My Mami's Tropical Birthday Party!

My Mami's birthday was just the other day, and because she does so much for my sister and I, I decided to throw her the best tropical-themed party that I could!  I spent the entire day before getting everything ready, then when I finally let her see what I'd done, she was really surprised and loved everything!

The menu was based on this tropical theme, and was fruity and delicious, with the decorations being extremely festive!  ​

I'd already thrown together 2 different parties for her last year, one being for Mami's previous birthday, and the other for Mother's Day.  Both times, I went all out, stretching each penny to the max, decorating everything as best as I could and making a ton of different treats...all of them vegan!  For her last birthday the theme was "Under the Sea", and it was also the first party that I'd ever planned, and I'm pleased to say that it was a success!  Then, for Mother's Day I threw her a "Woodland Brunch" that was cute, and once again, had a tasty menu!  

​Although it was one of the last things that I did to prepare, I'll start with the decorations.  First, I set up the entertainment unit, with a string of flamingo LED lights, a pair of garden flamingos, some faux plumerias, and a balloon garland!  The balloon kit came with smaller balloons too, but I couldn't fill those...later my sister and Mami tried, but they couldn't either, so it wasn't just me :) Nevertheless, I still liked how it turned out, and most importantly, Mami did too! 

​Here's a little closeup on those LED lights...I think that they were really cute!  They're also a lot larger than I had expected!

​I set up her presents in front of the entertainment unit, and the wrapping paper doesn't go with the theme because Mami picked it out without knowing any details about her party...it was all a surprise :)    

​Once the entertainment unit was ready, I went on to set the counter with a few decorations before bringing the food out!  One of these decorations was a luau table skirt with some brightly colored flowers.  It would fall off occasionally, but it held on long enough for Mami to see it when she woke up!

​For refreshments we had some lemonade and apple juice, served in these great mason jar beverage fountains!

​And to drink that in, I got these super cute pineapple glasses!  Then I also topped each one with a paper umbrella, and since I want everything that I purchase to be eco-friendly, I made sure that these were too!  I'm not usually one for plastic straws, and I never buy any, but these were already in the house so I decided to use them...the umbrella pack came with reusable bamboo straws that would have looked great too, so if you like this idea, I'd recommend using those!

​Now, without further ado, the tropical menu...

A really easy treat was these toasted coconut donuts.  I don't have any donut molds right now, so instead of making them from scratch, I took a shortcut and got some plain vegan donuts from Whole Foods.  Then I dipped the tops in some icing and sprinkled some toasted coconut on top!  

To toast the coconut all I did was spread some shredded coconut on a baking sheet, bake at 325 degrees F for 4 minutes, stir, bake for another 4 minutes, stir, and repeat until toasted

​And to make it even more festive, I added a few of those paper umbrellas!

Another dessert that I made was this sweet and colorful fruit tart!  It was my first time ever making one, and I was really surprised at how easy it was!  It was probably my Mami's favorite part of the menu!

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it yourself!  

And one thing that I think every birthday party needs, is a birthday cake!  This year I made a lemon cake with a strawberry and lemon cream cheese frosting, and although it cracked and the frosting melted a little bit, the flavor was not affected in the least.  ​

​After opening presents, Mami and my little sister, Ariana, played a game that I had set up.  It's based on Jamie Foxx's "Beat Shazam", where I would play some music and then they'd have to guess the correct title based on 4 options that I gave them.  We played it online, since it was also time-based.  

​Ariana won!

​Afterwards, we started working on a puzzle that I had gotten Mami as a present.  

​We did that for a while, and then stopped to have some shaved ice that I'd made.  I got 2 flavored syrups, one being raspberry, and the other was coconut, that I added some vegan blue dye to, just to give it some color.

​The raspberry one was my favorite :) 

​Then, at the end of the night, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mami and had some cake! 

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