Sushi Train Party
Inspired by his trip last year to Japan and his love of the Shinkansen train and sushi for Aiden’s 6th Birthday we celebrated with a sushi train party.
Like many of Aiden’s parties we started by discussing the type of food he wanted to eat. For Aiden it was his favourite sushi - egg nigiri and cucumber maki rolls. He also really likes the onigiri rice balls I’ve been making this year to pop in his lunch box some school days.
Homemade egg nigiri
Homemade cucumber maki rolls
Shinkansen shaped onigri
Onigri Rice Balls
Unlike his other birthdays the planning for this one was thrown into confusion with the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic. Initially this party could easily have been held at an actual sushi train restaurant or at home with large sushi platters ordered in depending on how many school friends we would be inviting. As our plans kept shrinking to an ever smaller circle of friends in was finally in a state of imposed complete isolation and our small family only who could share in the experience of celebrating our boys birthday.
Instead of ordering food in I took to the kitchen and tackled making the sushi rolls myself. We laid out the central table with the Shinkansen train set we’d bought in Japan and decorated with some of the beautiful furoshiki cloths we’ve also collected in our travels.
Aiden’s toy shinkansen train runs around the table to add atmosphere to the celebration.
A stack of birthday presents wrapped in sushi washi tapes.
For dessert I made Aiden’s favourite jellies and the main cake itself which was inspired by the egg nigiri. Two lemon-scented madeira cakes covered in buttercream and coconut shavings to look like rice and topped with a flat egg sponge. To make the “seaweed” I used some fruit strap rolls sprayed in dark green to create the effect of the nigiri.
“Egg nigiri” birthday cake
As it was Aiden’s 6th birthday he is reaching another milestone in his growth and development starting school and no longer a toddler but a small child. To celebrate and mark the moment I made a new milestone poster for Aiden, the last was made when he was 3 and the next will be made again when he turns 9.
Aiden at 6 captures his current interests and passions. His favourite animals are still penguins and hedgehogs (both of which starred in the last two birthday parties we held for him). Bluey and Octonauts are his two favourite shows to watch, Lego is his favourite toy and he still loves some of the same fruits and foods as when he was 3 with only some slight changes. The two bikes represent the old bike he has been scooting around on the last few years - the blue balance bike with its gold star decals and the new green bike he received for his 6th birthday which is becoming the new favourite. It was nice that he wanted to put both on his poster and it shows that growth and transition as well. For the last few years Aiden has loved trains of all kinds but recently this has really crystallised into a specific love for the super fast Japanese bullet train as his absolute favourite.
It was a shame we weren’t able to gather with all our friends and family to have a big party for Aiden this year but I’m glad we were still able to make it a small but special celebration for our little family.
