Jun14

Madagascar 3 – Marty’s Afro-Polka-Dot Circus Cupcakes

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Madagascar 3 – Marty’s Afro-Polka-Dot Circus Cupcakes

We have been tormented for weeks now by the building anticipation of Madagascar 3 coming to theaters.  The Polka-Dot Afro Circus song became a near obsession and we had no choice but to go see the movie opening weekend. :)

Taking our 5 year old to the the theater is always a fun treat.  Little Dude (who just turned 3 this month) is more of an adventure.  He loves movies, but often has a hard time sitting still or wants the film switched to Team Umizoomi or something similar.  We booked an early matinee on Sunday morning and just hoped he’d be excited enough by the animals to make it all the way through.  Truly, he almost did, and probably would have if not for “technical difficulties.”

We arrived with time to spare for the 10am show, picked up some popcorn and drinks, grabbed booster seats, and headed in to wait. And wait… and wait…. and wait some more.  After a few updates of “we’re working on it,” we were eventually told that we’d get free tickets to come back another day AND that we’d be welcome to see the 3-D showing of the film at 11am.  It was only 10 minutes shy of 11, so we decided to give it a try. We were excited about the upgrade to 3-D, but not sure that Little Dude could hang with the glasses.  Much to our surprise, he loved the movie and the 3-D glasses.  He giggled a bunch and exclaimed over a few of his favorite scenes (like the one with the lemur asleep in the car when it falls off the building!). Girlie was cracking up and totally into the movie from beginning to end.  Little Dude had enough after about an hour (which really was two hours for him from all the other waiting).  He needed to MOVE.  So, I took him out of the theater and let him run around the play area at the mall.  Neither of us felt that we missed anything, but Girlie and her Dad bragged about the Afro-Circus Polka-Dot Move It mash-up at the end of the movie.   You can click here to view it on youtube.

My friend Cristi commemorated the release of Madagascar 3 with these awesome muffins that are way more healthy than my cupcakes.  She found the zebra muffin cups and came out with a great idea that I just had to copy!  I found our zebra muffin cups at Michaels and then ran to the grocery store for cake mix (birthday funfetti), frosting (plain vanilla), and fruity pebbles.  Then I enlisted Girlie’s help to make enough of these cupcakes to treat her class today. Once again, she did most of the work and she’s 5… if she can make these and have them come out looking great, you can too! One more plug for Cristi – she’s a Bento rockstar and has lots of inspiring ideas… go check out her blog!
Here are our simple directions with pictures:

First, you make the cake according to package directions and pour into the cupcake liners in the muffin tin.  Bake as Directed.

Once cooled, spread frosting evenly across the cupcake top.

Then turn cupcake upside down and dip frosting into a plate of fruity pebbles to coat the tops.

Enjoy your beautiful cupcake or share with your friends!

I can’t wait to hear how her friends liked them! I think a lot of them have seen the movie already, so they should be familiar with this character and his song and dance. Tomorrow is their last day of school and they’re having a pizza party, so I figured today was the last good day to sneak a treat in.

Let me know if you try this and how they came out for you.  Here’s a cute graphic I made about it for the sake of pinning:

Marty's Afro Polka-Dot Circus Cupcakes!

Marty’s Afro Polka-Dot Circus Cupcakes!

Are you all as pin-crazed as I am?? :)

9 Responses »

  2. There might not be a participating location near you, but I’ve found that AMC’s Sensory Friendly showings (designed for kids with autism and sensory processing disorders) are GREAT for toddlers and preschoolers. They have approximately one kid-friendly movie showing a month. (This month there’s two – Madagascar and Brave.) And they’re usually the first or second Saturday of the month, always at 10am. The lights are on a little, so it isn’t so dark and scary. The sound is down a little, so it’s not so boomingly loud. You can bring your own snacks for the kids (since many autistic kids have dietary restrictions,) and “Silence is Golden” rule does not apply. You don’t have to feel bad if your kid starts talking, or getting up and dancing, or whatever. We’ve been going to these showings since she was a wee podling, and they’ve been great.
    http://www.amctheatres.com/programs/sensory-friendly-films for a list of participating theaters and upcoming showings.

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    • Thanks for the suggestion. The sensory friendly show was for this coming weekend, when I already had plans to take the Girlie to NYC to see Mary Poppins! :) I figure any kids’ movie at 10am should be OK with young children squirming and occasionally questioning and commenting. I know I wouldn’t think twice about it at that time of day and that genre of film. The darkness and loud noise doesn’t seem to bother either of my kids luckily. :)

      Reply ↓

      • We also have two second-run theaters near our house. So we do other kid-friendly flicks there, where I don’t feel as bad if we ruin someone’s $2 or $3 ticket, versus $6 or $8 when the movies are still new! And other than “opening night” for a “new” movie (to the second-run theaters,) they aren’t crowded at all, so I’m only ruining, at most, 5 people’s day. :) And then most theaters do $1 movies over the Summer of older kid films. Fun times.