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Posts Tagged ‘birthday cakes’

Princess Peach Birthday Party

Friday, September 11th, 2009

!Bj5(Vpw!2k~$(KGrHqUOKikEsnzBhq-(BLVSSh0+6g~~_12 Super Mario is one of the bestselling video games of all time. Therefore, Princess Peach has many loyal fans as well. If your daughter loves Princess Peach, this would make a very fun and unique party theme for their next birthday celebration. This party theme will not only incorporate Princess Peach, but also the princess theme that most little girls love.

You could start off your Princess Peach party planning by purchasing a personalized invitation on Ebay. There are quite a few different designs to choose from including invites that also feature Mario. The Princess Peach invitation displayed here is courtesy of Ebay seller Pixie Dust Decor and More.

For your party supplies, I would suggest purchasing a princess design. There are two very cute (and pink!) designs to choose from including the Birthday Princess Deluxe Party Pack and the Fairytale Princess Deluxe Party Kit. Once you decide on the partyware design you like, you can then select the items you would like for your party table and decorations. Since Princess Peach is the guest of honor, you should also include her in your decorations and table setting. There is a Princess Peach Cardboard Stand-Up that would make the perfect accent to your party room. You can also have each of the party guests take a photo with Princess Peach.

Ebay seller Tony Photo Balloons offers a fun line of custom Princess Peach balloons including Princess Peach and Baby Peach as well as many other Super Mario characters such as Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi.

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Ebay seller Nany’s Banners sells a custom Princess Peach birthday banner that would make a great addition to your party decor. The banner is available in various sizes and can even be personalized with your child’s name.

Another idea for your party table would be to purchase a Princess Peach figure or plush toy. You can decorate a box or stand in the princess/Super Mario theme and then top with Princess Peach. Place this in the center of the table or make two centerpieces if you have a large table. You could also toss 1UP mushroom candy tins and tiaras around the party table. At the end of the party, the guests can take one of each item home with them as part of their party favors. To finish off the party decor, purchase a few Princess Peach posters to hang around the room. There are so many ways to create a festive party table for this theme, so have fun with it and get creative!

peach1 Ebay sellers carry a nice selection of Princess Peach party favors including candy wrappers, custom gable favor boxes and mini pinata favors. You can visit my Super Mario birthday page for lots more party favor ideas including Super Mario Kart Candy Container, Nintendo Gummies, Nintendo Controller Mints, Nintendo KLIK Candy Dispenser, Super Mario Star Candy Tin, and Wii Candy Dispensers. Designed2BSweet carries a nice selection of Princess party favors.

Time for cake! One idea for a Princess Peach cake would be to bake any type of cake that you want and then add a Princess Peach figure to the top of it. You could also decorate the birthday cake with Super Mario figures and a Princess Cake Topper. Ebay sellers offer a great assortment of Princess Peach edible cake images. These cake toppers are simple to add on to any home baked cake. The Princess Peach edible cake pictured here is courtesy of Ebay seller Cake Imagination.

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If you are baking Princess Peach birthday cupcakes, there are many princess cupcake supplies available including a Wilton Princess Cupcake Stand, Princess Cupcake Picks, Princess Baking Liners, Princess Cupcake Wrappers and more. You could also make your own cupcake picks by printing out Princess Peach images and attaching them to toothpicks. Then simply insert the toothpicks into your cupcakes.

A fun party activity would be a pinata. Ebay seller awesomepinatas creates a fabulous Princess Peach pinata (pictured) that would be great for your party. You could also use a Princess Peach poster and play “Pin the Tiara on Princess Peach”. Coloring pages are another fun party activity. Place the coloring sheets on the party table with lots of crayons. For your Princess Peach party craft, you could have the girls make a tiara or a make a Princess. Designed 2BSweet carries a large selection Princess party crafts & supplies!

To finish off your party planning, purchase a Princess Peach shirt and matching bottle cap necklace on Ebay that your daughter can wear on their special day! Some of the shirts can even be personalized with your daughter’s name. Party tip: A Princess Peach bottle cap necklace would also make a great party favor!

Hope these ideas have helped you with your Princess Peach party planning. Please view my other blog posts for more party ideas based on video games.

Super Mario Birthday
Guitar Hero Birthday
Sonic the Hedgehog Birthday

Related Links:
Princess Peach Toys & Gifts
Super Mario Toys & Gifts
Find More Princess Peach Party Supplies on Ebay!

