Tiramisu Birthday Cake!

Someone is celebrating a Birthday this week - me! 

I had to share this picture of the gorgeous Tiramisu cake that my neighbor made for me, I'm so touched she would create such a work of art for me!  Tiramisu is one of my most favorite desserts, so a whole Tiramisu cake is just pure deliciousness to me!

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Pirate Mickey Ears Birthday Cake!

I've had house guests for the last few days, it's been crazy but super fun!  Earlier this week was my godson's birthday so I took the chance to make him a themed fondant cake.

It's probably pretty obvious from my posts that we're pretty big Disneyland fans around our house and my godson shares this love of Disneyland.  He has also recently gotten in to the pin trading so my goal was to make a cake as similar to one of his favorite Mickey pins as I could.  This is what the pin looks like:

And this is how my cake turned out! 

What do you think?  (P.S. it was dark chocolate with Oreo cookie filling and it's actually about a foot in diameter!)  I handmade the fondant, cut the cake to the shapes and decorated it with shimmer edible color dust.  I'm pretty excited about how it turned out!

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Environmentally Friendly Kids Birthday Party

Greening up as many aspects of my life as I can is super important to me.  I'm not ready for drastic changes yet, but I work every day to make small changes whenever possible.

While I was stocking up on supplies for my son's Birthday Party I found these fantastic eco-friendly plates and forks.  I found them at Smart & Final and the prices were only about $1 more per package so it was an easy switch to make!  They are compostable (so excited about this since I am getting ready to get my compost up and running!).  The plates are made from Sugarcane and the forks are made with plant starches so they are made from a renewable source.  They were also super sturdy and without the label no one would have ever known they were so eco-friendly!

Making the Birthday Party more eco-friendly was one more easy step in becoming more green!  The water bottles we used for the kids were also made with less plastic than normal water bottles, but I'd love to find an easy way to make that aspect more eco-friendly too!  I'm thinking that re-usable cups (that would also work as a party favor) with water might be my next step.

What ways have you found to green up aspects of your daily life?

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Super Mario Cupcakes with Nintendo 3DS Cake

To go with our "gamer" Birthday party theme, I had to figure out the perfect cake.  My son eventually decided he wanted a cake in the shape of his Aquamarine colored Nintendo 3DS.   Super simple to make (I used the Salted Caramel Cake/Cupcake recipe here) and used a regular 13x9 pan.  Covered in fondant with a few simple touches it actually looked pretty cool!

I am giving my absolutely fabulous neighbor the nickname of "Martha Stewart", it's not the REAL Martha Stewart, but she gives her a run for her money when it comes to the household and baking/cooking!  She came up with the absolutely fabulous idea of creating fondant mushroom cupcakes to go alongside the cake to bring in the Super Mario theme (which fits perfectly with the "gamer" theme).  With a little rolled fondant, circle spots and a scoop of frosting on top they came out amazing and grabbed by the kids at the first chance they had!

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Angry Birds Water Bottles for Kids Birthday Party

It's Birthday time in our house again!  For this party we went with the "gamer" theme.  My boys are definitely getting older so it's getting tougher and tougher to find an appropriate theme that isn't embarrassing, but is still cool in their eyes.  Wandering the aisles at our local party store was disappointing.  My son really just wanted the Angry Birds theme since it's a game all of his friends like.  You'd think with how crazy popular that game is that it would be super simple to track down themed items.  Apparently I couldn't be more wrong!

With a little creativity we were able to add some Angry Birds fun in to the party.  My son (who loves drawing Angry Birds pictures in his free time) drew small pictures of each bird character on small slips of paper.  We removed the regular labels on water bottles and replaced them with the pictures he had drawn.  If you are running short on time, printing a custom slip of paper would also work.

Super simple idea for a kids party!  The kids all absolutely loved them and were claiming their water bottles by the names of the characters (also made it very easy for the kids to remember which water bottle was theirs and drastically reduced swapping bottles by accident!).

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A Firetruck Cake for a Fantastic Kid!

Take a peek a this cake I created for DayTrippingMom.com's sons' birthday party last week!  I used the salted caramel cupcake recipe to make the cakes and used the frosting recipe listed on yesterday's post here.  It was a huge hit and everyone was asking for the recipe!  Now I'm looking for another reason to make a cake!

