Real Party: Chinese New Year 2nd Birthday

My friend Deb's son Lukas recently turned two.  She decided to throw a Chinese New Year - themed bash because the party was held 2 days after the holiday. 

Lots of friends contributed their best Asian food items, and it was all to-die-for-delicious.  I wish I knew how to make any of those dishes...or knew the names of them! I'll just say I was stuffed.  

My friend Lindsay and I did a few little decorative touches, of course.  Lukas is often called "Lu", so we used the saying "Lu is 2" in a few places. 

 Lindsay made cute wrappers to hold the chopsticks.

I made labels for the drinking cups.  

(I used these downloadable "round red gift tags" from Martha Stewart)

 Lindsay made the cutest vanilla cupcakes...topped with dipped fortune cookies! 

Lukas has been really into trains lately, so Deb wanted him to have a train cake.  We jokingly named it the Orient Express, so it would fit the Asian theme.  (I don't think the Orient Express ever ran through China though, so not sure how well it actually goes with the Chinese New Year theme....oops!)

Regardless of the silly name, I had so much fun making this train cake! And it was priceless to see the birthday boy's face light up as he said "Choo Choo" when he saw it.  Soooo precious! 

Here's a little diagram of how I made the train cake.  (Click to enlarge)

It was surprisingly easy to put together and really looked cute. 

Happy Birthday Lukas! 

Photos by Lindsay Kanetomi