Bunny Cakes

First Birthday Octosquid Party

I have always been 'artistic', but my 'craftiness' didn't surface until later in life.  This means our twin boys didn't have a fancy first birthday.  They still turned out okay (so far).  So 10 years later when little B's birthday was on the horizon (9 months out) you would think I would have been ecstatic to plan a big bash for his first birthday, but I wasn't.  I tried to figure out the root of my lack-lustre attitude, but I couldn't pin it down.  As his birthday got closer (6 months, 5 months...) I still had no big desire to plan his party.  Then late one night as I sat in front of my laptop waiting for some contractors to finish work in our kitchen I came across a spark.

As I was perusing a bento box website for panda stuff for the twin's birthday I spied a cute little octopus/squid figure.  By the time the contractors finished I had already recreated the little guy (now termed 'octosquid' -- couldn't decide if it was an octopus or squid) in Adobe Illustrator and added a sailor hat and cupcake to make him ready for the invitation.  From that point on the wheels for B's first birthday party were set into motion.  I guess I just had been lacking some serious inspiration.  We did not have a big bash and instead kept the party very small.  Even though the party was small I did not skip out on any details because those are the fun things to do!

For B's *Octosquid Party* we set up a small dessert buffet with brownies, sugar cookies in the shapes of sea horses, lobsters and hearts (my octosquid cookies turned out disastrous so I couldn't use them) and mini red velvet cupcakes--all lovingly baked by me.  The centerpiece of the dessert buffet was an octosquid cake baked by A Touch of Sweetness Bakery--it was so cute and so delicious!  I love having homemade cakes, but I found it to be really liberating to have someone else bake the cake because I got to focus on all the other desserts.  For our birthday meal we had Japanese fare with sushi and gyoza from our local Japanese restaurant, rice noodle salad and regular salad with sesame ginger dressing.  As for the decorations we reused the tissue paper backdrop from the Washington to Rome Goodbye Party (only had to replace the pink and gold with blue crepe paper) and reused the tissue heart (again replacing the pink tissue paper).  And finally the favors were little octopus snack containers I picked up from Target and filled with swedish fish and sixlets.

Here are some pictures from the *Octosquid Party* followed by some more details...

As soon as I settled on the octosquid theme I knew I wanted to bring in some Japanese influence (little B is a quarter Japanese after all).  I started with the color palette making it blue and white with a hint of red.  Then we settled on sushi for the meal.  I really wanted to order from our neighborhood Japanese restaurant, but I figured it blow our budget so I looked at other options (Wegman's and Harris Teeter).  Two days before the party I decided to stop by our neighborhood Japanese restaurant and price things out anyway.  I was really surprised that it wasn't much more than the grocery store options.  Plus by going with the Japanese restaurant I was able to order exactly what I wanted and didn't have to go with a pre-selected platter and on top of that it tasted so much better.  I pre-set the table with our serving platters and headed out to pick up the sushi right before it was time to eat to ensure that it was fresh.  I bought a cheap pack of wooden chopsticks which came 6 pairs to the pack but they were all loose.  washi tape to the rescue!  It only took a few minutes to pair them up and keep them together with a small piece of washi tape.

B's bib was made by my sister with fabric I had printed at Spoonflower.  This was my first time having anything made at Spoonflower and in general I was happy with the result.  The colors on the fabric were not as vibrant as I expected, but the printing still looked good and the fabric was a nice material.  

-K

Goodbye Party - Washington to Rome

Last weekend we hosted a Goodbye Party for good friends moving to Rome.  I had a lot of time to plan for the event, but I found little inspiration for goodbye parties...even Pinterest let me down.  After nixing the toga party idea I was left at square one.  I finally found some inspiration in a Minted Save the Date card for a destination wedding which depicted a suitcase and flag bunting.  I created my own custom version of the image and added the bitter sweet line, 'Kiss me and Smile for me,' from John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane and was off to the races.  From there I went with a heart theme and a color palette of dark blue, pink & gold.  

