Sunday, June 24, 2012

Ben's Art Party: The "Dessert" Buffet

Yesterday was Ben's Fourth Birthday party.  I really cannot believe that my baby is four, but I'll write more about that on Tuesday when he actually turns the big 4!  I decided to throw an art party for two reasons: one- Ben really enjoys art.  He always does the art project of the day at school and he's always asking me if we can do something crafty.  And two- because it was an easy way to set up activities to keep the ten little party guests busy and entertained the whole time.
I thought I would break the day up into several posts, and would start first with the "dessert" buffet.  I say "dessert" because most people, especially kids would agree that fruit is not dessert.  But I didn't want to completely hop my friend's kids up on sugar and then send them home.
This table greeted guests right when they came through the door and was a lot of fun to put together.  The first idea I had for the table I thought of nearly a year ago, and that was the cookie art.  I really love how it came together.  I splashed melted colored frosting onto sugar cookies to create a Jackson Pollock effect, which I called "modern art," spread half chocolate and half vanilla frosting onto more sugar cookies to create "black and white" art, spread vanilla frosting and covered it with small round sprinkles for my "pointillism" cookies, and lastly placed an edible image of the birthday boy onto frosted cookies to create a "self portrait."
I thought of the cake idea about a month ago and my friend, Sumiko, delivered on my idea.  She did such a cute job, especially on the chunky paintbrush.  I was not happy with my Duff Food Coloring Markers however, they did not work very well except for the green one, but Ben did a great job creating his little edible masterpiece.  The swirly candles in the paint pallete was a last minute discovery, and I really like how it looked.
It took me a while to decide on what to create for a backdrop for the table.  I looked at a bunch of ideas online but wasn't seeing anything that I loved.  Then I realized it's Ben's art party, why not display his artwork.  Most of the pieces already hang in a display in his room.  I just grabbed a couple additional frames from around the house to add a few more pieces.  So the only thing I had to create was the board to hang them on, which I made from a $5 piece of wood from the hardware store and a $5 piece of colorful fabric.
 I really love how things came together and I think the birthday boy was pretty thrilled to see it when he walked in the door with his grandparents.  I think he especially liked all of his artwork on display here and also in the kitchen and living room.  He kept saying prior to the party how his friends are going to walk in and say "oh, Ben!  You are such a good artist."  And while I didn't hear anyone say it aloud, I'm sure their little minds were thinking it Ben.
More photos to come tomorrow.

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