It's Oliver's "Under the Sea" Birthday Party!!

The original idea for Oliver's birthday theme was a CRAB. This stemmed from a period this year where we watched a good bit of Discovery's Channel's "Deadliest Catch" shows, which showcases the lives of the Alaskan Crab Fishermen. "Crab Bait" became common words around here--namely to describe a snack. Everything revovled around getting "crab bait." However, i could not really find any good examples of crab cakes i liked. As Oliver's birthday neared, i still was stumped for a good cake idea. I decided to go ahead with a general "Under the Sea" theme and made up a quickie invitation digitally starting with Lynn Grieveson's H20 Kit. The kit comes with a super-cute octopus in it, and i think the theme followed from that point. Here's the invitation i made:

Credits: Lynn Grieveson's H2o Kit, Katie Pertiet's Seashell elements, Bisontine's Oh My Captain Kit, Cinnamon Design's Summer in Mind, Nikki Beaudreau's Clearly Summer, and Jen Ulasiewiscz Design Down By the Seashells.

Here's a picture of Oliver on party day before the guests arrive. He loved his lobster balloon.

I wanted to have all the food themed around the party, but i got too stressed (and too cheap) thinking about it all. In my imagination i envisioned some sort of shrimp dinner and crab cakes, but i ended up taking the easy way out. Brad offered to BBQ some pork butts, and that sounded very low-maintenance to me, so i graciously took on that idea. All i had to do was make some side dishes. I made mac-n-cheese, BBQ beans, and potato salad to go with. In fitting with the theme, i also made my spinach-artichoke dip, except that was "Seaweed Dip." Here's a fiery picture of the coals heatin' up to go into the smoker for Brad to BBQ his pork overnite. Cool picture, huh?!

Our house is not really set up for lots of people, so we were hoping the weather would work out in our favor so we could have everything out back since we have plenty of room out there. And it did--it was lovely out. Oliver's best little friend in the world, Maddie, showed up with 3 of her siblings, Sierra, Layton, and Lyndsay, as well as her Mom (my friend, Scarlet). The next-door neighbor kids, Tommy and Amanda, showed up with their Mom (my friend, Tricia). And i also invited the new neighbors across the fence. Their 3 kids had been talking to Oliver over our back wall for some time so i figured it was time to get to know them better! Oliver was so excited to make some more friends--Rilie, Ryan, and Karissa (and Mom and Dad Tina and Todd). Our friends Kevin and Gloria have been celebrating Oliver's birthdays with us each year and this was no exception. And it wouldn't be a party without our good friend, Jeannie, who was with us when Oliver came into the world, and has been helping to celebrate it with him each year as well. 8 adults i can handle. And 10 kids? It was a wild evening! With the kids ranging in age from 4 to 14, we planned a few little games that everyone could enjoy. We started with Ocean Critter Bingo:

We had a Crab Walk. Who could go the fastest through our little obstacle course. I tried to demonstrate the position (thank goodness there are no pictures of this!). Sierra won the contest for being the fastest, however i think an honorable mention is due to Layton, who had the funniest crab walk i have ever seen! We have no pictures, and a picture would not do it justice, but if we got this on video i will post it later--it is a funny sight...i think Layton's middle name might be "Slinky." Hehe. The crab walk was not the easiest game for the little ones. Oliver and Maddie struggled, but they were great sports!

Who doesn't love to do the LIMBO?? This was fun to watch. Especially with the bigger kids. Sierra and Layton did great. And for being the tallest, Rilie ROCKED! Must be nice to have all those young, lanky limbs they can bend and crunch down into squatty positions! And, a picture of Skippie (our doggie girl) just happy to be hanging out during the festivities. She always has a ball when we have lots of company over!

The STINGRAY TOSS. Self-explanatory.

Pinata time!! We got this dorky shark pinata that had big, drunken-looking eyes that just screamed DOHHHH! The game went from everyone being blindfolded with one hit....to 1 hit without the blindfold....to 3 good hits while looking....then real impatience set in and everyone just started whacking the thing to get it to break open, which it did. I forget which kid finally broke it, but i did the honors of whacking it good one final time so everyone could grab for the sweets....

Dinnertime. Phew. Finally we sit down for a few minutes to eat. Oliver was too good to sit at the long table with everyone. He has better things going on, thank you very much. He has fallen in love with Rilie and only wants to share his dinner with her. It was too cute.

