Deliciously Darling Events

{Kung Fu Panda 2} Birthday Dinner

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love a good party (and any excuse to throw a party)! Birthday's are especially important! Last night, we celebrated the 2nd birthday of our little monkey, Jad. My son adores all types of noodles and happens to LOVE PF Chang's noodles. Keeping this in mind I decided to create a little Kung Fu Panda 2 theme to our birthday dinner. 

Special shout out to Charynn from Two Sugar Babies! If you have never had the experience of working with Charynn then you are totally missing out. She does brilliant work, just check out her Etsy shop. I was actually checking out her blog when I came across this beautiful Kialan themed birthday party she created for her daughter. Charynn - you had me at candy sushi!

My 4 year old and I enjoyed making some candy sushi for the party. This was such a cute activity and would be awesome for a play-date or even a "craft-you-can-eat" activity at school.

I tried to think of a favor container that would be unique and fit with the theme. A  take out box was a little predictable. I was so excited when I found HUGE round gumball machine containers. You know those little round containers that hold a small item that you get out of the candy machine, well they make them BIG. So I stuffed them with bubbles, pixi sticks, kung fu panda stickers and tattoos, a mini gumball machine and lollipops. My kids loved them! 

Check out some adorable pictures of last night's family dinner. 

Vendor Credits:

Photography: Deliciously Darling Events

Custom Printables: Deliciously Darling Events

Fortune Teller, Masks, Stock Kung Fu Panda Signs: KungFuPanda.com

Cupcakes: Gigi Cupcakes (www.gigicupcakesusa.com)

Awesome Chinese Food: PF Changs 

Huge gumball machine containers: Party City

Swirl Paper Straws: Think Garnish (www.thinkgarnish.com)

{Shabby Chic} Sweet Shoppe - PART 3

 
Part 3! A little later than promised. This post highlights the party décor and activities that MADE this party super sweet!

The beauty of this party is the combinations of two very adorable ideas that fit perfectly together. We used antique mirrors, pastel ribbon garlands, various pink pom poms, beautiful serving pieces and one of a kind antique pieces to represent the Shabby Chic concept. We paired the Shabby Chic touches with classic Candy Shoppe elements like Styrofoam lollipops,  candy topiary centerpieces and a gumdrop wreath.

 

Outside Decor

Inside Decor

 

Table Decor:

 

 

Craft Table

I am a firm believer that a children’s party should have a craft and this one didn’t disappointment. Aidreen had the most cleaver idea {This is why I love working with someone new – the creativity Aidreen brought in was awesome!}.  The craft was a “Build your own Candy Jewelry” table. Fruit loops were sorted into colors to represent “beads” and the children enjoyed stringing the fruit loops through the string and creating bracelets and necklaces (that they can EAT). Brilliant! A healthier (and less costly) alternative to the “build a candy necklace” kits that are sold at craft stores. Careful, you don’t want to sugar the little ones too much, LOL.  

 

 

Games

Some of the other activities included Musical chairs and a Hopping Hola-hoop game. What do you use for music? Music from the original Charlie and the Chocolate factory of course! A DVD set to the music parts was played and paused, such a smart idea if a TV is available. I know you may be asking, what is the Hopping Hula-hoop game? Glad you asked, I have never heard of it until I attended the party. Bright mulit-colored hula-hoop’s are placed on the ground (almost touching each other). Kids are asked to start in one hula-hoop and jump to the next available hoop. Once the music stops a color is called out and the children in that color are out of the game {don’t feel too bad they got a dum-dum lollipop for trying}. The last child standing received a candy land game.

   

I just want to end this post by saying that I feel SO honored I had a chance to help Aidreen with her daughter’s birthday. She didn’t really need very much help at all, what a talented mama! Check out her DecoPOMS Etsy shop to get some cool POMS for your next event: www.etsy.com/shop/DecoPOMS

 

 

IF YOU MISSED PART 1 or PART 2 CHECK THEM OUT!!!!

