Pirate Party Food, "Shiver Me Timbers I'm Hungry!"

Mates,

Here is a quick look at some of the food I put out for this party.  With many school mates running a muck I had plenty of pizza and other mini pirate friendlies for them to feast on.  I also had a platter of fancy sandwiches for the parent folk...

 The veggie planks were a big hit...I should serve this more often at home, maybe my kids would eat more veggies without the typical family stress at dinnertime. 

 I love Dixie cups...and not for drinking out of.  They are the perfect snack holder at parties for little hands.  Parents scoop in the fish into the cups for the kids to eat on the go.  Love it!

So I will make these available to you for printing somehow...  Please stay posted on that given Scribd is no longer an option.

Happy day everyone, hope you are spending it with family.

xox
Dish

Sweet Shoppe Birthday Party Cupcake Toppers

For the Sweet Shoppe party I created these personalised cupcake toppers but if I had the opportunity to do this theme again I think I would try to be a little more creative.  Yes, they looked great and matched the theme but I wish I would have pursued real candy toppers.  Perhaps creative candy figurines made out of various candies and stuck together with icing or fancy retro candy straight from Charlie's Chocolate Factory.  How exciting would cupcakes be with the twirly multi coloured suckers sticking out of them?!  Please share with us if you come up with other wonderful ideas!

One more night of the Candy Shoppe and then we will move on to other fun things and ideas.  Don't forget Mother's Day is quickly approaching so you may want to give that some thought when planning activities/crafts with the kids this weekend.

Night all, its been a long week and I need to veg!

xox
Dish

The Sweet Shoppe Birthday Party Sweet Box Printable

What would a Sweet Shoppe Party be without a matching bag or box to take candy or baked goods home in?  It would stink in my opinion and be just plain unfair....so here you go.

Designed to fit a cupcake but certainly limited only by your imagination.  You may download it here but please note it needs to be printed on an 11x17 to make the 3 inch cube.  Please also note....not a ton of fun to cut out and put together but I will leave that most certainly in your capable hands.

Back to working on my day job.

Night all.
xox
Dish

Start The Season Off Right: Bunny and Nest Cupcakes

I went into my crafting archive for this post as I thought we needed to start off the food part of this season with something sweet and easy!  Let's be straight ANYONE can pull off the nest cupcake with some coconut and Cadbury Mini Eggs. 

If however you have a Sunday free why not try crafting some bunny heads with either some modelling chocolate (you can buy or make) or fondant.  To create the bunny ears I used  two sizes of flower cutters (the petal portion specifically) and stuck them together.  I then painted the nose and inner part of the ear with pink luster dust (luster dust, some colourless vanilla and a paint brush).  The hardest part of making these little bunnies was trying not to permanently stain my hands while mixing a small amount of fondant with black colouring to make the eyes. 



Fun right?

Get the kids involved in this one.

Night all.

xox
Dish

DIY Ocean/Nautical/Under The Sea Party Cupcake Toppers

I just love how the cupcakes turned out for the party.  They were a hit and the bakery loved the toppers too which is saying a lot in my mind since I am certainly not a professional!! 

I really struggled and pondered how I was going to make the shark fins as paper I thought would just end up absorbing the oils from the icing and eventually look terrible.  I considered the following alternatives: foam, cookies, modelling chocolate, laminated paper etc etc and it was only when walking around the baking supply store that I came up with the answer.

Sugar Sheets by Wilton!!  What the heck are those?!  Anyway I'd never heard of them but I thought I would give them a try as it seemed to be the perfect answer to my problem and they worked fantastically.  See how I made them below. Oh...they tasted good too.

Then the life preservers which I also brainstormed as to how I would create.  I tried a few things (jellies, modelling chocolate etc) but the painting of the life savers certainly was the easiest, least time consuming and least likely for me to mess up.  Big hit. 

Give it a whirl folks. 

xox
Dish

The Under The Sea Nautical 1st Birthday Party: General Overview

Well it was a wonderful day but I'd be lying through my teeth if I tried to pretend I wasn't exhausted...falling asleep in front of the computer screen exhausted.  As promised however here is a small teaser of today's festivities.   More to follow....

My baby brother is a star and goes to any length for his nephews.  I abuse him like any big sister should but I love him and he always comes through...what a super sport.  You rock bro...thank you (you too Jill).

This gentleman was welcoming his fellow sailors and ushering them through to the galley for the festivities.  Welcome aboard all!

A brief peak at the under the sea party room.

So off to bed for a deep slumber.  Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday (remember no blog post).

This week look forward to free printables and instructions as to how you can create much of this party for yourself.

xox
Dish

February's Entry Into The SwellDish Toronto's Best Bakeries Showdown: Sweet Bliss Baking Company

Foodie gal pal and I started our year of finding Toronto's Best Bakeries and we started the bar off high by going to Sweet Bliss Baking Company in Leaside (411 below). 


First a quick note on judging criteria (which you should never discuss with a "foodie" unless you mean business!).  Each bakery will be judged on 3 items, the first a chocolate cupcake, second a butter tart and third the staff suggestion as to the bakery speciality.  Should the bakery speciality be either the first or second item, we the judges reserve the right to choose the third.

