paper & cake

Recently I entered a giveaway and won a gift certificate to an amazing printable partyware company called paper & cake and Edible Details (which I talk about in the Scooby post here.).

If you, like me, avoid pre-packaged character parties, you will love paper & cakes's adorable designs and affordable designs. I adore her printable parties and cannot wait for our next birthday party in July for Miss Madeline. Madeline likes Abigail's Fairy Wonderland printable party and I adore the Alice in Wonderland printable party. I also think the Pirate printable party is one of the cutest boy parties I have ever seen. I think I know what Zach's 2nd birthday party theme will be!

Do check her site out, as well as her blog for great ideas! Thanks, Abigail!

Zoinks!: A Scooby Doo Birthday Party

For Pickle's fifth birthday party, she choose a Scooby Doo theme. Now, I am not a big fan of theme partyware, so I typically end up making my own decorations. Luckily we have a ton of Scooby Doo dolls, and with a few strategically placed tissue paper pom pom flowers in aqua, orange and lime, the party was festive, pretty and Scooby Doo without going overboard.

To occupy the kiddos, we had an art activity using groovy foam flowers and smiley faces I found at my local hobby store and craft store. Kept those little hands busy!

We also played pin the ears on Scooby, which the kids loved. I bought a sheet of brown foam that was sticky on the back and cut out triangle-shaped ears. Then, I found a large headshot of Scooby Doo, clipped off his ears in Photshop and printed it out on cardstock. It was really fun for the kids.

Now for the fun stuff—the food! To compliment our Scooby Doo theme, I served Mummy Dogs, Monster Jaws, Spooky 7-Layer Dip, Scooby Snacks crackers and Scooby's favorite food—pizza! I created food and beverage labels using clipart of Scooby Doo villains. We had Odious Oreo Surprise Cupcakes, Petrifying Pizza, Revolting Root Beer, Ominous Orange Soda ... you get the idea. My favorite was the Spooky 7-Layer Dip. I piped on a sour cream spider web and decorated it with plastic spiders. The food was a huge hit, and everyone thought it was hilarious. I found much of my food inspiration from Our Best Bite's Halloween Party Food post. Great ideas!

Since Pickle had her birthday party, I'll share one of the cupcake recipes I used that was amazing. Usually I prefer to avoid making things from a box, but I wanted to save some time since a few of the food items served were a bit labor intensive. I heard great things about this basic recipe from (guess who?!?) Our Best Bites, and I have to say it did not disappoint!
They were so incredibly moist, and our guests raved about them. I will definitely be keeping this recipe as a back-up when things are hectic and saving a little time is worth the box mix shortcut.

And, A BIG thank you goes out to Edible Details for the amazing Mystery Machine fondant cupcake toppers. How cute are they? They were a big hit with the birthday girl and all of her friends. Thanks, Brittany of Edible Details!

White Cake Mix Cupcakes
Adapted from Our Best Bites

Ingredients

• 1 white cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 C Greek yogurt (for the extra protein!)
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/3 C vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 2 minutes.

Bake according to the package directions.