My favorite detail was the background for the dessert bar.  I followed Ruffle Blog's instructions to create a backdrop using crepe streamers.  This did take some time to complete so I was happy that I started the project well in advance (I also planned to change out the pinks and reuse the backdrop for B's first birthday party, so the effort was well worth it).  I floated the Kiss Me & Smile for Me poster over the backdrop and had another copy of the poster wrapped for the guests of honor to take with them.  Other details included a tissue paper flower heart with a 'Washington to Rome' banner, which I hung above the favors (directions for the tissue heart found on Martha).  For the favors I wrapped up twinkies and attached a heart-shaped note which read 'Sweet Returns'--the twinkies themselves being a symbol of renewed homecoming were the perfect favor.  For the fare we decided to pair American and Italian foods (pigs-in-the-blanket/meatballs, pulled pork BBQ/chicken parm, mac & cheese/penne with red sauce, cupcakes/cannoli) along with salad and garlic bread.  Large blooms of creamy hydrangea and hot pink crepe myrtle were straight from our backyard and provided some added color and cheer.  In the largest arrangement we tucked another 'Washington to Rome' banner.  For the dessert bar we had mini cupcakes from A Touch of Sweetness Bakery, homemade cookies, heart-shaped brownies and mini cannoli and a few other goodies.

Here are some of the pictures which were taken the day after the event and leading up to the event.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to take any pictures the day of the party because I was so busy running around--can you believe it!?!  The day-after pictures feature mini-angel food cakes made by my sister for a little birthday celebration we post-Goodbye Party.  It was a fun and busy weekend!

Ciao,

-K

Panda + Donut Birthday Party! Plus 8 Great Party Tips!

The twins (I can no longer call them the boys since we have our newest addition) turned 11!  To celebrate they invited their friends for a round of paintball and dinner and then back to our place for treats.  I was advised by them not to go 'too crazy' with the party planning so I kept things simple.  Outside of the invitations the only work I did was to set-up a simple dessert bar with treats and favors for the kids.  The theme they picked (after some pressure to pick anything) was pandas + donuts: two things they both like.  Here is how our simple dessert bar turned out, followed by some simple party tips.

I am sure you have all seen beautiful dessert bars that are to die for.  They are certainly drool worthy, but would not be fully appreciated by a bunch of 11 year olds, so I kept our dessert bar simple--which means it was easy to put together.  Here are some of my lessons learned and tips for making things easy on yourself...

1.  Go with Target Donuts - Did you know that every month Target has a new color scheme for their donuts?  I just learned this myself.  Initially I had envisioned a black and white color scheme for the dessert bar, but when I came across the colorful Target donuts I decided to match their July colors of red, yellow and aqua.  I was able to pre-order my donuts and could specify to make the donuts extra colorful.  Also the pails I picked up in their dollar section matched the blue of the donuts perfectly (I had to wonder if that was planned by Target--I wouldn't put it past them).  The cute panda picks can be found here.

2.  Tissue Paper Fringe Bunting if Your Friend (Who is Easy AND Easy on the Eyes) - The fringe was a last minute addition, but seemed necessary to help carry the color theme and to carry the eye up the space.  It didn't take more than 10 minutes from start to clean-up.  All you need is tissue paper in your colors (be sure to buy the big tissue paper color pack which has like 20 colors so you always have lots of colors on hand), scissors, tape and string (I used bakers twine since I had it handy).  Here is a link for more detailed directions.  For each fringe block I used two sheets cut to the proper width and then folded over to give me four layers of fringe.

 3.  Buy Your Own Stash of 24" Round Balloons - Round balloons are hot, but if you try to by just the few you for your party it will cost you an arm and a leg.  So instead buy the bigger, economy-sized variety pack of balloons so you can have some now and for future events.  Also if you are wondering about 24" vs 36" balloons, let me just tell you that 24" round balloons are huge, so 36" round balloons are ginormous!  Also, it costs $1.99 to fill up a 24" balloon and $5.99 to fill up a 36" balloon.  One more tip on balloons, always get at least one more than you need filled up.  One popped on the way home so it was a good thing we had gotten three filled.

