I finally have all the photos organized from the Averie's 1st Birthday but there are SO MANY between the Photographer, my iphone while I prepped and my friends/family I decided to do this in stages. (Seriously there's like 100) and I don't want the record for longest blog post ever... so here is Volume 1: All About Food!!
Let's start with my favorite thing at any party: cupcakes! I knew I was going to order a cake but because of the budget I was trying to stick to I decided to make some cupcakes myself. (I already had most of the supplies, and what I had to buy for other decorations worked for these too, so it was a win/win!)
Here is my inspiration photo, I found it on Pinterest:
A couple of things had me confused though- because this was one of those annoying Pins that didn't lead to a tutorial- was how was i supposed to edibly attach the tutu to the cupcake and I wanted a smaller crown on top (just because those looked expensive.) I didn't take a picture of it, but I happened to be at a party that had cupcakes so I asked to take one home "for later" and used it as my Guinea-cake (see what I did there!) to try and figure out how to attach it. In the end nothing I was trying worked so I ended up eating my Guinea-cake and asked my crafty friends.
The 1st suggestion was to just hot glue it because typically people don't eat the wrapper, but it came out really chunky. The 2nd was to use string but because of the shape it just fell off. Finally I had a stroke of genius and decided to use my clear plastic hair ties. This was a few weeks before the party, and I didn't want to make a batch of cupcakes just to try it out (because I'd have to eat them...) so i just blindly put my faith into that technique that it would work and didn't think about it again until the night before the party....
I used a flattened cupcake liner as a template for the tutus. I just cut out a "master"circle about 1 1/2" bigger than the edges of the liner and then used that to cut the rest of my cupcake tutu's. I knew i was going to make 48 cupcakes, and the tulle was pretty light so I decided to double up on it. Yes, that means I cut out 100 tulle circles all for the love of a Pinterest photo... I did do this step about a week before the party though! This tulle was 1.00 for 90 yards on Amazon (score!)
Luckily, on the night before her party the crafting gods were on my side and the plastic elastic worked great! Here are my mother in law's hands modeling our technique!
I am not the best cook so I took a couple Betty Crocker pre-made vanilla frosting jars and added them to my mixer to soften them up. I added Wilton coloring from Michaels for $3.99 - a little more than I would have liked to spend but a little goes a looooong way and with a little girl, I figure pink icing isn't a bad thing to be able to have on hand.
Then it was just a matter of loading my piping bag (which i also scored on sale at my local supermarket- it was only $4.99 for 12 disposable bags and 4 tips- it was originally $12.99!) I watched a YouTube video for the swirl technique, which was made easy with that fancy-schmancy tip!
I was pretty proud of myself!!!!
Ta-Daaaa! Here is the finished product! I got the paper crowns at Michaels too! They were 2 for $5 which is exactly what I needed for my 48 cupcakes!
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
This is the inspiration photo for Averie's smash cake that I also found on Pinterest. I fell in love with the tiny crown!
And below are the professional photos my friend Michael Tebow took of her cakes, and Averie getting in on that action! I asked for the purple versions of these, and a larger cupcake as the smash cake. I got the cakes from a local bake shop for $75 (for both!) plus the French macaroons (those are a little further down) The little white tiara on the big cake I made using the same method as her tiara she wore for the party from this post.
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
Here is one of my favorite items from the party- the tiara shaped PB&J sammies! I got the cookie cutter off Amazon for .89!
 |
| Photo by Michael Tebow Photography |
I'm so proud of everything I cant wait to finish Vol.2: Decorations!
No comments:
Post a Comment