Parties – Sweets and Life

1st Birthday Party (Mickey & Minnie Mouse)

Published on January 23, 2015January 21, 2015 by ElenaLeave a comment

Looking back at this past weekend I realized that I never did a recap of my daughter’s 1st birthday party. I planned tirelessly for several weeks without realizing that the week before the party I was going to get a terrible cold. The day of the party everything that could go wrong did for but nonetheless we had a blast. Hardly anyone knew that I was involved in a hit-and-run accident on my way to the venue. My original cake that I stayed up all night working on along with 60% of my desserts were ruined as a result of the accident. My little Buttercup refused to take a nap that day and was super fuzzy. About 10% of the desserts that made it through the accident began to melt. Would I change things about that party? Absolutely. Would it really matter to anyone but me? Probably not. Like I previously mentioned here the day of the party is dedicated to fun. I had a blast watching everyone put on their Mickey & Minnie ears, playing carnival games, and mostly I enjoyed celebrating with those I love. Without further ado here’s a little glimpse at the party we thew my little Buttercup last year.

Invitations: DIY

Venue: Newland Barn

Pinata and toys: Los Angeles Toy District

Taquero: Water store on Dale St. and Chapman in Garden Grove, CA

Food and drinks: Costco

Carnival Games: Amazon

Well there you have it folks bits and pieces of the party we thew my little Buttercup. Will she remember it? No, but will I tell her how much I loved planning it. On another note I really need to start taking more photos of all the DIY things I do.

Please refer to my two Pinterest board for more inspiration. HERE and HERE

Please stay tune in the following weeks for a re-cap of this year’s Frozen extravaganza.

Check out my Pinterest board for my little Buttercup’s 2nd birthday party HERE.

Life: A Hello Kitty Baby Shower (dessert table)

Published on September 22, 2014September 21, 2014 by Elena2 Comments

A few months ago my half-sister approached me and asked me to help her with her son and daughter-in-law’s baby shower. If you have been following my blog you know that she had me by the time she announced that it would be a pink Hello Kitty baby shower. I helped her out by doing the dessert table for her.

I began a baking a week before the baby shower because I’ve learned from previous parties that sugar cookies work better with royal icing when they are completely dry. I used Sugarbelle’s recipe for sugar cookies because I’ve always had good results with it.

Once completely dried I placed the cookies in cellophane bags and I added pink ribbon that I already had.

I worked on the Hello Kitty cake the day of the baby shower. I baked a Hershey’s chocolate cake and frosted it with a buttercream frosting. I use the Hello Kitty cake pan mold and I loved how the cake turned out.

My mom loves chocolate covered pretzels so I had to include those in the dessert table. I purchased the pink baskets at the Dollar Tree and the Hello Kitty in front of the baskets are actually stickers placed over cardstock.

Another must have item in any dessert table are chocolate covered Oreos which I love.

I made the same type of sign I did for my daughter’s 1st birthday dessert table.

The sign says:

The dessert table will be open after Dinner!

Please use the tongs, chose what you like!

Leave some for others, Please be polite!

Here’s the final dessert table. I baked brownies, cake pops, cake balls, brownie bites, and cupcakes. I used Billy Vanilla, Vanilla recipe for half of the cupcakes. My niece and sister decorated the background.

I hope you guys enjoyed the dessert table I created for baby Natalie. I’m glad to say that last week my nephew and his wife had a healthy little girl.

DIY: Mickey and Minnie Mouse Gumball Machines

Published on September 18, 2014September 16, 2014 by Elena14 Comments

One of the cutest projects I did for my daughter’s 1st birthday party was the Mickey & Minnie Gumball Machines. I received so many compliments from this project and it was pretty easy to make. I followed Damaris’ directions on how to make these colorful centerpieces and they turned out super cute. For complete directions on how to make these please go HERE. Please enjoy the photos I took of the process.

Tips:

I filled the gumball machines with candy from the Dollar Tree.

This project is easy but be aware that it requires a lot of time to dry.

Be prepared to get glitter everywhere!

White buttons- Michael’s.

Door Knobs for lids- Ikea.

Minnie Bow- Fabric Barn.