4.  Mini-Cupcakes are the Perfect Dessert Bar Filler - There are two main reasons I like mini-cupcakes for a dessert bar: (1) they're easy to make a ton of, and (2) they won't fill-up your guests so they can enjoy more treats.  One box of cake mix can yield 30+ mini-cupcakes.  I actually never finish the batter when making mini-cupcakes because then I'll have too many.  Mini-cupcakes are also very easy to quickly pipe icing onto, especially if you have any large tip (I used an 808 round tip).  Then you can display them on their own or use them to fill in any gaps.

5.  Candy, Candy, Baby! - Candy is a great way to bring color to your dessert bar, plus it is a great way to involve your kids.  Bring them to the candy section of your grocery store and have them help select candy to match the color palette--they will love this!  Then when you get home have them sort, remove wrappers or repackage, etc. to keep them involved.

6.  Display Your Favors - We found some really cute panda snack containers which we paired with Hello Panda snack treats and 'Bamboo Sticks' (our own creation).  We place our goodies in pails purchased from Target's dollar section.  The pails with the aqua ribbon were purchased recently and matched the aqua icing on Target's donuts perfectly (love Target!).  If you ever see those pails on sale at Target buy them, you can always change out the ribbon color.  They are perfect for packaging favors.

7.  Plan for Guests to Take Home Leftover Treats - They will love it and you will save yourself some hours on the treadmill.  We had lined white paper bags embellished with sticker labels for the guests to take home donuts and candy.  The label design was a modified version of this.

8.  Use Cheap Photo Boxes to Give Height and Interest - The red boxes supporting the milk jug and the cupcakes are just photo storage boxes I found at the craft store ($1.99 each).  They come in a variety of colors but if they don't have what you are looking for then you can always cover them with paper or spray paint them.  If you are using them to support something heavy then be sure to put something inside the box to support the extra weight (I used flipped over water glasses).  The additional color pop and height variation make the overall set-up look much nicer.

Enjoy!

-K

Birthday Party Preview

This weekend we will celebrate our older sons' birthday.  They are getting a little old (11) for themed parties, but we managed to get them to agree to a panda/donut themed party.  Here is a quick preview of one of the favor elements--cute Japanese Panda snack containers.  More details to come...

-K

Glittered Eggs

Martha [Stewart] is the queen of many things--glitter included.  She has the best glitter selection out there.  I recommend her glitter collection packs, which give you a wide selection of colors that you can mix and match as you desire.  Also, her new florescent glitter collection offers a bunch of fun, bold colors.  This year I thought it would be fun to glitter some eggs to add some bling to old Easter favorites: daffodils and candy.  Glittering eggs is pretty easy.  To start with you can either paint or dye your eggs (I would paint them if they're fake or dye them if they're real).  Then coat with craft glue and sprinkle on a heavy coat of glitter and shake off the excess.  Plan to glitter about half your egg at a time...this way you can get a nice even coat.  Finally enjoy!  You can embellish your eggs further by adding stickers or ribbon.  If you are going to place your glittered eggs with food be sure to sit them in cupcake liners.

For the treat tower below the boys helped me make jelly bean carrot favors (idea from Martha) and then we layered in mini chocolate bunnies and carrots with our glittered eggs.  I used stickers (from Martha) and ribbon to add a little extra to the display.  The cake stands are also from Martha via her Macy's line.

My second use of the glittered eggs was to add some interest to Spring daffodils.  I first layered some sheet moss down at the base of the daffodils.  Then I nestled in the glittered eggs and some colorful glass flowers.  I attached a glass hummingbird to a skewer so he could hover amongst the blooms.  I also tied gold elastic around a few of the eggs to complement the glitter.

Happy glittering!

-K

A Sophisticated and Whimsical First Birthday Party

Can you imagine what Martha Stewart would do for her granddaughter's first birthday?  Well here it is...a sophisticated and whimsical luncheon with a menagerie of animals in soft hues.  Love it!  Some of the details include brown sugar layer cakes decorated with marzipan animals, Steiff animals and personalized alphabet blocks (create your own) running down the center of the tables coordinating placemats and beautiful sugar cookie favors.  To frame the party area she used cutout animals painted white and clear balloons.  She is already starting to think about next year's birthday party--that's my Martha!

