Half Birthday Shenanigans.

Do you remember my Epic Life Fail post?   If you don’t want to click over… It was basically a post full of me whining and being a big giant baby because two months after a baby is born your world is still flipped upside down and you’re all angsty and hormonal and nothing is back to ‘normal’ whatever ‘normal’ might be… not that anything is ever normal in this house, but I digress.

One of the things that bothered me though was skipping out on Dave’s birthday.  {Previous Birthdays include: a Surprise 30th Manly Beer Tasting Bash, a Ferris Bueller Outdoor Movie Night, the year of the three cakes, and a sit down al fresco dinner for 26 that had to be moved indoors at the very last minute due to tornado warnings}  I always do something special for him and last year, I just didn’t. 

I didn’t even get him a present.  Or a card. 

And really, Dave didn’t even care.

One of the comments on the post came from The Amazing Trips who brilliantly suggested celebrating on Dave’s half birthday.  I did the math in my head, ok, ok, it was on my fingers but whatevs, and figured out that his half birthday would be in February.

FAIL.

His birthday is the 29th which doesn’t exist. 

Except if it’s a leap year…   

It is the universe telling me, dude, it’s totally fine that you missed his birthday, I’m going to give you a do-over.  Or something. 

We partied like it was a Wednesday night.

 

 

I didn’t really care who sat where, so the place cards were all “half” sayings:  half baked, half empty, half full, half nelson, half off, half price, half naked, half assed, half pint, etc…  I attached them to the drinking glasses with mini clothespins.  I also used the Cricut to cut out circles and cut them in half to add a little color to the plates.  If I had my act together, I would have printed the menu on these.

The cake was half a cake inspired by this incredible one from Hank & Hunt. I came up with a cake idea the night before the party inspired by an Almond Joy which is Dave’s favorite candy. Basically, it is a yellow cake with almond extract, chocolate ganache, toasted coconut, toasted almonds, almond buttercream filling and a chocolate almond buttercream icing with toasted coconut and toasted almonds on the outside. I’m actually going to make a full sized version of this soon and post about it because it turned out really well. To make the half sized cake, I made two 8 inch rounds, cut them in half, filled and crumb coated them like a regular layer cake, popped it in the freezer for two hours, then flipped it on its side before icing it and adding the toasted almonds and toasted coconut.

 

Dave was also blessed with SpiderGirl and SpiderBoy who made several appearances at the dinner.

  

The Menu: Salad with a Homemade Garlic Ranch Dressing {made by Nikki and to die for!}, Skirt Steak, Grilled Shrimp, Rice Pilaf, Balsamic Honey Glazed Roasted Baby Carrots, Roasted Asparagus, & Ciabatta.  Almond Joy Cake + Strawberry Shortcake Mini Cuppies for dessert.

 

Our friends Jon & Nikki brought the most ridiculously awesome gift, half a six pack of beer and a half cigar.

Hope you enjoyed the peek at Dave’s Half Birthday Shenanigans.