CUPCAKE DECORATING IDEAS

These ideas compiled from a variety of magazines & online articles.

* FLOWER - Arrange cupcakes in a circle with one in the middle at the far side of a large platter. Use green construction paper to create a large stem & leaf.




* PIRATE - sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over white frosting and decorate with gold covered coins.

* PRINCESS - Pink frosting strewn with edible glitter and rose petals

* BABY SHOWER - Draw a baby face on each cupcake with icing, or simply pile up the frosting and stand a frosted animal cracker on top.

* BRIDAL SHOWER - Top with sugared edible flowers or candied fruit

* BIRTHDAY - Ice one letter on each cupcake and arrange to read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Child's Name)" on large serving tray
(I should have arranged this on a bigger platter to make it more flattering)



* SUNFLOWERS - Chocolate or yellow frosting with candy corn trimmed with a halo of orange candy corn 'petals'

* VALENTINE's DAY - Red Velvet cake with an inner core of chocolate and frosted with more chocolate. Top with candy hearts, kisses, or X's & O's.

* ST PATRICK's DAY - Green, Green and more Green.

*MUD / DIRT - Sprinkle chocolate frostinng with crushed chocolate cookies and have a candy worm slithering out of the center.

* EASTER - White cake and frosting. Cut marshmallows in half diagonally to form ears (frost the insides pink). Two more marshmallows make cheeks and a mini marshmallow cut in half makes bunny teeth. Use tiny candies for eyes; finish with a pink jelly bean nose.

* EASTER 2 - Sprinkle with coconut and nestle a few jelly beans in center

* HALLOWEEN - Ice with chocolate frosting and make spider legs with licorice and give them red cinnamon candies for eyes.

* DOGS / PUPPIES - Ice with chocolate frosting. Using crackers, one large brown candy and two smaller candies, and gel icing, create a puppy face.
(This was done for a Puppy Party my friend's 5yr old wanted)



* CHRISTMAS - Top with marshmallow snowmen, candy canes, or gingerbread figures.

* CHRISTMAS 2 - Ice half of your cupcakes in white and the other half in red. Alternate on large platter in the shape of a candy cane. *Option* Sprinkle them with crushed candy canes



* CANDY-TOPPED - Arrange candies on top in whatever design pleases you.

~~Decorate the tops with a variety of smarties or other small candy.


~~Arrange green & red smarties in a Christmas Wreath shape

~~Arrange gumdrops & jube jube in a flower shape (summer flower or Christmas Pointsettia)


~~Create a spider with black jube jubes and black licorice

If you are searching for a particular theme of cupcake, Google it! It's amazing all the ideas that are out there and many sites include the instructions on how to make it as well.

Disney's Family Fun Website: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/cupcake-finder-birthday/

Toddler Birthday Party Food Ideas

This was our menu at our 2yr olds Birthday Party. The party consisted of many kids and their parent(s) too so needed foods for both age groups.

Pigs in a Blanket
(1/2 hotdog wrapped in 1/2 a Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough - bake at 350 for 10mins - I pre bbq'd the hotdogs a wee bit first)

Cheese Slices

Pickles

Kielbassa & Garlic Sausage

Carrots, Cucumbers & Ranch Dip

Grapes & Watermelon

Veggie Dip (combination of cream cheese, sour cream, ranch dressing, and small bits of carrots, broccoli, green onion, pinch of garlic)

Mexican Dip (layered salsa, guacamole, sour cream with some taco seasoning and topped with tomatoes, green onions, and cheese)

Crackers, Tortilla Chips, Baguette Slices for the dips

Pretzels

Jar of Peanut Butter for those hard to please kids

Cake & Ice Cream

*The pigs in a blanket were a huge hit with even the parents and were the first thing to get eaten up*

Green Birthday Success!

We did a "Green" theme for our daughter's 2nd Birthday and it was a huge success. Here's some pictures of our decorations & activities.

There's also another post in the Birthday category with more details on a Green Birthday.

Decorations:
Two homemade banners made with felt, cord, and a glue gun. See separate post for more details.
Also made garland from our weekly flyers.

Craft:
I had several tins from my Cappucino Mix. I covered them in construction paper and then supplied the kids with stickers, ribbons, buttons, etc.