 

 

Vendor Credits

Table Décor & Styling: DecoPOMS & Deliciously Darling Events

Party Pom Poms: DecoPOMS: www.etsy.com/shop/DecoPOMS

Kid Table runner: Michaels Shabby Chic collection

Hula-hoops: Dollar Tree

Photography: Deliciously Darling Events

 

 

{Tasty} Mini Flower Sugar Cookies

OOO La La!

We made these flower sugar cookies for a recent party (click here to check out our Shabby Chic Sweet Shoppe collaboration with DecoPOMS). Not only are they cute but SUPER tasty! 

Something this good needs to be shared. I made these cookies using my basic sugar cookie recipe. Instead of using a cookie cutter, I just put the chilled cookie dough in a Williams-Sonoma petits fours pan and baked for 10 minutes. Voila - beautiful flower sugar cookies. The best part about these cookies is that they could be cut in half and filled with a jam (kind of like a sandwich) then decorated.  

After deciding not to decorate the sugar cookies with a basic royal icing, I went with a simple sugar glaze. I love it when I try a recipe and it works PERFECTLY. Seriously makes my day. The recipe for the glaze & pictures are below. Happy Baking (and Glazing...LOL).

Ingredients:

8 cups of confectioners' sugar, sifted

4 egg whites (I like to use the Trader Joe's brand of liquid egg whites)

1/2 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

Food coloring as desired (pastel pink & leaf green shown here)

Directions:

To make the glaze, in a large bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, egg whites, milk and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Whisk in the food coloring.

Using a rubber spatula, transfer the glaze to a bowl with a pouring spout. Slowly drizzle the glaze over each cake, allowing it to completely cover the top and sides before glazing the next cake. Gently tap the wire rack on a flat surface to remove excess glaze. ((Note: I don't have a wire rack so I just used regular foil. Yes, I know I must get a wire rack ASAP.) Let the glaze dry completely, about 1 hour, before serving.  

Glaze recipe is courtesy of Williams-Sonoma. 

{Shabby Chic} Sweet Shoppe [PART 2]

Have you gotten a toothache yet? No? Well this post is sure to give you one! Here is the next part of our collaboration with Aidreen Metz, of DecoPOMS.

Ava's Sweet Shoppe

 

Candy Table Elements

We really had fun designing this Candy Buffet to go with the Shabby Chic theme of the party. By keeping the table linen pink, the primary color of the party, we were still able to keep the look consistent. A variety of candy in pastel colors were used.

I built a custom "sweet shoppe" store front and used the printable banners that Aidreen had ordered before I came on board. I usually make all the printables for the candy buffets I create. I did get a chance to do some design work by creating labels and editing little Miss. Ava's pictures that were displayed throughout the party.

 
 

Adding labels and ribbon to your candy jars is a great way to "dress" up the jars. Of course, I had to bling out each candy label!

 

I have to say these beautiful gumball pinwheels were ALL Aidreen! She sells these adorable candy tubes in her Esty shop [link to DecoPOMS's Etsy Shop at the bottom of the page]. She cut scrapbook paper and glued down the edges in order to form a pinwheel and glued a piece of candy to the pinwheel to serve as the bracket. She attached the pinwheel to a bamboo stick and glued it onto the adorable candy containers and BAM - Gumball Pinwheels! I love it!!!

 

In order to keep with the color theme, Dum Dum lollipops were wrapped in tissue and on the table they went. Wrapping candy is a great way to keep things consistent. I personally love dum dums because a large pack goes a long way.

 

Here are some more pictures to enjoy, including one of the birthday girl, Ava, and her beautiful and crafty Mama, Aidreen:

 

 

 

 

 
 

PART 3: Decor, Kids Craft & Party Games coming soon!

