A Cute Ninja Golden Birthday

Shortcake is 13 today! 13 on 11/13/13! It's her Golden Birthday!

For the past year, she has been writing a book with her cousin, Hatchick. Hatchick creates some zany comics starring Sneaky Ninja Dude and his infamous sidekick, Crazy Cat, for the family to enjoy. These characters inspired this book they have been working on writing. So, when Shortcake was thinking about what kind of special theme she wanted for her Golden Birthday, she came up with the idea of a Ninja Birthday… but cute ninjas, not scary ninjas.

~decorations~

I made a banner using these adorable digital images from DorkyPrints on Etsy and the free font Japonesa Shadow.  I also colored and hung thirteen ninjas along with some cheap paper lanterns (with electric tea lights) from the ceiling and chandelier. Then we used a lot of colorful, curly ribbon… everywhere!

I love curly ribbon!

The morning started with Cinnamon Ninja Throwing Stars that I made from crescent rolls, brown sugar and cinnamon. Easy peasy and so cute! My boys made a stop motion "film" of the birthday girl catching one in her mouth.

I also set out a bowl of homemade fortune cookies with silly "fortunes" inside. 

I used this recipe and should have read the helpful comments that said to add 2 Tbl. of water to thin out the batter. They would have been better that way, I'm sure, but my kids thought they tasted good and they loved the funny fortunes! They just weren't as crisp as I would have liked. Might have to make some more tomorrow just to see if I can perfect them. The Professor also helped me make some pretty paper throwing stars using these fairly easy to understand instructions which we then scattered around the table for decoration.

Her very special surprise was this tiny little family of ninjas, each one representing one of us. They were also made by a very talented lady on etsy. Can you figure out who each one is supposed to be? I'm sure you can. Cupcake was quite entranced with them!

~activity~

I love having teenagers! I guess I better love it because we have THREE in the house right now! All Shortcake wanted to do for her birthday was go shopping for a new journal (that girl goes through journals like nobody's business) and get some coffee. Whoo hoo! That's my idea of a perfect day right there… if you swap out "journal" for any other kind of book at all.

I posted this picture on Instagram and it wasn't until I got home that I realized that the book in between the two bird covers has a quote by the exceptionally witty but-oh-so-not-really-appropriate-for-a-13th-birthday-picture Dorothy Parker… Guns aren't lawful. Nooses give. Gas smells awful. You might as well live. Lovely. Mom fail!

~cake~

The cake requires a little bit of explanation. My girls have fallen in love with the wonderfully fluffy, soft felt pillows made by Miss Telah Marie (again, on Etsy). Her designs inspired Shortcake's American Ninja shirt this past summer. Well, what she wanted most for her birthday was for Miss Telah to make her a pillow that was a design Shortcake drew of one of her ninja characters from her book. This character's name is Hisohiso and she had very definite ideas about what he should look like. Shortcake drew up her design with color specifications and Miss Telah made it happen. Shortcake didn't see the pillow until today, but I saw it as soon as it arrived. When she asked for a coffee cake as her birthday dessert (with Caramel Frosting… very undecorateable) I came up with the idea of turning her design of the pillow Hisohiso into a cookie Hisohiso and that is who you see here:

Caramel Frosting… not pretty to look at but oh. so. tasty!

My Shortcake is such a creative girl! I have no doubt that one day these characters of hers will come to life on the pages of a book that I can go shopping for... with my coffee in hand!