Massive Manic Mermaid Mumblings...

First PICTURE POST on my bloooooog! Yay! Enjoy!
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KayKay turned SEVEN this past Saturday. SEVEN. As if I wasn't dealing with enough psychological trauma over the fact that she's in Second Grade.

We had a Mermaid party. It's been party central around our house for the last two weeks as I have been frantically trying to get everything together for this party. Because we do themed parties around our place, and because I'm all about fabulous *AND* frugal. Emphasis on the frugal part.
So I made 90% of the decorations we had. As in, bought on sale and then painted/put together/altered and otherwise totally overworked myself.

There were Mermaid invitations, hand-painted and glittered by myself and the little ladies:
(Aren't they adorable? I didn't want to give them away after we made them!)

And a Mermaid Lagoon sign that is too cute for words, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. We are SO keeping that! And Mermaid food, of course... Lots of Mermaid food. Because mermaids are hungry, you know.
And as if that wasn' t enough, I found these by the ever-fabulous Bakerella, which were SO totally adorable that I immediately decided that I HAD to make them for KayKay's big day. In mermaid colors, of course. With candy seashells on top. And edible glitter. Because everything tastes better with edible glitter.

My dear friend, the always-practical Miss Jessica Phillips, asked me if I was making them for KayKay or for myself, and I freely admit it... They were totally for me.
After having made them, though, I will not make them for any event in which I need a specific number again. At least if I can help it. Say it with me, Kandy Kote is NOT your friend. It is a maniacal beast in candy form that when unleashed will take over your kitchen with its drippy, melty, candiness and leave you for dead after it dries its smooth velvety exterior all over you. I just discovered several drips of BLUE Kandy Kote smeared through the undersides of one of my rings. Five days AFTER the party. Almost a week after making the cupcake pops. I wonder if it's still good... Hmmmm...

Anyway. Four hours for a meager THIRTY-TWO pops. Four hours. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Fortunately, Miss Jessica came to my rescue in the making of these. I had been planning on making them for everyone at the party - two per person - which would have meant making about 65 of them. but when I was talking about the prep for them, she wisely suggested I make a sheet cake for the adults and leaving the pops for the kids. What a great idea! My frou-frou self would never have considered something so fabulously simple as that. And it worked out beautifully.
But they sure were cute. And tasty. And I definitely will make them again. But only when I need like, ten. And with a big sword in hand to beat back the beast that is Kandy Kote. And rubber gloves.

So a Mermaid party it was. We had starfish sandwiches, and the table was covered in little painted seahorses and seashells and aqua tulle. There were mermaid tails and little glitter fish and it was held at the only ocean-themed park that I know of in this landlocked state. It was beautiful, if I do say so myself.
And several of friends who are also our neighbors came in costume. How fantabulous is that?!?!
And to top it all off, our neighbor Paula, who sadly couldn't make it to the party, planned a mermaid-themed scavenger hunt for KayKay and the Ladybug later that afternoon!
It was a good day. Happy birthday, my sweet girl.