An Elmo Birthday Party

Well, when I was planning my spring Josh was going to miss H’s birthday. Rather than celebrate just us two, we decided to go down to Virginia and have a low key celebration with Nana and Nonno. Then we could have a real party when Josh got back. As it turned out, not only did we get to celebrate with the family in Virginia, but also with Grandma, Aunt Kaitie, Aunt Kim, Uncle Tim, and Daddy! But I’m still throwing her another party. Can’t stop me. Don’t try.

Our theme this time was Elmo. I went with cupcakes instead of a giant Elmo cake, and I have to say, they came out great. In case you know a short person who likes Elmo, here’s how I did it and some fun pictures of H’s big day.

I found Elmo cupcake papers at a local party store, because you can never have enough Elmo. I just used a standard box mix for the cake. I have to thank my Nana for reminding me to put the eggs in the mix. That could have been disastrous. The frosting I made from Good Housekeeping. It’s just your standard butter cream with a shit ton (technical term) of red dye in it. Homemade frosting is always better.

To make Elmo’s fur, I used a piping bag with a flower tip and just made little spots of frosting all over. It took a while, but wasn’t too time consuming. The hardest part was spacing the cupcakes out so they didn’t smush (also a technical term) together and ruin the edges.

The eyes were mini marshmallows. The noses, I feel, were a stroke of genius. Others online had used frosting or orange gumballs. I didn’t want to dye more frosting, and I didn’t think a gumball, which is windpipe-sized, would be a good idea for a two-year-old. Also, if you can’t eat it with your cupcake, why is it there? My solution was to use mandarin oranges. Instead of using the whole wedge, I cut thin slices of the individual wedges, giving me the perfect nose. The pupils and smile were just store-bought black decorating gel.

I frosted the cupcakes the night before but didn’t put the faces on right away. I was afraid the red would run into the eyes and the orange would bleed into the frosting. My lesson learned was that if possible, it would have been better to do all the decorating at once. Once the frosting was in the fridge it hardened, and I had to use a dab of the decorating gel to make sure the eyes stuck. Leaving a small reserve of frosting you can warm up for attaching the eyes would work as well.

 Elmo?

Elmo is delicious!

Turning 2!

A little frosting on the face is a must.

Regardless, they were pretty tasty. The orange slice in the middle was actually a nice palette pleaser.