My son's 9th birthday happens to fall right before Christmas, so this year we moved his party ahead and celebrated early.  Why didn't I do this before?  It gave me a lot of time to prepare and we had a blast getting ready instead of putting this on top of present wrapping and Christmas parties & dinners.

I decorate mostly in red, white and light blue for Christmas, so I decided to go with those colors for his party too.  I am sure the pictures speak for themselves.  Everyone had a good time and the cocoas (especially the Nutella cocoa) were yummy!

I found a lot of these ideas on the internet by searching for hot cocoa party!

These cups are made using those GIANT marshmallows!

The table is wrapped with wrapping paper.

Did I mention that my son has a large personality?

The cake is a Mario Power-UP mushroom.  I just baked a cake in a large metal mixing bowl, put it on top of a cake stand, covered it with chocolate icing, rolled fondant and painted eyes on the bottom of the cake stand with chocolate.

Happy birthday, to my little one!

I know I already posted today, but I thought you might like to see the INSIDE of the cake I posted about earlier.  I found the tutorial at Glorious Treats.  Be sure to stop by to see how it is assembled!  Very neat!

I hid the baking and assembling part from my boys.  They didn't see it until the white, whipped cream icing was on it.  Under the whipped cream icing, I made and Italian buttercream and layered and crumb coated with that.  Yum!  My red is a bit pink, but I love pink, so I didn't mind!

Are you hosting a barbeque?  Are you going to one?  We were going to have a party, but decided against it because we are heading to NY City tomorrow.  I can't wait!  I think we are going to focus on SoHo and TriBeca.  Any suggestions of places to go with two boys ages 8 and 10?

Anyway, I did decorate my table in my screened-in porch, so I'll share that with you.  I also made a cake with some decorating help from my little guys.  I love the way it turned out.  So homemade looking.  Sometimes it is nice to just get everyone's hands in there and make something that was "made by me".

Admittedly, the tablecloth is a bit much, but I thought it looked really kitchy and fun.  The pillows and napkin rings and the banner were made by me.  Most of the other place setting stuff was found either at a thrift or a dollar store.  Including the $3 tablecloth.  Love that!

Happy 4th!