Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

When Elle requested a "rainbow party" for her 4th birthday bash, I was initially skeptical. And surprised. Princesses, My Little Pony, ballerinas, Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake I would have expected. But leave it to my Elle to be unexpected. And trendy apparently, as (thanks to Google) I found that Rainbow Parties are all the rage these days. 

Let me preface the following party pictures by emphatically stating that I am not the most creative bear in the forest. Well, mostly I get overwhelmed by great ideas/intentions and either never attempt to execute or do so with mediocre results. But I must say I was incredibly proud of how things came together this time. Granted, I may have spent ridiculous amounts of time planning, shopping, baking/icing, assembling what the average Martha may have been able to accomplish much more efficiently. But I think my favorite newly 4 year old was pleased and for that I'd invest all the time in the world. 

Early in my google search rainbow party research, I kept coming across the famous Rainbow Cake, breathtakingly photographed in all its multihued glory by what I assumed must certainly be professional bakers. In a bold moment of confectionary ambition, I decided to tackle it. What is a Rainbow Party without the Rainbow Cake?

I laboriously made the 6 colors of batters, and baked the layers ahead of time. Obviously I had an appropriately low amount of faith in my ability to do this right the first time as the first casualty was encountered shortly after Green emerged from the oven. 

Oh, the tragedy!

Thankfully the other colors behaved themselves, or more accurately, I learned to be patient for full cooling prior to removal from pan. Patience is not my strong point. I froze the noncrumbled layers and on Party Eve rebaked Green and nervously assembled the Tower O' Color. 

Homemade buttercream icing unfortunately has forever spoiled me on the store-bought stuff. Who knew?

I told Elle there was a surprise inside her cake and she insisted on guessing. Earrings, flip-flops, an alligator, and a giant strawberry were postulated.

The finished product wasn't perfect, but not bad at all. Accompanied by my rainbow jello oranges and cupcakes (just in case a 6 layered rainbow cake wasn't enough), the dessert table was pretty spiffy.

These made me happy :)

Also pretty impressed with the rainbow tutu I made for Elle, but the cost savings in the DIY project was mitigated by the fact that it took me many, many, MANY hours. And gave me wicked carpal tunnel. Ce la vie. 

Fruit rainbow and color coded goodie buckets

My sweet rainbow girls

Checking out the loot

Rainbow lunch

Loved E's reaction when she saw the "surprise" inside the cake.

Swimming with the besties after cake. So much for no swimming  30 minutes after eating...

The party turned out better than I could have hoped, and most of all my precious little 4 (!!) year old had a blast. But I hate to tell you Elise... your 1st birthday cake will likely be unicolored...