DIY cake and/or cupcake stand...

Since Jansen wants both a cake for himself and cupcakes for his friends, I needed to make a stand that would support both all in one.

I didn't want to spend a ton of money on this feature since we won't really be using it again in this form. The main decorative parts of it we needed to go purchase, but I pretty much had all the structural aspects.

Here is what I used:

cake boards (4 of each: 14, 12, 10, and 8 inch)

hot glue gun

colored paper

ribbon

soup cans

card stock

liquid nails

My goal was to make three tiers to put cupcakes on and one tier for a 6 inch cake. We went Hobby Lobby to purchase the paper and ribbon. Ribbon was on sale for 1/2 off and I had a 40% off coupon for the paper.

Jansen chose red paper and black ribbon with single white dots.

First, using hot glue, glue 4 of the 8 inch cake boards together, following with the 10 inch, 12 inch, and 14 inch.

Next, trace the circles on the paper, cut out and glue to the circles.

Then, glue your ribbon around the edges of each disc.

Using blue colored card stock (at Jansen's request), cover three soup cans using hot glue

Then stack it all up. I made little hash marks on the center of each disc so that it made it easier to place the soup cans. At this point, I have not glued the cans to the discs yet, for sake of easy storage for next month's use...but that is the final step.

Fill the stand with cupcakes and you are done. This little project cost me about $5 for materials and took an hour. I am sure it would take less time if you were more focused than me, however, I am a social media multi-tasker and was texting and Facebooking as I crafted. :)

Dollar store cupcake toppers

Let's be real, we are all busy. I enjoy the heck out of it when I can cut a couple of "time corners" without sacrificing the overall style of a project.

Next month, I will be making TONS of cupcakes both for Jansen's birthday party and for his class. My friend, Angie, saw some cheap finger bowling games at the dollar store a couple weeks ago and told me I might want to go check them out.

Thinking they might be perfect size for cupcakes, I ran to the store. Sure enough, there were a bunch of bowling pins in each package AND the kicker.....they were on sale for 25 cents a package. I bought all of them for a grand total of $1.25!!!!!!

They will be perfect on top of ALL of the cupcakes with little gumball bowling balls beside them.

SCORE!!!!

Personalized bowling lollipop favors...

I had a bunch of these big lollipops left from Caleb's party, that I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. They were $4.99 a dozen with free shipping, so I loaded up on 'em.

Jansen wanted lollipops to hand out to his friends at his party (along with some bowling cake ball pops) so lollipops he will get.

All this took was a little quick personalization of a bowling image I found on a Google search, printed onto card stock, cut out, and added to each lollipop with a glue dot. Jansen really wants all his decorations to be red, white, blue, and black...so I added some blue and red curling ribbon and this project is done.

Totally easy, totally inexpensive, and totally a hit with Jansen! Mission accomplished. Mark one party favor off my list :)

linking to:

Bowling party planning....

May is fast approaching and with the end of school right around the corner, the party planning on both the home and school front just slapped me in the face this morning. What a wake up call!

Because I will be planning Teacher Appreciation for the school (plus gifts for my boys' 4 teachers), another school party, Field Day, will be helping with Kindergarten Splash Day and the Reading Team party, End of Year Teacher Luncheon, End of Year Prize delivery, and 2 classroom parties, I need to get all the elements of Jansen's party that can be done in advance, finished this month!

Jansen's 7th birthday is May 31, and this year, school ends before then. I feel bad for him because he really wants to take cupcakes to his classmates, so we are just going to celebrate a little early this year! We will be taking bowling cupcakes to school on May 18th...right before the last week of school, and that makes him super happy.

Since he is my chef, he has definite opinions on what he wants and will be helping me with every aspect of the cupcakes. In addition, we will be having his party at the bowling alley on the 19th...and of course, 1 big cake won't do for him. He wants a small cake just for him and a bunch of cupcakes for his friends. We did a version of this last year with his lego party at home......but since we will be at the bowling alley, there isn't much room for decorations sprawled everywhere. Here is a picture of last year's set up...

My plan is to make a cake/cupcake tower that I can have his little cake on top and his cupcakes on the other tiers for his party.

He also wants bowling ball cake pops, bowling lollipops (similar to the ones Caleb had at his party, and thank goodness we have a ton of lollipops left from his), everything in red, white, and blue.

So the plan is in place. The ideas are flowing. My house is going to be FULL of baked goods, bowling pins, and bowling balls. More parties!!!!!!!!

Carnival Cruise to Cozumel 2012: Part 2