Tags: birthday, birthday cakes, party, Party Favors, party theme, princess, princess party, princess peach, princess peach birthday, princess peach party, princess peach party theme, super mario, super mario birthday, super mario party
Posted in Party Themes | 5 Comments »

Sweet Creations

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

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Angie of Sweet Creations began decorating cakes about 5 years ago after her youngest daughter turned 2. She had been in the retail and design industry for 25 years before she had children. After her children were born, Angie and her husband decided to move to Texas so that she could stay home with them.

Angie loves to cook and design, so baking seemed to be a logical path for her to follow. She took the Wilton Decorating Courses 1-3 at her local Hobby Lobby and everything blossomed from there. She began creating little works of art for some of the local residents and word slowly got out about what she was doing. It took a couple of years but she is at the point now where she doubles her orders each year.

The most Angie has received for a cake so far has been $600. This included all the supplies and time that was put into making the cake. After all her costs were taken into account, she is not sure she charged enough. She is still in the process of learning the different aspects of running a cake decorating business. As she gains more knowledge about the business, she will have a better idea of how much she should be charging for her cakes.

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The best advice Angie would like to give someone interested in getting into the cake decorating business is to take it slow in the beginning with the purchasing of pans and specialty items. You will find that when you first get started cake decorating everything is so exciting that you may want to run out and start buying lots of cake pans. However, you will find that unless you have someone ask for a specific character, you may never need or use that pan again. Or in Angie’s case, she has several shaped pans that have never been used because she custom carves most everything she does. Therefore, she recommends building your cake supplies up slowly.

Angie loves using fondant and also creating 3D shapes. She finds it so much easier to create the details on parts of the cake that cannot be done with buttercream. Fondant also hides the little oopsies that each cake seems to have. She prefers to use Satin Ice ready-made fondant and has it shipped in from Cakes by Sam. She finds they have a great website store and their prices are very reasonable. Angie lives in a very small town and she can’t find any of the specialty cake items there. The Internet has so many resources that you can find anything you need with a click of a button.

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One of the biggest decorating mistakes she ever made on a cake was using a very moist chocolate fudge cake as the bottom tier on a three tier topsy turvy cake. No matter how many supports she tried to use, it would not keep the shape and as you can imagine had to be re-done. She never thought that a cake being too moist would cause a problem, but she learned to use a firmer cake on the base when it is more than two tiers high.

Out of all the cake designs that she has done, Angie’s favorite was a 3D horse lying on his tummy. Those big eyes looking up at you were so sweet and the reaction of the little boy who received the cake was priceless. She has another cake that is closer to her heart. Her oldest daughter drew her own three tier birthday cake and Angie was able to duplicate her drawing . Her daughter was so proud of her work; it was like she made it herself!

For children’s birthday parties, Angie enjoys creating cookie favors that match the party theme. Instead of giving out candy and other items, each child receives a hand decorated cookie to bring home. She recently did one of a John Deere Tractor cake and matching favor cookies. They really turned out great. She also made an adorable Wubbzy birthday cake with matching kickball favor cookies. Besides making great party favors, displaying the favor cookies is a wonderful way of adding to the birthday party decor.

Although Angie is self taught in many areas of cake decorating, she hopes to one day have a chance to take classes from some of the great cake artists of our time!

To view more of Angie’s gorgeous cake and cookie creations, please visit her flickr photo gallery.

Tags: 3d horse cake, birthday, birthday cakes, cake decorating, cake decorating business, fondant, horse cake, john deere birthday, john deere cake, party, satin ice, sweet creations, wubbzy birthday
Posted in Featured Cake Decorators | No Comments »

Meet Cake Lady Tiff

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

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Tiff earned her degree in culinary arts…not pastry. She loves to do absolutely anything in the kitchen. She has a constant need to be creative, and once she learned every station in various restaurant kitchens, she began to gravitate toward the pastry end of things. Tiff has never attended any cake decorating classes, however, she did work as a baker at a restaurant for three years, and at a bakery for three months. For the most part, she is self-taught.

She has now been decorating cakes for about 15 years and officially started her business, Shortbread City, about two years ago. Tiff’s cakes, cookies, and pastries are made to order. One of her highest priced cakes was a custom chopper cake she did for a night club owner. It was in the $400.00 range. She has also done wedding cakes, which of course, can get even pricier. She does a lot of custom work. Examples of her work can be seen at her website.

The best tip she can offer a person just getting started in cake decorating is to take advantage of all of the shows that are on television now. When she started, there was no Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, or Amazing Wedding Cakes. These shows really give you a sense of what the business is like. You get to see things from start to finish. It’s very difficult to learn without seeing things in their raw stages. There are also tons of resources on the internet where you can ask questions and look at tutorials. If necessary, take a class to sharpen your skills or learn something specific, like gum paste flowers. As long as you are already comfortable with the actual baking, you can teach yourself the majority of the decorating.

