It's Party Week ...Let's Make a Mermaid Cake (and a sweet mermaid craft)

Oh the joys of celebrating! If you have been following our blog or know me, you know my LOVE of making cakes ~ actually not just a love for cakes but a love of celebrating and cakes are simply a delicious way! I grew up third, in a family of eight children. Birthdays in our home while growing up, were the one day out of the year when you received the chance to be revered all day... with decadent, royal treatment. Everyone was expected to be  sweeter than sweet and lavish you with love. My parents,  regardless of how many kids  were in our clan, were always more than accomadating for us to celebrate with parties...and I had plenty. Let's see, i had the oriental party complete with eating with chopsticks in kimonos, a punk rock theme with oodles of gaudy makeup and crazy clothes, a formal evening wear party ~ raiding our local combermere thrift store for  dazzling dresses and of course high heels that were too big and all this before I turned 13! This tradition of making someones big day shine continues to fuel my love of parties! Having two daughters gives be plenty of opportunity to indulge myself!

When my Luna turned five we had a mermaid theme party. We celebrated at a friends lovely private beach in the pines and the kids enjoyed a magical afternoon of being mermaids in the water.

Here was the cake I made for this event...

here what you need ~ 

• 1 baked 8-inch round cake
• 1 baked 13- x 9- x 2-inch cake
• 12 baked cupcakes
• I like to just use two organic cake mixes ~ easy and yummy
• for this cake I used white cake for the cupcakes and face and chocolate for the tail.
• you could use frosting but I choose to use organic apricot jam as the frosting
• blanched sliced almonds
• edible flowers ~ if you wish! 
• unsulfered apricots
• spagetti noodles (uncooked) (to be taken off before eaten)
• shells with glitter 

Cut and arrange the cakes as shown in the small photos. 

You will need a very large platter to present this cake. I recommend a big slat of wood covered with tinfoil. If you are traveling with the cake you may need to bring it in pieces and assemble once there.

 For the face I used apricots for the eyes and cranberries for the lips ~ you could get as creative as you are inspired though!

  

The mermaid scales are a labor of love...I shall not lie, they took the better part of my evening to put into place.  I used that quiet time though, to reflect on my strong, introspective, brimming with imagination daughter and the journey of her birth into this world.

I used pansies for her necklace, calendula petals for her hair, violets for her waist and nasturtiums for her tail. She was a hit with the kids and so much fun to create!

 

a day filled with lots of laughter and play...

 

   a visit from  papa the sand monster 

 

 bubbles...bubbles...bubbles...

 

a birthday girl swinging with her gals

 

 and one plum tuckered little sister...

Here is a delightful mermaid craft...

This craft is an idea from the wonderfully creative Pink and Green Mama...click on her name to see how she did it!  Basically you just need a clear plastic tote, some aquarium stones or pebbles, plastic fish, aquarium plants or sew your own fish and plants, and some peg mermaids.  This is a great craft for the mermaid lovin' children in your life, or you could do it as a party craft or as a party favor for a mermaid inspired party!  I'm sure Pink and Green Mama would gladly make them for you too!

Here is our little slice of mermaid paradise...best of all, when playtime is done, put the lid on and it goes on the shelf!!

 In mermaid magic

~Shanti~