Oh, the Places You'll Go!

My son turned one back in April. It was a really low-key event, therefore not too many decorations went into the extravaganza this year. I did, however, make his cake. The theme I chose was from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go" book. When my first son was born, his 1st birthday theme was Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham." I thought it only fitting that we did something along the same line for the youngest. Who knows, maybe when he graduates (way off into the future), we will do another one of these themed parties.

On his actual birthday, I made giant cupcakes. This picture doesn't really do the size of the cupcake justice.
It is sitting on a plate that I made especially for occasions like birthdays and other special events.
I got the idea from a friend of mine who had this tradition growing up in her family and it sounded
like it was right up my alley as well!

I made the birthday cake for him this year. I wasn't super happy with the way the cake turned out, but the concept still worked for what I was going for. I didn't count on the color dripping down the fondant the way it did every once in a while. Lessons learned for next time around! I always seem to learn something about cake decorating with birthday party time rolls around (kind of an inopportune time if you ask me).

I ordered a couple extra books from Amazon that were not in the best shape (so that meant I got a good price) and deconstructed them for decorating with for the party. This is actually from the jacket cover of the book. I cut out the pieces and just stuck them on the top of the cake.

I designed the cake based on the cover of the book. I made the bottom layer out of cake and covered it with fondant. I used a food marker to make my swirl outline and then painted the fondant from there. For the top of the cake, I actually used a floral styrofoam form. I didn't want to mess with trying to carve a cake and panic if it fell over, which, with my luck would have definitely happened. I just covered the styrofoam with fondant as well and followed the cake design.

As you can see, the cake was loved by all!

I had a grand idea to make a map using the pages of the actual book. Cutting each state out from the page and piecing it all together. I soon decided I was NOT up for that particular challenge given the fact that I wanted to have a big map. I opted for a purchase at the store instead. I have other uses for the map in the near future anyway.

Each month, I took a picture of my son in a rocking chair to see how much he had grown from month to month. I put all the pictures in the frame above to give everyone an idea of how big he has grown. It was fun to put this part together to reminisce myself. The picture now hangs in his bedroom (I love projects that serve dual purposes!)

The mantle above the fireplace, some balloons, pages from the book framed, the map and collage of his pictures.