Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts

July 14, 2012

First Fete: Smashcake, Cupcakes & Snacks




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As promised on the first party post here, I thought I'd give y'all a good look at the sweet treats from Baby B's first fete.  The treats were so tasty and enjoyed by all.  Baby B thought his own smashcake was just tops! 

While the Varsity truck fed hungry bellies around the corner on the drive, the sweets were displayed on a big table on the back deck. 




Here's a few of the tips and tricks of this sweets production: 

Tablescape
The large chalkboard behind the table is a last minute crafty.  I have been on the hunt for a big ole' chalkboard for some time.  Trouble was, I didn't want to pay the hefty price for a big one that was decorative and I really don't have a need for yet another plain Jane chalkboard.  (as I've explained here ... I have a chalky addiction).   I found a very large scrap of press board in the basement that Dear Hubs had hid away (for who knows what purpose) and simply covered it with a few coats of my handy chalkboard paint.  Seriously ... do I use that stuff on everything?  Topped with some large paper pennants, it was the perfect backdrop for the sweets table. 

Table clothes were loaded up in white, blue and topped with burlap.  Since it was outside and thunderous clouds were looming, I actually opted for disposable tableclothes and topped with a burlap runner.  The garland across the front is comprised of various red, white and tons of blue fabric scraps.  I LOVE this garland and have plans to make another one.  A box covered in craft paper served as the perfect tier for the back of the table to give dimension.  Tiny paper pennants that matched the invitation hang across the front of the box and the plate stand.

The balloon topiaries are in silver paint buckets that I had on hand.  You can find yours at a local Home Depot for just a few bucks.  These have served me well through the years!
 

Treats

Since we had such a crowd to feed, I opted for cupcakes. I had originally envisioned a monster sweet sensation for Baby B's first fete, but when reality set in that it would be 100 degrees, melt and look like a hot mess ... well, cupcakes it is! To save my sanity, I actually outsourced the cupcake baking. (gasp, I know).  I always bake my own treats, but this time, with gentle coaxing from Zsa Zsa, Dear Hubs and every bestie known to man, I decided best to save my sanity! The cupcakes were topped by moi, partial credit right? I made large fondant ones and a polka dot in blue, then added a cute sour cherry candy.

They were super cute when all was done.

All that said, I couldn't bear the thought of Baby B's first cake being from someone other than me.  So, I DID bake that giant cute cupcake that Baby B would be smashing shortly after this pic below.  Using my oversized cupcake pan, I simply baked a yellow cake and topped with white icing using a wide Wilton tip.  I hung a pennant banner from two grilling skewers.  It matched perfectly with the individual cakes and was a great focal addition.  Certainly, my critic was a fan!






As if tummies weren't full enough, in addition to the sweets; we had yummy roasted peanuts and popcorn for snacks.  Dear Hubs helped out and rolled our large movie style popcorn machine around from our media and game room on the terrace level.  With the music cranked up and attendees firmly seated for the mainstay, these treats came in handy!




Favors

As the night went on, the kids negotiated opening their favors early.  Going along with our theme, I opted for oversized carnival style lollipops.  I found these cuties on Amazon (they were better in size, style and price than any other site I checked!).  Only trick, there was a large label on the pops already.  I used the same old school typewritter font as the invites, labels and all other notes to whip up some large labels for these favors.  To display, I filled a vintage Coca-Cola crate with floral foam, topped with paper shreds and presented the pops in this tray.  They were just darling!        



They were a hit with all!





Hope y'all enjoyed the sugar rush! xoxo



July 12, 2012

The First Fete

Weeks of brainstorming, hours on pinterest and countless "wouldn't that be grand" sort of moments came together this past Saturday as we celebrated the dear sweet Baby B's first birthday.  Hard to believe that tot is a year old. 

His big day started with a celebratory donut for the special occassion.  Fear not, I didn't let him eat the entire thing, there was plenty more sugar where this came from!



We spent the afternoon playing on the new slide fort, a birthday gift from the grands and prepping the lawn for the extraordinary party to come!



Shortly before party time, we had a little thunder shower scare, so we set up for the party not once but twice!  Lordy me, we had good practice after the first setup / dry run and the second time was a snap. 
I'll share all the many cute details and the how to's over the coming days, for now ... enjoy these fun pics. 
For a party of about 60 guests celebrating Baby B's big first birthday, I planned a vintage lawn party with a Southern twist.  We wanted it fun for littles and bigs of all ages.  Dinner was catered by the Varsity food truck.  A band was on hand to sing silly songs and hits we all know.  Treats and cold beverages kept everyone full.  And games were played along the lawn to keep everyone busy. 

The invite set the tone for the event

Posing with our friend from the Varsity

Sweet Bestie M and Family

Buddy T and her boys enjoying Varsity treats
The truck arrives and we are ready for fun!

The line forming

Musical entertainment on the lawn

Cupcakes for guests and smash cake for B

It was a hit!

