Finn's Classic Vintage Birthday Party

Because I have gotten SOOO many of my ideas for Finn's party from other blogs, I decided to do a whole post dedicated to his cake and party decorations, etc.  Hopefully someone else will follow suit and use some of it!

 Here is the cake table! I used primary colors as a central theme on top of the the vintage stuff. 

 Most of what I used, Finn already had! The only thing I had to do here was make the cake and buy coke in glass bottles!

 From the back... old soda shop straw dispenser for the cokes (because I thought it classed things up a bit), cokes (from Walmart!), sock monkey from a craft fair, and Hubley cars from the 1930s that have been passed down in the family to Finn!

I am pretty sure these alphabet blocks are from Hobby Lobby.  Finn's grandma painted them and used them to store baby goodies in for a shower before he was even born.  We also used the big yellow block as a prop when taking his monthly pictures.  I thought it would be fun to put out pictures of Kevin and I on our first birthdays to compare to our little dude now.  It made for some good conversation.  The party favors got stashed in the red block.  They came in red, yellow, blue, and green balloon bags with a slinky, playdoh, stamp, and homemade crayons, finished off with the same red and white polka dot bow I used on just about everything. The sock monkey jack in the box is from Target.  They have all sorts of the old Fisher Price toys, too!

 Finn and I (he supervised) made teddy bear crayons for the kiddos.  I got crayons and a silicone candy mold at Hobby Lobby ($2 total).  I scored the crayons with a razor blade to get the paper off, broke them in pieces, put them in the mold, and then kept putting more small pieces in as they melted in the oven.  Super easy!  I have to say, they remind me a little of the Grateful Dead bears...

Teddy bear crayons

Dick and Jane banner

I bought two Dick and Jane books on Amazon to make four 6.5 foot banners to put across entryways into each room.  I thought it was a nice touch instead of streamers, especially since I spent $12 total.  The red and white polka dot ribbon was all from Walmart and was dirt cheap! 

Schylling nesting blocks

Another Amazon find.... plus, they double as the most adorable nesting blocks on the planet.  I used them in the middle of the food spread on the dining room table.









This has to be my favorite, most thought out project of the party.  I took monthly photos of Finn with the same GIGANTIC blue blanket (so that there was nothing else in the background), and used alphabet blocks to spell out his age.  Seeing the milestones in snapshot moments like this was amazing.  Once again, I used red and white polka dot ribbon strung through yellow, blue, and green index cards that I glued the pictures to.  Of course, the same alphabet blocks said "Happy Birthday, Finn!" on the mantle. 

Finn got a polka dot bow tie, too (and a 50s looking hairdo that didn't last long) to give him the classic American boy look =) I made it from directions I found after some poking around on various blogs. 

Now.... THE CAKE!

 This was my simpler version of the party cake, which I made for his actual birthday.  For both cakes, however, I used Duncan Hines lemon cake mix. 

 I decided to try fondant, even though I don't like sweets myself and rarely bake.  I used multiple videos I found online to get the general idea.  I bought Wilton's premade white fondant and in primary colors for the squares.  This is what the top looked like after I covered the buttercream with the rolled fondant.  Eeeeks!

 The top was super bumpy and bad bulges all over the bottom... apparently I was not aggressive enough with pulling the fondant out to smooth it.

 Watched one more video to try not to screw up the bottom tier, and VOILA! Much better!

 I rolled the white fondant by hand into balls to use a border (mostly to cover up the flaws).

 I cut the primary colors with square fondant cutters and wet the backs to stick them on the cake....

 

ALL FINISHED! Can't wait to try it again... Any guinea pigs?!