Fairy Princess 1st Party

We Recently had a Fairy Princess Party for our granddaughters 1st birthday. We had so much fun and she was an adorable fairy princess. 

For invitations we sent out a card that said the following:

Peek into the garden, and what will you see? A beautiful fairy, sitting under a tree. Her name is Kimber, and she's turning one. Won't you join her for a party, full of fairytale fun.Fairy, gnome, elf or other mythical creature costumes are encouraged. We had a backdrop that we used years ago for a dance camp and just hung it up in our party room to create a nice setting and give us a backdrop for pictures. It is just a canvas dropcloth painted with a castle on it.

We hung paper pom poms and balloons to give the room a whimsical feel.

We had cake made of a fairy castle and little fairies sitting on it. We also had several kinds of cupcakes. We were also celebrating several other birthdays in the family so the cupcakes served as cakes for the grown ups as well. We also had fairy dust candy in cups and fairy crown lollipops.

We asked everyone to dress as characters that would come to a fairy princess party and everyone was creative with their costume ideas.

gnome and woodland fairy

gnomes

king, fairy princesses

fairy princess and unicorn

woodman and fairy princess

dragon

We made lace crowns ahead of time by soaking fabric lace in fabric stiffener and drying. We then painted the lace and added glitter.

She had a great time and enjoyed her first birthday cake. The top was designed to take off so she had her very own cake to eat.

Cowboy and Indian Party

For our sons 4th birthday, he wanted cowboys and indians. He went back and forth the days leading up to it on whether he would be a cowboy or indian and finally settled on indian for himself. 

 The invitations were wanted posters with his picture on it. I dont have a picture of it to show but we found a resource online that would allow us to put his picture in and say what we wanted it to say and then print it out.

We set up a teepee in our back yard and and older brother made a totem pole out of boxes. 

The kids could choose to dress as indians or cowboys and we had the cowboy base set up at the fire pit.

We set up hay bales with a saddle on it for the 'horse' that everyone could ride and each person got a photo taken on the 'horse'

Games were relay races and target practice with bow and arrows. Mostly the kids played their own imaginations as they pretended to be cowboys and indians. The cows and horses in the background added to the fun.

The cake was so fun and turned out great. This was a super fun party for the boys and easy to put on for the mom :-)

50's Style Party

For my husbands 55th birthday we had a 50's style surprise party. We decorated the house like a 50's soda shop and kept all the plans simple and fun.

The cake was decorated like a record. I used black food coloring but it didnt get as dark as I would have liked. I now know that to get a dark black you need to mix the black food coloring with chocolate frosting and I would do that next time to make it more like a vinyl record.

I bought 50's style car decorations and they not only decorated the tables and area but the big cut out was used for a photo prop and everyone had picture made in the car for fun. 

We also had cut out records for decorations on the tables. We played 50's style songs and people were free to dance or do karaoke to the songs as they liked.

We kept the food simple as well and made hamburgers and fries and potato salad. This was a very fun and easy party to host and with it being a surprise for my husband it worked great.

A Party For Yourself Anytime You Want It.

Okay, so there isnt any reason to party coming up and you really want a cupcake, What do you do but make the best ever cupcakes just to throw a party in your mouth. Of course you can make your favorite cupcake or you can make my favorite in cupcake form.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Cupcakes

Start with your crust. You can use what ever crumbs you like for the flavor you want. I used graham crackers this time. 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Mix all together and put in cup cake cups.

I pressed the crumb mixture into the bottom of the cups using a rolling pin to form the crust.

Next is the filling. You can use any cheesecake recipe you want to use and have any flavor you want. I used my favorite basic cheesecake recipe modified slightly by adding the vanilla beans from one pod of vanilla to give it more vanilla flavor and also the tiny vanilla beans in the batter.
1 cup sugar. 1 tbsp corn starch. 5 -8 oz pkg cream cheese. 2 large eggs. 2 tsp vanilla extract. 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. vanilla beans from one vanilla bean pod. Mix all ingredients together and spoon over crust. Bake at 350° for approximately 20 minutes. Watch closely and take out when filling is just set.  center should be slightly jiggly and edges firm. Let cool.

While cupcakes are cooling you can make the topping. A white chocolate cream mousse. You will need 6 oz white chocolate chips, melted. 1 cup heavy whipping cream. 1/4 cup powdered sugar. 4 oz cream cheese.

Melt chocolate chips and let cool. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and cream together then add chocolate and beat well. Spoon onto cooled cupcakes.

 At this point, need to melt some chocolate chips to drizzle over cupcakes.  You can use semi sweet or milk chocolate, whichever you prefer. I used semi sweet on mine. About 6 oz of chips will do and mix a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream into melted chips to get a drizzling consistency.

Next comes the vanilla bean whipped cream for decoration. Mix 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 1 tbsp of powdered sugar and the beans from one vanilla bean pod. Beat until stiff peaks form. Use  a rosette tip to pipe rosettes on top of cupcake and enjoy!

 A Party In Every Bite!

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Cupcakes

Crust: 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar. 

Mix all together and press in cup cake cups.

Filling:

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

5 -8 oz pkg cream cheese

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

vanilla beans from one vanilla bean pod

Mix all ingredients together and spoon over crust. Bake at 350° for approximately 20 minutes. Watch closely and take out when filling is just set.  center should be slightly jiggly and edges firm. Let cool.

Mousse Topping:

6 oz white chocolate chips, melted

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

4 oz cream cheese.

Melt chocolate chips and let cool. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and cream together then add chocolate and beat well. Spoon onto cooled cupcakes. 

Melt some chocolate chips to drizzle over cupcakes. 6 oz of chips will do and mix a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream into melted chips to get a drizzling consistency.

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp of powdered sugar

beans from one vanilla bean pod

Beat until stiff peaks form. Use a rosette tip to pipe rosettes on top of cupcake and enjoy!

Campout Party

We had a campout party for our son's 6th birthday. 

The cake was simple and the boys all loved it. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and made a campfire out of cookies and fruit roll ups. It was a little tricky to get the fruit roll ups to stand up for the fire so I used tooth picks to help with that.

 The boys each got a walking stick with a bandana tied to it with their party favors inside. I used wild animal print material for the bandanas and inside was a compass, a flash light, a trail bar, and fruit snacks to enjoy on the hike.

The boys hiked out in the field and had their snacks while we set up the tent and got the camp site ready.

Some of the party favors.

Back at the campsite, The boys played in the tent and ran around playing games until dinner time. Some games taught the boys how to use a compass and they enjoyed learning the way a compass works.

 Then they each roasted their own hotdogs over the campfire and enjoyed baked beans and trail mix.

Trail mix was a big hit with all the boys.

mix together cheerios, m&ms, raisins,  and peanuts.

 Makes for a great anytime snack on a real campout when boys get hungry often. We usually have a big bag of it available for the boys to get anytime while out in the woods.

 Another party favor was crazy straws and the boys enjoyed making long crazy straws to drink their drinks with.

 After dinner, We had s'mores. Each child roasted marshmallows to make their s'mores.

 Then of course, cake. The boys had a lot of fun and were all tired and ready for bed by the end of the party.