It was a "Sweet" 16th birthday

I have had the great privilege of getting to know many amazing families. One of those families calls on me whenever they have something special going on (love that!).  This time it was their daughter's 16th birthday party.  Kelsey is a super fun, outgoing, talented, adorable girl.  She new she wanted a red velvet cake.  Her mom said to maybe incorporate a car or something since it was her 16th bday. I had the idea of making a VW bug car cake, with flowers and fun colors. Cute, right? Then here mom emailed a few days later and said that the party was going to be a Luau and could I incorporate that into the cake's theme.  "No problem!" I said.  Problem, I thought.  But it really gave me another opportunity to shake up what I was going to do and hopefully make it better.  OH yeah, they wanted 4 dozen decorated sugar cookies to go with it all.  (Are they not a baker's dream family?!!) 

I knew Kelsey loved pink and other bright colors and I knew that the number of guests to the party had increased.  Why couldn't I still do the car part of the cake and add a little luau feel to it.  A grass skirt and some flowers for one layer, with a car cake on top! Ding, the lightbulb went off!  

Well, after making the car a bit bigger than I thought, it became clear that it would be best supported on a square or rectangle cake.  So, the grass skirt wasn't round, ahhh, I still think it worked.  What do you think?

Since I love to personalize things, I added a black belt as Kelsey is a black belt (her family owns USA Karate) and the license plate.

And the cookies! How much of a sweets freak am I that I actually fell in love with the pineapple cookies.  I think my family was sick of me talking about how darn cute they turned out.  Hey! These things make me happy.  I am a simple girl. Okay, don't ask my husband if that is really true.

My girls liked the flip flops best.  The styles were inspired by their collection!

Gotta have a few palm trees at a Luau!

And hibiscus flowers everywhere!

Thank you, thank you to the lovely Lewis family for letting me share in another family event. I knew it was a hit when about two weeks after the party I ran into Kelsey at Angelina's Kitchen. When she saw me she started shrieking and gave me a huge hug.  She then said " OMG you totally rock!  Me and all of my friends thought the cake was the most awesome thing EVER!" 

Sweetest compliment EVER!