Marissa's Despicable Me Birthday Party

I am the very proud Godmother to Marissa Jo, who turned 5 last month. When she was born in 2006 I got a picture message while in class and immediately cried my eyes out! How awkward is that in a lecture? 

Just a few months after she was born, I became her Godmother. Despite the college-face-pudge, this is one of my favorite photos of all time.

Rissa's birthday is in December so every year when I'm home for Christmas I throw her a party! You may remember her strawberry short cake party last year, if you've been sticking around that long.

Strawberry Short-birthday-cake

Currently I'm sitting at the computer in our apartment in Hawaii eating a lousy bowl of Ramen Noodles and thinking back on all the wonderful and delicious food that was consumed over my trip home to Pittsburgh.

While we're on the topic of food, aren't we always, let me tell you that this isn't the first or only thing I've eaten today.  I honestly look forward to the end of football season at this time of year for the sake of my waistline.  On any given weekend I'm up and at the bar by 6 or 7 am on Saturday for a Penn State game or on Sunday for the Steelers.  That's bar food twice a weekend and early in the morning, which never sets a good tone for the day!  Just this weekend I watched the Nittany Lions get beat by the Florida Gators in the Outback Bowl while sharing deep fried cheese curds and biscuits with gravy with Bryce.   Today I scarfed down 3 eggs, bacon, country fries, and toast while the Steelers crushed the Browns.  PSU's season is now over and the Steelers have a bye next week so my arteries may have a chance to breathe again!

Back to this post's purpose :)  My beautiful Goddaughter, Marissa Jo, was born on December 4, 2006.  I first "met" her via a picture message while I was in a lecture class at Penn State and instantly burst into tears!  Yes, I was "that" girl.  Each year of her life, which has been 4 to date, I've thrown her a birthday party in December complete with all the kid birthday essentials - themey-cake, decor, games, and lots and lots of presents.  This year she's into Strawberry Shortcake and wanted her party themed as such.  In years past we've purchased a cake for the party, but since it was SO appropriate for the party this year I decided to make a strawberry short-birthday-cake!  Since my Mom has one of those great trifle bowls I made sure to use it.

I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com for a "Strawberry Trifle" but made variations as I went along, to my liking.

For my Strawberry Short-birthday-cake I used:

2 small packages instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
1 round angel food cake, cut in cubes
4 bananas, sliced
1 lb fresh strawberries, halved

• First, I made the pudding and chilled it in the fridge while I cubed the angel food cake, halved the strawberries, and cut the bananas.  

 

Then I layered the cake, pudding, bananas, and strawberries - twice.  

 

I made sure to save enough cake to put another layer on the top so that Marissa would have a cake-like surface for the birthday candles.  

It was a very easy recipe and good, too!  I got a ton of compliments from the grown ups at the party.  4 year old Cooper said he didn't like bananas.  Morgan, Marissa's 8 year old sister, said she doesn't like strawberries.  I guess that's what I get for making a cake for kids that includes FRUIT!  Overall it was delicious, required no baking, and was decently healthy for a dessert = success!  Happy Birthday Marissa!