The Snowy Day Christmas party

Over the weekend we had an early Christmas party with family because all the weekends til Christmas are already booked. Because my 14 month old daughter absolutely loves The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, I chose this as the theme.


I use to host big Christmas parties every year and make gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate, but I didn't want to make too much work for myself. So we bought half of the food, didn't do the gingerbread houses, had it after lunch for a dessert party, and only invited family.

I made paper napkin rings with Peter from The Snowy Day. I found this image online and cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop, printed them out and used a scalloped punch.

I used these also to decorate some of the candles.

We served baklava, cheesecake, 7 layer bars, lemon bars, chocolate mousse with an oreo crumbs, cookies from Coscto, puff pastries, and had cheese and crackers.



ohhhh, these puff pastries from Costco are soooo yummy! they come frozen and you bake them for 18 minutes.

This is the chocolate mousse with oreo crumbs at the bottom. Do you like the tiny glasses and spoons? I bought the shot glasses from Ross (6 for $4) and the spoons from Ikea (6 for $5). And the spoons are the perfect size for my daughter who is learning how to feed herself with a spoon.

These are from Costco too. love them!

My cheese ball snow man. I enjoyed making this guy. He's made from Philadelphia cream cheese (chive and onion flavor). I rolled him up in mozzarella and Parmesan and used peppercorns and a carrot to decorate him.

I absolutely love these flameless wax candles from Costco. (Can you tell I am a huge fan of Costco?) They use AA batteries, have a timer, and smell like vanilla. But in addition to that, they are non toxic like some real candles and don't have the possibility of burning down the house if my daughter knocks them over. They come 4 to a pack for $20 (but i got mine with a coupon for $16). I was telling my mother in law about them and how much i love them and guess what? she bought me more! she is so sweet!

I had a craft for the kids to make, a Christmas ornament. I used Photoshop to get headshots of all Sofia's cousins on one photo and printed it at Costco. I made 2 different sizes because I wasn't sure what size would be best. I found an image of the plush doll from The Snowy Day online and printed a few different sizes so that I could find one the perfect size to match the pictures of the kids. I made a template and cut out the snowsuit in felt.

I was planning on giving each kid 2 pieces of felt, one with a hole in the face for the picture to show through as it was sandwiched between the 2 pieces. But after making the ornament for my daughter, I gave up and wanted something easier. It was a pain cutting out the pieces from the felt, especially the hole where the face would show through. So i just had the kids cut their faces in a circle and glue to one piece of felt.

the finished product.

the is the one I made for my daughter.

The party favors were red, snowflake, Christmas ornament frames with each family's picture in it. I used them during the party to decorate the mantle.

My daughter was supposed to wear this red velveteen pants and hoodie so she would match Peter from the book, but i completely forgot about putting it on her. she actually wore her pajamas all day that day! oh well. The party was great! i ate so much and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I love being with family and love Christmas time! So this year, I'll be experiencing Christmas a little longer since the house is all decorated even before Thanksgiving.

My daughter's 1st birthday party

Here are rest of the pictures from my daughter's Wallace and Gromit birthday party. To save money, I tried to make most of the food. I also made most of the decorations since I couldn't find party supplies for this theme. I worked on the party about a month before the party spending 1-2 hours on it a day, then the week of, I put in several more hours.

We served Mexican food for lunch. Most was homemade. I made a lot of the food beforehand and froze it. I did some research for food that can be made in advance and still taste good after being frozen.

The food table wasn't very pretty so I'm not posting any of those pictures, but the dessert table was my favorite project. I made several bite] sized desserts. The table is a little too immaculate, I think. Maybe a green tablecloth would have been better.

I made the banner and these little Shaun and Gromit faces from paper.

I made more cake bites, similar to what I've made in the past, except these were made from strawberry cake. Also I used my brownie pan to make them square shaped. I did that a couple weeks before the party and froze them. I dipped them 2 days before the party.

These were also strawberry, but covered in chocolate

This is the only Wallace and Gromit thing I own, besides the DVD's. I love this clock. I bought it from the Suncoast Motion Picture Company years and years ago when Wallace and Gromit was a new movie. I wish there were stores in the US where I could buy more stuff. I could buy online but I'd like to avoid shipping costs.

I made rice krispy treats a couple days before the party. Such a easy to make dessert and one of my favorites.

I made seven layer bars, but left out the butterscotch chips, so that made them 6 layer bars.
These freeze really well. I made these a week in advance and froze them.

Brownies!! love these boys! I ate a bunch. I made these a week in advance too, and froze them.

My friend made these beautiful whoopie pies.

Behind the whoopie pies in the 3 tiered stand, are a walnut vegan dessert my mother-in-law made.

Gromit sugar cookies I made.

I made the cake from a cake mix from the store. I also bought the icing from the store too. I colored some green and pink for the flowers and the grass. Shaun is made from polymer clay.

I had pictures from each month of my daughter's first year of life and mixed them up for a game. People were supposed to put them chronological order....but got too busy and forgot to do the game. Oh well, at least it was pretty! ha ha!

And that is that!! It was a lot of work but it was a labor of love. Anything for my favorite little girl! But it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed baking and crafting. Since I've become a mommy, I haven't had time like I used to do all these things.

I'm a member of the Wallace and Gromit website and they have contests each month. I've submitted a few things in the past. I submitted the above picture this month. Oh I would love to win!! There's nothing like free Wallace and Gromit stuff!!

Butterfly Themed Baby Shower

This weekend was my good friend's baby shower. I made the favors and two of my friends and I made the desserts for the dessert buffet. I made the chocolate covered strawberries, mini chocolate cupcakes and square cake balls. Here are a few pictures:

the favors had an assortment of Hershey Nuggets in them. I just used regular pink and purple paper. I cut the butterflies freehand and the flower was made from a punch.

I made mini chocolate cupcakes with Valhrona chocolate on top

square cake balls

Some other things I made before I had this blog

i started a Flickr account and was posting some of my pictures there. i found i have a few pictures that i haven't posted here because they were taken before i started this blog. here they are:

i made these cupcakes last Christmas. They are chocolate cupcakes, covered with vanilla frosting and decorated with pieces of chocolate and a royal icing "carrot." I really liked these. I'll make them again this Christmas. by the way, it's only 6 months til Christmas, yay!!!!!!!

The next few pictures are from my sister's baby shower a year ago. This is the dessert table

my sister in law made these cute little ducky cupcakes

the favors were 2 inch boxes with chocolate inside. the ribbon was from Michael's and the ducks were from Wal-Mart. They were really cute fuzzy stickers

i filled the duck with miniature M&M's

mini lemon cupakes

This was the first cake I've decorated (a year ago). it's kind of messy. i still haven't taken a cake decorating class....i would really like to this summer