Some of the finished products:

The kids seemed quite excited about them and I heard comments from the parents that they thought it was a great craft.

Colouring Station:
My daughter had done a couple earlier in the week that we used to hang up as decorations.

Kids were supplied with crayons and colouring pages I had printed off the internet. We then hung them up.

Lots of fun with Water & Sand

Fun with Bubbles:
See recipes section for the bubble juice. For tools, we used funnels, potato masher, slotted spoons, etc.

They had fun but it was a little advanced for the younger kids. Some got soap in their eyes which they didn't enjoy.

Fun with Water & Minnows:
The biggest hit of the party seemd to be the clear rubbermaid bucket filled with water, rocks, a dozen minnows and some water toys. It was always surronded by kids and they had a great time with it. A few minnows were sacrificed but all in all I believe it was worth it!

Presents:
We asked on our homemade invitations for parents to consider giving a gently used toy or books wrapped in something recycled (newspaper, artwork, fabric, etc)

My daughter did receive a couple things like that and most of the presents had amazing artwork for wrapping paper and the most wonderful homemade cards.

Food: Cake was homemade. I didn't use any disposable dishes (that made for a lot of dish washing) and had finger foods so there were no utensils needed. I had washcloths set out for any mishaps so no papertowel would be inadvertantly used.



Loot Bags:
I had fun making these as I love crafts. See separate posts under Mommy Crafts. I made a little drawstring bag filled with peanut butter playdough, a cookie cutter, a small notebook, chunky homemade crayons, stickers, a thank you card made from some artwork, and little bags of candy.

Homemade Birthday Banner

In planning my daughter's Eco-friendly birthday party, I decided to make a banner that I could re-use for the next few years. I already had piles of felt that had been purchased over the years for various projects that had either not happened or not needed as much as purchased.

Materials:

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Cord

Felt - various colours

Scissors

I went with yellow & white pennants as those were the only colours I had enough of in full sheets of felt. (I would have liked to used multiple colours for the penants but wanted to use up what I already had)

I cut out a triangle from one felt sheet and then used it as a template for all of the other triangles. I got three triangles from each sheet of felt.

I drew out the letters on various coloured felt pieces, cut them out, and hot glued them with the ink side down.

To add some more colour to the banner, I used some more triangles and added colourful circles to them. I used these before "Happy" and between "Happy Birthday" and at the end.

The easiest sewing-free way to hang them I thought would be to make little tabs and thread the cord through. Like a tab-top curtain panel would have.

It turned out great and I can't wait to start using it!

Loot Bags

I made these mini drawstring bags this weekend for the loot bags at my daughter's upcoming birthday party. Im doing a 'green' theme so these are more environmentally friendly than the tradional plastic dollar store variety.

I used scraps of fabric that I have saved over the years and found instructions on the internet.

It was so super easy (I am not an advanced sewer). The instructions were for a certain sized bag but I just 'winged it' with my own sizes depending on the size of scraps I had.

Im hoping the kids (& Moms) will enjoy these and use them for storing little cars, snacks, doll accessories, whatever!

I enjoyed making them (since they were so quick & easy) and made extras of various sizes for myself. Im thinking that perhaps future gifts will be encased in a homemade drawstring bag as well!

Gift Wrap Ideas

Candy Style (using a toilet paper roll or oatmeal can and covering in tissue paper with paper bunched at ends) **It would be fun if the present was several smaller items to give the child several presents wrapped candy-style.

Wine Bag - doesn't have to contain wine, could hold a cool toy!

Plastic Container w/ lid - Presenting the toy in a box (could cover in stickers for decoration) gives the child a storage bin for toys as well!

Basket - Put the toy inside and then wrap all in cellophane or beach towel or blanket or neat Pillowcase - whatever!

Beach Towel - Wrap gift in towel and then tie with ribbon

Trashcan - (What?!) Put the gift in a new & neat trashcan - especially if it's a funky colour or cartoon themed can

More Birthday Party Ideas:

Bug Theme – caterpillar cake, make caterpillars from egg cartons, eat gummy worms, etc. Activity: Bucket of dirt/water mix (mud!) with various plastic bugs & creatures inside. Kids have 1 min. to find as many as possible.