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Tiff uses different methods for different things. She loves buttercream between layers of cake, and homemade marshmallow fondant to cover the entire tier. It provides a nice canvas for everything else, and the cake stays fresh. She makes figures from fondant, and uses royal icing to do fine decorations that have to be piped. She also does a lot of hand painting on her pastries.

The biggest mistake she ever made while decorating a cake was probably not giving herself adequate time to stop and take a break! If you are physically drained while being creative is not a good thing. You can be on autopilot when you do the prep, i.e. making buttercream and cake batter. Once you need to create, though, the gears in your head will screech to a halt. There is a very emotional side to working in a kitchen that a lot of people don’t know about.

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Even though it was difficult for Tiff to chose her favorite cake, she would have to say that her Princess cupcake tower holds a special place for her. It was the very first cupcake tower she had ever done. That’s where it all started.

Tiff specializes in custom cookie cakes. Her cookie cakes are the reason she chose the name Shortbread City.

How To Make a Cookie Cake: The cookies are created by piping dough freehand onto a cookie sheet. There is no raw egg in my dough, which means that she can work with it longer while still being safe. Then she shapes it by hand to give it more definition, and bakes it. If she needs sharp angles, she rolls out the dough and cuts it, then bakes it. She mostly uses royal icing for the detail work on the cookie plaques. Her first cookie cake was for her son. She had stopped a frame of the Spider-Man movie and copied what she saw. She poured tinted carmelized sugar for the windows. The finished product looked like the Daily Bugle with Spider-Man swinging across it.

To view more of Tiff’s wonderful cakes, cookies and cupcakes, visit her website, Shortbread City, or her flickr photo gallery.

Tags: birthday, birthday cakes, buttercream, cake decorating, cakes, cookie cakes, cupcakes, fondant, party, princess, princess cupcakes, shortbread city, spiderman, spiderman cake
Posted in Featured Cake Decorators | 1 Comment »

Ahoy Mateys! It is time for a Pirate Party

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

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Pirate birthday parties are a very popular party theme. This party theme is timeless and most likely many boys (and girls) will continue to chose this theme for their birthday celebrations. Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies have just added to the popularity of this old time favorite party theme. If you are hosting a Pink Pirate party for your daughter, please visit my Pink Skull Party page for lots of party ideas!

As with all of my party ideas, start your party off with a fun birthday invitation. You can purchase personalized Pirate invitations on Ebay that are always a big hit. You can even add your child’s photo to many of these birthday invitations. There are many unique designs to choose from including treasure maps, pirate ships and Pirates of the Caribbean. Tiny Prints and Polka Dot Designs offer some a nice selection of personalized Pirate birthday invitations including a pirate ship, treasure map and a pirate skull designs.

Once your invitations have been selected, it is time to decide on the party supplies. Currently, there are many partyware designs for a Pirate theme including the Pirates Deluxe Party Kit and Buried Treasure Party Kit. You can also find Pirates of the Caribbean party supplies on Ebay.

Cake time! I have put together a Pirate birthday cake page that includes every kind of cake you can make for this theme. This includes pirate ship cakes, treasure island cakes, treasure chest cakes, cakes using edible cake images, Pirate cupcake cake as well as many fun cake toppers, candles, Wilton Pirate cake pans, and cupcake supplies. You will also be able to view a nice selection of Pirate cakes created by very talented cake artists. This will help spark your creativity. There are also links here to full recipe instructions to complete many of the cakes featured on the page. Check out all of these fun pirate cakes ideas here! *Pirate cake image displayed here is provided courtesy of Cakes by Sugar Girl.

Ebay sellers offer a large selection of unique party favors for your Pirate theme birthday party. Some of these include personalized candy wrappers, Pirates of the Caribbean gourmet cookie favors, Pirates of the Caribbean M & M’s, chocolate coins, handmade chocolate lollipop favors, mini pinata favors, eye patches, bandanas, plus many wholesale party favors that can be purchased inexpensively.

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Candy Warehouse carries a large selection of Pirate candy favors including Pirate Skull Lollipops, Pirates of the Caribbean Pez Dispensers, Pirate Skulls & Crossbones Gummies, Pirate Mints, Gold Chocolate Coins, Pirates of the Caribbean M & M’s, Pirate Candy Treasure Chests, Pirates of the Caribbean Gold Mesh Coin Bag, and more.

Designed2BSweet offers a nice assortment of Pirate party supplies and favors including ‘Pin the Eyepatch Game’, Gold Nugget Gum, Pirate Bubbles, Cardboard Hats, Inflatable Swords, Pirate Masks, Goblets, Inflatable Pirate Cooler, Stickers, Pirate Craft Kits and more.

