Dr. Seuss (Cat In The Hat) Birthday Party

Dr. Seuss’ birthday is March 2nd.  When my boys were little, they LOVED Dr. Seuss books.  The Cat in the Hat was one of their favorites!  Several years in a row I made cupcakes for my oldest son’s class for Dr. Seuss’ Birthday.  Then when Jacob turned 7, he decided to have a Cat In The Hat Themed Birthday Party.

Jacob will be 15 in May.  Time sure flies!  But sometimes I look at him and I still see that sweet little 7 year old running around in his Cat in the Hat, red and white, striped hat.  Thankfully he’s still just as sweet, almost 8 years later, but we are well past the age of themed birthday parties.

So today I am taking a few minutes to reminisce.  With Dr. Seuss’ birthday  just a few weeks away, I decided that I would look through our archives of photos and share some of my memories with all of you.   The quality of photos isn’t the greatest.  I had no thought of starting a blog back then…just of keeping up with two busy little boys, but I’m sure there are some fun ideas for those of you who are thinking of hosting a Cat in the Hat Party or just looking for something fun to do on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

For Jacob’s party, he wanted to watch some classic Dr. Seuss cartoons, so we made our house into a mini movie theater including a “red carpet” entrance made out of a red plastic table cloth.  Our snack bar included popcorn, red vines, water bottles, and m&ms.  We gave each of the kids some pretend money to “purchase” their snack items and ushered them into a curtained off room, lit only with white lights around the perimeter of the floor. We projected the movie onto a wall to make it feel like a movie theater and set up some cozy seating along the other wall.

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I decorated with a display of our own Dr. Seuss books and some cardboard cut outs that I purchased online.  For the cake, I bought a white plate and turned it upside down for the base.   I made 5 cake rounds and stacked them one on top of the other.  I frosted every other white and red and piped a bit of black frosting for the lines.

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The cupcakes featured are the ones I brought to Jacob’s class.  For the toppers, just layer white lifesavers and round cinnamon hard candies with frosting in between to “glue” them together.  Place the candy toppers in the refrigerator to harden before putting them on the cupcakes.  Frost the cupcakes blue and then add a circle of white in the middle before placing the candy hats in the center.  The white frosting becomes the base of the hat.

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I filled a basket with Dr. Seuss pencil and eraser sets for each of the kids to take home as a “thank you for attending my party” gift.  This was definitely a fun and memorable birthday party for my oldest boy!

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Fall Leaf Cupcakes

FALL!!! It’s my favorite time of year!  Leaves are changing color and the weather is perfect!   If you are looking for a simple and elegant cupcake to celebrate Fall or to add to your Thanksgiving dessert menu, take a few minutes to watch my tutorial and learn how to make these delicious edible leaf cupcake toppers! You will need a package of chocolate Wilton’s candy melts, a squeeze bottle, gold cupcake holders, chocolate cake mix, and vanilla frosting. #CommissionsEarned

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For more fun Fall ideas check out some of my other blogposts:

Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards

Thanksgiving Cake and Cupcakes

Breakfast Turkey

Thankful Tree

Thanksgiving (Turkey Handprint) Kids Table

Sundae Cupcakes

My oldest turned 14 this May.  Fourteen!  How is that even possible!?!  He has decided that he is now too old for themed birthday parties.  I told him that I was ok with not doing a theme this year as long as I could still make him some fun cupcakes.  We decided on Sundae Cupcakes and they were definitely a good choice for a party of teenage boys.  For these cupcakes I used Pillsbury Devil’s Food Cake mix, foil cupcake wrappers, vanilla buttercream frosting, Wilton’s light cocoa candy melts, Wilton’s rainbow jimmies sprinkles, and maraschino cherries with stems.  I have to say, these were one of the easiest cupcakes to decorate and I love how they turned out!  For a couple of tips on how to get the frosting and “hot fudge” just right, try using a large piping tip for the frosting and a squeeze bottle to drizzle the chocolate on top.  You will have to work fast with the candy melts so that you can get to all of the cupcakes before the melted chocolate hardens.  Be sure to add the sprinkles right after drizzling the layer of melted chocolate or they will not stick.  

I also was able to make a variation of these cupcakes for a bake sale at my daughter’s school and I found that cherry sours candies make amazing “cherries” with their vibrant red color.  Red cupcake liners are another nice touch. These delicious cupcakes were a huge hit and I will definitely be making them again in the near future.  #CommissionsEarned