Beach Bingo ... Beach Themed Cupcakes (Coconut Drink & Beach Ball Toppers)

And we wrap with the last two cupcake themes I made for the party.  These last two ideas came from Party Pinching and a post featuring beach themed cupcakes on a budget!  These again are so easy and cheap (oh yes you know my motto cheap and ahhh dropping).  

If you missed yesterday's post. I started with making 2 batches of cupcakes using my favorite homemade yellow cake mix and 2 batches of my favorite sturdy buttercream frosting.

This post will feature:

The first to show off (or technically the third if you're reading this after yesterdays post) is the super easy and I think the coolest looking one Coconut Drink Topper.  Don't we all want a fruit drink while sitting on the beach?  Why not have a cupcake that will give you that same feeling with out the alcohol since I was serving kids!

What you Need:

Frosted Cupcakes

Whoppers

Icing

Twizzler Pull Aparts

Sprinklers (I used little stars)

Umbrella's (optional but I thought it added character)

Take a sharp knife and cut of just 1/8 of the top of a whopper (mostly just the chocolate part of the top).  Add a little swirl of icing to the part that you just cut off, I made it look kind of like what a drink looks like.  Cut a little strip of Twizzler pull-apart for your straw.  I added a star as a little fun topper, I've seen some with regular sprinkles but I wanted something fun. I then added to a frosted cupcake (I had some Peanut Butter Sturdy Buttercream left over from another recipe (post to come) so that is why this frosting looking brown vs. white).  I topped with an umbrella because it felt like they needed something.

And last on my list to do was the easiest one to make, Cole actually put these together for me.  Yes Control FREAK mom actually handed this cupcake over!  These are to look like a beachball with an umbrella.

What you Need:

Frosted Cupcakes

Gumballs

Paper Umbrella's

YUP easy frost a cupcake plop a gumball on and top with a paper umbrella.  OH yes I told you it was simple but they were so stinking cute!

And was a quick add on I made this super quick umbrella centerpiece.  I wish I would have had two boxes of the umbrella's but my dollar store only had 2 and I used the other for the cupcakes.

What you Need:

Foam Circle / or Floral Circle

Paper Umbrella's 

Open up umbrella's be careful not to break them, I gave them a little loosing up and then let Caden open up the umbrella's and we stuck them around the floral circle we picked up at the dollar store also.  Would have been nicer to have it fuller but it was perfect and CHEAP for the theme!

We had a great time and everyone had such nice things to say about the food and the cupcakes.

A BIG thanks to my helper Cole who bagged & tied them for me.

As I keep saying the idea to put the cupcakes in a plastic cup, a clear bag and tie with a ribbon has been the most used and AWESOME idea I have ever come across on Pinterest.  Whoever thought of this needs to win the award of most awesome person and helper to mom party planners.

Have a Beach tastic Day!!  Hope you give one of these a try!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Beach Bingo ... Beach Themed Cupcakes (Fondant Beach Balls & Popsicle Sticks)

Now onto the cupcakes made for the party!  NOW don't shake your head I didn't go totally nuts this time around I ONLY made 4 different types of cupcakes.  I'll feature two here today and then two tomorrow not to overwhelm you or make one heck of a long post.

While searching the internet for pool themed food I came across Party Pinching and a post featuring beach themed cupcakes on a budget!  I narrowed down my list to only four to make, well three they featured and one I made up on my own.

I started with making 2 batches of cupcakes using my favorite homemade yellow cake mix and 2 batches of my favorite sturdy buttercream frosting.

First on the list to do is Fondant Beach Ball Cupcake Toppers.

As you know I'm now in LOVE with this rolled buttercream fondant, that is super simple to make.  Click the name and it will take you to recipe, trying not to repeat the same thing over and over and have you all do an eye roll on me.

I wanted to do something fun and this fondant is so easy why not make beach balls with 3 colors!  I took my fondant made 3 balls, I then dyed each a color of the beach ball I wanted using Wilton Food Icing Color.  I then rolled out 1" strips of each color and pressed them together with my pamper chef roller.  It came out perfect, I then took what I think is a whiskey glass to make perfect circles (yes you can laugh we got them for our wedding & of course what do I use them for baking ... lol). I would try to get 3 balls out each time and then I would change the color line up. (blue, yellow and then green.  Next time Yellow, Green and Blue and so on).

