The printable suite includes customized invitations (options below), customized food cards, customized favor tags, cupcake/treat picks and a banner.  After ordering, you’ll be contacted for party information for customizing your party suite image files.  Printing/assembly instructions will be included with your image files, and you’ll need the following materials and tools:

• color printer
• white cardstock, 80lb-110lb
• straight edge paper cutter (or scissors + steady hand)
• circle cutter capable of cutting a 4″ circle (or scissors + steady hand)
• 6 yards of black ribbon (recommended: offray feather edge, 3/8″ or 3/16″, black)
• 2″ circle punch (or scissors + steady hand)
• 3″ scalloped circle punch (or 2.5″-3″ non-scalloped circle punch)
• hole punch

Click here to order your printable party kit for $18, or scroll down for product descriptions and terms.

Bright and fun invitations (5×7″) feature your party details and choice of frankenboy or frankengirl with your choice of hair color.  Simply print, cut, and send in an A7 envelope (5.25×7.25″).

A bright “Trick or Treat” banner welcomes your costumed guests.  Assembly instructions included with your image files.  Each circle measures 4″ in diameter, with total length of approximately 52″.

Coordinating, customized food cards (up to 12 per set) let guests know what spooky tricks and treats they’re enjoying.

Make your cupcakes and treats extra sweet with coordinating cupcake picks.

Send your guests home with sweet treats labeled with personalized favor tags.

Click here to purchase the (not-too-spooky) halloween party printables kit for $18.
After ordering, you will be contacted at your paypal email address by jen@littlesproutcreations.com to provide party and guest information to be included on the printable set.  You will receive a printable proof (non-editable .jpg and .pdf) and instructions within 48 hours of providing party information.  Color, font, and layout changes are not included in this printable kit.
TERMS OF USE: This file is for personal use only. Mass production, selling, file sharing and commercial use of these files is not permitted. All rights reserved.

My daughter Rory Kate is really, really fun.  She loves being outside, crawling really fast, and eating snacks.  I decided to throw her a campout birthday party for her friends, and since it’ll be our last time hanging out with these folks for a while (we’re moving to california next week) we decided to go all out for one last playtime together.

As guests arrived, they were directed to head to the backyard with sweet pink wood signs.  My 2.5 year old Leah helped make these signs, and it was such a blast.  She did a lot of the painting (we squirted on some pink paint, and she spread it around with a wadded up paper towel – the result is a rustic stained-wood look.)

After arriving at Camp Rory, guests headed to the Camper Registration table to pick up their camping equipment.  The under-1 crowd received stainless steel sippy cups, and their older siblings received sunglasses, and a camping merit badge to wear during the party.

We filled the backyard with tents and picnic blankets and camp chairs.  The kids loved playing and snacking in the tents.

Rory Kate wore an owl shirt that read “Camp RoryKate – What a HOOT!”

And – tissue pom owls.  After making pom animals for Annika’s farm party, I knew that we could easily do an owl variation for this party.  So colorful and so fun.

All of Rory’s friends are under the age of 3, so snacks had to be:  1) yummy. 2) finger food. 3) sweet. 4) yummy.  We called our treat table our “Mess Hall” just like summer camp.

Leah helped me make some S’mores Sticks – marshmallow on a stick, dipped in chocolate, rolled in graham cracker crumbs.

Dirt Cups (chocolate pudding with crumbled oreos on top +  flower + gummy worm garnish.)

Mix-your-own Trail Mix (dried fruit, fruity cheerios, bunny grahams, raisins.)

(No Spoon Required) Wildberry Parfaits.  Loving these reusable push-up containers.  So did the kiddos.

We also served a ton of presliced fruits and veggies, and Ladybugs on a Log (dried cranberry variation of ants on a log.)  We served apples and oranges to pay tribute to our sweet Washington home, and our new California home.

All the bigger kids had a personalized cup, prefilled with “Bug Juice” (berry punch + lemonade).  With different colored cups, kids were better able to keep track of their own cups (and spread their summer colds a bit less easily.)

After snacking, Rory’s guests headed over to the Arts and Crafts area to make handprint trees.  We had one large canvas for all of the kids to add handprint “leaves” to (for Rory’s new room in California) and individual canvases for each child to take home.  We had a bucket of water and lots of towels nearby for quick hand cleaning after painting.