My octopus-dogs seemed to go over very well. I cannot take credit for this trick, i googled it. But the kids all seemed to love the curled up hotdogs served over seashell pasta. Anything to make regular food more interesting gets kids excited. Just cut the hot dog in half lengthwise, just not all the way up. Then cut each half 3 times, which gives you four legs. Boil and the legs curl up! I love that this kept in with the octopus theme, although Lyndsay insisted they looked more like squids....

PRESENTS!! Too many pictures to show here, but this gives the general gist of the paper-tearing extravaganzaa!! Oliver got lots of nice things. Books. Dinosaurs. A Scooby-Doo pinball machine. Lite Brite. A piggy bank. A toy car. An Octopus Playdoh machine-thingie (perfect in keeping with the theme!). A big-boy bike with training wheels and a Big Wheel machine!

Although i was too overwhelmed for Oliver's 1st birthday party to think of it, each year since i have tried to make a homemade birthday cake for him. We always seem to have a theme, too. I am not a baker. But each year i have learned more and have acquired more neat little tools to work with. After last year's cake, i said that was it--i wasn't doing any more homemade cakes. Too stressful for me. Too much work and time....but, alas....the kidlet seems to get a lot of joy so i gave in again and made another cake. I had no good ideas for this cake but in keeping with the theme i decided to make the centerpiece of the cake an octopus. I made 2 GIANT rectangular chocolate cakes with a choclate mousse filling. I made a 3rd batch of cake that went into cupcake and dome shapes to be the "sea cave" my octopus would sit atop. I have never worked with fondant so this was a big challenge for me. I spent hours making the fondant and trying to mold it into a recognizable octopus. Not so easy. I was disappointed. I wrapped it in plastic and left it until party day. On Sunday, i piped on little details that gave my octopus a little more character and i was happy. I made a a big treasure chest to set opposite of the octopus, as well as a smaller one for the octopus to guard. The chests were filled with candy treats. 2 weeks prior to all of this, i used colored chocolate to mold lots of sea creatures to decorate around the cake with. Sour strips were the seaweed, and gummy sharks and other creatures helped round out the decors. It seemed plain, but once i got the frosting piped around the edges it all just seemed to come together! The final touch was a sprinkling of blue sparklies around for that blue ocean feel..... here are some snapshots on the evolution of the cake.....i have to say i am very proud of myself on this one. Brad says every year i out-do myself! It turned out really cool and was truly the hit of the party!! This sucker weighed in at 25 pounds and was a child's delight with all the candy!
And....the Piece de Resistance!!! Isn't is cute??

Close-up of the OCTOPUS.

Making a wish. Yep--it was a doozy. Oliver wished that the Bunyip wouldn't get him. Not your typical wish, but hey. What can i say? Oliver is in the phase where he loves anything to do with scary or creepy or monsters. It's just what's on his mind. Most people probably have NO CLUE what the heck a Bunyip is. We learned about it when we watched an old 70s movie called "Dot and the Kangaroo." To hear the theme song, click here. It is a common household term around here now. Oliver commonly sings the "Bunyip Song" from "Dot and the Kangaroo" to anyone who'll listen. Everyone looks at him (and me) with this "HUH?" look on their face. I guess only Aussies would get this. Anyways, lately Oliver has been asking me if i'll protect him from the Bunyip. I tell him..."Well, now that you're 4 years old, maybe now you can protect ME from the Bunyip." Hehehehe.

Chow time. It's all about the cake. After the party, i asked Oliver what was his favorite part about his birthday party? He responded..."Eating CAKE!!!"

A group shot at Party's End. Lyndsay, Karissa, Ryan, Maddie, Sierra, Layton, Oliver, Rilie. Tommy and Amanda already had headed home....

It really was a great day! Oliver really is in his element when surrouded by children. When it came time to walk everyone out, Oliver just lost it. He cried and cried and said he wanted all his little friends to stay at his house. :( The worse part came when he accidentally let loose of his lobster balloon and it flew straight up toward the Heavens. The horrendous sobbing began and it only subsided somewhat when i said that we could look for another one sometime. Thanks to everyone for sharing in his day!!

And another year in Oliverland begins.

For many more pictures of oliver's 4th Birthday see my slideshow here. There are 135 photos, so be sure to scroll down to catch them all!