Lacey Thompson

I love celebrating birthdays. Always have. I like to think of my birthday as more of a birth”week” as opposed to a birth”day”. Mat has never really been into celebrating his birthday, so this makes it difficult for me to plan anything. We also have come to realize (thanks to this eye-opening 5 Love Languages quiz) that neither one of us are big on giving or receiving material gifts, so we did away with getting each other presents for birthdays and holidays. Instead, we have decided to spend that money on vacations and experiences.

Since our birthday vacation isn’t until the end of September, I still wanted to celebrate Mat’s day of birth, and since it conveniently landed on a Friday, I wanted to celebrate the whole weekend! We found some middle ground by keeping things low key (Mat’s preference) on Friday and Saturday, and then having a larger birthday celebration on Sunday (my preference). I must get the whole celebrating-birthdays-big thing from my family because check out what my parents and I rented for the water slide birthday bash….!

There were minimal injuries, but tons of hysterical laughter from everyone. My family sure knows how to party!

Make the wedding cake party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Let me preface this post by giving you a little background on Mat, and me and funfetti cake. It is our favorite flavor (funfetti counts as a flavor!) of cake, and was long before we met each other. For Mat’s first birthday we celebrated together (six years ago!) I made, with help from my friend Rachel, a double-layer funfetti cake. Anytime we are asked to bring an item for a potluck, you better believe it’s either a funfetti cake or funfetti cupcakes.

When it came to picking out our wedding cake, we discussed how we usually don’t like the taste of fancy cakes, and desserts from Mexico are never sweet enough for me. We were bummed that we were going to have to spend so much money on cake that we wouldn’t even want to eat. We both wished we could have a funfetti wedding cake, but I doubt any bakeries in Mexico (or anywhere probably) specialize in a flavor that is from a box. That’s when Mat came up with the most brilliant idea-we should make our own wedding cake! Not only make it ourselves, but involve the wedding guests and make it into a party! A “Make the Cake” party.

My grandmother, who sadly wasn’t able to travel for the wedding, is known for her cooking and baking skills. She made my parents’ wedding cake as well as several other family members’. She let us borrow her cake plates, cake tiers, pastry bags and frosting tips, which made our wedding cake that much more special and sentimental!

Mat packed the boxes of cake mix and frosting in his carry on bag (which didn’t go over well with security) and we purchased the eggs and oil in Mexico. It worked out well because the kitchen in the villa had two ovens! We decided to do the baking the night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner. That way, wedding guests could participate in the party if they wanted. This turned out to be SO much fun, and the rowdiest party of the week!

Rachel helped me make a funfetti cake for Mat six years ago, and she helped us make our funfetti wedding cake!