Milo's First Birthday Party - Beach Theme

We celebrated Milo's first birthday with a few friends on Monday. I decided not to go overboard this year. In the past I have done birthday parties on the weekend and invited friends, my two playgroups, their spouses and our extended family--easily a guest list of 50 people. Then I would make all of the food, the cake and the favors. The thought of that stressed me out soooo much this year, but I still wanted to do something special for Milo.
Since Milo loves beach balls and playing in the sand, we picked a cool little park known as Mother's Beach that has a grassy play area, some play structures, and a little patch of sand that slopes into the (waveless) harbor. The park is quiet and often empty during the week. Unfortunately, I picked the same day as a local elementary school that was having their end-of-year party! So there were a few busloads of kids at the beach part of the park, and we didn't end up going down to the water.
We still had fun, though! I chose a beach theme for the cake, favors, craft and decorations, and the kids had a great time.

the spread:



Except for the cake, I decided that everything would come out of a bag, box or be ready-made at the grocery store. That was a great plan that relieved so much of the stress that usually goes into one of these events! I bought a big platter of deli-meat stuffed pita pocket sandwiches, pre-sliced fruit and then some kid-friendly & munchie snacks like animal crackers, chips and fruit snacks.
The friend who hosted my baby sprinkle (smaller than a shower!) had a really cute idea where she filled a kid's sand bucket with animal crackers and served it with a toy shovel. I filed the idea away in the back of my head, and pulled it out for this party. I bought a set of several buckets, shovels and sand molds at Wal-Mart (I know! I know!) for about fifteen bucks and, of course, washed them to use as food receptacles. I filled the buckets with the chips, fruit salad, animal crackers and packets of fruit snacks. I had also planned on turning a sand mold upside down and filling it with dip for the chips, but that didn't happen.
Along with the bright buckets and shovels I used a bright yellow tablecloth, bold colored plates and napkins, and I snipped a few fresh sunflower heads and spread them on the table along with some little sand molds. It was a cute, bright table.

the cake:







The cake is where I decided to spend some time to make something special and handmade for my birthday boy. I really prefer homemade cakes to store bought ones, and I try to do homemade whenever possible. Of course, that doesn't always work out, but I really feel like so much more love goes into a homemade cake (even a boxed mix, like this one was!).
This cake idea came from two different Martha articles: Shark & Beach Cupcakes and the Sailboat Birthday Cake.
The sheet cake is a simple white cake, but I poked holes into it and poured Berry Blue Jell-O over the whole thing. Basic recipe is:

Jell-O Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 6 oz. pkg. sweetened Jello, any flavor

Bake cake as directed on package. After cake is done, mix Jello with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Poke holes in cake with a fork and/or straw and pour Jello over cake while still hot. Refrigerate 2 hours and decorate.

I added blue food coloring to white frosting and spread it over the cake in a very textured swirl, then added some shredded coconut around the edge for the "seafoam." I also cut a little hole in the cake and put an "island" cupcake in there for the candle to go into.
Here are the pdf instructions to make the boat: click!
The cupcakes are made with Devil's Food Cake mix, cream cheese frosting, and finely crushed graham crackers as the "sand." I made the people out of cardstock, but I went ahead and scanned them and cleaned them up and they are available to download and print for your personal use here: click!


the craft:



Since Milo loves to play with balls, I decided to find a ball-themed craft. Oriental Trading Company makes blank white beachballs that the kids decorated with permanent markers. Perfect!

the favors:



I also ordered favors from oriental Trading Company. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the Mini Beach Play Sets, but at $12.99 for a dozen, how great can you honestly expect the quality to be? I spruced them up by wrapping a colorful little ribbon around them and punching out little circles full of Milo's cute face and writing "Milo, first birthday, june 17, 2009" on each of the sets. I also added a little pair of cheap sunglasses to each bucket, and I think that it made a very cute favor. They were the perfect size for our toddler guests, especially those with sand tables at home.

spinach, artichoke & bacon soup

This is a recipe I came up with while trying to clear out my refrigerator and pantry. And even though that sounds kind of bad, it came out really yummy.

spinach, artichoke & bacon soup

ingredients:
2 tbs. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed & roughly chopped
1 (6 oz.) bag fresh spinach
1 (6 oz.) jar marinated, quartered artichoke hearts, drained but not rinsed
8 oz. bacon
4 cups chicken broth
Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

directions:
In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sautee until brown and caramelized, 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, cut bacon into 1-inch bits and fry according to package directions. Reserve a little fat and blackened bits (a tablespoon or so). Drain bacon on paper towels, and reserve some for garnishing bowls.
When onions are caramelized, add fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, bacon (minus reserved bits) and broth. Salt & pepper to taste. Add a little bit of the reserved bacon fat for more baconny goodness. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Serve and garnish individual bowls with Parmesan cheese and reserved crunchy bacon bits.