Cupcake Cake

This cake was created for Hadley who turned one last weekend.

Colors chosen to match the party decor.

Make a wish!!!!

The cupcake liner was made using candy melts. YUM!

Go here for a great tutorial on how to create this cupcake liner.

Tipsy Tuesday: Trash into Treasure

This Tipsy Tuesday has nothing to do with sweets. Since I'm away from my kitchen (spending the long weekend at the lake) I'm having to improvise and find some kind of tip to bring you that has nothing to do w/ food. This week I'm focusing on partying!

If there is one thing I love its a good party on a BUDGET. I love finding ways to make a party special and exciting without breaking the bank. Planning ahead, buying things on clearance, making it yourself and searching thrift stores are just a few ways I like to keep the cost of a party down. Goodwill is one of my FAVORITE stores for fun finds! Some of y'all might be thinking EWWWWW, but whatever...get the stuff home, clean it and its good as new. :)

Now, the lake that I'm at doesn't have much to offer as far as shopping, but it does have a Goodwill and thats where I'm taking y'all today!!!! Lets go shopping and see what we can come up with!


First treasure: Basketball coasters. 2 packs of 4 (totalling 8 coasters) for $1. You could use these as coasters at a basketball or sports party or turn them into cupcake stands using my tutorial.

Don't wanna make a cupcake stand? Just buy one for a dollar. This was a candle holder but its the perfect size for a cupcake stand. OH MY WORD!!!! Going to an 80s Prom Party?? Get your 80s Fabulousness on w/ this out of control hilarious sequin dress. Even more 80s FAB in person. Picture does not do this dress justice!!!! lol

Need jars for a candy buffet? Look no further than your local thrift store for inexpensive options! These were a little over a dollar a piece!!! Can't beat that.

How great is this serving piece. Perfect for a nautical theme or even 4th of July (I know I know...4th of July is SO yesterday, very last season!) But for $3 you can't go wrong!

Having a dog themed party? There were about 12-15 dog collars in each bag ($3). These would be so cute for the kids to wear!!!! They could even make their own name tag to put on their collars. Adorable!! Wasn't that fun? I love this store. I'm telling you its like a playground for my imagination!

Next week I promise a dessert for my tipsy Tuesday. I'm thinking a tutorial on the margarita cake pops I recently made. I have received a few emails requesting one so I better hop to it before someone eggs my house out of frustration. ;) I totally would have done it today if I had access to my supplies. Stay tuned. :)

And in the mean time, go shopping!! Buy some junk and make it shine!

Another 4th of July Dessert

Like cupcakes?

Like tie dye?

Like 4th of July??

Then make a tie dye 4th of July cupcake!!!! :)

Head over to Shindig Parties To Go for my tutorial on how to make these cute little cupcakes! I have complete instructions in my guest post over there.

Happy Happy Happy

4th of July!!!!

Camping Party

Last night Bailey had four of her buddies over for a "Summer S'more Fun" playdate!

Theme: Camping.

Totally fun!!!! I definitely recommend a camping theme to anyone! This was definitely one of the most fun parties I have hosted. FULL of fun games for the kids, super easy and cheap to execute as most of your decorations/activities are centered around nature which is FREE (if you just take a walk through the forest.)

Here are about a billion pictures for your enjoyment. ;)

First up, the dessert/trail mix buffet which included marshmallows, pretzels, raisins, almonds, veggie sticks, cherrios, graham squares, and m&ms. (oh, and a few desserts such as cupcakes and two different types of s'more pops)

Big props to Amanda of Amanda's Parties To Go who created the printable collection for this party. She is amazing!!!!! Go to her site to purchase this great collection!













































Is your mouth watering yet???

Gonna take this time to show off the cupcakes....one by one. :)

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The dinner table...

Don't you love the little tree stump chairs?! I found those the morning of the party! I drove past a big yard of cut trees, they were selling firewood and I saw all the random stumps on the ground. The lightbulb went off in my head and I pulled over. I got them for a dollar a piece!

I made tents for the girls out of 4 pieces of 5ft PVC pipe, 2 yards of fabric and some duct tape. Easy easy and inexpensive.

Each tent was marked with the girls' names.

First activity of the night was a scavenger hunt. The girls had to hunt for 6 things. Since they're 4 and 5 years old I made a picture scavenger hunt. Each item they searched for had a purpose for later on in the party. Items included an unfinished wood birdhouse (to paint), a s'more kit, a rock and feathers (to make a pet rock), a stick and a butterfly (we later made a cool butterfly wand).

Check out the adorable satchels my mom made for each girl to collect their goodies from the scavenger hunt.

After the hunt girls painted their birdhouses while I got dinner ready.
(here is the cool butterfly wand I was talking about)DINNERTIME!!!!
One of my favorite things about hosting a party is mealtime. I LOVE listening to the conversations and silly things the girls say to each other! 4 and 5 year olds have the best mealtime discussions!!













These fruit kabobs were a BIG hit!! Bailey has already informed me this morning that she wants her fruit on a stick all the time. (GREAT! What have I done!?!?)























After dinner the girls had to capture bugs!!!
(no, I was not able to get them to catch real ones...these bugs were plastic)


I put plastic bugs from the dollar store (7/$1) on the floor of our tent and then covered them with balls and balloons. The girls had to scramble to find 5 bugs each.


The timing of this little shindig was perfect. Our butterflies from our butterfly garden just hatched and it was time to release them to the wild! There was 5 butterflies, 5 girls...each girl got to hold one and release it.



Can you believe it? I was brave enough to do a fire.


This is where the s'more kit the girls had to find earlier in their scavenger hunt came into play. We roasted marshmallows, which basically mean't the girls put the marshmallows on a stick and then inserted them into the ashes....creating a useless/unedible marshmallow. lol

4 and 5 year olds are not very good at roasting marshmallows. And I was a nervous wreck with them around the fire. No pictures here.

Time to put the fire out!!!


(that didn't last long)

By this time, I'm tired, there is a huge mess to start cleaning up...its time to sit the girls down to watch a movie!!!





Calling all campers to the trail mix bar!!!!













They loved filling up their tin cans with their own concoction of different snacks.
It was such a hot day so I decided to put the tent inside so that the girls could comfortably watch a movie. It was so cute seeing all of them cuddled up together, eating their trail mix and watching their movie from inside the tent.


I strung lights from the ceiling for stars. The girls LOVED this! They were so excited when they first arrived and saw the tent and stars. This isn't a great picture, but it really did look neat.

The girls were sent home with all their goodies from the scavengar hunt and bug game, as well as their tents and a tree shaped cake pop.