While the first tradition I have for my son’s birthday parties involve chocolate cake, the second tradition involves making my son some kind of crazy crown hat to wear for the party! Made out of colored construction paper, this party hat is the envy of all. It is not a traditional crown but more a circular head piece with lots of colorful paper sticking out all over. Every year it is a little bit different than the year before.
After making said birthday party hat, I turned my attention to the chocolate cupcakes. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe but for a little surprise I added some peppermint essence to the batter to give the chocolate a kick of mint. For the icing I made my new favorite signature frosting, an Italian Meringue Buttercream, with a few drops of peppermint essence to bring more minty freshness to the cupcakes. I piped the icing onto the cupcakes for an elaborate finish and arranged them on my three tier cupcake stand. Now we are ready for our guests to arrive.
As soon as all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents arrived, we sang happy birthday to the three year old who happily sang along and excitedly blew out the three candles in his cupcake! While all of our guests enjoyed their cupcakes with either coffee, tea, or water, the birthday boy ran around excited with his cousin (his only male cousin who is a mere ten months older than him). When I announced that it was time for him to open his gifts, he happily opened the first gift but was very disappointed when he had to open more … he just wanted to play with gift. With a lot of prodding he opened all his gifts after which he immediately began to play with the airplane and train he had received. Needless to say he had a fun party!