ALPHABET Party – Primary colours, Alphabet Posing, Find something that starts with letter “__”, Alphabit cereal & pretzel snack mix, letter cookie cutters used to make jello jigglers, sandwiches, etc. Alphabits on Cupcakes.

S is for Sophie Party (or whatever the birthday child's name is) – all games, snacks that start with that letter.
For S, you could have sandwiches, strawberries, S shaped cookies, have a sock hop (dancing), and give silly putty & shoestring licorice in loot bags. That's all I could think of at the moment but if you gave it some thought and looked around the house, cookbooks and dollar store, Im sure you could find other things.

Barnyard Party: Various animals for decorations. A cake shaped like a favourite animal, an animal toy & animal crackers in the loot bag.

Face Painting: What about letting the kids paint their own face?
When they arrive they go to the face paint station. There would be multiple colours of face paint (you could create your own face paint, I think Ive got a recipe in the craft recipes section) and little hand mirrors. Maybe the hand mirrors could be part of their take home package.

Green Birthday Ideas

Working on ideas for my daughter's upcoming 2nd birthday. Thought that perhaps we'll try an Eco theme of Green.

Location: Summer Birthday outside in the yard. I won't purchase any games but will find some ideas for games on the internet. Most activity will just be free-play on swings, sandbox, wading pool, etc. If in future years I need a theme for this same style of birthday, I can say butterfly celebration, bug safari, or garden party.

Craft Activity: Trinket Boxes. I have several little containers from Maxwell Cafe Cappucinno, Hot Chocolate, Fancy Tea, etc. They are all sturdy little containers with nice lids. I'll let the kids decorate them with craft supplies I have on hand (glitter, ribbons, stickers, markers, buttons, etc.) It's recycling & keeping them occupied at the same time. After they've made their creation, I will write their name on the bottom and hand back with the loot bag later.


Dishes: no disposables, we'll use our plastic camping plates & cups for the kids. Im thinking of finger foods so I don't have to worry about utensils. Parents can use the glass plates.


Cake: Homemade


Loot Bags: Reusable cloth bags that I'll make myself. Internet has various instructions for making easy drawstring bags. Ive got tons of fabric scraps I can use. The bag can then be later used by the child for their cars, snacks, doll clothes, etc.



(Here's how they turned out!) --->

You could also take two squares of felt and sew up three sides. Cut a rectangle for the handle. They could be left as is or decorated with paints or markers (party craft!)

Or purchase small canvas bags from a craft store that can be decorated at the party.

*check out another post I made on loot bags for various other ideas*

Loot Bag Fillers: No plastic junk that will just get tossed. Some ideas so far are:
*homemade playdough w/ recipe & cookie cutter
*clay pot (kids decorate at party) with baggie of soil and seed packet
*homemade decorated cookies
*notebook & fancy pen
*homemade chunky toddler crayons (see separate post)
etc.

Anything that is practical and either usable or edible. Any candy I buy will be bought in bulk to reduce packaging.

Stay away from the mult-pack of plastic junky lootbag stuff (ie. sunglasses that break before they are out of the packaging, whistles, etc.) Most moms are tossing that stuff out before the end of the day cause they're broken or annoying.

Also including in the Loot Bag a Thank You Card made from cutting various artworks (that Sophie has done lately) into little folded cards. Inside is a simple "Thank you for coming to my Birthday Party, love Sophie"

Decorations:
~ Tablecloths that I already own rather than the one-time use plastic version. Or if I feel creative, I could take a bed sheet that isn't in our bedroom's colour scheme anymore and add some felt flowers or butterflys or circles to dress it up.
~ Happy Birthday Banner that I'll be using for a few years. (see separate post for more detail)
~ Pictures of friends & family from Sophie's 1st birthday party and perhaps some from the day she was born.
~ Paper Garlands from colourful flyers & catalogues.
~ Birthday Crown - make from felt and decorate with puff paint & glitter. Let them use this for years to come (even a picture with it for sweet 16 would be great memories!)

Gifts: Im going to somehow (have to think of the best way to word it on the invites) ask my friends for gently-used toys or books. My daughter will be two and won't care if it's a used toy, we love second hand stuff. This will save lots of packaging (it's amazing how much plastic & cardboard one toy comes packed in). Also asking for gifts to be wrapped in newspaper, flyers, pre-used gift bags or fabric!

