The Magic of Oreos

Two words: Oreo Buttercream.

• 8 oz. unsalted softened butter
• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 2 T milk
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 t. fresh lemon juice
• 12-14 Oreos, finely crushed in food processor (centers and all!)
• Bag of mini oreos - for garnish

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add 1/2 the powdered sugar plus all of the other ingredients. Beat until moistened. Scrape down the bowl. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and the oreos. If the frosting is still too thick, you can add a tiny bit of milk at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Garnish with one mini oreo per cookie, alternatively, you can cut the full size cookies in half and insert half into each cupcake.

I Mean Well...

I mean well. I do. I mean to be a great blogger, and bring lots of ideas for throwing GREAT parties at home. But sometimes, things just get in the way. So. Let's see... where shall I pick up again.

How about a little story about cupcakes? 80 of them.


My daughter attends a charter school, and they are money raising machines! Not that they raise much money, but there is always a raffle or an auction or a bake sale going. In planning the school's "Christmas Pageant" (which by the way has nothing to do with Christmas per say, because of the diverse nature of the school... which is why it is called "Peace and Human Rights Night") parents were asked to bring food to "sell" during the evening's events. I signed up for - what else - cupcakes.

After a complete breakdown due to stress of the season, and a quick phone call to a friend to see if I could flake out on my responsibility, I realized I did have a choice - bake or buy. I could buy a dozen or 2 cupcakes for $15-$20, but that would really defeat the purpose in more ways than one.

So, then my plan was to use box-of-cake (you know that it tastes just fine, and saves a ton of time) and make a nice buttercream. But, while I was shopping at Smart and Final for the mix, I noticed that everything was on sale. SALE! Each box-of-cake mix was only .99 cents! And, the cans-of-frosting were only $1.69. I felt a little twinge of guilt right before I plopped them in my cart and made my way to the register.

Add in eggs, oil, cupcake papers and sprinkles, and I am not joking when I tell you that I made 80 of them for less than $20. Easy AND guilt free.

The night of the event I went over to the area where the food was being sold, and to my horror I saw probably HUNDREDS of cupcakes. Hundreds! Oh well, I thought, so I brought "sand to the beach"... whatever.

Every single cupcake was sold by the end of the evening. Phew!

Will I do this again next time? You bet! Especially for the kids. Especially for $20.

my daughter and her friends singing "Feed the World" by Michael Jackson



notice the single white gloves - I love her school!

Pirate Birthday Party {part two}

Want to create this party for yourself? This Pirate Birthday printable party set comes with invitations, decorations and tutorials. Only available at Paper & Cake!

Ready for more Pirate Birthday Party ideas? Well, thanks for being patient because this info is worth it's weight in gold!

Dress Up

Every pirate needs at least a good hat and a sparkly sash. Oh, and a tattoo or two too. These felt hats were fairly inexpensive and easy to customize with some metallic silver dimensional fabric paint from Michael's. I wrote every child's name in under 10 minutes, me, Mrs. Print-it-out-on-the-computer-and-trace-it-so-it-is-perfect, freehanded all 23 names.

The black and gold sashes were cut from 4 yards of fabric purchased with a coupon (thanks Aunt Janet) from our local chain store.

And to help those pirates feel more, well, like pirates, temporary tattoos work every time.

Games

Pirate Ship Battle

While doing some Pirate-y research one day, I happened upon one fabulous idea over at Party Planning Mom. She made two large cardboard pirate ships and had a game involving paper canon balls.

So, putting my own spin this super idea, I had access to giant 4ft. by 6ft. ultra heavy duty cardboard server boxes from my husband's work (every time he sees a new one, he brings it home - so we've made; a house, a market, a cafe and a pirate ship). Using a sawzall, he cut two of them down into ship-shaped shapes. After some failed experimenting with (notches and slits) we decided on a roll of duct tape to hold them together.

The night before the party, my friend Julia came by (as she always does, bless her, to help with all the last minute ridiculousness) and helped me paint them, using leftover cans of brown, blue and red that I found on the "old paint shelf".

To round out this "game" (if you've ever been here before, you know I am a fan of the non competitive games - everyone is a winner!), I made canon balls out of wadded up paper covered in aluminum foil. Not wanting to be wasteful, I used the ripped out pages of outdated catalogues and covered them in the smallest piece of foil possible. There were probably a hundred of the balls, and grown-ups and kids alike threw these almost constantly throughout the 3 hour party.

Treasure Hunt

What would you do with a couple hundred necklaces and 300 plastic coins? Well hide them of course! We draped and sprinkled pirate treasure from stem to stern, I mean all over the house, inside and out - just randomly. Using their decorated tresure loot bags, the kids picked up what they could find as part of their "goody bag" to bring home with them. We didn't set any rules for this one, in fact tresure hunting went on throughout the party (and yes, I am still finding necklaces... especially outside).

Craft Activity

Make your own treasure map! Again, I took it a little further by formatting the little icons to fit on a sheet of clear Avery address labels. I wanted the children to create their treasure map and immediately be able to use it - without having to wait for glue to dry.

Also at the craft table, I set out brown paper lunch sacks (for treasure collecting) with name tags for them, along with crayons, markers and self-adhesive jewels for decorating till your heart's content.

Cake

I LOVED making this ridiculous cake! It was very easy... well... comparatively. I used plain old box of cake mix (it works just fine and tastes good too) and splurged by frosting with a chocolate mousse buttercream.

