number twenty-nine.

This weekend was my daughter’s birthday party. It’s always a small gathering at my mom’s. But even with fewer than 10 people at the party, I go a little crazy. I love to do it… and my kids love to see the cool things I create for them.

My daughter’s birthday isn’t until 11/6 (and mine is 6/11 — freaky, right?). The party was supposed to be closer to that date. But due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to move the party up… which made it closer to Halloween… which was perfect.

And I’ve been waiting for this particular birthday for years… ever since I found this:

How cool is that?? I love it so much!

This perfect little candelabra holds 9 candles. For 5 years, it’s been sitting on a shelf while I waited for the girl’s 9th birthday. Building a party around this was so much fun… right in my wheelhouse. All dark and kinda goth and just… cool.

First, I made the invitation, of course. Designing stuff like this — I love it.

But let’s move on. To cake.  

Blood. It had to be done. And I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. It’s far from perfect… it was my first time. But I love the look so much that I’d like to do it again… not just with red to make blood. Blue for rain? Black for… um… being awesome? Oh, the possibilities…

I had a few little drips and spills on the counter… even the floor (oops)… so I had to clean up. Then I had to wash all my bowls and tools and such. And all I could think the entire time I was cleaning was… Is this how it feels to clean up a murder scene?

Then the candelabra… which, of course, couldn’t just sit there on the cake. It had to be all creepy with spiderwebs and, well, spiders. The plan was to use cotton candy pulled into some web-like form… but that didn’t work. Not even a little. Little clumps of fluff… nothing close to web-like. Fail!

I gave up trying to find something edible to act as webs. I moved on to random web-like Halloween decorations. I did have to pass on the spiderweb lace gloves… $14.00 for gloves to cut up? Nope.

I think it worked out pretty well. Kind of webby… with creeping spiders. But the real test was lighting the candles…

What do you think? I loved it so much more once the candles were lit. Glowing and creepy and ripped out of a haunted mansion. I was really happy with it. And most important of all — my daughter loved it. And the second most important — inside. The red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting was delicious.

Finally… I couldn’t resist putting one of the pictures through a filter… so cool!

Happy Halloween…

☼ Perky. It’s not just for boobs anymore.

©2016 what sandra thinks