The sweets table

Dear Hubs and the Grand Dads

Bestie A and her fab fam from Charleston

Zsa Zsa

Enjoying the fun

Lollipop Time!

Wagon Pushing - who is doing the work here?

Happy Birthday, Baby B!


I promise more close ups but I'm beginning to feel like a proud grandma tossing books and books of pictures out here.  More to come!  Happy Birthday, my precious baby B!  xoxo




June 11, 2012

Gone Fishin

Mid last week, Dear Hubs set off on his deep sea fishing excursion with some of the fellas around these parts.  They had a great time and caught enough fish for us to have more than a few fish fry events this summer! 


Well, while the boys were away, bestie P and I rounded up the littles and headed to the club for the annual crab boil.  Y'all... I anxiously wait for this meal each and every year.  The club rolls out the brown craft paper across what feels like miles of tables and spreads tasty crab legs, shrimp, crawfish, sausage, potatoes and corn for all of us to feverishly chow down on!  Let's face it, there's nothing dainty about eating crab legs!  But gosh, those crustaceans are just tops! 

We sat outside, listened to a fab little band and ate... and ate ... and ate.  When we finished eating more than our eyes and tummies could handle, the littles ran around and played on the lawn while bestie P and I sipped a nice glass of wine! 























Our drive home in the golf cart consisted of "bunny hunting" where we play a game of looking for all the little bunnies along the path and seeing how many jump away swiftly as we approach.  After a quick change into swim trunks for the older littles, it was off to the pool for "Dive in Movie" night.  While Baby B wasn't having it and was ready for bed, I understand it was a fab event filled with dj music, snow cones, popcorm and the Smurf movie.  Maybe next time, Baby B!

After our Friday staycation drew to a close, Dear Hub's notified us that due to horrible storms along the coast, he would be heading home Saturday.  His arrival home was met with "gone fishin" cupcakes.  We had so many that we shared a few with some of the littles down the street as a nice treat. 








To assemble the fishing rods, I used barber pole straws and tied a little baker's twine to make a rod and string.  Multi-color gummy fish were tied around the tail to make a cute catch!  Peach rings made the perfect life preservers and extra fish jumped around the waves of blue frosting on other cupcakes.  These were a smash with the littles that received them and Dear Hubs was impressed that we missed him enough to whip these up for his arrival.  Of course, we missed him! 

So, as the storms moved north on Sunday and the rain came down around these parts ... at least we had fishin cupcakes to keep us occupied and thinking of beachy times!

April 02, 2012

Dinner Fit for Fools

By the time Sunday evening had rolled around, I'm pretty sure most of the adults around these parts were still un-pranked and had let the April Fools festivities come and go without notice.  Well ... that was BEFORE my dinner plans hatched.  What started as an impromptu dinner with Zsa Zsa and Dear Ole' Dad dropping by turned into a dinner fit for even the craziest among us! 

Complete with party hats, Easter placemats, funny face glasses, Christmas glasses and unmatched china; the dinner guests were a bit confused as to what was going on.  I'm pretty sure right around the time Dear Ole' Dad sat on his woopie cushion / seat, the group was wise to my pranking.   



Dinner was served as only a fool knows how ... dessert first!  A "treat" of cupcakes was the main course.  Not just any cupcakes, savory meatloaf with mashed potato frosting of course.  Each mini loaf cupcake was wrapped up in a cute polka dot muffin wrapper to complete the effect.  I must say, this was hands down my best attempt at meatloaf EVER.  It was so good, mighty impressed!


And of course there was dessert.  Well, I guess if you consider a big, fat super sushi roll dessert!  This fine piece of sushi was skillfully crafted with a Twizzler center, fruity pebble inside roll goodness and rolled in a rice krispy treat wrapper.  Topped off with some Swedish Fishy goodness ... this was some sweet sushi!


The meal did the trick and had everyone, bigs and littles, laughing at how silly we could be!  And be on the lookout, I'm not equipped with enough woopie cushions to cause quite a stir!!!


October 25, 2011

Monster Bash

As our countdown to Halloween continues, these sweet treats have been the feature dessert at TWO gatherings in recent weeks.  What can I say, they are just so darn fun to make (and eat) that we had to do an instant repeat so as not to let down the kiddos!

When I found these adorable monster eyeballs by Wilton (available at Michael's), I just knew monster cupcakes were in order.   And to top it off, marshmellow monsters also joined the fun as well. 

After gathering up just a few supplies our scary monster bash was in site.  In addition to cupcake supplies (the standard stuff), you need piping bags for the icing and a few fun frosting tips.  I used Wilton tip 20 and 233 to make my scary monsters.  For the pops, marshmellows, chocolate candy coating and lollipop sticks did the trick. 

Total time?  Well, just a few minutes to decorate these cuties but save extra for munching on them!


Monster bash on display

Marshmellows dipped in orange color chocolate and sprinkles make a tasty treat!

Wilton tip 20 and 233 save the day to make creative patterns for the monsters shaggy appearance 

Eyeball cupcake toppers (from Wilton) join in the fun too





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