Be sure to have fun Pirate theme activities for the kids to do. Some ideas include: Treasure Hunt, Walk the Plank, Peg Leg Race, Panning for Gold, Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate game, Pirate Bingo, and Pirate Bean Toss game. If you would also like to have a party craft available for the kids, there are pirate ship, treasure chest and pirate hat crafts you could purchase. You could also set out Pirate coloring pages on the party table for the kids to color.

You can finish off your party planning with a personalized Pirate birthday shirt purchased on Ebay for the guest of honor to wear on their big day!

Tags: birthday, birthday cakes, kids party, party, Party Favors, Party Games & Activities, party theme, pirate, pirate birthday, pirate cake, pirate party, pirate party supplies, pirates, pirates of the caribbean
Posted in Party Themes | 5 Comments »

Cakes by Jen

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

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Jennifer has been decorating cakes for ten years now and her work is amazing!

The first cake she ever decorated was a Scooby Doo cake for her son’s 1st birthday. After creating that cake, she was hooked!

Jennifer is self-taught and has never attended any cake decorating courses. When she first became interested in the art of cake decorating, she wanted to attend some classes. However, like many of us, was never able to find a convenient time. And, when she did finally find some free time to go, her cake decorating skills were too advanced for the courses being offered. So, now she teaches the classes!

She is currently a part-time cake decorator. She sells her cakes and finds that she receives the most money for her wedding cakes and carved cakes. For example, a castle cake she did for a little girl’s birthday was carved and had lots of details. A cake like that takes forever to do and she receives the most money for that type of cake.

Everyone is always telling her that she should open her own bakery, but she feels she is busy enough doing the cakes she is doing. Also, if she opened her own bakery, she would need to hire a staff to help her fill the orders. Jennifer is a self-proclaimed perfectionist and feels she would end up doing all the cakes herself. This would not work well in a busy bakery.

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The best advice she could give someone interested in getting into cake decorating is to practice, practice, and practice some more. You aren’t going to improve or perfect your skills if you don’t do a LOT of practice….and when you mess up really, REALLY bad, it’s a good thing. You can learn a lot from those big mistakes.

The biggest cake decorating mishap she ever had was with her Dr. Pepper cake. She made the cake to look like a glass of Dr. Pepper with a can suspended in air over top of it. It gave the effect of the soda pouring out of the can. She was in a hurry when decorating this cake and didn’t support it as well as she should have. The next morning when she got up, the entire cake had collapsed. She could have cried, but finally recovered, and re-did the cake.

Jennifer uses buttercream on nearly all of her sheet cakes. But, she is starting to use fondant on more and more of the stacked cakes simply because they look so much more clean and professional. The decorating possibilities are endless with fondant.

Jennifer’s favorite cakes are the ones where she gets the biggest reactions from the people she made it for. For example, she recently made a pink gumball machine for a little girl’s 2nd birthday. They were absolutely thrilled with it. Everyone at the party kept asking where the birthday cake was. When they would point at the gumball machine, people wouldn’t believe that was the cake. They’d say, “No, that’s a gumball machine, where’s the CAKE?” One little girl even turned the knob to get some gum. You know you did a good job on a cake when people can’t even tell that it’s a cake. That’s what makes it fun.

You can view more of Jennifer’s gorgeous cake creations by visiting her flickr photo gallery!

Tags: birthday, birthday cakes, cake, cake artist, cake decorating, cake decorator, cake photos, cakes by jen, carved cakes, castle cake, fondant, party, scooby doo birthday, wedding cakes
Posted in Featured Cake Decorators | 4 Comments »

Disney Princess Belle Birthday Party

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

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Disney Princess Belle was my daughter’s favorite Princess when she was little. While she did like all of the princesses, the story of Belle captured her imagination the most.

Many little girls have Disney Princess theme birthday parties including all of the princesses while others choose just one princess as their party theme such as Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel or
Tinker Bell. (Tinker Bell is not actually a Princess, but I like to include her!) However, I don’t often see a Belle birthday party. Why? It is my belief that the reason for this is that many people do not realize that there are Princess Belle party supplies available for purchase on the market. You can get partyware, favors, cake supplies, balloons and more with only Belle on it if that is your daughter’s favorite Princess. I will include a large assortment of those party supplies below. So, if your daughter’s would like Belle as their guest of honor at their next birthday party, you will be ready!

Start of the party planning with personalized Belle birthday invitations which can be found on Ebay. There a many invitation styles to choose from and you can even add your daughter’s photo to some of these invites.