It was a really great day, filled with lots of fun, yummy treats, and great friends.

Carolyn’s Georgia Peach baby sprinkle, hosted by Emily, is featured on Pizzazzerie today!

Thanks for the love, Courtney!

A month before Rory Kate’s due date, I took Leah out for a very special day (filled with donuts and ice cream and build-a-bears) to celebrate her last month before sisterhood.  We called it “sisters’ day” and decided that we’d celebrate it each year, at some point in August.  We found out this year that there actually is a sisters’ day, and it’s even at the beginning of August.  How absolutely perfect.

This year, we invited all of Leah’s fellow big sisters (and their little sisters and brothers – and even one big-sister-to-be!) over for an ice cream sundae party.  Leah chose the colors (pink, pink and more pink) and helped out by putting invitations in envelopes, picking out ice cream toppings, choosing favors for her friends, helping with set up, and even helping with clean up.  She’s a great buddy, and Rory Kate is so lucky to have her as a big sister.

Since we only had a few invitations to send, I splurged for the extra postage and made a square invitation.  Super simple and perfectly pink.

We decorated the table with tissue poms galore, including two tissue pom garlands.  Leah was able to help with some of the pom fluffing, which she really loved.

We set up the table with our ice cream (pre-scooped and re-frozen for easy serving) and toppings (pink m&ms, pink coconut, piroulines, and white chocolate chips.)  We dipped waffle cone bowls in pink candy melts for an extra special yummy pink touch.

We served strawberry and chocolate-raspberry sauce in easy-to-squirt bottles with sweet little labels.

I mixed up some strawberry italian sodas for the mommies (sparkling water, half and half, strawberry syrup) with frozen strawberries as ice cubes.  So yummy on a nice warm day.

Leah picked out some pink purses and awesome juice boxes for her friends.  We also put together some string and fruit loops for the big sisters to make necklaces with.

To top it off, we listened to a great playlist of all “sister” songs.  So, so fun.

Kate is turning 3. Grace is turning 2.

Their moms decided to throw 1 awesome pirate party…  And I was so excited when Grace’s mom, Candace, asked me to design it.

Candace and Jen (Kate’s mom) really liked the idea of red and black, and asked if I could design something that while fun and pirate-y, was still girly.  Their party suite features a sweet pirate girl, red stripes, and the pirate essentials – anchors, a pirate ship helm, fishing nets, and of course, a little bit of skull and crossbones.

A rope-tied banner with red striping and pirate fun welcomes the pirate mateys to the Grace and Kate’s party.

Guests are treated to a “loot bag” filled with pirate gear to wear at the party.

Everyone knows that pirates love cupcakes.  These are topped with scalloped-edge cupcake picks in 6 pirate designs.

After their party, Grace and Kate can write (or color) some thank you notes to their friends and family.

Happy Birthday, Pirate Grace and Pirate Kate!

I’ve always said that my heart was born in the south, even though it was actually born in the ‘burbs of Chicago.  When Emily asked me to design a baby “sprinkle” party suite for her friend Carolyn in Marietta, Georgia, I knew this was my chance to pretend I’m a southern belle myself.  :)

Carolyn’s sprinkle suite features a flowered umbrella design, colored with all the shades of a sweet georgia peach (and a bit of aqua for her sweet baby boy on the way.)

Carolyn’s guests were greeted with a coordinating banner, announcing her soon-arriving new addition.

And my favorite part, the food.  Where else but the sweet south can you find Sausage-stuffed biscuits & Gravy, Miss Mamie’s Cupcakes, and Sweet Tea?  Yes, please.

Obviously, for the integrity of this photo shoot, I had to brew up a pitcher of sweet tea.  And I couldn’t just waste it, so I enjoyed it in what small bit of sunshine we had here in Seattle.  I can dream, can’t I?

In addition to the amazing menu of southern treats and sweets (BLT sandwiches, quiches, a watermelon-blueberry-mint salad, red potatoes, mimosas and seriously about a half a dozen other yummy dishes), Emily served a tray of pastries, dressed with sweet umbrella picks.

Emily and Carolyn thanked their friends with a jar filled with brown and orange M&Ms.  Emily said that she loves to receive favors that she can nibble on on the way home, and I agree.  We helped guests bring a bit of the party home by tying the jar with a small thank you tag with the signature umbrella design.

