Cupcake Wars Party Details

Here are the party details for the Hannah's Cupcake Wars party

Here was the entrance when the guests walked through the door.  I loved the way my awning turned out.  I got a large canvas cloth from Joanns, used a plate to trace out the scallops, cut them and measured lines and used painters tape to paint the lines.  I also used two tension rods i got at Target to put the awning in place.   And the balloons to add to the celebration.  I love it!

The entry table was decorated with some fun baking items.  

Some of the details of the entry table.  I used cupcake liner garlands all of the house.  They were the main decoration and added so much fun to the decorations.  I used all sizes, big white jumbo liners, regulars sized liners and mini liners.  The different sizes created a lot of dimension and interest.

I got the cute cupcake holders at the Dollar Store (2 for $1) and used those as the favors for the girls to take home. I  used vinyl to personalize them with the girl's name and filled them up with Jelly Bellies.  I created a recipe card to attach to it that says "You are the frosting to my cupcakes.  Thanks for coming to my party!"

I had cupcake carrying boxes ready for the girls to put their finished cupcakes in at the end of the party and take home with them.  I attached a label with each girl's name on it.  And then the cute and perfectly coordinated baking utensils that I got at Walmart.

I had another small table decorated with the awards for the different baking categories and some other goodies for the girls to eat.  I filled cupcake liners with yummy treats the girls could eat.  Then I had some cute jars filled with salt water taffy. These were some of the prizes along with a fancy cupcake kit (wrapped) as the award for the grand prize winner.

Each girl was given an apron to wear.  I made these aprons starting with a basic canvas apron I purchased here.  And then followed these instructions to add the ruffles (and changing some things to fit my style and needs).   I absolutely LOVE how these aprons turned out.  

On the table at each placesetting, each girl got a chef's hat with their name on it (vinyl), a cupcake stand that they were going to decorate as part of the competition, sprinkles for the decorating of their cupcakes and a glass bottle dipped in sprinkles for milk.  

For the hats, we started the party by decorating them with cupcake liners made to look like flowers.  I got the idea from here. 

The rules for scoring and how the competition was going to take place was displayed.  This is how we ran the competition:

First Round was making the cupcakes.  We separated the girls into 2 teams.  One team was to make chocolate cupcakes and the other team was to make vanilla cupcakes.  I had secret ingredients that the girls had to include in their cupcakes.  Now these secret ingredients weren't as bizarre as the shows... they were sure things like: toffee bits, crushed oreos, crushed nilla wafers, fruity pebbles cereal and crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

The girls had a blast baking the cupcakes.  I used some altered cake mix recipes.  Using the cake mixes make it simpler for the girls, but the added ingredients to make them super yummy made the activity more fun and feel like real baking.

Second Round was decorating their cupcake displays or stands.  Each girl got a cupcake stand.  Their challenge was to decorate it using paint, gems, ribbon etc.  The cutest cupcake stand got an award.

I had to piece together the stands.  I can't remember the exact place I got them, but google wooden candlesticks and wooden discs or medals or circles and you should be able to find some in your budget.  I then glued the two pieces together using E6000 glue.

Third Round was the decorating of the cupcakes.  Each girl got 5 cupcakes to decorate.  1 was to put on their stand as the cupcake they wanted judged (for decoration and taste) and then 4 that they got to package up and take him with them.

Lastly, we judged the OVERALL WINNER.  The baker that had all the right stuff when it came to taste,   decorating and painted cupcake stand.

Here are some other details to the party.  Loved the colorful frostings with the ribbon.  Ribbon and bows always makes everything so much cuter :-)

The cupcake wreath tutorial can be found here.  

I bought plastic plates and used vinyl (yet again) to make the cute cupcake in the center of them.  

The recipe for the cupcakes I put on a big giant recipe card and hung it over where the girls would be baking.  If you are so observant, you will notice that the Vanilla recipe calls for chocolate pudding and chips.. I mixed them up, so the vanilla cupcake side had the chocolate recipe and vice versa.  it was an "ugh" moment, but I wasn't about to start over, so I just warned the girls :-)

Here is a great picture of one of the bakers and their cupcake masterpieces.  Man alive.  She didn't win, but she probably should have, am I right?

The girls were so cute.  Many of them named their cupcake creations.  They gave them clever names like "the leaning tower of cupcake"  (that would be the cupcake seen below) or the Black and White (it was a s'more themed cupcake).  The girls had a total blast with this.   The party was 2 1/2 hours long, but it could have easily been 3 hours.  They took this decorating thing very seriously.

And and I almost forgot the invitations.  I always say "the invitation sets the stage" so I decided to a "baker's tool" as the centerpiece of the invitation.  The good, ol' trusty wooden spoon :-)

So, there you have it.  One of my more favorite birthday parties to throw.  The girls loved it too, they kept telling me how fun it was, so that verifies it... a great birthday party in my book.  Seriously, if you daughter is over 10 years old and loves to bake, this is the theme for you... CUPCAKE WARS!

