My dad was having a milestone birthday, and I wanted to have some of his friends over to celebrate with him. I was looking for cake ideas and came across the Martha Stewart sailboat cake. Granted... it was in the kids section, but I thought it might work nicely,as dad grew up on the ocean, and has lived near the ocean his whole life.
I wanted to keep the party simple, but it never works that way! As soon as I saw the cake, my mind went off on a nautical theme. I had wanted to make a fabric banner for a while, and managed to find all the fabric locally. I had remembered seeing cute striped ribbon at The Cross... and luckily all the colors tied in! The napkins were totally lucky... I found them at a party supply store... on sale, no less! The cupcakes seemed a little boring on their own, so I made little flags out of left over fabric... cut out the fabric into tiny strips, then glued them onto lollipop sticks.
I learnt a lesson with the cake... as in, I can't make cakes from scratch! I envisioned making the perfect cake... but realized a birthday party deadline is no time to learn how to make a layered cake from scratch. After three failed attempts with the homemade cake, I had to question why I was putting myself under so much stress?! A boxed angel food cake worked just fine. I stuffed the whole in the middle with waxed paper and iced over top of it. Cake was just the right size and height. The cupcakes were also from a box... with homemade buttercream.
In the end, it's all about taking on what you know... and faking the rest! A birthday party is supposed to be a fun celebration, after all!
