This year I reached the age 60 milestone along with a number of my good friends. Originally I wasn't happy about it at all, so I wanted to turn a negative feeling into something positive. I've been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity for a long time (and yes, I've worked on a build) so I decided to tie it into one of my other loves, that is anything Tolkien-related. This gave me the theme for the party - Hobbits for Habitat! When you reach this age in your life, you really don't need a lot of "stuff", so I asked my family and friends to donate to Habitat in lieu of gifts. I have to say that everyone was very generous with their donations and I truly did appreciate the flowers I received on the day of the party.
My gift to myself was a custom Bag End cake. If you know Tolkien, you'll know that Bag End is the home of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the two most famous Hobbits in Tolkiens books. My girls have jokingly called me a Hobbit for years, given that I'm height challenged and if I could, I'd move right into Bag End if it existed in Toronto. ;) This cake was my closest facsimile, created by Sam Anderson of Cakes Cove:
(Photo courtesy George Winter - thanks!)
You can see mini Bilbo and mini Bella Gamgee (me!) having tea and cake on their picnic blanket. Those decorations are made of gum paste and will keep forever - I just have to find a little clear box to put them in, to keep in my kitchen.
Everyone was just blown away by the detail of the cake and the fact that the entire thing was edible. The tree was solid chocolate, as was the rail fence, the benches in front of the door and the stonework around the door and window. Everything was absolutely delicious - the combo of chocolate cake with mocha truffle filling was a real hit! Deciding not to bake my own cake was probably the best party idea I had and I know that everyone appreciated it almost as much as I did.
