Rainbow Party

All in all Miss.-3yr-old's Rainbow Birthday Party was a success.  She was happy, the guests were happy so I am happy.  Compared to my planning and the picture I had in my mind it definitely turned out "differently", but sometimes you can't control everything.

Decorations were limited due to the nasty wind.  My favorite was the balloon arch.  Years ago I made a traditional balloon arch.  I wanted to recreate it, but I knew I had to construct it differently.  Traditionally you fill helium balloons and tie to a string.  The helium keeps its shape.  I did not have access to a helium tank, I didn't want to spend the money to get helium balloons, and this type of arch must be made the day of the event.  SO, I had my handy husband make a "frame".  He happened to have 1/4inch threaded metal.  We connected 3 of them together and placed each end into the ground, and to my amazement it was really bendable and made a perfect arch!

We used the air compressor to blow up 10 of each balloon color.  I really wanted to to do more, but time and materials were winning.  I bought EZ balloon clips from www.orientaltrading.com, and they rescued my fingers from the knotting pain, plus just by snapping a piece of string in them it saved me from having to do another step.  I think they were $6.99 for 100 and well worth it.

Then we went out to the arch and started tying them in rainbow color order.  Again, more would have been better.  We did this the night before and the next morning only two balloons didn't make it.  I thought that was a great turn out.

The nasty wind destroyed the arch throughout the day of the party.  Not much could have been done about that.

The food table was moved indoors because the paper chain backdrop was sensitive to the wind.   Other decorations that are not pictured was a scrapbook paper banner, circle sewn garland, and sewn crey paper streamers.

FOOD! The food did not go as planned in fact it was ditched at the last minute and pizzas were ordered.  The idea was for the kids party to have rainbow fruit skewers, mixed vegetables, and RAINBOW macaroni and cheese.  The week before I dyed the noodles.  I thought they looked fantastic!  I even did a sample batch of blue noodles to make sure they cooked right and tasted right. 

Unfortunately the test batch was one color.  The effect of 6 colors cooking together resulted in a color that is a hybrid between grey, BLAH, and yuck.  And shortly after I put it in the crock pot to keep warm it turned to mush.  If you really want to try this I would suggest making 6 batches of macaroni and cheese (one for each color) and present them on the plate together.

HER LOOK!  Miss.-3yr-old couldn't be cuter!  I saw a dress like this at http://www.etsy.com/ I was in love.  My mom took on this challenge, she is talented with a sewing machine!  The straps need adjusting still, but my heart just melts at these snapshots.  You should see her spin!

The YUMS!
The cake and desserts were fabulous!  I got my 6 layered rainbow cake from www.howdoesshe.com.  The layer lemon frosting was delish, as well as the "cloud" marshmallow fluff icing.  It was easy, but time consuming.  I baked and layered the cakes 2 days before the party and finished the outer icing the day before.  Skittles and blue m&ms helped with the simple decorations.  It truly was tasty. 


















The cake was for the family portion of the party.  The kiddie party had cupcakes.  www.kraftbrands.com has directions on how to make.  This was much more simpler than the cake.  I topped with butter cream frosting and a simple skittle and blue m&m decor.



The rice krispy paint brushes took no time at all and were a hit!  Just attach wooden spoons (from craft store) into store bought rice krispy treats, die some melted white chocolate, dip and set on plate.