A (Naturally Colored) Rainbow Party

Watermelon Cake

5 from 2 votes

Course: Desserts

Dietary Restrictions: Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Peanut/Tree-Nut Free, Vegetarian

Author: Shawn Keller

This is a guest recipe by our team member, Shawn.

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Ingredients

• watermelon, seedless
• kiwi
• mango
• blueberries
• pineapple
• cantaloupe
• honeydew
• raspberries

Instructions

1. Cut the ends off of the watermelon and stand it up on one end so that it doesn't roll around. Cut away the rind so there is no white left, and carefully carve the watermelon into a cake-like cylinder.
2. Slice the kiwi into thin circles and place them around the top of the cake. Thinly slice a mango and fan out the pieces on top of the kiwi slices.
3. Place the blueberries around the perimeter of the watermelon, using toothpicks to hold them in place.
4. Slice the pineapple, cantaloupe, and honeydew into about 1/2" thick pieces. Cut these into fun shapes with cookie cutters and place them around the sides of the cake using toothpicks.
5. For a nice presentation, place the finished watermelon cake onto a cake plate and surround with blueberries and raspberries.

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Recipe Notes

Special Tools: Toothpicks and shaped cookie cutters also needed

We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.

Fruit Platter

This can be made with a variety of fruits, depending on what is in season.

Here is what I used:

• Red: 2 packages of strawberries, stems removed and berries sliced in half
• Orange: 5 oranges, peeled and cut into segments
• Yellow: one pineapple, cut into chunks
• Green: 5 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• Blue: 1 package of blueberries
• Purple: grapes

Veggie Platters

I made two veggie platters because …well I just couldn’t help myself when I was buying all the vegetables. Again, feel free to use whatever veggies are available/in season or ones that you like.

Here is what I used for the first veggie platter:

• Red: red cherry tomatoes and 1 red bell pepper
• Orange: 1 orange bell pepper
• Yellow: 1 yellow bell pepper
• Green: 1 green bell pepper
• Blue: Organic Blue Tortilla Chips (from Trader Joe’s)
• Clouds: 1/2 of a head of cauliflower (blanched*)

Here is what I used for the Second veggie platter:

• Red: heirloom Tomatoes
• Orange: baby carrots
• Yellow: heirloom tomatoes and leftover peppers (from the first platter)
• Green: heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers peeled and cut into thin circles, and fresh green beans and broccoli (both blanched)
• Purple: 1/2 of a head of small purple cabbage, sliced thin
• In the center: organic regular hummus and chipotle hummus (from Trader Joe’s)

*To blanch any of these vegetables, bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook your vegetables for 3 minutes and then transfer to an ice bath immediately. Once cooled, remove from the ice water and lay on a clean towel to dry off. I blanched some of the veggies because my kids like them better that way – all my kids love broccoli, but won’t eat it raw.

The Decor

I wanted to use the food and activities as the main focus of the party, so I assigned each girl to wear a different color of the rainbow. The few things I purchased from Target were rainbow plates, napkins, cups, glittery hats, and solid colored plastic table cloths. I left the table cloths folded and placed them in order of the rainbow, and I used a “Happy Birthday” banner that we already owned.

Activities

What do you do at a rainbow party? You craft! It is a favorite pastime at our house.

1. Picture Frame Decoupage
   I bought unfinished wooden frames for each guest and put out Mod Podge, paint brushes, and LOTS and lots of fabric, tissue paper and scrapbook paper cut into pieces. The girls painted the Mod Podge on the frame first and then placed whatever pieces of the scraps struck their fancy onto the frame. A lot of Mod Podge was painted on top of the scraps to make a pretty, unique picture frame.
2. Painted Canvas
   I bought each of the girls a canvas to paint, put out acrylic paint and paint brushes, and then let them go to town. Afterwards I kept all of the girls paintings and hung them in my daughter’s room to help her remember this birthday celebration with her friends.
3. Tie Dye
   Last, we tie-dyed shirts. I bought each girl a white t-shirt and a tie dye kit. They picked out the design they wanted and we put the rubber bands on the shirts for them. The kits are really self-explanatory and helped with the instructions. The girls picked their colors and my husband did the dying since it would be pretty messy for 5 year-olds. I wrapped the shirts in a bag and they all took them home and washed them out the next day. I think they turned out great!

Favors

I am big on being practical as far as party favors go. I find it a strange tradition to give out gifts to guests at a birthday party, but I am not going to be the one who stops it. The girls got to take home their shirts and their frames. I would normally think that this was plenty, but since I was feeling crafty I spray-painted cans with chalkboard paint. I bought water colors and Trader Joe’s Organic Fruit Strips to go inside the cans. I also made these cute little heart crayons. I have more crayons than the Crayola factory, so I had my daughter peel the papers off and break them into small pieces which she used to fill up silicon heart molds about half-way up. We placed the molds onto a cookie sheet and put it into an oven preheated to 200 degrees F. It took about 15 minutes for them to set, but I suggest you watch them very carefully. I used a toothpick to stir the wax a bit. When they are melted you can leave them on the counter to cool, but I was impatient so stuck them in the fridge.

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In the end the party was a huge success.  If you’ve had a rainbow party or have other ideas for “rainbow” foods or activities, we’d love for you to share them in the comments below!