Easy Unique 1st Birthday Smash Cake Tutorial

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I have a secret. I am not very good at baking. I can put together a mean party theme - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toddler birthday party? I'm all over it. FIretruck party complete with Easy Fire Fighter DIY Party Game? No problem. But I tend to call in reinforcements when it comes to creating an amazing owl cake or a Nintendo question block cake (Stephanie, you rock).

When I set out to make the food for Addie's party when she turned one, I knew I wanted an owl for her main cake, but I didn't know what to do about her smash cake. I was struck with inspiration while we were working on the owl and matching cupcakes and thanks to the awesome supply stash my baking friend brought over, we had almost everything I needed to make the cutest little easy first birthday smash cake.

Baking assistant.

Multicolored Smash Cake - Supplies Needed
-6" Cake Pan
-Boxed Cake Mix of choice (yeah - I used boxed cake) and the ingredients listed on the box
-A simple frosting recipe (I used this one)
-Gel Food Coloring (I used 4 colors - you can use as many or as few as you want)
-Cake Decorating Bags
-Decorating Tips #21 (I had 4 of these) and #32 (I had 2 of these)
-A fair amount of patience

Follow the instructions on your boxed cake mix to bake the cake. Don't forget to add water. Not that I know from experience or anything, but it won't turn out very well without some sort of liquid. You'll have enough batter left over to make another small cake or some cupcakes or something, so plan for that!




Once your cake is done and has cooled, whip up your frosting and apply a thin layer to the whole cake. Then stick it in the fridge so the frosting can harden a little before you start adding color.

Next, split your frosting into bowls for each separate color and add your coloring. You can use regular food coloring if you like, but I had better success with gel colors - they offer a much easier way to get the shade you're looking for without painstaking hours of mixing colors.

Disclaimer written long after this post was originally published: in the last year, I've completely banned food coloring from my house. I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next round of birthdays, because this is SO STINKING EASY. I no longer advocate actually using food coloring, however, I do have endless good things to say about how easy it is. I'm hoping to find a more natural alternative! Tips, anyone?

Next you'll need to get your cake decorating bags all set up with the #21 icing tips (here's a good youtube video on how to do this). Then, it's time to get your wrists ready for lots of squeezing.

I started with one flower of each color and alternated after that, trying to even out the colors as much as possible. There was no real rhyme or reason to my method other than trying not to let the same color touch.

This part takes a long time, but when it looks so cute, it's worth it, right?

Once you get the top of the cake and most of the sides covered, take a break and set up another decorating bag or two with the "32" frosting tips, then go ahead and do the lower edge. I did mine in two different colors, but you could use just one or all four, depending on how many tips you have at your disposal.

Ta-da! There you have it: one perfect smash cake for a perfect party.

I put my cake back in the fridge after it was done, but here's a tip: make sure you pull it out a good hour before the baby will be smashing it. Because if you don't, there won't be a whole lot of smashing - more just pounding and picking at it. Which is still cute, but not quite the same thing.

You can see more photos from Addie's Owl First Birthday Party here.

Hope you enjoyed this cake tutorial from a mom who really has NO idea about how to make cake. Let me know how yours turns out!

Lincoln's Firetruck 3rd Birthday Party

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When Lincoln turned three, it only made sense to have a truck themed birthday party. It was a toss up between firetrucks and monster trucks, but ultimately a firetruck party seemed the perfect choice. The party ended up rescheduled because Addie had pneumonia (it was a long winter), but it was still a great success!

And the party was only TWO months ago, so I'm doing better about sharing photos than I did for Addie's owl first birthday party, right?

The party favor station was a pretty big hit! The kids loved their dalmatian fire puppies and fire hats! If you're looking for fire Dalmatian puppies, you can check here and here and here.

I used a friend's Cricut to make the birthday banner. The firetruck stickers were purchased at Hobby Lobby, on a sheet of random vehicle stickers.

The mantel display was my favorite part of the decorations. The little flaming buildings were put together with brown wrapping paper, black cardstock, some basket shred filling, and hot glue.

For the flames at the top, I twisted crepe paper in orange, red, and yellow up to the ceiling and held it in place with push pins.

I added crepe paper to the fan in the kitchen, above the table display.

Not my best party table ever, but it worked. Several things got nixed from the to-do list since Addie was sick for two weeks before the party and I just ran out of hours. However - I again thought the flaming buildings turned out pretty cute, and they made a great backdrop for the cupcakes!

Lincoln's firetruck birthday shirt is from Zoey's Attic Personalized Gifts and it was the perfect touch! Read my Zoey's Attic review for more about this great company.

Our party food display. I need to work on my baking and especially food coloring skills, but at least the kids seemed to have no problem devouring my less-than-gorgeous "fire" cupcakes. The mini firetrucks doubled as decorations and favors, and went home with Lincoln's guests.

I felt pretty good about how it all turned out, even if I didn't get to finish everything I had planned to do.

