Last Sunday some close friends and I held a baby shower for one of the most important couples in my life. As many of you know from this blog and in person but I am not a designer by any means. I would say I am more of a chaotic balance of social and analytical but not creative.
After meeting with the sisters and mother of the soon to be mama we had all kinds of ideas! The couple had selected Shel Silverstein's, "The Giving Tree" as a theme for the nursery and we went with that for as many of the details as possible. From apple appetizers, to papers trees from floor to ceiling, and tree stumps as décor, we made sure to work the theme into every area possible.
There was something about the inspiration that these women have that threw me head first into planning mode. I decided to make personalized party favors and cake bites! It was a lot of fun, and work but mostly fun. Sometime it is hard for me to just relax and enjoy what I am doing but this was for someone (and husband) that I love so much I was able to really focus.
For the party favors, (idea adapted from, ABM) I found restaurant supply coffee mugs and personalized them with the first letter of everyone's name using Sharpie markers to dot sporadically around a sticker. Then removed the sticker and baked the cups in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I then took hot chocolate mix and marshmallows and tied them in plastic wrap with ribbon and added them to the mugs with a candy cane. They turned out so much better than expected! Big thanks to ermae for all of her help with this task, 29 mugs equate to many, many dots!
For the cake bites, (recipe adapted from StyleAtHome) I wanted to give the new mum a few of the things she has been craving since her favorite cakes were carrot and german chocolate, I decided to do both!
I baked both cakes as indicated on the box (feel free to make yours from scratch), I then let them cool for a whole day, lightly covered with a dish towel. I then crumbled the cake and added about 2/3 of a container of frosting to the crumbs using a metal spoon and then made them into small balls. I then let them set in the fridge for an hour. I then melted candy coating (available in my regular grocery store baking isle) and used two forks to coat them and set them on wax paper. The forks allowed for extra coating to drip away before placing them down to set. I then let them set in the fridge over night. I decorated the tops with more candy coating in a squeeze bottle and sprinkles.
These were a HUGE hit from my own kids to all the friends at the shower. Although they take time they are work the effort!