1} Bake 2 9x12 cakes, cool them completely. Using the template below and a long serrated knife, cut your cake into 4 sections.

template 1

2} cut one of the long rectangles into triangles that will form the bow (front end of the ship).

template 2

3} Take a piece of cardboard, and cut it into the shape of the finished size/shape, to use on the bottom of the cake. That is, one rectangle plus one triangle.

4} Place your first rectangular layer on the cardboard and frost (or use any filling of your choice). Place second rectangular layer and frost. Repeat with third layer.

5} Next, stack and frost two small rectangles overhanging at the back. Use wooden skewers to hold cake in place. Trim skewers to height by first inserting all the way into the cake, mark the height with a pen, pull them back out and cut at your mark, then reinsert.

6} Stack and frost in between each of the 5 triangular layers that make up the bow of the ship. Again, use wooden skewers to hold in place. Your final side-view should look like this diagram below.

diagram 3

7} Frost entire ship until covered, and refrigerate.

8} Place cake on a larger cake board to decorate according to the photo below. The water is strips of "Blue Raspberry Sour Belt", I used red and white m&m's, black licorice for the anchor (this was difficult, to get it to stay in the shape my friend Julia used twist ties to hold it in place overnight), and made printable sails on my computer - again held in place with wooden skewers.

As if a cake wasn't enough, I made a few cupcakes as well. I used the same box of cake mix, same frosting, and designed a coordinating cupcake "wrapper" to round out the look.

want your own cupcake wrappers? you can find them in the shop!

ball and chain accessory and photo courtesy of my sister

I tried extra hard to save money by using what I already had around the house. A pirate theme is simple to accessorize - especially using this Pirate printable partyware collection - and easy to plan. Use some creative thinking to make it your own, spend as little as possible and make it look homemade - even if it isn't!

Desperately Seeking Cake?

Are you living in the Pleasant Hill, California area and in need of an AWESOME cake? Then look no further. My step-sister Maura Houston (also a graphic designer) has recently decided to broaden her horizons and branch out into cake making. Using her existing creative genius, she can make pretty much make anything you can dream up - including shaped cookies and themed cupcakes.

Just check out these recent baked goods she has produced...









Her website is still under construction, mostly because she is so busy making cake, so try her at: maura@persnicketycakes.com... your wish is her command.

Polka Dot Birthday Party

When my daughter turned 3 years old, I went all out with her party. There were polka dots as far as the eye could see. Even I have to admit that I went too far with the details, so much so that I vowed to not go quite as crazy in the future. But, to be fair, I was pregnant with my second child and was not quite right in the head.

Theme
Inspired yet again by Martha, we threw a “Polka Dot” themed birthday party – and it just goes to show, that you can really make a party to be about anything you like. Have a “purple” party, or a “square” one. Does your child flip out when the mail carrier comes? Then have a “mail” party.

Invitation
The invitation was really born out of an idea for the envelope. I am so tired of paying for specialty envelopes! Even a box of 250 A4 envelopes that you think can use for any invitation might go to waste over time, mostly because they may not be the right style or color for every party. My mom was telling me about an envelope she used when I was young, and I guess I wasn’t listening very closely because when I showed her my invitation and how she inspired me to do it, she laughed. I thought she told me to use a cellophane party favor bag as the envelope, so I did. And guess what? It worked! I used the clear and plain version, about 3.75x8.5 (approx.). Don’t use too small of a bag, because you may face extra postage for special handling.

The invitation itself was very simple. I used orange paper for the backing, and, to print the invitation information. I chose a polka dotted scrapbooking paper, cut slightly smaller than the orange and taped it at an angle on the orange. I cut crookedly around each grouping of invitation words and taped them to the dotted scrapbooking paper. Use a clear sticker to close the bag and a white mailing label to address it.

When using a crazy size envelope or thicker mail then normal I always take it to the post office for accurate postage – and sometimes I mail a sample one to myself just to be sure it works.

Decorations


The easiest decorations ever! Circles! I just cut plain circles in 3 different sizes out of pink and orange construction paper, you can also use a scrapbooking punch or even your three hole punch for confetti. Tape your dots to windows and walls, and lay them on the tables. You can make polka dot “garland” over doors or hanging from the ceiling (use double sided tape and a long piece of curling ribbon).


I also used balloons at this party, in the same colors as the construction paper circles. Balloons can be a bit of a hazard and I don’t always recommend them for parties with little ones, so, at this party I covered the ceiling with them and made the strings really short so the kids couldn’t grab them. You can also use balloon bouquets as centerpieces on the tables, just weight the strings (I used cans of tuna) and drop them into anything from gift bags to vases to toys.


As I did with the “Jungle” themed birthday party, I used the party favor bags as part of the decorations. Clear plastic cellophane bags tied with polka dot ribbon and a round name tag really added to the table scape.

Activity
For this party, I ordered star shaped foam frame craft kits from an online birthday party supplier. I took a digital photo of each child, with the birthday girl, as they walked in the door, and quickly printed them. By the time they sat down to do the craft project, they had a photo to insert into the frame and take home as part of their party favor.

Cake


One word, CUPCAKES! This “cake” was more about the set up than the cake itself. As you can see in the photo, I set up a group of 25 cupcakes on a background of some construction paper polka dots and confetti. I wrote out “Happy Birthday Autumn” and the number “3” in pink and orange frosting, inserted candles and voila! Cake is finished!

This party went off without a hitch! And of course the kids had a blast! This is a simple party, that looks spectacular.
Just use an original theme, creative thinking, spend as little as
possible and make it look homemade - even if it isn't!