Decorated Table for a Christmas Dinner

Christmas is a holiday we celebrate in December and it is the perfect occasion to decorate a table and enjoy a great dinner, good wine and a dessert to finish very smiling that day.

When Christmas approaches we started making a list of things we want to do. We want our home look welcoming and full of colors and brightness to celebrate each day in December. Our list includes decor, christmas tree, gifts, recipes and many other things.

To decorate a Christmas table we should select colors, the green and red are traditional, but any color as gold, white, brown, orange combined with Christmas elements can offer a nice constraste. The elements to be used can be tablecloths or table runners, an attractive centerpiece. In this case, I have used items already had a steel tree and a christmas crown, but we can also use a vase with Christmas balls, candlesticks and candles, an arrangement floral, or you can make your own centerpiece with natural elements like flowers, pine cones, nuts, fruits, etc. To complete the design of the christmas dinner table you can used dishes decorated with Christmas prints, cutlery, glasses and cups.

Often you can see chandeliers on the Christmas table, because the light is representative of Christmas

Cupcakes with Christmas Sprinkles

Any excuse is good to taste a sweet cupcake and now is time to celebrate Christmas and what better way than with a shaped cupcakes Christmas tree.

Those cupcakes are decorated with buttercream flavored rum raisin, and although the cream is delicious, today my attention was stolen by those Sprinckles of Christmas that I used to decorate the cupcakes, leaves and red holly balls were complemented with a fondant little star. Sprinkles are small sugar figures that are used to decorate cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc.

Cupcakes decorating the Christmas table

Cupcakes decorated with scent of orange blossom Buttercream and Christmas Sprinkles

Sprinkles is a famous bakery in USA with The World's First Cupcake ATM dispenses freshly baked cupcakes and cookies.

Lemon and Strawberries Buttercream Cupcakes

Cupcakes to celebrate the first birthday of a little princess. Combining the buttercream and fondant decorations for cupcakes, gives us attractive and professional results, however it can be more laborious because we have to work with more ingredients. But for a few cupcakes with lemon and strawberry flavored, worth sacrificing for.

The pastry bag is a kitchen tool that we can find it of cloth, plastic, silicone. Used to decorate cakes, cookies, cupcakes with buttercream, meringue or chocolate. The pastry bag is used with nozzles in one end, in order to give different shapes to the decor.

The pastry bag and nozzles allow us to do different variety
 of decorations in our cupcakes.

Souvenirs for a Baby Shower Party

The best way to thank friends attend our parties is giving them a beautiful souvenir that allows them to remember the event. The souvenir or memories is a small detail that makes the invited person happy. We can do the souvenirs with our own hands to make it special and unique, however in this case, when I saw this little doll in a store, I thought that it would be the best souvenir for a girl baby shower party.

Cute souvenirs in a white basket



The reason for the party is to welcome to a new baby that will be born soon. What better than this little doll to represent it. The truth is this doll has its history. "At the beginning of the pregnancy, baby´s father bought a musical star. The musical star would be heard by her little baby every night. Mommy would put the musical star in her belly and the baby could hear the melodies. When I saw in the store this little doll with a star, the first thing that came to my mind was that this little doll is my baby".

Chocolate and a thank you card to complement the gift



Souvenirs were part of the decoration candy table



Souvenir is a small detail that makes happy guests at the party

Baby Faces Cupcakes for a Baby Shower Party

When the arrival of a baby approaches, they begin to flutter the ideas in the heads of the mother and her friends. Her priority is start with the preparations for the Baby Shower Party and Plan a Candy table with delicious Cupcakes.

Cupcakes filled with tangerine buttercream

The roller helps us to knead the fondant, we must ensure that it is a non-stick material. In the market we can find rollers of different materials, silicone, nylon and plastic, those are the best option to work with the fondant more comfortably. The roller is used to extend the fondant and to have a perfect finish in the shapes we need to mold.

Cupcakes in the candy table

The wooden rollers are not suitable to work with fondant because 
it will stay stuck!

Witch Hat Cupcakes for Halloween

Halloween is the perfect excuse to bake cupcakes. The traditional festivals are full of joy and what better way to spend a good time eating a sweet dessert. This time a witch hat to decorate the cupcakes in a tonight as terrifying as it is Halloween.

Sometimes the fondant is too hard to knead, because depends on the temperature. That usually happens in cold weather. In those cases we can separate the fondant in small pieces and introduce a few seconds in the microwave, so soon acquire a warmer temperature and will be more easy to mold.

Witch Cupcakes to celebrate Halloween Party

The history of Halloween witches

An ancient legend that the old witches were meeting twice during the year: April 30 and 31 October. Satan realized the call and they came mounted on broomsticks, to share spells and black wisdom in those ghoulish festivities.  The word "witch" derives from the old Saxon word "wicca, or wise". And it was thought that witches, being possessors of magic, also had the highest wisdom. Today Halloween night is also recognized by all " the night of witches".

