an a-DORA-ble idea!

Have I mentioned how much I love a themed party? well if I haven't... let me just say this--- I love a themed party!

My friend's daughter is turning two, and two of the daughter's most favorite things (in her short 2 years of existing, that is) are Dora the Explorer and cake pops. Imagine my delight when the mom asked me to come up with something for her Dora-themed birthday party this weekend.

My kids were never HUGE Dora fans, but I can definitely admit to having seen my fair share of episodes, as well as knowing the proper thing to say to a particularly klepto-prone fox named Swiper. So--- what Dora-based creation could I do in the form of a cake pop so as to seal my fate as the birthday girl's favorite baker? Visions of Dora heads and miniature purple monkeys began to dance in my mind. HOWEVER... this was supposed to be 'family fun week' in my house. A week full of family activities and togetherness to celebrate my husband actually having some time off of work! I decided to scrap the more labor-intensive ideas and go with something a little easier to recreate.... I decided on a centerpiece full of explorer stars.


RIGHT??? I know!! super cute! and fun!!! and while a *little* tricky with their shape... not so bad when using a star-shaped cookie cutter. And lets face it... having two buckets full of Explorer Stars is a TEENY bit more plausible (and personally decided a little less creepy) than having two centerpieces full of dora-heads on sticks. Seriously-- think about it. definitely better with the stars..... see?

So that, ladies and gents.... is that. 50 star-shaped cake pops artfully placed in two centerpieces later, and we have a nice theme-related addition to a Dora party. Oh, and a happy birthday girl. That's really the most important part!

So here's to Sienna! Happy 2nd birthday to an aDORAble girl! (get it? aDORAble? hahahahah)

Birthday and Beyond!

My kids never really got into the whole Toy Story hype, but with the newest installment out, they've definitely become a bit more interested in the characters. I mean... they're pretty much everywhere right now!

A friend of the family has a little boy turning 4 this year, and he is into the Buzz character. The mom asked me to come up with a cookie for him to bring to his preschool to share with friends... so how could I resist?

I got to work baking piping and flooding, and came up with an army of miniature Jay Lenos and Ben Franklins. I mean Buzz Lightyears.


Clearly my cookies are done by hand.. cause each Buzz was just a wee bit different from his other dozen brothers. Nonetheless... once they were put in their favor bags and wrapped with a ribbon and tag, I think they turned out kind of cute.

for his actual family party, the mom asked me to supplement the cake she ordered (NOT from me... waaaaah!) with some cake pops that the kids can take home as favors. Keeping in the whole Toy Story theme, I decided to do a mix of outer-space purple and little aliens. About 50 cake pops later, I came up with two centerpieces like the one below.

It was a fun project, and I was happy to get the chance to mix it up by doing both cookies AND cake pops. The tough part was figuring out which little alien to eat first. (can't you picture the little dude below saying "choose me! choose me!" no??? oh. nevermind, then.)

At any rate-- here's to AJ! happy fourth birthday!!! hope your day is filled with happiness that takes you to infinity and beyond!