As part of her gift, Emily gave Carolyn a set of thank you cards, in her sprinkle-theme colors, with matching return-addressed envelopes.

We put together a pool party design suite for Sophie’s 4th birthday, and not just any typical pool party.  Sophie told her mom that she wanted a princess pool party, and since Sophie’s mom is super-awesome, she obliged.

Sophie’s invitations were a flip flop shape, with a tiara monogram.  Sophie’s mom put together all of the creative wording – super cute!  We carried the flip-flop theme across to Sophie’s thank you notes, perfect for thanking all of her friends for celebrating with her.

Sophie’s mom decorated the pool area, and asked for a sweet banner to tie the theme together.

Sophie wore a personalized, coordinating shirt over her swimsuit.

Sophie and her party guests nibbled on cupcakes, wrapped in these cute tiara-shaped cupcake wraps.  Pictured cupcakes, in a neapolitan flavor, are from Trophy Cupcakes, in Bellevue WA.

To thank her guests, Sophie gave them each a swim towel to use at her party and enjoy all summer long.  We dressed them up with a coordinating favor tag.

Amy asked me to create a red, white and blue banner for her grandmother, who turned 90 on the 4th of July.  I was so honored to be even a small part of such a very special day!

The Hillstead family had a ton to celebrate last weekend – a second birthday, a 27th birthday, and an upcoming move to Arizona!  They asked us to put together a fiesta that could provide some bright summer-y fun, even in a rainy seattle spring.

Our inspiration for this fiesta party suite was a cute toddler outfit (Circo) from Target.  Bright colors, fun ruffles.  It also served as 2nd birthday party wear!

We helped the Hillsteads decorate their backyard (no rain!) with some sweet tissue fringe & potted tissue fiesta poufs.

Blake and Ali set up a taco salad bar, served fruit skewers & cilantro-lime corn, and treated guests to fiesta rainbow cupcakes.  We helped dress them up with a monogrammed cupcake pick.

We designed custom bottled water labels with their signature monogram on the front, and happy birthday text on the sides.

Happy Birthday Blake & Paige!

A few months ago, Kristy contacted me about doing a nautical-themed wedding shower brunch for her sister Melissa.  We knew that a classy navy shade was essential, and after talking with the bride-to-be, Kristy decided on… lime!  After finishing up Sara & Nathan’s wedding, I was thrilled to work with this color palette again, and excited to put together a chic, nautical shower for Melissa & Ben.

The “tying the knot” invitations feature nautical navy stripes, with lime script and nautical details.  The invitation cards are wrapped in gorgeous textured navy cardstock, tied with a simple rope knot, and labeled with a custom nautical-style monogram.

A monogrammed life-preserver ring greets guests at the door and sets the theme for Melissa and Ben’s celebration.

A personalized banner (tied with rope) hangs over the gift table.

Tissue hydrangea bouquets pull the navy and lime color palette around the party space.

Sailboat pastry picks adorn Kristy’s yummy brunch treats.

Guests are treated to a monogrammed jar of lifesavers, and a donation in their name to save lives through clean water projects in Africa.  Kristy is always excited to do a giving favor, and I love it.

We created a set of thank you cards for the future bride and groom, complete with their signature monogram design.

Best wishes, Melissa & Ben!  (And thanks for designing with me again, Kristy!)  Want to save lives too?  Check out Living Water International.

*Photography by Jen St.Clair.  For images, contact us using the form below, or email jen@littlesproutcreations.com

Our second birthday celebration this weekend was Hunter’s 2nd birthday – construction zone style!

Truck invitations featured a dump-truck with a swinging “dumper?” to reveal party details below.

We designed a shirt and special construction hat for Hunter to wear during his celebration.

A banner with Hunter’s name and coordinating truck pulled the party theme together.
Truck thank you cards (with Hunter up in the front seat!) let guests know how much they were appreciated.

Happy 2nd birthday, Hunter!

Annika celebrated her 2nd birthday this weekend, and her mom, Melissa, knew that baby farm animals and bright colors were essential for their outdoor BBQ party.

Invitations were bright red farmhouses (with sweet Annika peeking out of the top window) with pop-open doors to reveal party details inside.