 

Vendor Credits:

Tablescape, Store Front, Jars & Design: Deliciously Darling Events

Gumball Pinwheels & Candy Tubes: DecoPOMS (www.etsy/shop/DecoPOMS)

Candy: Various local sources 

{Shabby Chic} Sweet Shoppe [PART 1]

It’s not very often that I get to collaborate with such a talented person! So when I got the call from Mrs. Aidreen Metz, owner of DecoPOMS, to help her create a Shabby Chic Sweet Shoppe, how could I say NO!? A Shabby Chic party on it’s own is awesome but a Shabby Chic Sweet Shoppe, this was going to be fun! [Note: As a mama of boys, I savor every minute I get to work on a project that is girlie!]

I'm a firm believer that the best way to plan a party is over coffee! Aidreen and I sat at Starbucks one night and hashed out the details to little Miss Ava’s Sweet Shoppe. We focused on 3 different elements to pull the Sweet Shoppe concept together: the dessert buffet, the chocolate fountain table and finally the candy shoppe table.

Today’s post features PART 1: The Dessert Table

What’s a Sweet Shoppe without baked treats? Well, not a very fun one! 

The focal point of a good desserts table is always a cake of some sort! In this case, the most adorable cake ever. Shabby Chic is all about simplicity - this cake was absolutely perfect! It is simply a white butter cream cake with little pink pearls on it. Too adorable to eat. Behind the cake is a beautiful white antiqued mirror and a ribbon garland. The mirror really made the cake the focal-point of the table.

The cake topper, a  "Happy Birthday Ava" bunting, was handmade by Miss. Aidreen herself. This is a wonderful DIY project! Simply print out the letters in the font you desire. Cut into squares and emboss with a paper embosser. This specific design really looks like a piece of lace – SO Shabby Chic! Then you thread it with string and glue it to the end of a wooden stick and finish with a bow! Get crafting everyone!

 

I just LOVE the ice cream sunday cupcakes! I liked them so much that I made some for my son’s 2^nd birthday party [but that will have to be another post]. By ordering already made cupcakes from your local bakery you save yourself a lot of time and energy. Cupcake + Sprinkles + Chocolate Syrup + White Icing {for whipped cream part} + cherry = an adorable cupcake.

 

The cupcakes were placed in the bottom part of a cupcake "to-go" container and makes the cupcakes look even more like an icecream sunday. 

Don’t you just love going into a restaurant and getting your own mini glass with a dessert in it? You can recreate that same look by taking a shot glass and putting mousse in it. These really adorable raspberry mousse cups were so easy to make. Aidreen mixed raspberry preserves with cream cheese and food coloring. Then mixed in some cool whip and voila instant yummy mousse. She added a little chocolate at the bottom of the cup and finished the mouse with a fresh raspberry and a wooden spoon. Adorable.

 

 

The dessert table also included: chocolate yogurts, Godiva chocolate truffles, homemade sugar cookies with pink & green glaze (our contribution to this adorable table), mousse pots, chocolate oreo cookie pops. Here are some pictures:

 

 

Two other tables finished up the Dessert Shoppe.  The milk chocolate fountain with a tower of fresh fruit, assorted biscuits, marshmallows and other dippables! It was the hit of the party. Anytime  your guests can dip something in chocolate, it is a win, win!

A Shabby chandelier with little cakelets and a tooth brush favor [we don’t want cavities] displayed on an antique dresser completed the room.

 Part 2 & 3 Coming soon!!!!

 

Vendor Credits:

 
Photography: Deliciously Darling Events

Antique Mirror & cake stands: Home goods

Table Styling & Décor: DecoPOMS & Deliciously Darling Events

Cake & cupcakes: Publix bakery

Sugar cookies: Deliciously Darling Events

All other desserts: DecoPOMS  (www.etsy.com/shop/DecoPOMS)

 

{Colorful} Flip Flop Cookies & Recipes

 

{Colorful} Flip Flop Cookies & Recipes

Got your swim trunks and your flippy flops on? Well these cookies are sure to put you in the beach mood! 

