Paper-Charmed: September 2011

For my daughter’s second birthday, I decided to challenge myself and do something I've only read and learned about from various bloggers: a stylish dessert table. From what I've seen from my co-bloggers, a dessert table can greatly enhance the presentation, customization, and personalization of a party – something that I want for Ava's birthday. But as her interests have increased in the past few months, the first real task was to decide on a theme. A character from one of the Nick Jr. shows she enjoys - Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba, The Fresh Beat Band, Backyardigans, etc. - seemed like the way to go. I eventually decided to use the common factor that Ava loves from all these shows: the singing and dancing. Add to that Ava's growing penchant for musical instruments (fiddling with her Dad's guitars, beating her toy drums while her Dad strums, playing pretend-piano) and I've got myself the inspiration for her birthday theme.

I decided to break away from the usual “girl color” - pink - and chose to go instead with green and orange as Ava's birthday colors. I picked a houndstooth pattern and a poodle emblem as subtle party representations of rock and roll, pop music, singing and dancing. These prints are used throughout the invitations, banner, cupcake toppers, cupcakes-in-a-jar, cones, dessert signs, water bottles, and vinyl record display.

For the desserts, I opted to have a table that’s a mixture of American, French, and Filipino, while at the same time, a blend of familiar and less common goodies. The cake was the centerpiece, with candies and cupcakes on both sides of it. French Macarons, Cheeseballs, Turon, and Halo-Halo really added some magnificent color to Ava's dessert table while pushing the yum! factor up several notches. Turon is a popular Filipino snack made of banana and jackfruit rolled in a spring roll wrapper and then deep-fried. Halo-halo (literally, “mixed” fruit dessert), another popular Filipino dessert, was quite a hit in the summer heat. There are variations of how this is made, but here is a recipe found on the Food Network.