Fish bowls- The Dollar Tree

The remaining supplies – Moskatels

DIY: Mickey Mouse Cutlery

Published on January 20, 2014October 24, 2013 by Elena3 Comments

Now that the party is finally over I’m ready to post some of the DIY projects I did for my little Buttercup’s birthday. This is one of the first DIY projects I tackled. I was inspired by this photo from Catch My Party.

Supplies Needed:

Cutlery (Knives, forks, and spoons) -> I got these from the Dollar Tree
Napkins -> I used red and yellow ones from the Dollar Tree
Strips of decorative card-stock or ribbon -> I bought the polka dot paper at Michaels when it went on sale
Mickey hands or face -> I used a Cricut Expressions and the Mickey & Friends cartridge to create these
Glue tape or something sticky

(Sweets and Life) DIY: Mickey Mouse Cutlery

If you have a Cricut it’s very easy to make but if you don’t just do a simple Google search and you’ll come across a ton of different templates.

Once you have your supplies you can begin to put everything together. Place your cutlery one on top of each other. I put the knife on the bottom followed by the fork and the spoon. Roll the napkin on top of the cutlery and lay it flat.

Take your decorative card stock or ribbon and wrap it around the napkin. I put a strip of glue tape on the very end to hold it together. I used the same type of glue to put the Mickey Mouse glove on the polka dot paper. Now there you have it all completed. I did about 100 settings with different types of napkin and cutler combinations. You can use this same method with ribbon and using your glue gun to hold it together. I’ve always thought that it was the little things that make parties memorable.

Life: A Hello Kitty Birthday Party

Published on December 17, 2013December 17, 2013 by ElenaLeave a comment

Last weekend we celebrated our little goddaughter’s 7th birthday. She had never had a party and we couldn’t be happier to be able to do it for her. We decided early on to make it a surprise party and we didn’t tell anyone in the Hubby’s side of the family. We were hoping to have a beautiful sunny Southern California day but unfortunately it was extremely cold. It was so cold I had to bring out blankets for everyone to use. I know that if my family from Kansas is reading this they will laugh at us but give me a break 50 °F is cold to us. If you follow me on Twitter or on Instagram you know that I got a cold the day after Thanksgiving. I wasn’t planning on getting sick and as a result I didn’t have time to finish up some projects I had planned to do. Without further ado here’s the small party we had for our little goddaughter.

Birthday banner: Party City.

Hello Kitty hats: I added the Hello Kitty faces to hats from Target using my friend’s Cricut cartridge.

Hello Kitty water: I got the idea from here.

Hello Kitty cotton candy: I bought it at the 99 cent only store.

Hello Kitty marshmallows: I bought them at Daiso Japan.

Banana pudding recipe: Here

Cake and candle: Ralphs

Hello Kitty cake pops: Bakerella

Hello Kitty Piñata: Our local hispanic water store

I hope you enjoyed the little party we threw for our sweet goddaughter. It was a lot of work but it was well worth it. One thing I learned during this party was that if I’m hosting I don’t have time to take pictures.

Life: Birthday Planning Pt.1

Published on October 11, 2013October 11, 2013 by ElenaLeave a comment

When I was growing up my mom always made a big deal about my birthday and to this day I can tell you exactly how I spend each one. I didn’t have elaborate parties but nonetheless she always seem to make them extra special. Now that I have a child of my own I’m extremely giddy about planning her 1st birthday party. If you follow me on Pinterest you have probably seen my Mickey & Minnie board. It isn’t a big surprise to anyone that I would start with a Disney theme for my daughter’s 1st birthday because after all Walt Disney did say, “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

1.) Date

My little Buttercup’s birthday falls on a weekday so we decided to celebrate it on the following Saturday.

2.) Time

My mom was shocked when I told her the party was only going to be 3 hours long and I had to explain to her that it’s a kids party. I think that 3 hours is more than enough time for a 1st birthday party. I have given my Hubby instructions to make sure our little Buttercup takes her nap before her party.

3.)Theme

Choosing Mickey and MInnie was a given but trying to decide on what colors to use was a little more work. I can’t seem to find the traditional colors for Minnie so I’m going to have to DIY most of her things. I’m going to stick with the classic red, white, black, and yellow as colors for the party. Oh and you bet there will be a ton of polka dots everywhere.