Still looking into other ideas to help keep it green...

Keep your Sanity at Birthday Parties

Keep it simple!


Have party last 2 - 3 hours maximum.


Eat sweets in last half hour


Have back up indoor activities planned if having an outdoor party


Letting kids do a craft as you wait for everyone to arrive keeps things organized.


Pick a theme and run with it.


Google for ideas, invites, recipes, and everything thing else on the internet


Give your camera to someone else to take pictures, you may be to busy to remember the important shots



Have another adult (or older child) to help you if needed

Make Snacks or Meals Fun & Interesting

These ideas could be for a regular day, keep boredom away on snowy or rainy days, or use at a Birthday Party!


Serve in different containers.
- A muffin tin
- Ice Cube Tray!
- Veggie sticks in a cup – squirt of ranch dressing in the bottom to dip
- Snacks in a mug are easier for a small child to hang on to and seem unique
- Think 'outside the box', there's all kinds of containers in the house you could use probably.

Colour Themed Snack (Serve food of one colour) For example, a red snack would be strawberries, raspberry juice, bread with strawberry cream cheese

Coloured Bread: If you use a bread machine or bake from scratch, you can always add some fruit colouring into the dough ingredients to make a neat green bread (or whatever colour)

Make different shapes or animals with the snack:
**Pizza is great for making faces with the toppings (For a snack version, serve Pizza Toast)
**Ants on a log is classic (Celery with cheese whiz & raisens)
**Pancakes are easy to make into shapes – Mickey Mouse is a regular one. You can always use chocolate chips or fruit slices to enhance details.

Peanut Butter Toast with their initial on it made from raisens (Could also be done with Cheeze Whiz Toast & bacon or ham

Cut sandwiches with Cookie Cutters to create neat shapes. Make the sandwich after the bread is cut and then use the crusts for stuffing or bread pudding or dry out and pulse in food processor for bread crumbs.

Location: Why always be at the table?
Have a picnic on the livingroom floor on a blanket or table cloth.
Take the snack outside for a picnic
Set up a tent in livingroom or basement and enjoy snack inside
Make your dining table into a cave (throw large blanket or tablecloth on that hangs over sides) and dine inside
Head to the park and sit at a picnic table


Backwards Day: Have pizza (leftover) for breakfast and pancakes for supper. Not a new idea but telling the kids its a backwards day gets them all excited.


Maybe even claiming that supper is Snack Time for one night.

The Loot Bag

Oh the dreaded loot bag. I was very disappointed in the loot bags I gave out at my daughter's last birthday. I had given no pre-thought into what to give so I went with a variety of cheap plastic stuff. I spent a lot and could have given some neat items for the same amount or less. I don't believe that loot bags need to cost more than the present, they are meant as a thank you token in my opinion. So here's some ideas:

Content Ideas:
-Homemade chunky crayons – melt paperless crayons in small muffin tins
-Joke Book
-Cookie decorated with child’s name
-Homemade Playdough or Store Bought
-Activity Booklets & Crayons (purchased or print out pages from internet and staple together)
-"A scoop of Hugs and Kisses for you". Laundry Scoop filled with Hershey kisses wrapped in cellophane & ribbon
-Something made by the Birthday Child as a thank you to her friend
-Bean Bags
-Homemade bookmark
-Notebook & fancy Pen
-Bubbles & Wand
-Hair Accessories
-Candy or Homemade Goodies (ie. rice krispie squares)


Activity from Party that results in a Take Home Item:
-Crown
-Mask
-Scavenger Hunt/Treasure Hunt
-Playdough
-Picture Frame
-Superhero Cape & Foam Mask

Kits:
-Make a candy necklace (licorice string, lifesavers)
-Craft Kit – large Ziploc bag with stickers, construction paper, ribbon, glue stick, printed out colouring pages etc.
-Dry cookie mix with instructions of wet ingredients, cookie cutters, cookie decorations


The Actual Loot Bag:
-Drawstring Bag
-Purse
-Tote
-Lunch kit
-Paper Bag decorated
-Canvas Bag
-Clay Pots (decorated by child) w/ baggie of dirt & seed packet
-Sand Pails w/ sidewalk chalk, shovel, etc.
-Small cellophane bag tied to a helium balloon
-Small Jar decorated (with decoupaged pictures on inside of jar)

-Party Popper (like Christmas Crackers)
-Tea Cup filled with cookies, wrapped in cellophane
-Small Box (decorated by child) filled with gold chocolate coins and a flashlight (this would be cool for a Pirate or Rainbow Party)
-Helium Balloon with a baggie of candy tied to it.
-Dress Up bag – purse with scarf, necklace, hat

And of course:
*THANK YOU CARD INSIDE*

Be sure to have a couple extra in case a sibling or extra friend comes over. If there's extra then the birthday child gets one too!

