The Girl's 8th Birthday: A Rainbow Party

The Girl didn't voice much of an opinion this year when it came to her birthday party.  She really wanted to have her party at a roller skating rink, so as a compromise, The Dad took her skating with a couple friends, and her brother, in the morning.  Then everyone came back to the house for a party with family, like we do every year.

She did request a rainbow cake, but no specifics other than that.  So I went with the rainbow color theme all the way around.

Nothin' too fancy in the way of decorations.

I bought some balloons, paper plates, napkins, and star picks at Target.  We had the streamers and birthday banner, then I filled in with colorful foods.

I was able to scrounge up enough flowers from the yard for a centerpiece.

I always make what the kids want for dinner on their birthdays, and she requested grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Okey dokey.

I did plain cheddar on some and smoked turkey and cheddar on others, both for the kiddos.

For the grown ups, I did grainy mustard, brie, persimmon, and prosciutto on some, and Trader Joe's Tuscan Cinnamon cheese and Granny Smith apples on the others.

I prepped all of the sandwiches in the morning, grating all the cheese (except the brie) so it would melt fast, then cooked them all on my panini maker that afternoon.

I just reheated them, covered with foil, in a warm oven.

And not a single photo.

Whoops.

And what kind of birthday party would it be without sugar?!

I put some fun colored candies in little bowls on the table.

I also had cheese puffs, uh-huh, and goldfish crackers.

To go with our sammies and tomato soup, I had a veggie tray and a fruit salad.

I always try to come up with a fun drink that isn't a complete sugar IV.

This time I mixed equal parts orange juice and lemonade, then added mandarin orange seltzer water.

I made colored ice cubes to go with the rainbow theme.

Don't mind the Coors Light photo bomb.

After an early dinner, The Girl opened presents.

Don't worry, there's only a couple, since I suck at people pictures.

The crew, including the puppy, all went to the park to run off some energy, then it was time for dessert.

In addition to the cake, I made rice krispy treats using Fruity Pebbles.

Um, disgusting.

My brother-in-law suggested I should have cut them half and half with regular rice krispies.

First of all, they taste just like Fruit Loops, which are equally disgusting, in my opinion, so I wasn't gonna like them no matter what.

But they were SO sweet with the addition of the marshmallows.

Not that they didn't get eaten.  There was an adult or two tearin' 'em up, too.

Bleck.

It kinda makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit just thinking about biting into one.

But they looked fun.  :)

I didn't do anything fancy to decorate the cake.

I rimmed the edges with rainbow candy, then put gummy butterflies on top.

It passed The Girl's rainbow cake request, and that's all that matters.

The surprise was when I cut into it.

Now that's a rainbow cake.

All in all, it was a good day.

She got her time spent skating with friends, as well as the family gathering that The Mom prefers.

Win win.

Happy birthday, Emma Rae!
For the family members reading, this old post has lots of Baby Emma photos:
The Girl's 4th Birthday