She had the Mobile Pizza Unit out to make pizzas on the Firetruck, so we ran with the theme to make the cake.  Such fun!

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Mint Cookie Filled Parmadillo Cake - Birthday Fun!

I've started a new tradition of making fondant cakes for the kids birthdays.  Each time I try something new and try to kick it up a notch. 

Life has been absolutely crazy around here with both my husband and I working full time and trying to manage a calm household in the middle of moving, new school and everything else.  Creating an amazing cake was one thing I was determined to not let slip.  I started planning well over a month before his birthday and his request was clear - he wanted a Parmadillo Cake.  It's a character from Viva Pinata in case you weren't familiar.

My trademark filling has become the crumbled mint oreo mixed with vanilla frosting.  Add some purple fondant and a little free hand frosting decoration and there you go!  One custom birthday cake. 

I'm definitely not a professional, but the kids don't care and they LOVE being able to come up with their own cake designs.  Now if I could just find a cake to make to crumble up some of that Halloween candy we have laying around...

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Birthday Fun at Our House - Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday ... Birthday fun at our house 

My kitchen is now known as balloon central. :)

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HEXBUG Halloween Party Fun!

HEXBUGS were the life of the party.  With tracks going in every which direction and countless kids crowded around the table it was an afternoon full of fun.

Kyle methodically put together elaborate tracks for the HEXBUGS to run through before the party started, creating his version of a HEXBUG haunted house.

The new larvae HEXBUGS are really cool.  They have have sensors and cameras.  It's pretty cool to watch them wriggle and weave around avoiding objects put in their path, they seem so lifelike - yet not (which is good!).


The kids squealed with joy when I told them they each got to each take home a HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie bug and a limited edition HEXBUG Galileo collection. 

We even had a round of musical chairs to decide who got to take home parts of the sets and exclusive new HEXBUG larvae!  It was a ruthless battle for those seats as the kids were determined to win parts of the set!

Looking for an educational and fun gift for the kid who has everything?  You can't go wrong with HEXBUGS because even if it is a part the kid has... it never hurts to have more than one!

For more information and ideas for HEXBUG Nano parties read here.

*The HEXBUG Nano Party sponsored by Innovation First Labs and product samples were supplies to facilitate the review/party.  The opinions expressed were 100% my own and we were HUGE fans of HEXBUGS long before (hence the dozens of tracks and HEXBUGS up in my sons room...) #HEXBUGHalloween

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Planet Friendly Birthday Present Bags

We attend a lot of kids birthday parties each year, way more than I'd like to keep track of!  One thing that has always bugged me was the disposable and one time use of the wrapping paper or gift bags that have become popular recently.  With a little help from Toys R Us (and no, this post is not their idea or inspired by a pitch... LOL), I've come up with a great compromise with my tree hugging roots.  Toys R Us is now selling super cute kid friendly shopping bags at $1.99 each (which works out to be comparable to the price of a traditional disposable gift bag).  I've purchased Toy Story themed ones as well as other well recognized characters.  But I'm sure you can find one that matches the theme of the party you are attending or other fun kid friendly one.  This is a great way to take one small step in becoming more eco-friendly without spending more money or making dramatic changes.  I love them because it's almost like adding another small present  in to the mix for the birthday kid. 

Above is my most recent one we put together for a birthday party.

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Keeping Track of Kids at Birthday Parties

Birthday parties can be hectic at best, but when you combine it with a busy venue, it can be very nerve wrecking as the party hosts to keep track of all the kids and be sure they are all in the right place.  In past years, we've always opted to use party locations where the kids aren't being mixed in with other parties.  Eventhough my boys are starting to get older, I still rarely drop-off the kids at a party and come back at the end, unless I know the parents well.  This is just because I know how hard it can be to keep track of so many kids running around who you may or may not know very well.

So a trick I've come up with when you are at a party place that mixes kids around, its to buy the glow in the dark bracelets (we used these for our recent laser tag birthday party) or some other piece that identifies t-them.  I've seen some parents use t-shirts (which can be pricier) to pins.  I loved using the glow in the dark bracelets for laser tag because it was like a party favor and identifying piece at the same time.  The kids also loved it because while playing laser tag, they were able to figure out it was one of their friends even in the dark.

