Lavender Dessert Baby Shower

When my good friend told me she was pregnant, the first thought I had was what wonderful news, the second was that I get to throw another baby shower!  She didn't have a theme for the nursery, but knew she wanted lavender, so I decided to run with that as the theme for the shower.  I loved the idea of a decadent dessert shower and with close to 40 guests on her invitation list, it was cost effective!

For the menu, I chose mini strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting, mini chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, dessert shots; strawberry cheesecake and key lime pie, petit fours, white chocolate covered pretzels, dusted with sanding sugar, old fashion candy sticks and red velvet cake balls as the favor.  I served a non-alcoholic sparkling punch, wine (I think wine is a requisite for any type of shower- baby or otherwise) and iced tea.

I kept the decorations very simple with lavender poms and lavender flowers in white vases.  The color palate of the food was beautiful (not to mention delicious).  But, I think the real hit of the shower was the cake pops!  People were commenting for months afterward about how good they were.   

A view of the table

My famous strawberry cupcakes

The real hit of the shower: chocolate covered cake pops with lavender sprinkles

Simple and elegant decorations

Lavender Petit Fours; these went quick, as did the refills.  I didn't even get to try one!

Chocolate cupcakes with lavender vanilla buttercream frosting



The shower recipient (left) and me (right) showing off our baby bumps.  My due date was six weeks after hers.

Cookie Monster Birthday Party

For my son's first birthday, I wasn't sure what kind of party and theme to do.  I wanted it to be a low key gathering with close family and friends, but if there's an opportunity to throw a party, I'm always ready!  My son didn't have a favorite character per se, but he liked Cookie Monster and I found such cute cupcakes on line that I couldn't resist using that as his theme.

The cupcakes I made were a little piece of heaven.  They were Vanilla cupcakes with a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough filling, (the recipe can be found here.) I made mini chocolate chip cookies from scratch to go in Cookie Monster's mouth and made normal size cookies for another Cookie Monster display (and to eat of course). They were so delicious that my mouth is watering just writing about them.  I used the Bird on a Cake blog for tips on how to decorate the cupcakes, although I ended up using marshmallows for the eyes, instead of white candy melts.  I baked a chocolate cake for the birthday boy.  I love the idea of children having their very own cake to eat/destroy for their first birthday.  You don't get many opportunities to dig into cake with your bare hands and I wanted my son to enjoy that moment at least once! 

I kept the decorations simple with balloons and a few Cookie Monster displays, including three blue poms that I bought and used paper to cut out eyes, mouths and cookies to add to make faces.  The party was a lot of fun.  I made a huge pasta dish, with salad and bread and then we all enjoyed cupcakes and cookies.  The cupcakes were decorated for kids, but they were definitely made with adults in mind!

Cookie Monster Poms

Cookie Monster Cake for the Birthday Boy

Cookie Monster cupcakes for everyone else

Cookie Monster Cookie Display

Dessert table set up

Decorations for the little guy

Here's the birthday boy enjoying his own cake!

Purple Princess Party

When I asked what kind of party my daughter wanted for her third birthday, her reply was an emphatic “purple princess party!”  I wasn’t quite sure what that would entail, but happily set about looking for purple princess things.  I found a website that sells princess dresses (www.myprincesspartytogo.com), so that was my first purchase; 8 dresses with tiara and purple wands.  I wanted all of her guests to feel like princesses and if my daughter wanted a purple princess party, I might as well go all in!

Next were the decorations.  I found a big cardboard castle from Shindigz and I painted it purple and took pictures of the little girls in their purple dresses in front of the castle (which they loved).  I also found a “Princess” sign from Hobby Lobby that painted purple and a mirror decal that I applied to the wall next to the castle so the girls could look at themselves dressed up.

For the dining area, I used a lavender table cloth and hung lots of poufs and poms from the ceiling and tied lavender tulle around each chair, tying a silver or purple wand in the middle.  I had lavender flowers as the centerpiece and a metal dress outline that I decorated in lavender tulle and a purple tiara.

I decided to do a dessert table for refreshments and continued the purple theme with those as well, serving Marshmallow “Tiara” Pops, Raspberry Yogurt Covered Pretzels, Purple M&Ms (lentils actually), Strawberry Cupcakes with lavender frosting and topped with tiaras, Castle Frosted Sugar Cookies and finally the Rapunzel birthday cake.
The party was so much fun and the little girls loved the fact that everything was purple!  The best part by far, was my daughter’s face when she saw the purple castle and the cake.  It was definitely worth the effort!

The dining area for the Purple Princess Party

Tulle and wands adorned all of the chairs

The centerpiece and gift bags

The Purple Princess posing in front of castle



The dress each guest princess received

Strawberry cupcakes topped with tiaras



The dessert table with all purple treats