Maya the Bee in Fondant Cupcakes

Decorate cupcakes with attractive insects for children has been fun. Today the colorful insect Maya the Bee is the protagonist, this beautiful bee is used to decorate the children parties.

The technique Modeling with fondant is not difficult, however, to make perfect and well-defined fondant shapes are required a lot of practice to get skill and perfection.

Fondant should be well kneaded. When the fondant to stretch and it is elastic enough, we can use it and begin to do the shapes. If the fondant is well kneaded, it will prevent cracking at the time of modeling.

Cupcakes in the candy table

The Story of the Bee Maya

Maya is a bee born in a bee hive during internal unrest: the hive is dividing itself into two new colonies. Maya is raised by her teacher, Mrs. Cassandra. Despite Mrs. Cassandra's warnings, Maya wants to explore the wide world and commits the unforgivable crime of leaving the hive. During her adventures, Maya, now in exile, befriends other insects and braves dangers with them. Maya is prisoner by hornets, the bees' sworn enemies.

Prisoner of the hornets, Maya learns of a hornet plan to attack her native hive. Maya is faced with the decision to either return to hive and suffer her due punishment, saving the hive, or leaving the plan unannounced, saving herself but destroying the hive. Maya makes the decision to return. In the hive, she announces the coming attack and is, totally unexpectedly, pardoned. The forewarned bees triumph over the hornet attack force. Maya, now a heroine of the hive, becomes a teacher, like Mrs. Cassandra and shares her experiences and wisdom with the future generation.

Special Cupcakes

I enrolled in a course in creative pastries "Todo Cupcakes" to learn new techniques and combination of flavors to make a colorful, delicious and professional Cupcakes.

I've been learning a little about the secret of the cupcakes from the hand of a talented girl named Julia Guarch. She is famous in networks by its beautiful pastry work, we can see their work on her web postreadiccion. It never hurts to do a course in which you can learn, improve techniques, learn the latest trends in confectionery, meet people and most importantly have a good time.

Today, the world of pastry is very large, everyone wants to make beautiful cakes, funny cupcakes, original cake pops, perfect macarons and stop counting. There are so many options in the bakery, so at each event or meeting you can surprise and you may be surprised with the creativity we see in all the desserts.

I have a long way to go to achieve a professional cupcake, only it be achieved with experience, enthusiasm and love of art!

Baby Shower Fondant Cutters

In the market there are a variety of fondant cutters with different sizes and shapes to decorate cupcakes with fondant. This time we will use cutters with the shape of baby bottles, horses, baby clothes and strollers to decorate some cupcakes. This type of decoration is aimed at baby shower parties or meetings where the arrival of a new baby is celebrated.

Fondant cutters are necessary tools to making well-defined shapes in cupcakes decorations. It is very important hydrate the fondant with vegetable shortening, it help to get a most flexible fondant and also It is used to lubricate the fondant cutters.

Vegetable shortening

It is used to hydrate the fondant, making it more flexible and also it help us prevent sticking to the work surface.

Cupcakes change dramatically when are decorated with fondant. When we use our fondant cutters we can play with colors and get different results.

Fondant cutters help us make flat figures, if we want to create figures embossed can be done with the fondant molds!

Ladybugs in Fondant Cupcakes

We continued working with the fondant. This time the decoration is related to that tiny insect that many parents choose to celebrate the first birthday of their babies. The ladybug is an insect that is characterized by its red color and  black spots. We can buy the fondant red or we can dye the fondant with dyes.

Gel Dyes

Fondant should be dyed with gel dye. It is not recommended use the liquid dye because softens the mass. In the market there are a variety of brands of edible dyes, we can select the one that best suits our needs. We can keep trying until we find the brand that we like.

Ladybugs decorating the party table

Ladybugs are very attractive, their spots and their color attracts the attention of children and adults. His biggest fans are farmers because that ladybugs have an intense appetite. They eat insects and help to keep protected crops. In many countries, the cute ladybugs are considered symbols of good luck.

Decoration for Hello Kitty Party

I was looking for a special theme to prepare the first baby girl birthday party. I found this lovely kitten of all time, Hello Kitty. If you start to plan the party a little late, Hello Kitty is the best choice to decorate the event, because this kitten is so famous that whatever place you look you will find items to decorate the birthday party.

Decoration

Birthday party decoration is always based on the colors and elements used. The result will depend on how we use each element. Using a range of specific colors like green, pink and white and combining them with different elements like balloons, tablecloths, plates, glasses, etc. helps us get a homogeneous decoration. If you like crafts you can design a few pins for the guests, and a Hello Kitty with  Eva foam for the wall.

Candy Bar

The sweet table became the attractive point for people in the birthday party. This candy bar was decorated with variety of sweets including Cupcakes, marshmallows, jelly and a beautiful fondant cake.

Gift for children

Children parties are always full of surprises. At the end of the birthday party the children are very happy with their gift.

Souvenir

The small gift that the guest receive is how we thank for attending the event. You can select a small gift, in this case a cupcake wrapped with a personalized bookmark.

