Host a cupcake birthday party!

Mom of three, Sarah Deveau threw a cupcake birthday party for her two-year old on a small budget and with minimal work. We got the lowdown from her on how she did it — from where she bought the chef hats the kids wore to the grownup cupcake party that took place in her kitchen.

Sarah, looking for birthday party ideas, was inspired by the cupcake-decorating parties offered by a Calgary-based kids’ party planning company, Annabell’s Attic. But she opted to save some dough and replicate their pricey party package herself using creativity and some simple, easy-to-find materials.

Shopping List:

• Cake mix (unless you’re a bake-from-scratch kinda person). We like the idea of having chocolate, vanilla and maybe something fruity like lemon or cherry.
• Icing (while we usually pick up cake mixes to save time and energy, we typically make icing from scratch, but those ready-made tubs that are located right beside the cake mixes are pretty handy)
• Tiny candy and/or sprinkles
• Food colouring
• Ramekins or small shallow bowls
• Chefs’ hats
• Aprons
• Cardboard bakery boxes

First, Sarah splurged on kid-sized chefs’ hats at 10 bucks a pop from Mishu’s Baby Boutique, and cupcake aprons from Snug As A Bug. Then she raided her local dollar store for cupcake-themed dishes.

She baked cupcakes using a mix and added a variety of food colouring to canned white frosting to give the kids some colour options. Ramekins filled with a selection of inexpensive candies (mini marshmallows, sprinkles) gave them even more decorating choices. Sarah decorated some cupcakes herself to inspire the kids, and displayed them on a tiered cake plate.

Large pieces of kraft paper were tacked up to the wall behind the cupcake-decorating station, so the girls could colour on the wall between bites. The mothers drank tea, ate cupcakes and chilled in the kitchen and made forays into the dining room to take photos and videos of the kids. Their daughters donned aprons and decorated cupcakes. At the end of the party, each guest got to take home an apron, chef hat and a box of cupcakes. Sweet!

The beauty of the cupcake party is that the activity, the menu and the take-home loot is all the same. Oh, we guess you might want to feed the kids some non-cupcake food too. If you’re throwing the cupcake party for slightly older kids, get them involved in the mixing and the baking and the icing-making. You could also invest in a few icing tips so the kids can play around with their cupcake masterpieces. For further cupcake party instructions, just invite us along to the party; we promise we’ll be helpful and won’t just be there to eat the delicious, delicious cupcakes.