Birthday Cake Tower, no baking required!

We just had my baby girl's 2nd Birthday Party, and it was so much fun! There has always been so much love in her life; family and friends came from four hours away and sent gifts and well wishes all supporting our little girl as she grows up, and it means so much to us.

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A local farm brought baby pigs, bunnies, and a horse to our backyard for her to ride, wow! She was in livestock heaven - and so was I! We sure can't wait to move onto our land. One of my FIRST finds will be an outdoor pet for her. Or maybe pet(s). Shhh, don't tell my husband!

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE baking, and eventually I'll probably share some of the cakes I've made over the years. But for this party, I decided not to bake a cake. First of all, at this age, my child wants all my attention to be on her instead of the oven during her bday weekend, and I agree. I wanted to be able to have fun with her in the days leading up to her party instead of spending 6-8 hours on a decorated layer cake. Second, we had friends coming the day before, so I didn't want to have large projects hanging over my head. Third, knowing that the animals would be coming day-of and also that we would be hosting humans for our first party in the rental, I decided to cut myself a break.

Instead of a traditional cake, I opted to create a dessert tower with a cake topper that coordinated with the party theme of "Two Wild."

Who else loves this adorable banner available on Amazon? I do, I do!

Speaking of making the big day easier, I decorated in advance so we could all enjoy the weekend together. I set up the banner and table (sans food, obviously) two days in advance. That way, I didn't have to worry about remembering all the little details or pieces I wanted to set up or feel rushed on the big day. Here is the banner I ordered online:

Shout out to my good friend Danielle whose b-day is 2 days after my daughter's! In fact, we have a little story about that. Two years ago, we had plans to get pedicures on D's birthday, but surprise, my baby girl came early and instead of enjoying a relaxing day with my girl Danielle, I was in the hospital recovering from an unexpected C-section that followed 36 hours of hard labor. I had to text her that I probably couldn't make it, haha! We still chuckle about that. We'll never forget that birthday for sure!

This year, Danielle and her hubby stayed with us the night before the party and we all had dinner and a toast for both birthday girls. My little angel toasted with water, of course, but she still said, "Cheeees!" (That's her way of saying "cheers.") How much cuter could she be?! Those dinner plans were another reason to prepare everything in advance and be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy some Friday bubbly with friends.

Okay, let's check out some of the birthday fun!

This fun, on-theme food table sign was made possible by a trip to the Dollar Tree for a frame and easel, and a few minutes on the word processor.

Amazon sells these cute napkins that coordinated with our theme. While there are plenty of "Two Wild" items to be found, I actually had a hard time finding matching sets of anything. Not to worry, things don't have to be perfectly matched; the bright colors all worked together, and as I reminded myself, this is a child's birthday party, it's supposed to be extra playful!

DIY strikes again for the adult "Jungle Juice" sign! The signature drink was all-natural margaritas with a few drops green food coloring. After all, it's always appreciated when a kids party is fun for the adults, too.

The morning of the party, we made a pancake breakfast, then set up 2 tents for shaded seating outside. I need to say BIG thank you to my amazing neighbors who lent us two tents! AND my wonderful mother-in-law lent us folding tables and chairs. It took a village!

Here is the tablecloth I used:

That afternoon, my husband and my dad went to Publix to fill some helium balloons while my mini-me took a snooze, and I was able to heat up the frozen appetizers (yep, I went super easy this year!), set up the drink bar, and get ready myself in peace. It's always nice when us moms have time to put on our mascara!

The only remaining project that day? You guessed it - the cake tower!

I bet there are dozens of ways you could set up something like this. The main thing is you choose a theme or color scheme, buy 3 or 4 types of desserts (you could totally use cakes, cupcakes, cookies, candy, pastries, or healthy homemade baked goods), throw in an eye-catching touch or two, and make it easy on yourself, why not? After all, any toddler would rather spend the day playing with mom versus spending all day getting shooed away from her own birthday cake prep. That doesn't sound fun at all for a kid! So instead of stressing over preparing a time-consuming, delicate recipe, I went with the kid-friendly option this time. Maybe next year we'll make a crazy cake together! This year, we just went grocery shopping.

Off-the-shelf cake for the win!

Here is how I set up our cake tower:

1. Top Tier: First of all, THANK YOU to the kind baker at Publix who took the chocolate strawberries off the mini cake and piped a blue rose instead! I saw the little black and white cake in the display and knew it would coordinate with our zebra and safari theme, but I didn't want the grown-up chocolate berries on top. I asked if she could replace them with a youthful teal blue flower. There was no extra charge for my request.

2. Middle Tier: Add in 2 boxes of zebra cakes, a pack of edible eyeball decorations, and black decorative frosting. Thanks to my mom who used those supplies to add a smiley face to each zebra cake!

3. Bottom Tier: Half a dozen colorful rainbow and sprinkle cupcakes at Publix. They were tall and I didn't want to smush them, so I off-set the tiers to make room for them and accounted for the weight by off-centering the heavy top tier as well. When the tiers are chock-full of goodies, it's not noticeable if things are exactly centered or not.

4. Supplies: 3 reusable plastic cake towers + fake flowers + Two Wild cake topper

5. Total Cost: For those who are interested and planning your party budget, it cost $44 MOL for a creative, colorful dessert tower that served 20 guests in total.

For the home economists out there like me, my custom cake tower clocked in much lower than a custom layer cake, at least at the bakeries I priced while writing this post. For example, one local boutique bakery prices start around $150 for their smallest cake. Of course, you could also buy a full-size cake off the shelf in Publix and call it a day for around $28, and there's no shame in that game either, mama! But besides the reasonable price, the cake tower turned out so cute and personalized. BEST of all, when my daughter saw it, she stared in amazement saying, "Wow! Woww... wow." Oh my lanta, how sweet! (She always gives me 5-Star reviews, haha.)

Summary: With some creative shopping, decorating ahead of time, and helping hands from family and friends, we were able to host 20 guests and still have time to be with our daughter every step of the way - oh yeah, and also enjoy some delicious birthday cake.

Success! She loved the rainbow icing and sprinkles cupcake.

Of course the real question is, what did the Birthday Girl think of everything? When our little angel woke up from her nap, I got her dressed in her "Two Wild" shirt from Etsy, put a giant gift bow in her hair which I had previously glued to a hair clip, and the next thing you know, her friends, family, and even a backyard petting zoo was arriving to wish her a happy birthday!

The highlight of the day was when she finally got up the courage to ride the horse. When the horse started walking, her reaction was priceless. The sound of her laughing on the horse was the best sound I've ever heard in my entire life, and makes everything that has ever happened up until that moment worth it. My heart is so full, and I want to thank every person who loves and supports our baby as well. What a blessing you all are; she has always been surrounded by so much love.

And for all of YOU, in honor of our little one's birthday, I'd like to share with you the blessing we pray every night:

May God bless you and keep you,

And cause His face to shine upon you,

And give you peace.

Here's hoping you enjoyed this special post about a playful alternative to a traditional birthday cake! Please share your own creative ideas in the comments, I can't wait to read them.

With Love,

Molly

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