Lincoln had conflicting emotions about the party and went from being excited that everyone was coming over to shouting that no one could come in his house, in the space of about ten seconds. It was...awesome. Or something. Oh, to be three years old! Make sure you have a firefighter outfit on hand for the birthday kid if you go with this theme...it was a big hit for my little guy.

My grandpa is always a popular party guest.

The kids also enjoyed the less-than-amazing pizza. It was just not a good night for us in the food department.

The only structured activity was the DIY Fire Fighter Game - and it was a huge hit!

Lincoln was really excited to blow out his candles. He was less sure about sharing the cupcakes with his friends, but there were no serious meltdowns.

We had a fun time celebrating with so many friends!

And of course, he was pretty excited about opening some birthday gifts. Addie wanted in on the action, too.

He was most surprised and excited by the vintage tricycle from my parents and the epic Thomas train set from daddy's parents. Both have been played with as often as possible since the party!

Overall, our party turned out really cute and was enjoyed by all! Lincoln asked for days afterward if we could have another firetruck party. I don't know what we'll do for his birthday next year, but I know he'll be even more excited about it. I love planning parties, and it's even more fun when the child is enthusiastic about the planning process!

Addie's Purple & Turquoise Owl 1st Birthday Party

Addie's first birthday was back in November - so like any good mom blogger, I am finally writing about it two months later! We planned her party a few days after her birthday, so we were able to enjoy the day with her without being too stressed out about party details!

Picking out a birthday party theme for her was tough, but I was inspired by all of the cute owls I kept seeing on Pinterest! I went with a rather unconventional color scheme, which meant custom making most of the details, but I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I definitely took on some projects that were much bigger than my Mickey Mouse party decorations, but I think it was worth it.

Fair warning: this is a photo-heavy post!

When I party plan, I love to wrap everything up in the theme. I made a party hat for Lincoln's first birthday, so I knew Addie would have to have a special hat as well.

The tutu skirt was one of my favorite pieces of the party decor. I managed to salvage it before she smashed too much cake into it - I'm planning to re-make it for her when she's old enough for a dress-up collection.

But perhaps my favorite thing about her party was her beautiful, amazing, wonderful owl cake!

My friend Stephanie is far more talented than I when it comes to baking and decorating, and she volunteered her services for a day so that we could create this masterpiece. I'm still just thrilled with how it turned out.

The morning of the party, Addie was not feeling well at all - which meant that a lot of my last-minute food ideas and table decorations did not get finished as planned. While I should take this as a lesson in why it is unwise to procrastinate, I will likely continue to do so and will just be grateful that I had lots of photos to display on her party table. I had intended on making more streamers and paper owls to include with the frames. This would have likely been easier if I had gone with a more traditional party color scheme.

She ended up perking up right as the party started - thank goodness. I guess she must have been teething, but I actually came very close to calling everyone and cancelling the whole affair.

Here are a few photos from the party - followed by more detailed pictures of our owl decorations!

I snagged these fun owl cupcake picks at Michael's sometime last spring. I think they were in the value section.

After some cracker-and-cheese snacking, Addie was a little more excited about her party.

Gift opening was intriguing to her, and she had lots of help from her big brother, cousin, and friend.

I love this photo series. Look at her little faces! And the clapping hands! Precious.

After gifts, we headed into the kitchen for her smash cake. While Stephanie was slaving away over the shaped owl cake, I was hand piping this masterpiece.

Um, it took forever. But isn't it seriously adorable? I had originally planned to only do one shade of purple, teal, and white - but ended up using lavender as well and it turned out so cute. I used a #21 tip to pipe all the stars except the bottom row.

The big kids were pretty excited for us to cut the big cake.

Unfortunately, in the chaos of her being sick right before the party, we completely forgot to take her smash cake out of the fridge so her first cake experience was kind of like trying to break open an ice cube. She was persistent.

I think it was safe to say she enjoyed it. I'm still dying over that high chair tutu. I kind of want to leave it on there forever.

Family shot.

Favorite.

I'll share more about the decorations in later posts, but here are some overall photos.

I collected owls for months to use as part of the decor, and even sewed the big plush ones myself. Her banner was one of my favorite elements of the party. It's made of felt and ribbon.

I really loved how the ruffled crepe paper streamers turned out, too. I found a tutorial at Dana Made It and they were soooo easy to make!

The punch recipe we tend to go with is called Luscious Slush Punch - but this year, we thought it was really overly sweet. We may be seeking a less sugary drink for future parties!

More handmade party details - there were quite a few plush owls that I sewed scattered around the rooms. The big ones are currently listed in my Etsy shop, and the little ones were handed out (along with the color-coordinating candy owl bags) as party favors. The front door wreath did not turn out quite as I had hoped, but I still think it was pretty cute.

We added some balloons and lots of photos of Addie's first year and it was a pretty adorable party overall. At least, I thought so. And the birthday girl enjoyed herself, which was the important thing. Although she was a little grumpy later that evening when her big brother stole her balloon!

Hope you enjoyed the photos from our Owl party!