My little boy is “graduating” from Pre-School (today) and these cookies are for his end of year celebration at school! What to make for a beach / luau themed party? Flip Flops! These sugar cookies are so soft and fluffy but are firm enough to hold as a cookie pop. These sugar cookies are iced with royal icing and topped with a {homemade} marshmallow fondant flip flop. It is a really nice stamp of approval when your little one jumps up and down in excitement after seeing what you made for them!

As promised here is the modified recipe for my old fashioned sugar cookies courtesy of Gourmet Magazine, 2005:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened – the higher quality the better!
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Instructions

Whisk together flour and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 minutes with a handheld. Note: I feel like this is one of the most critical steps in making a fluffy cookie – the butter has to be pale and fluffy!

Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into an 8 1/2-inch round (1/4 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm.)

Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with cutters and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 10 to 15 minutes. Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll scraps only once) and bake on cooled baking sheets.

If using icing and coloring it, transfer 1/4 cup icing to a small bowl for each color and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color icing into a sealable bag, pressing out excess air, and snip a 1/8-inch opening in 1 bottom corner of bag. Twisting bag firmly just above icing, decoratively pipe icing onto cookies. Let icing dry completely (about 1 hour) before storing cookies.

Cooks' notes: 

• Dough can be chilled up to 3 days.
• Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.
• The original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla but I use 2 tablespoons (yes – it is a lot of vanilla but it takes the cookie from bland to awesome).
• You have to adjust cooking time to what works for your oven and climate. The original recipe calls for 10 – 12minutes of baking but this gives me a super hard browned cookie. I like soft sugar cookies and I’m not a fan of hard cookies, plus I feel like my oven always cooks things faster than it is supposed to. If the cookie is going to be a cookie pop then I adjust baking time to 10 minutes.

 

I love making my own fondant because it tastes like marshmallows and not that strange vaguely sugar taste of regular fondant. Also, I can control the colors myself (did I mention it is a heck of a lot cheaper too!?) #winning.  I would love to claim credit for this amazing recipe – it is courtesy of Sugar Sweet Cakes and Treats. If you are into baking at all you will LOVE this blog. I have found it so helpful. There is a step by step tutorial to make Marshmallow Fondant (MMF) with or without the use of candy melts. Click here for the link: http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/p/marshmallow-fondant-mmf-recipes.html

 

Enjoy your baking!!!

{Let Them Eat Cake}

A Marie Antoinette Inspired Birthday Luncheon

 

Can I just say how much I love this theme!? I love it! It is perfect for a bridal shower or even a wedding. I wanted a feminine color scheme and decided on white, pale pink and black.

The party was held at the birthday "girl's" favorate restaurant, Bella Italia {link @ bottom of the page}. Due to the weather, the party had to be moved inside. Rule of thumb: 95 degree heat + cake = party disaster. Even with the last minute location change, the party turned out as darling as I had envisioned it.

 

Table Decor:

A fan with a personalized tag was added to each place setting. A very simple idea but very pretty (The guests loved taking pictures with their fans)! Each guest recieved a small take out box filled with Strawberry Whoppers. If you haven't tried them RUN out and get some, so yummy. 

Personalized Earl Grey Tea was included in between place settings. This was a really cute idea that I saw on a recently on Hostess with the Mostess. I decreased the size of the favor tags to fit my one inch round puncher and glued the circles onto the tea tags.

  

Delicious Details:

Other decor elements included tiaras, crystals, paper umbrellas, Eiffel Towers, and frames with printables.

 

Desserts:

No "Let them Eat Cake" party is complete without lots and lots of sweets!

 

The dessert table included a strawberry filled cake (topped with a tiara, fresh flowers and crystals), 3 kinds of tarts (blueberry, pear and raspberry), eclairs, meringues, macaroons de Paris,  and yummy petit fours.  

