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My daughter does not get to watch much TV, but when she does, it’s Nickelodeon’s Bubble Guppies all the way. So it made sense to have a Bubble Guppies birthday party for her last birthday. On a side note: Molly is her favorite character, though I much prefer Deema’s unabashed exuberance.
Occasionally I like to pretend that I am interning with Buddy Valastro. In this fantasy, I am an amazing cake decorator who produces incredible creations. In reality, my cakes are decorated on a sub-par level. With more practice, I’m sure I could improve, but I just don’t decorate enough cakes to get too familiar with working with the materials. I will say, though, that the underwater cake I made for this Bubble Guppies birthday party was my favorite thus far. Much better than my unicorn cake attempt from last year. Lol.
For the invitations, I downloaded the Bubble Guppies characters from Nickelodeon’s website. They already had a transparent background so they were easy to add as a layer. But I was not able to find a high-quality purple and blue background. So I used a low-resolution file as an example to draw my own Adobe Illustrator vector file. Then I designed a pop-up for the inside to announce the Bubble Guppies birthday party.
Ready to make your own Bubble Guppies themed birthday cake and invitations? Let’s get crafting.
Materials for Underwater Birthday Cake
Wilton decorator preferred fondant.
Wilton 8-count gel icing colors.
Underwater Birthday Cake – Step 1
Bake and Frost Cake
Obviously you’ll need to bake your cake. I used this chocolate cake and icing recipe from Preppy Kitchen, though you can use your favorite cake recipe. After the cake cooled, I frosted with the chocolate buttercream icing and assembled the layers. I did three tiers – 10″, 8″, and 6″.
Underwater Birthday Cake – Step 2
Make and Add Fondant Accents
For our Bubble Guppies birthday party, I used the fondant and underwater silicone molds to make underwater accents. As you can see in the photo, I tried to color some of the fondant first, but that did not work out well for me. I think I must have played with it too much or something because it got fairly sticky and hard to use. So I just made most of them white since I was planning on painting them later anyway.
After I unmolded the fondant and let them sit for a couple of hours, I painted them. I used the gel icing coloring thinned with clear alcohol. According to what I read, vodka is best, but I had silver tequila available, so that’s what I used. It seemed to work out fine. While the paint/coloring was still a little wet, I added some of the shimmer dust to some of the pieces.
Underwater Birthday Cake – Step 3
Optional – Add Bubble Guppies Figurines
My daughter helped with the entire cake process, though she lost interest at different points. However, she was understandably excited to add the Bubble Guppies characters. They were all her, so they were not necessarily placed in the most advantageous way, but I felt it made it even better that she added them by herself. I especially loved the little fish on the second tier of the cake. She REALLY wanted to make sure they did not fall off, so they got pretty buried in the cake. Deema did fall off before I was able to get a picture.
Materials for Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation
Paper and color printer OR a print service.
Scissors.
Tape or glue.
Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation – Step 1
Download, Customize, and Print the File
Go to my Members Area to download the invitation template. You’ll need to sign up for free membership with SeeMelissaCraft.com to gain access to the password-protected page. Sign up using the form below to receive an email with the password.
Once you’ve downloaded the PDF, add the child’s name, the birthday date, location, and time. You’ll want to choose the option to print on both sides of the paper. You’ll only need one page (front and back) of pages 3 and 4 for two copies of the invitation on pages 1 and 2. So print twice as many main invitation copies as the inside elements copies.
Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation – Step 2
Cut Invitation Pieces
My printer does not print all the way to the edge, so I had a little white space around the invitation. I chose to cut that off, though you can leave if you prefer. Or, if you use a printing service, they may print it edge-to-edge making it unnecessary.
Cut out the inside pop-up elements on the solid lines. Do not cut on the dotted lines, which are folding guides.
Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation – Step 3
Fold Pieces
Fold the main invitation in half with Mr. Grouper on the front of the card. You will fold the center announcements in half (fold marks are on the back) with the text to the outside. Fold the tabs in the middle with the printed lines together. Then fold the outer dotted lines back to create a little accordion.
Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation – Step 4
Attach Pop-Ups
Using the curved lines on the tabs as a guide, attach the accordion tabs to the center announcement. Then use the guides on the inside of the card to attach the tabs to the main invitation. I used tape simply because I am not usually patient enough for glue and once the card is finished, you can’t really see the tape anyway. But feel free to use the attachment medium of your preference.
Bubble Guppies Birthday Party Invitation – Step 5
Finish and Party!!
If you are interested in my Bubble Guppies blue and purple vector background, please email melissa@seemelissacraft.com for a copy of the file.
Happy Crafting!!
Bubble Guppies names and characters are the property of Nickelodeon. SeeMelissaCraft.com is in no way affiliated with Nickelodeon.
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