The bakery is judged on the shop, staff, value, packaging, product look, taste (broken down into 5 categories and given a star value from 1-5) and then an overall rating for the experience.  Most of this info you will never see but we will use it to determine our supreme winner at the end of the year.  Clear as mud right?! 

The Sweet Bliss Baking Company, owned and operated by Chris and Christine for the past 6 years was this months visit and entry into the contest.  This fantastic duo is happy to chat about the shop, their products and really added to our "experience" at the store.  The store itself is quaint, country and homey which is a pleasant surprise when coming in off the busy Toronto street.

Check out the three judged items below:  Chocolate Cupcake, Butter Tart and (we chose) the Cinnamon Roll which appears to be the weekend favourite from this shop.

The chocolate cupcake was by far the day favourite by both judges commenting on the perfect balance of flavors between the sweetness of the frosting and the weight of the cake.  Five Stars

The butter tart was a close second with a creamy, caramelly centre (no raisins, yeah) and a buttery crispy crust.  It was delectable although one of us preferred a softer crust similar to a more traditional tart mind you unquestionably we would still drive across the city to get one.  Four Stars



The cinnamon roll rounded out the day and although very good was shadowed by the first two items.  That's what you get I guess for raising the bar so high Sweet Bliss.  Three Stars.

We left this store with the following (which in itself should speak volumes):

1 chocolate cupcake                        1 butter tart

1 cinnamon roll                               1 red velvet cupcake

1 carrot cupcake                              1 whoopie pie

1 bag raspberry jam cookies           1 bag double chocolate cookies

1 lemon pound cake                        1 lemon square

1 vanilla cupcake



Some of the items were good and some were EXCELLENT but ultimately the experience was a pleasant one and we are grateful for the entry.

Thanks again Chris and Christine.  See you very very soon.

Remember friends, no post tomorrow.  See you Monday.

xox
Dish

Sweet Bliss Baking Company -- Cupcakes and Cakes
1304 Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario M4L 1C4
416.916.7895
sweetbliss.ca

Will Groundhogs See Their Shadows Tomorrow? We're Ready!

I think these are hysterical and perfect for celebrating Ground Hog's Day (does anyone do that?).  This photo took some serious bribing with a box of smarties but was totally worth it.  I printed multiply copies of the photo, cut out the background and attached the wee groundhog via sucker stick (and tape) to the cupcake.  Half of the cupcakes I spooned Oreo crumbs in front of the photo to make it "look" like a shadow and the other half we left as is with the icing as the snowy background.

We have bets as to the outcome of tomorrows "sighting" but we are all praying for an early spring!

xox
Dish

The Speedway Party Part One

Here is the Speedway party that I did last year that really turned out to be a lot of fun.  Although you may feel that this is a bit complicated you can scale down the graphics and stick to the concepts.  All of this was done with a design software but you could create similar looks with cut and paste (the old fashioned way...literally scissors and glue) and Microsoft Word.  Be creative and think outside the box.  Also to personalise party hats simply print your design or logo onto adhesive paper and affix to the hats. Very very easy and yet so often forgotten...remember there is no age limit to the party hat ;o)

I love paper cupcake toppers (yes I know...all you chefs are cringing) because it's an inexpensive way to personalise them.  Price it out yourself, paper on a stick with your child's name on it is much cheaper than a fully decorated cupcake that matched your theme.  The sticks are sucker sticks you can buy from any craft or cooking/baking store. 

Stay tuned for more ideas from the track.

The Beginning: The Circus Party

Throwing my creativity in the direction of children's parties actually started with this circus party late 2009.  I desperately wanted the exterior of our home to be as welcoming and creative as the inside for this party so I put together a mini tent that you had to walk through before you entered our home. 
It was super easy to make, you can do it too!  You need a hula hoop, rope, fabric, hook, heavy duty safety pins and bows. 
1. To start make two identical panels out of the fabric (above was from Ikea) and at the top of each panel fold it over 2" and sew the edge to the panel (so you can feed the rope through it).
2.  Feed the rope through both panels and gather the material together at the top of the tent.   Once you have connected the two panels tie the ends of the rope and cut excess. 
3.  Next you take your hula hoop, lie it flat and using two long pieces of rope tie their ends to the ring so they cross (one piece is tied to the north and south area of the hoop, the other tied to the east and west). 
4.  Feed the strings with the hula hoop through the underside of the fabric and through the loop at the top of the fabric panels, link both ropes to the hook. 
5.  Hang the hook somewhere low so you can work on the top of the tent.  Use the heavy duty safety pins to attach the fabric rope ring (fed through the panels) to the ropes attached to the hula hoop. 
6.  Use safety pins to connect the fabric panels together at the level of the hula hoop on both sides.
7.  Use safety pins and bows to tie back the panels to make the tent openings.

Clear as mud right? 

Second photo were the cupcake toppers I created for the party.  Love having things personalised!

Butterfly Party 2

A few more photos from the Butterfly Party this past summer.  The Cricut was again used for the cupcake toppers (not those on the sticks), wrappers and for the banner blue appliques.  All the rest I created with a design software.   Little Molly had a blast!