Melissa found a great checkered tablecloth, and we helped to tie the theme together with some colorful accents, including a name banner with colorful gingham print.

Mason jars with red gingham ribbon were perfect for storing silverware (brilliantly cute idea from Simply Suz)

We topped off some of Melissa’s amazing cupcakes with cute farm animal cupcake picks.

And probably the most fun Little Sprout creation to make ever, farm animal tissue poufs.  A cute piggy, bunny, chick and cat, in Annika’s favorite colors, ready to decorate the table in terracotta pots with red gingham ribbon.

We designed a special shirt for Annika, and some (awfully witty if i say so myself) thank “ewe” cards.

To thank their guests, Melissa decided on an amazing giving favor, donating a flock of chicks in each child’s name through Heifer International. We attached a small tag to colorful bandanas to let them know how they’d be helping kids across the world.  Way, way cool.

Happy 2nd Birthday Annika!

Need an easy, yummy, impressive-looking party treat or at-home snack?  Rainbow popcorn is where it’s at.  Super simple recipe from Kraft, reviewed by us.  You’ll notice this isn’t a “Creating with your Little Sprout” feature… Unfortunately, there isn’t much in this project that is safe for kids to help with (other than eating popcorn while you work!), but I think your kids will be thrilled to stand-by while you make this for them – and it only takes 30 minutes from start to finish!

You’ll need:
- 8 cups popped popcorn, either with an air-popper or traditional pot-popped with oil.
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine (we used butter)
- 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar or granulated sugar (we used granulated sugar)
- 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Gelatin (we’ve made this a few times and like raspberry best.)

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line large jelly roll pan (baking pan with short sides) with foil or wax paper. You can also just grease the pan, but you’ll just have to do a little extra cleaning at the end.
2. Combine butter and syrup in small saucepan; cook on low heat until butter is melted. Add sugar and gelatin; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Bring to boil on medium heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Pour immediately over popcorn mixture; toss with two wooden spoons to coat well. Spread evenly on to baking pan. As a note, I couldn’t get the candy coating to completely cover the popcorn – we always had a bit of white showing. Although it probably would look a bit nicer completely covered (perhaps by doubling the candy coating) the flavor is sweet and fruity enough that I don’t think I’d want to double it. But if you try it, let us know how it turns out!
3. Bake for 10 minutes, let cool, break into small pieces and enjoy!

Need some cute, custom popcorn boxes or bags for your party guests? Contact us here and we’ll design some up just for you.

*Kraft also recommends doing a few different flavors of jello, if you’re making a large batch – just be sure to prepare them separately to keep your colors bright!

Tonight I had the pleasure of providing invitations and goodie bags (with raspberry rainbow popcorn!) for some great teen moms, headed out on a YoungLives girls’ night movie night. YoungLives is a part of YoungLife, a Christian outreach ministry for high schoolers, and YoungLives focuses on teen moms and their children. I’ve been personally involved with YoungLife since 2001, as a leader in Champaign, IL and State College, PA, and I currently serve where I can here in our local YoungLife area. It’s an incredible ministry, and YoungLives is no exception. Mentor moms volunteer their time to build relationships with teen moms and show them the love and care and comfort that they need. Once a month, the teen moms are treated to a night just for them – with dinner, activities, great conversation, and lots of love. Tonight teen moms and their mentor moms headed out on the town (baby-free!) to watch a movie… something so many high schoolers do every week, but not girls with little ones at home. (I think I’ve personally seen 1 movie in the theater since the birth of my first daughter, 2 years ago.)

I feel so blessed to be able to be even a small part of something so great tonight.

Want to know more about YoungLife and YoungLives? Check it out here, or contact me at jen@littlesproutcreations.com. I’d love to tell you more about why I love YoungLife, or help you figure out how you can get involved.

After creating Isabella’s Princess Party, we were so excited to to design with our client Kristy again – this time for her youngest daughter Charlotte, who turns 2 this week.  We decided on an “afternoon pajama party” theme, perfect for snuggly-fun toddlers.

We designed up a unique fold-down bed card, with party details underneath a “comforter” front flap.

We continued the dot theme throughout Charlotte’s thank you notes, birthday girl shirt, popcorn boxes, and food cards.  On the menu?  Pajama party snacks! A hot chocolate bar (complete with chocolate dipped marshmallows), popcorn, waffles, cinnamon rolls, and Kristy’s famous fruit kabobs.  (Want to find out how to make the sweet pink popcorn below?  Stay tuned later this week.)

