Alice in Wonderland Party Highlights

Here's a few highlight from Katie's 5th birthday party. We had face painters and a craft station, too.

I bought cute hats from Oriental Trading. Paper Lanterns lined the center of the table.

We took large paper tissue flowers and put them in tall vases that were filled with gumballs.

12x12 scrapbook pages acted as place mats. We also had bags of frosting along the table so each guest could decorate their own cupcake.

Little touches with "eat me" and "drink me" added a nice flair to cookies and tea pots.

Birthday Cake Rice Krispies Treats

What's not to love about birthday cake, right? How about birthday cake and a Rice Krispies treat combo? I took a recipe I found for these treats and changed it a bit and made both cupcakes and birthday cake Rice Krispies treats. These are super yummy.

Birthday Cake Rice Krispies Treats
3 T. butter
1 (10oz) bag of mini marshmallows
1/2 c. white cake mix (dry)
6 c. Rice Krispies cereal
1 (1.75oz) container of sprinkles

Instructions:
Melt butter in a large pot over low to medium heat and add marshmallows. Stir until just about melted then begin adding dry cake mix a little at a time until combined. Toss until blended well then add Rice Krispies. Add half the container of sprinkles and stir again. Press into a 13x9 pan that's been sprayed with Pam and then cover with wax paper. Gently press your hands against the wax paper to evenly press the mix into the pan. Gently remove the wax paper and discard. Let sit about 30-40 minutes before cutting. I use a Sur La Table® Stainless Steel Dough Scraper that's really great for cutting treats like these among other things.

White Cupcakes
I used the remaining cake mix and made cupcakes but needed to tweak the recipe since I removed 1/2 c of cake mix from the lot.

Here's what to use:
2 eggs
1 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
remaining cake mix

Blend and bake according to package directions.

Alice in Wonderland Cake

For Katie's birthday I decorated this birthday cake for her. It was her own personal cake since the other guests decorated their own cupcakes. The topper is an ornament I found at the Disney Store that later made it back to our Christmas tree. The letters on the cake I found at a craft store scrapbook section. I used a twig I found outside my house for the top and hot glued candy coated sunflower seeds to the branches for color. Hearts added a nice Queen of Hearts flair to the cake plus a few candy roses to finish it off.

Valentine Party

Katie has some friends over Saturday for a little play-date Valentine tea party. Here's some of the highlights.

M&M Sugar Cookies

Candy bar favors

Marshmallow pops

Printable Coloring pages from www.Crayola.com

Sweet Heart Cake

For Katie's party we needed a little sweet treat for the moms so I got our my heart-shaped pan. The trick to any shaped pan is Pam cooking spray and flour. I've messed up plenty of cute cake molds to figure that one out so make sure to treat your pan before pouring a cake mix into it. I used a Devil's Food cake mix then took a tub of frosting and loaded half of it into a pastry bag, snipped the tip of the bag and drizzled the frosting back and forth around the cake. I added rose colored Wilton food coloring to the remaining frosting and loaded the rest into the same bag. You'll get this white and pink streaming effect which I think is pretty cool and messy looking. I pipped the rest of the frosting around the cake then topped it with silver shimmering sugar from Williams Sonoma. I love that the cake is pretty yet messy.

Valentine Marshmallow Pops

Katie is having a little Valentine's day tea party today and we are getting all our treats ready. Here's our Valentine marshmallow pops decorated with red chocolate and red, pink and white sprinkles. The party flags are printables I purchased from http://www.etsy.com/people/SweetScarletDesigns?utm_source=convo&utm_medium=trans_email&utm_campaign=convo_html.

Super cute stuff that helped put the party together. More photos to come.

Bubble Gum Mason Jars

Mason jars are awesome and now everyone is using them in a myriad of ways. From desserts and drinks to candy and storage solutions. It's amazing what you can do these things.

For today's treat I matched up a cupcake liner and some gumballs I had on hand. I took the cupcake liner, wrapped it over the top and tied it with some pink and white twine, and finally added a button. Think of ALL the cupcake liners out there and ALL the possible combinations. Ahhhh, It makes me smile.