Amaze-ing Lawnmower birthday party

When your mum is a creative genius, you never know what direction your next birthday party may take. When your dad is a landscape gardener and ‘Daddy mow’ is a household phrase, celebrating your second birthday with a tribute to the humble lawn mower seems a natural choice. For Stella Rutherford, an illustrator, crafter, and blogger who lives with her family in the Far North, it was the adoration her son Garland displays for his daddy that inspired her to create a party that was a cut above the rest.

Dad Zan set the scene by mowing a maze into the family’s lawn, setting aside a huge pile of clippings for the children to make a mess with. Given the age of the guests, this provided sufficient entertainment, although Stella admits there was also a considerable mess inside the house by the end of the party.

A grassy green cake created by Babycakes in Rawene took centre stage and Stella whipped up a paper doll in honour of Garland – mini mower at the ready – to complete the picture. For an extra touch of backyard spectacular, when Stella brought out the birthday cake, she wound her way through the maze (where guests were seated singing happy birthday) to the wide-eyed and waiting Garland.

Coming up with themed party food was half the fun for Stella. ‘Ready lawn’ was simply coconut ice with a touch of green food colouring. ‘Grass clippings’ were made from popcorn coated in green sugar.

Stella made ‘bugs on a log’ by filling celery sticks with peanut butter and sprinkling on raisins. Edible ‘compost’ was created by filling tiny buckets with hummus and vegetable sticks.

‘Weed eater twine’ was created from thinly cut licorice (but any stringy food would do – the brighter the better).

Stella’s favourite creations were her ‘turf trifles’ – layers of jelly, fruit, chocolate mousse and crushed Oreos, topped with shredded coconut tinted with green food colouring. The butterflies (edible!) were sourced from Sweet Whimsy.

Garland’s feast was made complete with cupcakes, watermelon and slices of homemade bread spread with avocado. Thirst was quenched with ‘lawn mower fuel’ served from a watering can (with a more practical plastic jug of juice hidden inside).

Stella’s handmade mini lawn mowers, constructed from matchboxes, buttons and pipe cleaners, went home with the youngest guests.

Every child left the party with hand-drawn mazes to colour in at home and a new-found passion for helping out in the garden, perhaps.