To celebrate my nephew, Kaleb, turning three years old, I helped my twin sister prepare for his dinosaur themed party.

The design for the cake was inspired by this cake at Project Nursery that I had seen on Pinterest:

So adorable, right?!

I made mine from a Devil’s Food mix, adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I also used butter instead of the 1/3 cup of oil that’s called for on the back of the box. To be completely honest, my husband actually put the batter together for me at my direction as I was painting the dinosaur posters (see below). It’s always wonderful to get a little help with these things. This is the largest cake I have ever made. The inner layers are slathered in this chocolate cream cheese frosting with chocolate beebees scattered on top to give a surprise chocolaty crunch. The green frosting is a Swiss meringue buttercream, which I had never attempted before. I doubled this recipe, Swiss Meringue Buttercream, with all the hints and it turned out so delightfully that I will definitely be using it again. It’s so fluffy, flavorful, and smooth. Scrumptious! It was fairly easy to work with too. The eyes, teeth, and arms are sugar cookies that I cute out by hand, adding food coloring to the arms to match the frosting color. The tail and party hat are frosted ice cream cones — another brilliant suggestion from my husband. He’s a keeper! Mini M&M’s provided the spots of color. Everyone loved the cake.

My sister had a bunch of fabulous party activities planned. The ring toss Triceratops and bean bag eating T-Rex were a hit with the kids and adults alike. I had fun painting them, too.

She also had adorable dinosaur temporary tattoos and dinosaur toy party favors.

My husband caught these two holding hands. The party spirit had spread to everyone, I think.

Happy Birthday, Kaleb! And a Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2019 will be a wonderful year for us all.