The birthday girl will entertain from the comfort of a bed set up in the middle of the party room, complete with colorful blankets and pillows.  We also designed a name banner, and made a snuggly coordinating pillow with Charlotte’s initial.

Kristy wanted to do a “giving favor” again for this party, and what better bedtime snack is there than milk?  Kristy will be donating a week’s worth of milk to needy kids across the world in each guest’s name.  We designed some cute favor tags for Kristy to attach to board books for the toddlers to take home.  For Charlotte’s older girl guests, Kristy decided to donate reading and writing materials to kids, also through Samaritan’s Purse. We made some custom, personalized journals for those girls as well, to represent the writing materials donated in their name.  Love it.

We put together a board book to be read at Charlotte’s party.  Kristy provided some amazingly cute pictures of Charlotte, and requested that the book be all about how much Charlotte loves to smile.  So fun!

Happy 2nd Birthday Charlotte!

Today in Indiana, my husband’s grandparents are celebrating 60 years (10x more than us!) of marriage! We designed up some springtime green invitations for them, with help from the rest of Bill and Jean’s family. They’ll be celebrating tomorrow with friends and family at a reception at their church. We’re sad to be missing the party, but are hoping to sneak in a phone call to the happy couple

We designed Jackie’s mini baby shower (a “sprinkle”), hosted by Shaana, a great friend of mine. The colors were a great choice by Shaana, and the snuggly sock cupcakes were so fun to make.

Yesterday, my daughters (22 months and 5 months) and I hosted a valentine’s day party for their playgroup pals.  I asked Leah what kind of a valentine’s day party she wanted, and she remembered a book that we’ve read called “Dinosaur Valentine.”  That, combined with her current incredible love of dinosaurs, led us to plan a unique and really fun dinosaur valentine’s day party.

We decided to make dinosaur crayons for her friends to take home as valentines, a nice alternative to sugary candy and sweets.  We hit a few speedbumps in the crayon-making process, so hopefully we can help avoid any kitchen calamities for you!

You’ll need:
Candy molds (we got ours on amazon, but many craft stores carry these as well.)
Crayons.  Lots of them.  Broken, used ones are great.  We had to buy new, as we don’t have a good supply of broken ones quite yet.  (We made 14 big dinosaur crayons with 96 Crayola crayons.)
Oven, preheated to 350 degrees.
Cupcake liners, two for each color.
- An assistant, preferably one who is little and cute.  This project has lots of kid-friendly steps.

1. Have your assistant check out the molds while you get the oven preheated (to 350) and your crayons ready for peeling.

2. Peel the wrappers off of the crayons. Every last bit. I used a paring knife to slice down the side of the wrapper, and then let my assistant pull the wrapper off.

3. Sort out the crayons into color groups. All the red-shades together, blue-shades, etc. My assistant is just starting to learn about colors, so this was a perfect and fun teaching opportunity.

4. Have your assistant load cupcake liners into a muffin tin, two in each cup. (This will keep your muffin tin in good shape for valentine’s day cupcakes!) You’ll only want to melt as many crayons as you’ll need for your mold. For example, we had 4 dinosaurs in our mold, so we melted 4 sets of crayons per batch. If you have multiple molds, you can do more per batch.

5. Give your assistant a coloring book, as you’ll need to be close to the oven for the next step. Put your muffin tin in the preheated oven. It took about 20 minutes for ours to melt, but you’ll want to check periodically. Once they start to melt, use a toothpick to stir.

6. Fill your molds with the melted wax. You should be able to pick up the inner cupcake liner and pour into your molds. Stick into the fridge and wait about 10-15 minutes for them to harden. I started the next batch of crayons melting while the first set was cooling. Once the crayons are cool, pop them out and fill the molds with the next set of wax.