Dollar Stores are wonderful for creating your loot bag but think outside the box. Don't necessarily only check the party section ;-)

Birthday Party Ideas

Location: Your house is great but it can get overwhelming with a few toddlers plus parents in it. In our town, we could rent the library basement, school gym, or church basement. But other locations could be a park or beach.

Invites: Im all for making your own invites and not buying premade (although that is what I did last year) Using Word and some easy clipart you could make some really fancy invitations. Or use it as a craft project a couple weeks before the party and have your child draw multiple pictures. For my daughter who is just a scribbler at this point, I would have her scribble on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and then cut that into four invites.

Then just write the party details over the drawing with a dark marker. There are also websites with free printable invitations, google it!

Activities:

*Name Tag - have each kid decorate a name tag when they arrive. Or just draw a picture and they get to wear it.
*Dance Party
*Colouring
*Charades, Simon Says
*Hook up Video Camera to TV and let kids see themselves dance & pose
*Story Telling with a book based on birthday theme
*Treasure Hunt (picture clues)
*Watermelon Seed Spitting
*Bean Bag Toss
*Cupcake Decorating
*Bucket of Dirt/water with plastic frogs, bugs, etc hidden inside. Kids have 1m to grab all they can
*Spin the bottle – for who’s gift gets opened

Party Themes:
*Talent Show
*Carnival with facepainting, bean bag toss, ring toss etc.
*Arts & Crafts Show – fingerpaints, foot painting, crafts, etc. Clothesline for artwork display
*‘Green’ Birthday –gently used toy/book as gift, recycled invitations, Pot w/seed&soil as lootbag, Gifts wrapped in newspaper or reused bag, regular dishes & fabric napkins.
*Costume Party
*Spa Party w/ nail painting, face masks, pink grapefruit pop in wine glass
*Pirate Party – treasure hunt, eye patch, bandana
*Cooking Party –Invites on recipe cards, Aprons (to decorate), printed out recipes, everyone make a pizza, Red & White tablecloths, Decorate cupcakes or cookies
*Fear Factor - 'spin the wheel' to decide who eats what - mashed avocado, sardines, pickled eggs, etc.
*Pajama (or sleepover) Party – movies, popcorn, etc.

Crafts (double as Giveaways):
*Picture Frames
*Loot Bags
*Superhero Masks – provide each child with small cape
*Decorate Notebooks
*Paint a clay pot (later add a baggie of soil & seed packet for giveaway)
*Wooden Box to paint or decorate
*Doorknob Hangers to paint or decorate
*Playdough – small dowels as rolling pins, cookie cutters, etc.
*Jewellry – bracelets, necklaces, etc.
*Homemade Soap –hide small token inside
*Candy Necklaces – licorice rope with lifesavers, gummy rings, etc.

*Necklaces (made from salt dough) - make them ahead of time and then the kids can paint them. http://123mytoddlerandme.blogspot.com/2009/08/salt-dough-recipe.html

*Tie-Dye t-shirts or pillowcases

Decorations:
*Mini piñata made of brown paper bag decorated with tissue garlands.

*Streamers

*Loads of balloons everywhere!

*Happy Birthday Banner - reuse year after year

*Put out a few pictures from previous birthdays. Perhaps using pictures to create a special place mat for the birthday child (put pictures on construction paper and laminate)

Snacks:
*Jello cups with gummy fruit inside
*Edible playdough with decorations such as pretzels, smarties, raisens, *etc.
*Cupcakes
*Chocolate Pudding with gummy worms
*Finger foods a must :-)

Check out these neat sites:
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html
http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/
http://familyfun.go.com/parties/birthday/