The venue we had our party at made me nervous because of the large number of walk-ins they allow to play alongside the kids and that they don't monitor the doors to be sure kids can't head out the doors without a parent.  In this case, the solution was easy - the glow in the dark bracelets were purchased for 49 cents each at Michael's craft store.  I was able to keep my eye on the door and be sure none of the kids from our party were even near the door, eventhough I wasn't too familiar with all of my son's friends.

What tricks have you used in the past to easily identify the kids from your party? 

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Planet Earth Cake for a Kids Birthday

After seeing how my previous two fondant cakes turned out, my oldest was requesting that I make his birthday cake.  I had never actually made one of the kids birthday cakes, but I had ordered plain cakes a few times and decorated them because I wasn't able to find one with a theme or look I was happy with. 

I had a vision in my mind for his cake this year and was nervous as to how it would turn out.  He is a HUGE space fan (and has been for a number of years).  He is determined to be an astronaut, even to the point of planning out where he wants to go to college based on it (I know... he's only 9).  He's a walking encyclopedia of space facts and I'm sure that has something to do with his love of reading space encyclopedias over the last few years.  He has quite the opinion as to whether Pluto is still a planet or not and his favorite phrase is "A planet is a planet, no matter how small".

Most of the parents commented to me that when they asked their kids what they should get as a present, they immediately said "anything space" because he wants to be an astronaut.  I guess he's as vocal about his passion with his friends as he is at home!

The above picture is the cake I made and I am thrilled beyond belief with how it turned out. It's a white vanilla cake (with blue food coloring to make it icy blue in color), mint oreo cookie filling and covered in fondant.  I sprayed the fondant with blue food coloring spray.  Then I printed out a template of the continents and placed on the cake.  I outlined the continents with green sparkle food gel and filled them in once I removed the templates.  I free handed Hawaii on there.  Super easy and it came out amazing.  I'm so thrilled.  The 12 inch round cake was plenty for the 14 kids at the party and left us with a few very hefty sized pieces left over.  The kids at the party absolutely LOVED the cake and the birthday boy was beyond thrilled with his cake.

I think I'm begining to get the hang of this fondant cake thing! 

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Benchmark for a good kids birthday party?

Instead of Wordless Wednesday I thought we'd try video Wednesday.  Check out this video from my youngest son's recent birthday party over at Wowzville in Laguna Hills, CA.  I think it's pretty funny that I now use the amount of screaming fun as a benchmark for a good kids birthday party.  By all accounts, this one was a ton of fun... What do you think?

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A NASCAR themed cake?

You may remember the really cool Space Themed cake we got for my son's birthday a few months ago from Divine Desserts in Laguna Niguel.  So as we were planning the party for my other son, there wasn't a question of where we were going to get the cake from!  All it came down to was what theme the party was going to be so we could figure out what type of cake to get.  He decided he wanted to have his party in the Nascar room at Wowzville (I'll be posting about that adventure of a night later this week!). 

We decided to go with a cake in the shape of a steering wheel and the rest is history... without a doubt the cake was super cool and I promise it tasted just as yummy as it looks!

Thanks Divine Desserts for another AMAZING cake!

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Irvine Lanes Bowling 50% Discount - Hurry Though!

So you may have noticed the nice green box over on the right hand side of the site (below the Facebook Fan Page box), recently Screamin' Coupons contacted me asking if I'd like to advertise local deals to my readers. I was pretty skeptical at first but after looking in to it I realized they are AMAZING local deals (you normally have to act fast before they disappear!) and I knew when I wanted to take advantage of the deals... you would too!  For example take a look at today's deal at the Irvine Lanes... you can't beat it!

So be sure to check back daily to see what local deals (like massages, facials, surf lessons and dinners) you can find!

(Disclaimer... Screamin' Coupons is an affiliate program, but I thought the amazing well below retail deals were worth participating and advertising to you!)

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Kool-Aid Fun Fizz- My Kids Love it!

