Zoe's Lunchbox: Look Whooo's Four

Well, we survived the 4th birthday party over the weekend. I'm grateful for my fantastic friends and family, not just for all the help and generosity, but also just for them in general. I think our daughter is surrounded by some pretty fabulous people.. just saying!

I had really high hopes for making the birthday cake, but in the end my ideas surpassed my skills, so I passed the buck (literally.. bucks) to The Patisserie. They made a delicious white cake with lemon curd filling and white chocolate buttercream. But the real piece de resistance was the decorations on the cake. Not only is the kiddo obsessed with owls as of late, but she is obsessed with one particular owl most (see above). That was her request. The cake needed to look identical to her favorite owl. I think they did pretty good, and most importantly, so did the kiddo!

I did, however, tackle owl cake pops. Which, in hind sight, I'm thinking I'd have rather made the cake! I won't beat myself up too much, because they did taste delicious and turned out cute, but I have to tattle on myself a bit too. I completely forgot to add the chocolate chip horns on the owls, and after only sticking three sets of wings on, I decided ~~to hell with them~~ they looked just as cute without. I'm almost embarrassed to show you where I found the owl cake pops, but since I want you to see their full potential, I will. One thing I will say is that I made more than the original poster, so there. I made 38 of the little buggers. I shall never make them again. Their little eyes really do seem to follow you and will haunt my soul for a little while, I think.

I used devil's food cake mix and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips mixed with Ghirardelli white chips for dipping. The eyes are M&M's with pupils drawn on with a food safe marker. Noses (and wings) are chocolate covered sunflower seeds. Feet are flower shaped sprinkles.

Lunch post party was owl inspired, too! Look whooo's four!

Rye bread, sharp cheddar and Swiss cheeses, leftover chicken pasta salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, peaches with whipped cream.

I should say that the party did have a couple other owl goodies. Like those in the lunchbox, in our relish tray, we had rows of owl shaped cheese. We also did deviled 'owl' eggs. I thought they were pretty clever!