Hannah's Cupcake War Birthday

For Hannah's 11th birthday, she choose a Cupcake Wars birthday party.  She loves baking and so we thought this would be the perfect party for her and it was!  It was truly one of the most fun birthday's I have thrown.  

Here are the bakers in all their silliness and glory.

The girls having fun while decorating their chefs hats.

A little break during the cupcake baking battle.

Some fun opening presents by the birthday girl.

Another fun group shot.  I love how fun and frilly and happy this picture is!

This one is a great shot of the finished masterpieces - the cupcakes decorated with almost everything we had at their disposal.

And the birthday girl!  I can't believe she is 11 years old and quickly becoming a young woman.  What a joy she is and such a great example to not only her siblings but her parents as well.  She is first born and what a great way to start our family!

13 Article of Faith Activity

This month's activity we discussed in depth the 13th Article of Faith.  

To start off, we talked about the 13th Article of Faith especially that last portion about seeking after good things. I told the girls they were going to go on a scavenger hunt and seek for clues. I hid the following clues around the church building. I would give a clue and have the girls go find the envelope I had hidden and bring me back the envelope. The envelope had another clue about one thing the girls should be seeking for. They guessed what it was and then we would discuss that item for fully. Each time the girls participated, I throw them candy (which really got everyone to participate and it became a GREAT activity.

here are the clues:

1) To find where the envelope is hidden "seek for me by some keys". (piano)
Inside the envelope the clue was "You do this at the beginning and the end of each sacrament meeting."
ANSWER: Seek after good music.
DISCUSS: what type of music we should listen to and what types we should avoid.

2) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where you can "check me out" (library)
inside the envelope the clue was "I should make you a better person when you turn my pages."
ANSWER: Seek after good books
DISCUSS: what type of books we should read and which ones might not be appropriate or good for us.

3)To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me on the wall" (artwork)
inside the envelope the clue was "I am made up of brushes and strokes. I am pretty to look at."
ANSWER: Seek after art and cultural activities
DISCUSS: what how art and cultural activities can strengthen our spirit and uplift us

4) To find where this envelope is hidden "see for me where girls go in two's" (I put a "Friend" magazine with the envelope in the girls bathroom)
inside the envelope the clue was "These people should uplift you and make you a better person."
ANSWER: Seek after good friends.
DISCUSS: what types of friends we should associate with.

5) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where it is cold." (freezer in the kitchen)
inside the envelope the clue was "not only do I taste good, but I am good for you."
ANSWER: Seek after good food (and drinks)
DISCUSS: the word of wisdom and healthy eating.

6) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me near a "basket" (by a basketball hoop in the cultural hall)
inside the envelope the clue was "I can make you fit, make you laugh, make you friends and make you learn"
ANSWER: Seek after good activities
DISCUSS: how we should be engaged in good activities and what those might be.

7) To find where this envelope is hidden "seek for me where i can make you loud" (microphone)
inside the envelope the clue was "I come out of your mouth and are nice to hear."
ANSWER: Seek after good language.
DISCUSS: what good language is and the things we shouldn't have come from our mouths.

I also created a worksheet so that as we discussed each of the things to seek after, they could write them down and keep them.    By doing this, the girls were able to pass off an activity in their FIG book.

And then I told the girls if or when they could recite to me the 13 Article of Faith by memory, I would give them this coupon that they could present to the bishop and he would give them a treat.  I of course supplied the bishop with the treats, so he would have them when he needed them.

This was a super easy activity, but I think one of the best yet as far as learning important things. The girls really participated and had a lot of fun. Overall an A+ activity.

January Activity Days - Scriptures

For January's activity we learned about scriptures and how we can make scripture reading more interesting and meaningful.  I found an idea on pinterest and decided to use it as the basis of my lesson and then altered it a bit to fit my needs.

The blog I based my lesson on is here.

So, I started with the wooden boxes that I got from Joann's for about $2 each.  I then got some cute crayons for marking.  The tulle "wedding pouches" to put a game in, some bubble gum and then a scripture reading activity mini packet.

For the lesson we talked about reading our scriptures.  I gave them tips about how they can read their scriptures.  different ways to think and ponder while reading their scriptures.  (see image below for more information).

We talked about how they could read the scriptures and look for themes and then color code the versus that match the themes.   (see handout below).   I also gave them practice scriptures to look up and mark.  I told them if they read and marked those 11 scriptures I would pass off one of the FIG activities.

Then I gave a game they could play with their family for FHE.  I gave them words (I placed these words in the tulle bag) and rules on how to play the game.

 

Then I let the girls paint and decorate their scripture boxes. My girls love to do arts and crafts, so they  were loving this part of the activity.

I forgot to take a picture of all the girls with their finished boxes. But her are just two of the girls and their finished boxes (in the dark :-)

Then like usually, I gave them a 4X6 message/photo to put in their photo album.  