Summer is here!  That means lots of trips to the beach, pool, park and other fun places.  In our house, we don't allow the kids to have sodas, very occasionally we allow the kids to have decaffeinated sodas like root beer or 7-up.  It's mostly water, milk and the rare juice for my boys.  But I always try to mix it up when we have a special event, like a BBQ. 

A couple weeks ago Kool-aid Fun Fizz sent me an advance sample of the new Kool-Aid Fun Fizz drink drops.  My kids were so excited because they had already seen the commercials.  So what did we do when they arrived?  We headed to the beach of course.  Talk about handy!  We grabbed a couple water bottles and once we got to the beach dropped the tablets in each water bottles.  The kids loved them giving them 2 thumbs up.

My opinion?  They are a great way to make water fun, especially if you have a kid with a picky palate!  We'll definitely always keep a few on hand when they kids are bored with water!  They are available at most grocery stores now, but you can find more information here.

(and by the way the photo above was from the day we headed to the beach!) 

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Baby Shower Ideas: Center Pieces & Favors in One!

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for one of my BFF's - Jen (aka Jen0r.com).  As you may or may not know she is pregnant with her third baby, but this time it's a girl!!!  Being a mom of two boys, I was more than excited to go pink themed everything.  I'm going break this in to several different posts over the next few days to share some of the fun aspects of the shower.

Let's start with the center pieces (& conveniently the take-home gift!)...

One of the fabulous moms from my sons' school has a company by the name of Pop Cakes.  When she brought a box of them for our teachers baby shower earlier this year - I knew I needed to have them for Jen's shower.  In addition to being absolutely delicious, they are an elegant, unique and just plain fun addition to any baby shower.

Flowers and Spring-time were the themes for the shower so it just made sense to create a flower pot centerpiece with the cake pops as the "flowers". It was super easy to put together and was definitely a conversation piece for any event.   Totally customizable and delicious, I promise they'll be something you will quickly become a huge fan of.  The red velvet ones are simply amazing!

Want to know more?  Head over to their website here or become a Facebook Fan here.

Next up... must have gifts for the new mom!

(Disclosure: Popcakes provided them at no cost for the shower, but I was more than ready to purchase them and will be ordering from them many times in the future again!).

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Easy Kids Birthday Party Favor Idea

Party favorites are another tough challenge for hosting a children's birthday party.  This year I hoped on board a trend and decided to simplify the party favors.  We got $5 gift cards from a local Frozen Yogurt store called Swirlz.  It's a hit with the kids and the parents love it because you don't go home with all the junky toys.  The last couple of years I had used the plastic popcorn buckets from Disneyland and really found myself struggling to figure out how to fill them cool items that weren't going to end up in the landfill by the end of the week.  You can read about that here.

We put $5 on each card, but $3 would also be fine.  Let's just say if it had been up to me... I would have done $3, but I delegated the task this year so I won't complain about the end result.

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Where on Earth Do You Find a Space Cake in OC?

Birthday cakes are tough for kids.  Do you go the cupcake route?  Or the character theme cake?  It's always stressful for me to decide!  After last year's complete and total failure for a cake (let's just say that deep army green doesn't make for a nice backdrop of cake decorating when you are trying to make planets out of icing...).  This year I was a bit panicked for what to do for Brett's cake until I happened to be invited to a Mom Blogger event at Divine Desserts in Laguna Niguel a couple weeks ago.

After tasting the wonderful cupcakes I knew I was in the right place and immediately placed my order for Brett's Space themed cake. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect but when I picked up the cake the afternoon of the party  was completly floored.  The best part?  It tasted as amazing as it looked!  I know we'll be getting all our cakes there from now on!

Take a peek at how it turned out...

Whether you're looking for a sweet snack, planning a get together or need a cake, pop in to meet the crew at Divine Desserts - they'll be able to design a work of art that is sure to please the toughest critics.  They are located at the Plaza de la Paz Center, 27261 La Paz Road, Suite G, Laguna Niguel, CA. (Between Henry's & CVS).  Click here to check out their website. Follow them on Twitter of become a fan on Facebook.

Here's the Whrrl story of the Mom Blogger event that shows some of the scrumptious snacks and behind the scenes peek!

More check-ins at Divine Desserts etc.

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