Rebecca's 6th Birthday!

Yes, I know Rebecca is turning 7 tomorrow, this was a year and a day ago, so I figured it was about time to blog about it! I just finished making Rebecca's cake for her 7th birthday and wanted to make sure I documented her 6th first. It still catches me by surprise at times how fast she is growing up. For now, let's take a look back one year!

A start of a new school year also means Rebecca's birthday is not far behind! Here she is in her last days of being 5 - First day of First Grade at Pella Christian. You wouldn't know by looking, but this pictures was taken at 6:30 in the morning shortly before she rode the school bus for the first time!

Her birthday celebration started with bringing treats to school for her classmates and teachers and then taking her cousin Joanna home from school for an overnight. We went mini golfing and out for ice cream together.  

Ice cream at Goldie's was a great treat because the temperature was in the 90's and humid. 

   

Rebecca wanted an Ice Cream Party, so we searched Pinterest for ideas. Here's what we came up with!

 I made an ice cream cake out of ice cream sandwiches and she picked some of her favorite ice cream toppings to go with it - M&Ms, Oreos, nuts, sprinkles, strawberry syrup, and gummy bears. I also made an ice cream cone pinata, which turned out great and a "Happy Birthday" ice cream banner

Here are the details of how I made the cake: I wasn't exactly sure how the bars would stack up, but they actually fit together nicely by alternating directions when stacking them. I used whipped topping between each layer to help glue them together. Needed to work quickly before it starts to melt!

I used 2 full boxes - 24 bars, 8 on each layer. Then I covered the whole thing with more whipped topping.  For the cake topper I used a waffle cone with strawberry ice cream and of course, 6 candles for the birthday girl!

 Happy birthday to you Rebecca!

 After ice cream it was time for the pinata. 

 I made it very sturdy with quite a few layers of paper, so it took some good swings to start to break it open. Rebecca started with 6 swings, then each of her cousins got a turn. Blake got a little help, but loved to swing at it too.

 Finally...candy!!

 Ah, what a sad face - her pinata that we worked on for a week was ripped apart in just a few minutes.

She had a great birthday! We love watching you grow and mature Rebecca!! 

Here are a few details on how I made the pinata: I started with a large balloon and a paper cone. I simply taped them together.

 Then I did some good 'ol paper mache (flour and water mix and strips of newspaper). I did one good layer at a time and let it dry in between - give yourself a few days to get this project done! After the first 2 layers were dry I used string to create the hanging loop on the top. One of my pet peeves of store bought pinatas is when the hanging string breaks before the pinata does! Then the kids are left to beat the pinata while its on the ground - it's just sad!

 I don't have a good picture of how I did the string, but I actually anchored the top loop all the way around the balloon to a loop around the cone. Here's what I mean - tie a circle around the balloon where it meets the cone. Then tie 4 strings to the small circle and pull them around the balloon vertically to meet at the top. Tie all 4 stings together on the top and create a loop. These strings will all be secured in place by more layers of paper mache. This is how I let it dry outside between layers. Because the cone part is made out of paper, you need to be careful not to get it too wet with the flour/water and not let it bend while it dries.

 When I felt I had enough layers (maybe 6 or 7) and the shape was hard - very hard, I spray painted the cone brown. I cut a hole in the top to insert the candy. I did stuff some filler paper down into cone because there was no way I was going to fill the whole thing with candy!

 To make the ice cream pink, I glued on a few layers of pink tissue paper using spray glue - so much easier than liquid glue.

 I added a little more tissue paper around the base of the ice cream to make it look more like a scoop of ice cream. A lot of work, but a lot of fun and the of course the best part is that Rebecca love it!

(Wow, that was a long post! Thanks for reading!!)