The Food

Yum...party food! Both parties had very different food items. The first party was for my dad and his side of the family, which includes lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. My girls are the only little kids on that side, the next oldest ones being in high school. The second party had tons of kids, so the first party was a nice, quiet family BBQ. It was really nice to do it that way because we really only do a big family get together with that side during the holidays, so it was fun to have everyone over in the summer. We BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs, plus we had fruit, baked beans, and of course, the cake and cupcakes. Here is the spread.


We had cupcakes for everyone at both parties. I used this 3 tiered cake stand to hold the cupcakes for both parties and I love how the ribbon tied on the back adds a huge punch of color. This was one of my favorite things to decorate.





The second party had lots of kids, so I decided to do a "sweet treat" table. I have always wanted to do a table of only sweets, and this was a perfect opportunity. I saw a fabulous picture picture of a sweet treat table here and was totally inspired. Here was the spread.



When I was pregnant with Savannah, Melissa threw me a lovely baby shower and she served chocolate dipped marshmellows and pretzels, and I thought that would be fun to have at a birthday party, too.


I love the little bird party circle. So easy, but another way to tie in the colors and party theme.


Frosted animal cookies were the perfect colors to match the party and super tasty for all the little kids in attendance. I didn't want to use a bowl, but thought this pretty vase was a fun way to serve them. It's all about thinking outside the box (or in this case, the bowl).



I really wanted another pink dessert, so I made these pink velvet whoopie pies and they were ssssoooo tasty. I can't wait to make these in other colors, too.



Not really food, but I stamped a bird on the napkins to jazz them up a little bit.


Here is the link for the recipe for the Pink Velvet Whoopie Pies. The only change I made was to add 16 drops of red food coloring instead of 10. Also, when placing them on the baking pan, drop teeny, tiny little drops of the dough on because they spread out A LOT.