Once you decide on your birthday party invitations, you can pick out your partyware. Ebay seller Sweet Treat Favors carries a full selection of Belle partyware including cups, plates, cupcake toppers, treat bags, napkins, candle, centerpiece, balloons, tablecover, plus many party favor items. You can accent the party room with a large imprinted Belle latex balloons, personalized Belle birthday banner, large Belle mylar balloon, and wall decorations. Ebay offeres unique Belle custom centerpieces that would make wonderful addition to your Belle party decor.

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The next step in your party planning is the birthday cake! As I mentioned above, Ebay seller Sweet Treat Favors sells Belle cupcake picks. So, if you decide to make birthday cupcakes for your daughter’s party, you will be all set. Simply bake and ice the cupcakes and add on these fun picks. If you prefer to bake a cake for your Belle party, there are many edible cake images listed on Ebay that you could apply to your home baked birthday cake. A petite cake topper would also make a great Belle cake decoration.

If you would like to bake a castle cake for your daughter’s Belle birthday party, there are many castle cake pans available including a Enchanted Castle Pan, Nordi Ware Castle Bundt Pan, Romantic Castle Cake Pan, Fairytale Cottage Cake Pan and more. There is also a fun Wilton Crown Cake Pan that would be perfect for a Belle party theme.

Now, if you really want to win a ‘Mom of the Year’ award, you can create a Princess Belle doll cake like the one I have pictured above. This cake image was provided courtesy of Sweet Creations. These doll cakes aren’t terribly hard to make and the smile on your daughter’s face when she sees is will make it all worth while! If you have never made a doll cake before, find out how to make a doll cake.

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Now that you have decided on your invitations, party supplies and cake, it is time for the party favors! Again, as I mentioned above, Ebay seller Sweet Treat Favors carries a nice selection of party favors. Some of the items they have include Belle blowouts, lollipops, buttons, ribbon batons, as well as loot bags and favor boxes to store the goodies. Other Belle party favors that can be found on Ebay include lip balm, pencils, bubbles, stickers, candy wrappers, mini discs, and mini pinata favors. Ebay also offers Belle pez dispensers that would make nice favors. You can pick and chose the items you want to include in your favor bags.

Ebay seller awesomepinatas, custom makes a Belle pinata (pictured) that your daughter will love. Other party activities include coloring pages, princess wand craft, make a crown craft, and rainbow bracelet craft..

Finish your party planning with a fun outfit for your daughter to wear on their special day! They can wear a Belle costume. You could also purchase a custom Belle shirt or dress and boutique hair bow on Ebay for your daughter to wear. .

Tags: beauty and the beast, belle, belle birthday, belle party, birthday, birthday cakes, disney, doll cake, Invitations, kids party, party, party supplies, party theme, princess
Posted in Party Themes | 4 Comments »

Summer Pool Party Fun

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Summer is right around the corner and it is time to start thinking about Pool Parties! A pool party makes a terrific theme for summer birthdays as well as a great way for your children to get together with friends over the long summer months.

My favorite partyware for this theme is the Pool Party design. I just think it is perfect for a pool party. It is fun and colorful and it is very easy to tailor all of the other party items around this design. You can get beach ball decorations, yard signs, coolers, beach ball cookie favors, candy wrappers, craft projects and lots more. Other pool partyware designs include: Summer Delights, which is has an ice-cream design, Flip Flop partyware, which is covered in a bright flip flop design and Summer Fun, which is covered in beach balls and beach pails/shovels.

There are also many pool theme cakes you could create like a 3-D Beach Ball Cake, Swim Ring Cake, Flip-flop Cake, and a Swimming Pool Cake!

Party favor bags can include beach balls, sunglasses, inflatable beach toys, premade pool party packs, and other pool theme items. You could also order personalized pool party candy wrappers. They are available in many different designs.

Many people wonder if a party craft is necessary at a pool party. It is really up to you, but I do think a party craft is always fun. The kids will be doing a lot of swimming at the party, but if they want to take a swim break, you can provide a fun summertime craft for them. Summer theme magnet crafts, door hangers and necklaces are always a great choice. They generally don’t take too long to complete which is a good thing because you know the kids are going to want to get back into the pool fast!

For birthday party games, you can purchase some fun pool toys such as volleyball, ping pong, swim through hoops & dive game, sunken treasure pool game, water slides and squirters.

If you are planning a pool theme birthday party this season, I hope you have a blast!

More Summer Theme Parties!
Hawaiian Luau/Beach Party
Ice Cream Party

Tags: birthday cakes, birthday party, kids birthday, kids party, Party Crafts, Party Favors, Party Games & Activities, party theme, pool party, summer party
Posted in Party Themes | 1 Comment »