So, there you have it.  It was a good activity and one i think the girls really enjoyed.

Ella and her Party

The details of Ella's party are in another post, but here are some pictures of the fun the girls had at the party.  

A picture of the cutest 8 year old (minus 2 days) I know.

A group shot of all the cute love bugs!

Some ladybug house decorating.

A little round of "musical bugs".

It looks like someone just caught a bug.

And the hunt is on.

What's a party without some presents and seeing what everyone gave the birthday girl.

Ella's 8th Birthday Bug Party

The second I asked Ella what birthday party she wanted, she said A BUG PARTY.  of course, this girl loves bugs and has for quite some time.  I thought perfect, love it... as long as we can make it fun and girly, so it became a garden bug party and all were happy :-)

So, the party was all about ladybugs, butterflies, bees and flowers.  Perfect for a little 8 year old girl.

I wanted to the house to feel like the outdoors, so I brought the outdoor inside.  The decorations were really about clouds, grass, flowers and bugs (mostly butterflies since I order a ton of them on accident).  

Some details about each set of pictures.  I looked all over the place for butterfly nets, but couldn't find any for under $6, so I decided to have the girls use these Kritter Keepers as their favors and to help them catch bugs as they went on a bug hunt.  

I used vinyl to put their name on each bug cage.  For one of our activities, we hid plastic bugs outside in the yard and the girls had to go and find the bugs and put them in their bug cages. 

One of the games we had was guess the bugs in the jar.  Each girl got to make a guess.. they loved seeing if they were the one that guessed correctly.  The simplest games sometimes are the best.

I really tried to grow real grass as part of the decorations in the planters.  But I didn't start soon enough, so I couldn't get the grass to grow in time.  So, i had to improvise.  I decided to get some green tissue paper and cut strips half way down the sheet and then I rolled it up and put it in paper cups and placed them in the planters.  It wasn't really grass, but I like the way it turned out and looked.  And it was a lot easier :-)

As you can see from the pictures, there were a lot of tissue flowers all over the house.  I think I made 24 of them... let's just say I won't be making tissue flowers again any time soon.  But I love them and how dramatic and eye-catching they are.  And really they weren't hard to make at all.  here is a tutorial.

The table was set for the first activity which was decorating lady bug houses (that I got from Oriental Trading company).  The black plate was for the paint.  The pink polkadot plate was to keep the house on to dry and move.  The red plastic plate (from Target) was their plate to use for the food.  I love the look of all three layers, but that each one had a specific use and was practical (not just for looks).

A few items and where i got them:  the paper grass was from amazon (it really was the coolest stuff), the big flower plates in the middle from the Dollar Tree.  The bug headbands were from Oriental Trading Company and the sticker ladybugs (all over the party) were from Amazon.

Inside the red basket (with the flower) was a beaded ladybug bracelet that the girls got to assemble.  I didn't get a picture of the, but they were so cute.  And those I got from OTC.

Some other details of the party were the paper clouds I made.  Like I said, I wanted the inside of the house to feel like the outdoors.  I got a big roll of white butcher paper, drew some cloud shapes.  Cut out two pieces. Then I sewed the two pieces together leaving a section open to stuff with batting and then sewed it shut.  

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out lots of bugs and made garlands with the bugs. 

My big project for the party was to make these bug pillows for each girl. I made either a ladybug, bumblebee and a butterfly.  Each girl got a bug and we used them to play "musical bugs" (otherwise known as musical chairs).  

Here are the invitations I sent to each girl.  I had these cute boxes I picked up a target on clearance and so I thought how can I use them.  I filled them up with easter grass and put a magnifying glass with a flower and ladybug and then attached the information to the lid.  I love how they turned out.  I always say, the invitation to a party is like a pair of shoes.  they make the outfit... well the invitations help make the party.

For the different games, I had prizes.  I bought giant wand bubbles (it reminded me out the outdoors and candy and tied them up with a big gerber daisy and ribbon.  The girls loved these, I felt bad I didn't have one for each of them, but it meant winning the games were all a big deal :-)

The food for the party ended up being just as fun to create as the rest of the party. 

I didn't make labels for each of the items (I ran out of time), but the girls all kept asking me what each food was (or they gave their own guesses).  It was so cute.

So, for those that want to know what they were supposed to be.....

the cheetos were those orange furry caterpillars (do you know that ones I am talking about?)

the baby bell cheese were ladybugs.

the grapes are caterpillars

the pasta salad were bowtie

I cut up sandwiches in butterfly shapes and the carrots... not sure what I was thinking for those :-)

For the cupcakes, I bought terra cotta planters and baked the jumbo cupcakes as you would normally and then plopped them into the planters.  They fit perfectly (except that second one in the picture, that didn't fit perfectly :-).  I loved these little garden cupcakes.

There you have it... the party in all its fantastical, buggy, flowery glory.  Hope you enjoyed it :-)