We celebrated Aric’s birthday last weekend with a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party. My goal was to make it low key and no big deal. It turned into a DIY-nightmare.

The whole reason I wanted to do a Gabba birthday was because I wanted to use my brand new Cricut machine to make this banner:

Click image to see full size

I honestly don’t remember what gave me the inspiration to make this, but I completely LOVE how it turned out. It’s made with scrapbook paper, my Cricut machine with the cartridge that came with it, rubber cement, and ribbon. And it only took me 2 hours. Or something. I don’t remember. But I love it, and it’s now hanging in Aric’s room as a permanent art installation

So. Now that I had the banner, I needed to come up with an awesome cake idea. A lightbulb turned on in my head and I thought, “ZOMG! I’ll make a Muno cake (the red guy) but I’ll make it out of RED VELVET CAKE!!!”

So I bought a box of Red Velvet Cake mix and threw it in the oven. Thirty minutes later I checked on it, only to realize I didn’t actually turn the oven on. Fail #1. So I turned on the oven and baked it. When it was time to take it out, I put it on a wire rack to cool. When it was mostly cool, I used my hands to transfer the 13×9 slab of cake onto a flat cookie sheet for easier decorating. It broke in half. Fail #2. I took my knife and started shaping it into the Muno body shape I wanted. And I cut. And cut. And cut some more until there was hardly any cake left to decorate. Fail #3. Then I attacked it with red frosting. And it crumbled apart. Fail #4.

So I said, “Screw this ish!” and turned all the unfrosted Red Velvet Cake into Red Velvet Cake Balls.

Basically, they are as delicious as they look.

These? Totally made up for the massive fail that was Muno Cake Attempt #1. (Super easy recipe from Bakerella!)

So then I was in a pickle. I didn’t have enough cake mix left to make another cake. OR DID I???? Turns out the Baking gods were smiling down upon me and gifted me with a box of white cake mix stashed away in my pantry. Muno Cake Attempt #2 went MUCH better.

Mildly frightening looking

This went over so well Aric talked about his “Nuno Ake” for a solid week.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I decided to attempt rainbow cupcakes. Of course I don’t have a photo, but I got the recipe here and that’s almost EXACTLY how mine turned out. These were oddly A LOT of fun to make, and even more fun to eat

AND THEN (oh yes, there is more) I went to the fabric store looking for a print that I could use to applique Aric’s name and the number 2 to the back of the shirt I bought for his party. But what I walked out of there with was 2 yards of flannel Cars print and 2 yards of a minky dot fabric to go with. And I made him a quilt. With 4 matching throw pillows. And the quilt needed those adorable little yarn knots to hold it all into place. But those adorable yarn knots are a PAIN IN THE YOU KNOW WHAT to add to an already thick quilt. And I had blisters on my fingers for days afterwards. But his reaction to it was pretty awesome:

The look on his face says it all!

Not the best shot of the quilt, but you get the drift.

I don’t know that I’ll ever attempt a quilt like that again, but I have to admit, I really like having something like that that I MADE!!

So there you have it: the low-key, no-stress birthday party that turned into a giant DIY mess. It’s a good thing Aric will always remember how much fun he had at his party!

Wait……