It gives you a break from deciding what to make for dinner.
That is always a challenge for me :)

Use the birthday plate to serve the birthday person their choice dinner. Tutorial here.

Birthday Sticky Buns

We always got to choose what we wanted for our birthday breakfast, but we always chose Sticky Buns. I'm sure my Mom loved it too because they are so simple to make. You can prepare them the night before and just bake them in the morning so you can enjoy the birthday festivities! :)

Birthday Sticky Buns

1/2 cup margarine
3.5 oz butterscotch cook and serve pudding mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
15-18 Rhodes frozen rolls

Spray a bundt pan and place frozen rolls inside. Set aside. Melt margarine completely and add in pudding mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Place this mixture over the frozen rolls. Let rise overnight. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Cool for 10 minutes. Then turn the pan upside down onto a birthday plate or serving dish. Eat warm!

For the Birthday Plate tutorial click here.

Birthday Doors

A fun birthday tradition in my family growing up was the "Birthday Door". Every year for our birthday my Mom would decorate a door covered in pictures of us. There's always a birthday sign as well that usually coordinated with our birthday card and cake. It's always fun to see old pictures of yourself, remember all the great memories, and see how much you had changed since the year before. We would usually leave it up for a few weeks after your birthday as well. Since I've been married it's been fun carrying on this tradition for my hubby and now our little boy. He just turned two and he already loves his "Happy Birthday Door!"

My birthday door as a 4 and 5 year old (I had a Teddy Bear Cake and Party for my 4th birthday - hence the "Bear" sign on my door) Oh and I totally LOVE that I'm holding my little brother's hand. Cute!

Birthday Doors for my husband since we've been married

I can't even believe we've already celebrated TWO birthday's for this little guy! It's so much fun carrying on traditions for my own little family! The first year was "Tool" themed with a Hammer shaped cake. Then we had a "Monkey" birthday with a monkey cake this year.

Birthday Fairy

You have heard of the tooth fairy, I'm sure. You know, the little fairy that leaves you money under your pillow for your tooth? In our family, it wasn't the tooth fairy that we looked forward to.

It was the Birthday Fairy.

I'm not sure where this tradition came from, but we didn't care. All we knew was that the Birthday Fairy would visit us in the night before our birthday. It reminds me a bit of St. Nicholas Day.

Anyways, the night before your birthday, you get to choose your favorite shoe to put out by your door. I remember I planning out which shoe I would put out months before my birthday. My husband chose his slipper last year.

You leave your shoe by the door and then the Birthday Fairy comes and leaves a quarter for every year old you are, plus one for good luck. So, if you are turning 15, you would get 16 quarters.

I like this tradition because the older you are, the more quarters you get. So it actually pays to get old :)

The fun thing about Birthday Fairy money is you get to do whatever you want with it! If you didn't want to do quarters, you could do something else more specific to the birthday person.

How to make a Birthday Plate

Birthdays were a huge deal when I was growing up. I plan on sharing lots of the birthday traditions we had that made our birthdays special. But for today, I will share one tradition that is easy to make and will help make birthday meals that much more special. I remember my Mom making a birthday plate for us and I wanted to make one for my own family. So here is the how-to. I had lots of fun making this and am so excited to use it for my husband's birthday in March.

What you will need:

• a clear glass plate (I got one for $.50 at a thrift store)
• a paint brush
• mod podge
• birthday tissue paper. Now, good luck finding tissue paper. Our birthday plate was made out of very vibrant tissue paper that had presents all over it. I looked ALL over for birthday tissue paper and the only place I found it was Wal-Mart. It was $1 for more than you will need. If you find any other more festive tissue paper, leave a comment so we know where we can find it!

Lay out your plate over the design to make sure you have what you want showing.

Cut out a piece of tissue paper that is a few inches larger than your plate.

Lay your plate with the eating side face down on top of a canister or oatmeal container. This will make it easier to spread mod podge and keep from getting the edges messy. Then spread a generous amount of mod podge on the bottom side of your plate like this: (make sure you get it all the way to the edge of the plate)

Then lay your piece of tissue paper on top of the mod podge. Be sure to smooth out all wrinkles.

Let the plate dry completely. Then cut off the excess tissue paper.

Cover the bottom of the plate at least one more time with mod podge. Then viola~you have a festive birthday plate!

Remember--the plate is no longer dishwasher safe. After you use it, just use a damp rag to wipe off the top of the plate. Getting the bottom of your plate wet will ruin it.

You could make a generic one for all members of your family to use or make a personalized one. Seriously, this whole project cost me $1.50 and I have enough tissue paper to make at least 5 more! This could also be a fun way to take a birthday treat to someone.

Let us know if you find any cute birthday tissue paper anywhere!