7. Bag your crayons in small plastic bags, tie with ribbon or twist-tie, and tie on a sweet tag. Feel free to print a set (from the link below) for your own valentines! dinofavortags.pdf

Now some hints:
- You can put two different melted colors into one mold, even use a toothpick to swirl two different colors together for a fun pattern.
- If you get brown melted wax on your finger, do not eat it, even if it looks like chocolate. I made this mistake.
- In our first melting attempt, I used a glass measuring cup and our microwave. I ended up with a stained measuring cup and temporarily burned out our microwave. I’ve heard from many people that this works well, but I found the oven method to work much better.
- Don’t feel limited to dinosaurs! There are so many cute candy molds to choose from. JoAnn had tons in their Wilton section.
- To make this even simpler, try using an oven-safe silicone candy mold, melt your crayon pieces in the mold, and chill. I haven’t tried this, but I’ve heard this works well. Keep in mind that your finished crayons might be a bit shallower than the mold.

Today a sweet girl celebrated her 4th birthday like a princess. We designed up a birthday suite for Isabella with invitations, thank you cards, a birthday shirt and princess skirt for the birthday girl, some fun ribbon crowns for her guests, crown cupcake holders, a banner, and favor tags. Our favorite part? Her mom, Kristy, decided to go with a “giving favor” and donated a fruit tree through Samaritan’s Purse for each guest at the party. Love it. Check out more “giving favor” ideas here.

Happy birthday Princess Isabella!

This afternoon, I hosted the second (and hopefully forever annual) holiday party for our PEPS playgroup.  Last year, we had barely-crawling babies, and this year we had walking, talking toddlers.

Much to the dismay of our husbands, we decided to forego the cookie swap tradition in place of a “favorite things” party.  Each mom brought 3 (of the same) of their favorite thing (under $10) to exchange, so that at the end, everyone would go home with 3 different gifts.  Each toddler brought one $10 gift to exchange.  Favorite mom gifts included travel mugs with hot cocoa mix, homemade applesauce and roasted cashews, sparkly eyeshadow, hand soaps, christmas music, lip balm, and lots and lots of chocolate.

We served pumpkin spice cake, “snowball” coconut cupcakes, cinnamon-sugar roasted almonds (in festive homemade paper cones), and vanilla italian sodas with cranberry swizzle sticks.

At our first holiday party, I made salt-dough ornaments in the shape of gingerbread men for each child to take home as a party favor.  This year, I stuck with the ornament tradition, but let each child craft their own – a reindeer handprint ornament!  To do this at your party, you’ll need:
white cardstock
brown cardstock
washable (really really really washable) ink
markers
gold pipe cleaners
hole punch
thin ribbon

Ink up your favorite toddler’s palm, stamp it onto white cardstock, cut around the print, and glue onto brown cardstock.  Cut out the handprint shape, leaving a 1/4-1/2” white border.  Flip the ornament so the the fingers are facing down (like four reindeer legs), draw on an eye and a big red nose (it’s Rudolph, obviously).  Run a pipe cleaner through both layers of cardstock and bend to make antlers.  Punch a hole at the top and thread ribbon through to hang on your tree.  Be sure to write the artist’s name (and year of masterpiece creation) on it somewhere!

Lastly, a little note to my mommy friends.  Thanks for supporting me… for trusting me with your holiday cards, 1st birthday celebrations, mother-in-law gifts, and even Thanksmas placecards (featuring a turkey wearing a Santa hat!)  Thanks for giving me crafting ideas, secret recipes, and for being my test-clients.  Thanks for cheering me on last May when I decided to start up Little Sprout Creations, and for continuing to encourage me with your blog/fb shout-outs.  You’ve all gone way above and beyond the call of duty to support me, and I hope you know how much I appreciate you.

With Love,
- Jen

This month, I had the pleasure of throwing baby showers for two wonderful women, expecting their second babies in late December and early January.  This morning, our PEPS group celebrated Liz and her arriving-any-moment-now baby with a sweet mid-morning brunch.

One mom set up a yogurt parfait station, complete with homemade granola and sweet berries.  Another brought freshly baked pastries from The French Bakery, in Kirkland.  I baked up some individual raspberry dutch baby “babies” – super quick, super easy, and super yummy.  (recipe below.)

A week ago, Liz sent me an email with the subject line “Mint Everything,” describing her recently-acquired peppermint craving.  Most of the brunch menu had already been decided, thanks to some culinary-goddess mommy friends, but I knew we needed some peppermint touches to make things perfect for Liz.  My crafting-wiz mother-in-law was in town this week and told me about some marshmallow-hot-cocoa-dipping-straws she saw in Good Housekeeping.  We decided to make them minty by using a candy cane in place of a straw, and crushed candy cane in place of red sprinkles.  With that, the peppermint-marshmallow swizzle stick was created, perfect for stirring hot cocoa.  And to be very honest, my crafting-wiz mother-in-law made every one.  And they were awesome.  (recipe below.)

