The Yo Gabba Gabba party was a success and I survived the crafts, the costume and the cake!

The YGG costumes were pretty simple. I used fleece and based the costumes on two patterns, Simplicity 2853 for Muno and Brobie and a modified a-line dress pattern for Tootie and Foofa.

It were the heads that were the challenge. I decided to make everything 2D for simplicity sake. I'm wasn't about to attempt 3D design on costumes due in less than 2 weeks. I freehanded the heads, used 8 layers of white tulle for the eyes and glue gunned the face.

The word of the weekend was, "legit." As in, "HOLY! These costumes are LEGIT!"

I'm definitely proud of these costumes. If I had more time, I would want to find a way to make the heads stiffer so you can see the actual shapes. I interfaced them, but they're obviously still really floppy. Sewing in timtex or peltex could be an option, but I didn't have enough time to research potential materials. These costumes will see more than one use, so I do have time to research a better stabilization technique.

Thanks to Joann's sale on fleece, all four costumes (Plex, the robot, was made by the person wearing it) cost about $75. And in case your wondering, the person playing Muno doesn't have an extra long neck. He glued a few cups together and attached it to his hat to make sure he had the proper height.

Now onto the cakes. I have to admit, I spent more time on the costumes and pushed the cakes off until the day before the party. My assignment was to make the smash cake and the sheet cake. I originally planned to decorate both cakes in the YGG theme, but due to the time constraint and my poor planning, I decided to leave the sheet cake blank and only worry about decorating the smash cake. This worked out perfectly as the sheet cake remained in the back until it was cut and served.

Both cakes were red velvet. The sheet cake was HUGE, the largest cake I've ever made. It was a 2-layer full sheet cake made of four 13x17" cakes. Each 13x17" cake was baked in a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan using one full recipe for each.

The smash cake was DJ Lance Rock's hat made using a 3-layer 6inch cake. The top layer was shaped into a dome and decorated with a thick layer of frosting that was tapped with a spatula. The star was made with fondant.

This is the third smash cake I've made. The first two were for 1-year olds, and this one was for a two year old. Both 1-year olds were pretty timid with their cakes and had to be fed. Even with the 2-year old, there was no cake face to be seen, only cake hand and cake shirt.

Even with a little coaxing, there was more playing than there was smashing. Maybe 3 years is the magic cake face age.

Even without the cake face and perfectly shaped costumes, the kids were happy, the birthday girl's parents were happy and their party was a success! That's all I could ask for.