A Baking Party

As my daughter's 7th birthday approached, I asked her "what kind of party do you want?"  She said "a baking party!"  My little girl loves to cook with me, making cookies or dinner it doesn't matter what we're making because she thinks it is fun.  I tried to come up with some things that would be easy to make in a two hour period (with a bunch of kids!) and came up with pretzels.

I found the hats on BuyCostumes.com and printed out the kids names on iron on transfer sheets to personalize them.  I found the directions on how to do this at Passion for Parties blog, where they explain that you need to make a mirror image of the text so that it reads correctly when you iron it on the hat.

I found this great idea to make cupcake wrapper garlands on Hostess blog.  It was easy to do and an inexpensive way to add a pop of color.

We found a wonderful invitation and thank you note selection at the Mommies Ink Etsy shop.  Jen was fantastic to work with and she altered an existing invitation design to include a brighter pink instead of red for my daughter.

I know you will not mind, I deleted the personal information for privacy.  :)

Photo by Stephanie Albanese Photography

We found a great recipe that is similar to Auntie Annes at CDKitchen.com.  The children could choose to put salt or cinnamon and sugar on their finished product.  I found glassine bags at Paper & Parcel on Etsy, so the kids could eat one pretzel, and take another home!

We also decorated cupcakes...there is my sweet girl enjoying the chance to be creative with icing.

Photo by Stephanie Albanese

The children brought their creations home in clear cupcake boxes that I found on Amazon.com.  There is a little plastic insert in the bottom of these boxes, so the cupcake stays in place for it's trip home.

In addition to their rolling pins, and a chocolate bar, the kids placed their creation in these simple bags to bring home.  (No plastic junk to have hanging around the house!)  I found some great gift tags by Meri Meri that are adorned with a touch of glitter.  So sweet!

I really wanted to make cake pops for the party, but found myself running out of time.  As I was shopping for the food for the party, I walked past some donut holes and thought, that might work!  I came home and looked up some directions and came across Cookie with Sugar's website with some great tips.  (Dip the popsicle stick in melted chocolate, then stick it in the donut hole.  Let it cool and then dip all holes in chocolate to coat, this way, the balls stay ON the sticks!)  The kids loved them, and also took some home in their goodie bags.

I found this printable picture on via Pinterest.  (my latest favorite site...more about that later.)

BlessedNestblog.com created this sweet free printable, which you can print too.  

Children grow out of these home made birthday parties so quickly, cherish them while they last!

Santa Was Here!

I know, I know!  It's a few weeks until Christmas, and I haven't posted!  I'm in the midst of a remodel and it's taking everything I've got.  (Another post, another day...)  

I found these tags on SmittenBlogDesign's site and couldn't resist these for the kids' presents from Santa Claus last year.  I'll post this years presents as soon as I manage to find the time to wrap them!  :) 

A Lego Party

My son loves to build things, and truly enjoys Lego's so we decided to make a Lego themed party.
I found these treat sacks on PaperNook's Etsy site.  You can order from many different designs and pick the colors coordinate with your event.  We filled the sacks with Lego shaped cookies, minifigures, brick and minifigure shaped hard candy and Lego block shaped sugar candy.

I found these block candies on Amazon.  My son always buys them when we are at the beach from Candy Kitchen.  I thought we would build a bit with them, but we also included them in the favor bags.

I spotted these invitations on SIMONE Made It's Etsy shop.  She was great to work with and so quick to get them done.  I was a bit late getting this party in the works, so I ended up emailing quite a few.

We used these molds to make ice cubes and also hard candies for the treat bags.  You can purchase your own set on She's Crafty's Etsy shop.

I poured some building bricks into these glass vases I had from another party and had the kids guess how many bricks were inside.  We also played Creationary and had some Lego Ninjago battles.  We also played some pick up the Lego games with chopsticks.

I found these candles on Amazon and the number candle is from Target.

It was the beginning of the school year, so I took the easy way out and ordered cupcakes from Wegmans.  Such a relief to just pick them up after making all of those cookies!  I found the yellow cupcake wrappers at Michaels and simply dropped the cupcakes in.  (The yellow wrappers are made by Wilton.)  I was going to put some brick candy on top of each cupcake, but it was a whirlwind of a day and I forgot!

Oh, did I say cookies?  Here they are!

Lush with Roses Cake

Oh my goodness, this cake just caught my eye and I can't get over how beautiful it is.  I found it on the blog I Am Baker by Amanda.

Here is Amanda's tutorial on how to ice the cake:
http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/2011/02/rose-cake-tutorial.html

I am already checking my icing tips to see if I have the correct one!

Even the inside of the cake is special.  Imagine showing up to a picnic with this beauty!

Looking further into her blog, I found these sweet rose cookies. You must all know by now my love of pretty cookies.  Aren't they just adorable?  My children always want the cookies at our local Wegman's with soft icing that gets a bit crunchy on the crust and I'm thinking these might be the ticket.    You can be sure I'll be testing out her recipes soon.  Thanks Amanda, for allowing me to borrow your photos and link!

Happy 4th!

Butterflies

I had so much fun making these butterfly cookies for a teacher I know.  She'll be giving them to her students.  How sweet is that?  I couldn't resist adding some edible glitter, I thought the students would get a kick out of it.  I wish I had some in every color!  You can get some for yourself at Country Kitchen SweetArt.

Colorful Easter Eggs

I was searching through Etsy the other day for Easter decorations and came across these vibrant wooden eggs.  They are created with non toxic paint by Erin and her husband Nick and sold in their Etsy store, Imaginationkids.  I think they would look so pretty in the birch baskets I posted about earlier.  My children love to have egg hunts even when it's not Easter.  Sometimes we have them in the house if it's too cold or muddy out, but outside is our favorite!  (And a great photo op at that!)

The clean pure colors are so cheerful, they are sure to brighten a rainy spring day!