4.) Guest list

Deciding on who to invite is always hard for me because I want to include everyone in our lives. We’re inviting immediate family, close friends and a few of the Hubby’s co-workers. I hope there’s a ton of kids because I’m planning a lot of surprises for them.

5.) Venue

Since we don’t have a house to hold my daughter’s birthday at we had to look for a venue that would allow me to bring in lots of desserts and it had to be indoors. We are lucky to live in Southern California because we have a lot to choose from too bad most of them cost an arm and a leg.

6.) Menu

I really hate going to a kids party where only “adult” food get’s served at. We will be serving lots of kid friendly foods and I’m still trying to finalize what to serve the adults.

7.) Invitations

Another things that irritates me about parties nowadays is when parents send out invites through email or through a Facebook announcement. For heaven sakes please do yourself a favor and go to the dollar store and pick some simple invitations. I believe that if people are in a budget then they can hand them out themselves rather than sending them out. I’m going to be making my little Buttercup’s invitations because I love the process working with stationery.

8.) Decorations

I’m doing all the decorations myself with my new Cricut machine but if you have never been to a dollar store please find your nearest one.

9.) Games or Entertainment

Hopefully the weather cooperates with me and I’m able to setup carnival like games outside otherwise I’m going to have to have a backup plan.

10.) Fun!

Once all the planning is done and it’s the day of the party I’m planning on enjoying every bit of it. The reason I’m crazy about planning every last detail is because I’m less worried if anything goes wrong the day of the party. I mean I can’t do anything about the weather or about who’s going to show up so I’m not going to stress out about those things. I’m going to sit back and have fun.

Don’t worry in the next few months I’ll come back to this list and elaborate a tad on each item.

If you are planning a Mickey and Minnie in the future come back to check out my DIY projects and a mini giveaway I will be hosting early next year.

Photography: Newport Coast Mother’s Day Tea Party (Wordless Wednesdays)

Published on May 17, 2012July 9, 2013 by ElenaLeave a comment

Please enjoy more of my photos HERE!

Life: Baby Shower Re-cap

Published on September 23, 2010July 9, 2013 by Elena2 Comments

The baby shower was great this weekend and I wanted to share with you a few photos of the event. When I was looking through the photos I realized that I forgot to take a picture of the mini cheesecakes I made for the mommy to be. I used my go to recipe for cheesecake that I previously posted here since that was the recipe the new mommy to be requested. I put them in a cupcake tray with baby feet cupcake liners. I used the water bath and kept the same temperature for about half and hour. I decorated them with a bit of whipped cream and a small teddy bear pick and some confetti candy. I hope you were able to visualize it and I promise next time I’ll make sure to take more photos.

If I hadn’t mentioned it before it’s a girl and everyone is extremely excited!

The mommy to be wanted fresh flowers on the tables. Her father-in-law bought a few bouquets at Trader Joe’s we separated them and arranged the flowers in bases they purchased at the Dollar Tree Store. They turned out beautiful.

The mommy to be picked up these pink pacifiers for her party favors at the flea mart. You never know where you can find a great looking party favor.

The baby shower was held at a community center that her neighbor had access to. The family gave a down payment which was then returned upon leaving the location spotless. We went early in the morning to decorate the community center and transform it into a cute enough baby space.

We set two tables as the main focal point. One was for the parents to be and the other one for the gifts the guests brought. All the decorations and prizes for the contestants were purchased in the Dollar Tree Store. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a nice baby shower.

We played several fun games including this traditional one. For those you that might not be familiar with it I’ll attempt to explain it. You blind fold someone give them a big spoon and a plate. They place the plate on their head and they attempt to pick up cotton balls with the spoon. The contestants only have a few tries to do it.

Another game we played was one that I had never heard of. It mainly consisted of picking out a baby item’s name out of a bag and matching it with someone that pulled out the exact same thing. When both people find each other they sit down. The last two people standing get kicked out. You do this until you only have two people left. It might sound confusing but it sure was fun. Just look at people’s expressions.

Congrats to the mommy to be and my cousin. They make such a beautiful couple. We are all excited and can’t wait to welcome a new baby into our family.