Pictures by Francesco Lagnese

-K

Angry Bird Party

I hate to say it, but I don't have too many details to share about the boys' Angry Bird Birthday party.  The party was held a 'cyber club', so I didn't need to do anything for the decorations.  The cupcakes were simply topped with an Angry Bird figurine and some mini M&M's.  The goodies bags contained candy along with an Angry Bird key chain (perfect to adorn backpacks)--but that's it!  I feel like I hardly did anything this year for the boys party, but I guess they are getting older.  Good thing my nephew only just turned 1!  Here are a few pictures...

-K

Angry Bird Birthday Party Invitations

This year when planning the boys' 9th birthday, I hit a brick wall--the boys.  They were adamantly against a theme.  "We're too old for a theme," they claimed. "You can never be too old for a theme," I countered, but they didn't budge.  I knew they would give in when tempted with an appropriate theme, but we hadn't yet found it.  Months went by.  My party planning needs were busily satisfied with my nephew's first birthday (robot party).  His party came and went.  A week till their birthday, still no theme.  This time I was distracted by a nasty toothache (and some painkillers).  Then finally it hit me, like a bomb from the sky dropped by an angry bird!  An Angry Birds party theme was agreeable to everyone, the boys were even excited by it.  I made quick work of the invitations, then we hand-delivered them to our guests (we had no time to waste).  Here is look at the final *Angry Bird Invitations* and address labels.

-K

Bunting Cake

The boys turned nine last Sunday!  We had a nice family lunch to celebrate (their party will be later this week).  Of course we had to have cake!  I made a 4 layer cake with alternating devil's food and funfetti layers.  To decorate the cake I added a simple bunting made with red & white bakers twine and decorative tape (from Martha's craft line).  I could have used paper or ribbon to make the bunting, but the tape came in the perfect variety of colors and patterns.

The inspiration for my cake (and a far more lovely version) is this pink rainbow cake from Call Me Cupcake.

One day I hope to make a cake just like it!

-K

Robot Party

As you my know, my sister has a thing for robots.  So when it came time to plan her son's first birthday, she naturally selected a robot theme.  The inspiration for the colors (orange and blue) and theme was an incredible robot quilt she sewed for O's birthday present (see below).  The centerpiece for the party was a dessert table with a 'robot' cake.  She commissioned her friend and expert pastry chef, Heather Roth from Love and Butter Bakeshop, to create the cake and gave her full design control.

On the day of the party, A and I busily set up dessert table leaving a space for the cake.  We followed Amy Atlas' lead and used M&M's on our trays to bring in a punch of color--simple and impactful.  We bought donut holes and shortbread cookies to replace the macarons which weren't in stock (always order ahead) and the decorated sugar cookies which didn't come out right.  We were able to 'customize' the shortbread cookies by dunking them in blue and orange royal icing, they turned out quite nice and tasted delicious (very easy to do).  Then the cake arrived.  Neither A nor I were prepared for Heather's masterpiece.  We both had anticipated a layered cake with a little robot figure on the top, but Heather's creation was a lifesize duplication of the robot from the invitation.  It was stunning!  The final detail of orange and blue bunting (sewn by A) finished off the *Robot Dessert Table*.

Other details from the party included more orange and blue bunting hung around the house, 'Sweet Bytes' take-home favors (originally we planned to have 'O' and '1' sugar cookies, but replaced with the favorite chocolate chip cookies), a beautiful bib (again, made by A), robot napkins, and orange and blue balloons.

Here is a picture of the robot quilt made by A and inspiration for the party. The robot quilt is from Boo Davis's Dare to Be Sqaure Quilting book. A said that she really enjoyed making the quilting and that the pattern was well written and very easy to follow. The quilt is very impressive in person and is the size of a twin bedspread. 

A picture of Heather's drawings for the robot cake...

And finally, my favorite picture from the party...Oliver in awe of the robot cake!

-K