Rainbow Birthday Party

The summer before Connor turned four, I innocently asked him what kind of party he wanted that year. I was thinking a truck theme or firefighters. Or maybe pirates. Lots of potential there.

Connor answered right away. "I know what I want, mommy. A rainbow party." 

Excuse me? It was so out-of-character for him, I didn't think I heard right. A rainbow party, son? Really? 

He insisted it was. 

I shrugged my shoulders and asked again in a few weeks.

His immediate answer again: rainbow.

So rainbow it was. We didn't have much of a party that year, because we had just moved to Minneapolis a few weeks before his birthday. We had family and friends over for make-your-own pizzas, and we traveled back to the town we had just left to have a party at the park with a few friends. 

So that year, his cake was the heart and soul, the embodiment, the very marrow of the theme. (Read: Other than a rainbow of balloons and brightly colored plates and napkins, the cake was it.) 

For his friends party at the park, I made rainbow cupcakes. This is when making your own colored sugar really comes in handy. I whipped up small containers of all the colors I wanted, and sprinkled them in an arc across blue-tinted buttercream. Clumps of small marshmallows stood in for clouds.

I made a larger version of the same cake for his family party. He was THRILLED, even though I didn't have an assortment of games or entertainment. He got his rainbow party, and he was content.