To thank Liz’s guests for celebrating with us (and showering Liz with many many many many many diapers), we treated them to a set of Midnight Mint Craving hot cocoa mix and candy cane marshmallows.

Still eager to make hot cocoa and marshmallows at your house?  I’ll be posting those on Monday, along with other recipes to make a gift set of hot drinks and sweet treats.

Dutch Baby “Babies”
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups frozen
10 oz frozen raspberries
3 Tb granulated sugar
1 Tb lemon juice
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease 9 ramekins.  Using hand mixer, beat together milk, eggs, flour, salt and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in melted butter.  Pour 1/3 cup of batter into each ramekin and bake for 15 minutes.  Dutch baby “babies” will be perfectly puffed and golden.

Thaw raspberries, mix in sugar and lemon juice to make a raspberry sauce.  Spoon over the “babies” and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Serve immediately for best results.

Peppermint-Marshmallow Swizzle Sticks
10 candy canes
2 candy canes, crushed
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
10 regular sized marshmallows

Unwrap bottom half of candy canes and press non-hook ends through marshmallows.  Dip marshmallow into melted chocolate, and then into crushed candy cane.  Enjoy with a warm cup of hot cocoa or coffee.

This month, I have the pleasure of throwing baby showers for two wonderful women, expecting their second babies in late December and early January.

This afternoon, we celebrated the upcoming arrival of Ali’s little girl with a warm and cozy fireside lunch:  bruschetta paninis, personal mac ‘n’ cheese, candy apple punch, hot cocoa with cherry vanilla marshmallows (pink, of course!), and chocolate candy cane cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes.

Instead of routine baby shower games (don’t we moms end up eating enough mashed peas as it is?), we made salt dough ornaments for Ali’s baby’s first Christmas.  A great activity that keeps guests busy, but allows for lots of chatting and giggling.

To make salt dough ornaments, mix 4 cups of flour with 1 cup of table salt and 1.5 cups of warm water.   Knead dough, and add food coloring as desired (food coloring paste works best.)  Create ornaments (see photo above for ideas) and “bake” in the microwave for 3 minutes, checking each minute for burning.

To thank Ali’s guests for celebrating with us, we treated them to a set of hot cocoa mix and homemade cherry vanilla marshmallows, decked out with pink labels.

Want to make hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows at your house?  Stay tuned – we’ll be featuring these recipes (and other yummy holiday homemade gifts) next week.

Over the weekend, a sweet lady turned 60, and her kids decided to throw her an amazing surprise party.  They asked us to create a summery party favor for their 25 guests, and we put together some super cute lemonade mix packets, tucked inside plastic tumblers, perfect for outside sipping.  We made the lemonade mix pouches with yellow gingham fabric, with 4 single serving bags of lemonade mix tucked inside.  To sweeten it even more, we added a custom label, tulle, and matching ribbon.

Happy Birthday, Theresia!

A lot of little ladies are going to be big sisters this fall and winter, and their mommies have asked for big-sister-to-be shirts to announce the news to their families and friends.

Congratulations to all of the big sisters (and mommies) to be!

We had a great time putting together a 1st birthday party for the Redmond/Kirkland PEPS group.  The stars and starlets entered the party pavillion by way of a red carpet, through pillars with their hollywood stars displayed.  The kids made their own handprint impressions to take home, along with personalized gold birthday trophies.

It’s 1st birthday season in Seattle!  This week we had a blast working on Hunter’s puppy-themed 1st birthday party, complete with a t-shirt, banner, hats, printed napkins, and dog-bone-shaped sugar cookies.  YUM.

Hope you have a great birthday, Hunter!

Lilah’s mom asked us to put together a DVD of the videos from Lilah’s first year.  They had tons of great videos and photos, and we put together a photo slideshow and a video clip reel for them, as well as formatted and organized all of their full-length videos to enjoy throughout the coming years.  And of course, what DVD is complete without a custom case?

Happy 1st Birthday, Lilah!