I frosted each cupcake and then my helper topped them with a fondant Beach Ball.  We then put them in plastic cupcakes, a plastic bag and tied with ribbon.  

What you Need:

Baked Cupcake

Frosting

Fondant (3 Balls)

Wilton Icing Color

Wilton Cut and Roll Mat (or any mat)

Circle Cutter or Glass

Next on my list was the easiest cupcake ever!!  I made little Popsicle toppers to go on top of cupcakes.

What you Need:

Baked Cupcake

Frosting

Mike & Ikes

Toothpick

Break toothpick in half, take the broken half and shove into the fatter side of the Mike and Ike (one side is thin like a top of a Popsicle and other end fat like the bottom).  And your done!  I added two of the same color to the top of a frosted cupcake.  Again we then added cupcakes to a clear cup, clear bag and tied with a ribbon.

I must say serving cupcakes this way has been the BEST idea I have ever used off pinterest.  When the people left the party they were able to take a cupcake home with out worrying about it getting everywhere.  And since NO one RSVP's these days I had no clue how many would show so I made 36 cupcakes to be on the safe side.  LET's just say parents and kids each took a cupcake home that day!

Have a Beach tastic Day!!  Hope you give one of these a try!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

It’s a Wrap on Mother’s Day

One day a year it’s all your day … lol ok well it sounded good.  With Rick not having a full time job, but working a few part time gigs to help out.  One of these jobs of course was on Mother’s Day.  But I did have a great weekend.  Rick was able to get off early and took me and the boys out for dinner which was a real treat that we don’t get to do often.

Rick built the pool my MIL bought us last year (but then Rick went into the hospital).  The neighbor boys of course are wanting to come over I may have to pretend I don’t hear the doorbell … lol.

Cole’s class made cute things for the moms.  They could make a bee or a ladybug.  Cole said he made me a ladybug because I hate bee’s … lol.

We put the boys to work blowing the yard .. lol.

We had a few moments of fun, got to see Bapa’s motorcycle again and we had a picnic in the backyard.

We had a lovely time going up to my parents house to play in the lake and have a BBQ for Mother’s day also.  It was a great time of hanging out and laughing.  I’m so blessed to have my little guys.

Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

Caden’s 4th Birthday!

First off check out the super cute Card Diana at Custom Blog Designs did up for me again.  As you know she designed my blog & has done the kids cards for the last two years.

I can’t believe my baby will be 4th this Sunday!  Ok so the rule on you can only came baby weight until they are 2 has bypassed me … hehe.  I guess I need to work on that one too.  Along with not calling him my baby, he tells me all the time “I’m not a baby”.  We’re going to do his party next weekend, we were going to it on his birthday but Sunday’s are hard for my mom since she has to work to early Monday.  So we moved it out a week.  I was a little panicked that even though I gave Rick 2 weeks notice they already had his schedule done and his work is NOT the type to let you rearrange your days.  Thankfully he is just going to take a personal day for it, which will hurt us pay wise but at least he will be there for the FULL day.  All of the kids birthday’s in the past have been him being only to attend the first part and then rushing off.

So we’ll have a lake party at my parents house.  They have done some major remodeling down there.  Added a slide off the dock, leveled out the grass area created a concrete pad and a gazebo.  They also made a retaining wall to make the area level.  It was slopped before so when you put a picnic bench on it you would have to kind of balance … lol.  So my parents have remodeled again but it was because of something for us … hehe they crack me up they remodeled their house and that was for my wedding and now the waterfront for Caden’s party .

Rick’s mom was so sweet and told me I could pick out a $100 birthday gift for me and $100 birthday gift for Caden.  I was going to get me a new sawing machine but instead I decided to forgo my gift and do a combination gift!  My MIL was so impressed I would do that she added on a few extra’s to our gift.

So we are now the proud owner’s of an above ground pool!  Rick has been working on the back yard to get the dog’s run finished so we can put the pool up.  Yup Jake is still into the chewing stage and we don’t want to take a chance!

We got:

Well a swimming pool in my back yard will be fun and since we have a fence I may even get into a suit … lol!