Halloween Party Cupcakes

This is a Halloween cake and cupcake platter I made for a potluck. I used a pumpkin shaped Wilton cake pan for the cake and a regular cupcake tin for the cupcakes. The cupcakes were made into mummies, spiders and pumpkins.

Fish Bowl Centrepiece

This is the beautiful and unique fish bowl centrepiece that my sister used for her wedding. She purchased the fish bowls and pebbles from Michael's arts and crafts store and I picked up the silk Gerbera daisies from there as well. The fish is a red colored Beta fish, (a fighting fish) which meant that she could not put another fish in there. (She originally wanted to put two fish in the bowl)

We played a game during the wedding reception to determine the winner of each fish bowl. Of course, many people wanted to take the centrepiece home, however there could only be one winner at each table. The winner of the fish also received a lovely box to transport the fishbowl in. My sister included instructions on how to care for the fish along with the box.

Winnie the Pooh Cupcakes

I was asked to bring cupcakes to a Disney themed birthday party and decided to make angel food cupcakes with a whipped cream topping and pink sugar sprinkles. The Winnie the Pooh cupcake wrappers for perfect for the occasion and I did not have to spend too much time decorating the cupcakes as the wrappers by Wilton were pretty enough.

Fit for a Princess Birthday Party Favors

These are princess purses that I filled with goodies and gave out as party favors at my daughter's first birthay party. I put a bracelet, hair clips, fruit snacks, a magic towel, flash cards and a book in each little purse. I attached a tag with the name of each little girl on the purses as the girls ages ranged from 2 to 7 years old. Therefore, the flash cards and books were age appropriate.

Some of their mothers thought the little purses were so adorable that they wished they were little girls again so that they could receive one. I guess I should have put something together for the mothers as well. I will definitely remember to for next time.

The purses were available in hot pink as well, but I chose the lighter pink as I thought they would be more subtle.

I was not able to order personalized books on time for the party, but if I had the time, I would have. One of my friends did this and the kids loved it!

Cookie Bouquets

Below are the adorable cookie bouquets I helped my niece and nephew put together as an end of the year gift for their teachers. We used icing, sprinkles and Jelly Belly beans to decorate them. They had so much fun and wanted to decorate more cookies! I bought the lovely mugs from Kohl's as they were heavy enough to support the cookie pops.

I wrapped the cookie part of the cookie pop with a small cellophane bag and tied it under the cookie with ribbon. I filled the coffee mugs with tissue paper before arranging the cookie pops in them. The teachers loved the cookie bouquets and will definitely be able to use the coffee mugs after the cookies have been eaten!

Cupcake Stand

This cupcake stand by Wilton holds 13 cupcakes and makes a great addition to any party or shower. The cupcakes can be purchased or homemade and placed onto the cupcake stand. It makes a great decoration and is perfect for any dessert table.

The pretty pink cupcakes above were made quickly and easily with a box of butter pecan cake mix by Betty Crocker and storebought icing also by Betty Crocker. I tinted the white icing with Rose gel paste from Wilton and topped the cupcakes with pink sugar, rainbow sprinkles and coconut flakes.

Cookie Favors

These are store bought cookies that we packaged individually to give out at my neice's birthday party. It saved us a lot of time, yet were still economical. It would have been fun to bake the cookies and decorate them on our own, but we chose to make most of the food instead which took a lot of time and organization.


They look cute and you can add a thank you note and any color of ribbon to match your party theme. So, next time you are looking for a quick party treat that looks like it could be homemade, go ahead and pick some up from your local grocery store and personally package them. I won't tell!

Bridal Shower Party Favors

These are the party favors I made for my sister's Bridal Shower. As mentioned in an earlier post, it was a Pamper the Bride themed shower, so I thought this little parting gift would be appropriate. It contains a small sachet of Jelly Belly Beans, 2 tea bags, a tealite candle in a pretty tealite holder, and a medium sized sachet of lavender scented bath salts. Perfect for a relaxing bath with tea and a treat. Everything was placed in a cellophane bag and tied with a pretty bow and a thank you note.
I found cute miniature sealable bags that fit perfectly into the small sachets I purchased.
I put the Jelly Belly beans into the little bags, then put the sealable bag into the sachet and tied the drawstring into an adorable bow.
These jelly bean sachets can even be given away alone as favors for a baby shower, birthday party or any other fun parties.
I am glad I also found medium sized sealable bags as well to put the bath salts in before putting them into the sachets which made it easier to package them. At first, I wanted to put the bath salts into little jars, but I could not find suitable jars for a reasonable price.

Simple Food for a Party

It seems overwhelming to make your own food when throwing any kind of party, but if you keep the food simple it will be easy and fun too!

Here are some great items that I like to serve for an afternoon birthday party, bridal shower, baby shower or other afternoon events.

Sandwiches

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Shrimp Cocktail

Pasta Salad

Cupcakes

Cookies

Bacon Wrapped Scallops

Popcorn

Spinach Dip

Egg Rolls

Bruschetta

Simple Fried Rice

Vegetable Platter

Coconut Pecan Squares

Fruit Platter

Baby Gift Basket from Babies R Us

We received a newborn baby gift basket from Babies R Us as a gift from some friends and it was really adorable.

It contained:

• 1 baby hat
• 1 pair of booties
• 1 rattle
• 1 blanket
• 1 bath towel
• 1 bib
• 1washcloth
• 3 diaper shirts (onesies)

Everything was great except for the fact that the diaper shirts were much too small for our baby to wear even when she was only a few days old.

The lesson I learned from this is that I should have exchanged it for a basket with bigger diaper shirts. However, I did not know that they would not fit until I actually tried to use them. Also, when purchasing a baby gift, always buy a larger size as the baby can always grow into it.

Hosting a Bridal Shower

These adorable miniature wedding cakes were made during my bridal shower a few years ago. The bottom of the cake was baked in a Corningware dish, and the top was baked in a small Corningware ramekin. The miniature cakes were given to each of the guests (paired up in teams) to decorate with minimal supplies to make it more challenging. They were all quite creative, however only one could be the grand prize winner. (Pictured below)

Hosting a Bridal Shower can be a lot of fun even though........

I am hosting a bridal shower in a few weeks and still have so much to do. It will be a challenge since I am doing everything on my own since the rest of the bridal party lives out of town. I have chosen a Pamper The Bride theme as the bride already has all of the kitchen/home essentials. This means that all the gifts will be spa gifts, restaraunt gift certificates and anything that will help the bride relax.

This was my to do list when I started to plan the bridal shower:

Choose a theme: I chose a Pamper the Bride theme

Pick a few games to play: I have chosen a few simple games that I have participated in at other showers. For ideas, doing a web search for bridal shower games is quite helpful.

Book a location to have the shower: I will host it at home so I won't have to book a place, but I will definitely spend some time cleaning up before and after the shower.

Plan a menu: I am making all of the food so this will also be tricky, but it will be fun as I love to cook.

Send out the invitations: To save time, I sent an e-vite to everyone. This has worked well so far.

Purchase/make the gifts for the guests: I will be making spa gift baskets for everyone to keep with the theme of the bridal shower. The baskets will consist of bath salts, a mug with packaged tea in it, a loofah, and chocolate.

Be sure to visit again to see pictures of the food, fun and guest gifts! I will post them after the bridal shower is held.