The Gheradeli white chocolate fountain included fresh stawberries and marshmallows. (Note: If you find yourself next to a white chocolate fountain and macaroons are near by - they are amazing together. Almost life changing). I love this mini chocolate fountain because it is small, easy to clean and uses regular chocolate chips. Always a huge hit.

 

This was such a fun and girlie party to put together. As a mama of boys I savor every minute I get to work on a girlie project!

Here are some more pictures:

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Vendor Credits:

Location: Bella Italia in Roswell, GA  (www.bellaitaliacuisine.com)

Styling, printables, photography & flowers - Deliciously Darling Events

Cake Stand & mirrors - Home Goods

Fans, wire chair, favor boxes - Michaels

Cake & petit fours - Publix (believe it or not!)

All other delicious sweets & sparkeling pink lemonade - Trader Joes

{Jake and the Neverland Pirate} Cookie & Chocolate Pops

{YO HO HO and a bottle of YUM}

Did you know DDEvents also dabbles in sweets? Below are few pictures of pirate sugar cookies and pirate chocolate lollipops I made for a 1st birthday party. I went through dozens of recipes till I found the best sugar cookie recipe EVER! My cookies come out fluffy yet firm enough for a cookie pop with the perfect amount of sweetness {and stay soft and delicious}.

 

Since the theme was Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I thought 'why not put Jake’s face on the cookies?' So that is what I did! I also included Pirate Map pops with the age of the little boy, they turned out so cute if I do say so myself.

 

I also created chocolate pops. Pirate Ship, Treasure box and Skull pops matched the client’s party theme perfectly. It was a little warm at the party so some of the choco pops melted before I had a chance to take a picture but I still think they look good. ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH Matey!

 

We were so honored that we were a {small} part of such a cool party. I'm hoping the hostess sends me a write up of the party details so I can feature it in a blog {hint, hint}

Next up Mega Mega Mind Party Recap Part 1 & 2.

{Vintage Circus} Colorful Candy Buffet

{ Color, Candy, Circus }

 

 So excited to share the details of this darling colorful candy buffet! You never know when you get inspired and the minute I saw the lion mask {in the picture below} at Michael's I knew that I had to do a Vintage Circus table for the Barnwell Elementary Spring Festival.

  

I was able to put this table together in about a week - start to finish. Since the candy on this table was donated budget was a primary concern. The candy had to be colorful, be able to fill mulitple candy jars and can handle an outdoor event {i.e. no chocolate in the heat}. Each jar had a colorful polka dot ribbon and a handmade scrapbook paper pinwheel. I was lucky to find some vintage circus paper at Michaels to make the pinwheels out of and finished it with a graphic of a circus animal with balloons and a party hat.

 

Another great find was the red striped wrapping paper used as a runner - Perfect for a Circus table. I added a custom created welcome sign to the paper backdrop. 

Another key element - images of vintage animals. I added a party hats & balloons to each animal and printed them out on cardstock. I glued all the images on dowel rods or striped straws and put them in vintage vases & containers. I love that I didn't have to buy any new pieces to pull the table together {See honey, my party items are reusable ;) } Sparkle Feathers were added to the tall vases to give it that Circus feel. 

I needed one more element to the table. As it turns out one of my close friends makes party poms by DecoPOMS (link in Vendor Credits). Mrs. Aidreen Metz, another super talented Mama, put these poms poms together to add some pizzazz to the table. Three large hanging poms and a small garland the final touch to the table. 

This was so much fun to put together! I just want to close out my first post with a great big THANK YOU! Thanks for taking the time to check out and read the blog! Look for our next posts "MegaMind 4th Birthday Party" and Pirates Cookie & Chocolate pops!

Vendor Credit:

Location: Barnwell Elementary School's Spring Festival

Graphics & Tablescape - Deliciously Darling Events

Party Poms & Garland - DecoPOMS (www.etsy.com/shop/DecoPOMS)

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