Games

I also wanted to include other elements that would provide children and adults fun. The games are a way to entertain the kids at the birthday party. Short and fun games, accompanied by prizes for the winners, will make the birthday party be a memorable event for children. The games played at this birthday party consisted of placing the lasso in the Hello Kitty head in the correct position, guess age baby according to the picture and answer questions related to the history of Hello Kitty.

Hello Kitty History

Hello Kitty born in the suburbs of London, England, on November 1. Her height is described as five apples and her weight as three apples. Her head accounts for approximately half of her total body mass. She is portrayed as a bright and kind-hearted girl, very close to her twin sister Mimmy. She is good at baking cookies and loves Mama's homemade apple pie. She likes to collect cute things and her favorite subjects in school are English, music, and art.

Hello Kitty made ​​with Eva Foam

Create craft things for children's parties is a fun challenge. On this occasion, a Hello Kitty  designed with Eva Foam to entertain kids in the party.

Eva Foam (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate), is used in educational and creative techniques in schoolwork and crafts, among its features we can mention that is resistant to climate change, low water absorption, can be recycled, is not toxic, it is washable, easy to paste, cut and paint.



Elements used to make a flat and basic Hello Kitty

Eva Foam in colors like Pink, green, white, yellow and black. (In this case I chose these colors because the party decor is pink and green).

Scissors.

Cold Silicone.

Brushes , tempera or acrylic paint (in case you want to emphasize the edges of the figure).

Procedure

1.- I made the mold by my hand and although I did not stay perfect. It is  Hello Kitty, the cat. (You can get a mold by internet).

2.- Cut out the pieces ( head, eyes, nose, whiskers, hands, sleeves, collar, dress, tie and feet).

3.- Place with cold silicone the pieces on a basis of Eva foam as if it were a puzzle. The base may be in pink or black. The cardboard can also serve as base.

4.- The lasso will not be sticked because for the game which it was done will be the children who will  place it in the right place, at the Hello Kitty's head.

The kids have fun playing the game "Putting the lasso to Kitty"

We can include in the children's party a small detail made in Eva Foam, for example a brooch that we can assign to the children. In this case the green one for boys and the pink for girls.

This small detail can apply to children's parties with different thematic

How to Plan a Birthday Party?

A birthday party requires planning and organization because we must consider many details. If you want the birthday party be a success, begin with the preparations as soon as possible, in this way you can work each point of the birthday party well organized and calmly. Enjoy planning the birthday party, because it will bring you satisfaction and the learning that you will be able to use in your future birthday parties. But if you do not identify with birthday party decorations, you do not have time for it or you have no idea how to start, It is better to leave it in professionals' hands or at least read this guide that will surely give you some ideas on how to start.

1.- List of Guests

This is the first point that we must develop, because knowing the people' quantity, we can establish a limit in the budget. We can select the place with the suitable size, acquire the quantity of necessary elements (plates, glasses, chairs, etc.), we can define the quantities of appetizers, drinks and sweets to prepare and finally we can buy or make the exact amount of souvenirs for each guests.

2.- The Time, Date, and Place

When we talk about birthday parties any time is good, you can arrange a breakfast or lunch, although when it comes to children the most common is the snack time, but if the birthday party is for adults it is best to do it at night. When you seek the day of the birthday party, try to select a date that have free both you and your guests, this will ensure that none will be missing the event. The perfect place for this type of birthday party, is your own home, but If it is not possible for reasons of space or location, you have the options to do it in a park, in a restaurant or you can even rent a place, today we can find premises for parties in a variety of unimaginable business, schools, children's hair salons, theme parks, etc.

3.- Decoration and Theme

Create the perfect decoration in the birthday party is not an easy task. The theme of the party, is the starting point in decoration, can be cartoon characters, costumes, sports and anything that can inspire us can serve to develop a funny theme. Knowing the theme, we can define the colors that we will use in the decoration (pink, green, blue, gold, red, etc.), the necessary elements (banners, tablecloths, napkins, etc.), we can customize the decoration because brainstorm probably it will arrive to our mind and creativity will emerge. The important thing is to take advantage of the decoration to convert the space into a pleasant and magical place for our guests.

4.- Candy Bar or Sweet Table

If you want to see your little guests and even adults with a big smile on their faces, must there be a candy table in the birthday party. We can make a budget depending on the number of guests, however it is advisable to include variety of sweets (cupcakes, cookies, jelly, chocolates, macaroons, etc.) but it is not necessary to make a sweet of each type for each person, thinks that not all eat the same. The way we exhibit our sweets it is important to attract diners, we can use our own housewares as cupcakes stands, attractive trays, glass jars, vases and can even identify each dessert and with this the guest knows what they are eating.

5.- Menu and Drinks

Food is an important point if you do not want the guests leave soon of the birthday party, if you like cooking yourself can prepare meals or you can hire a caterer which bring food to the party time. You always have the option to prepare cold snacks (fruit, cheese, crackers, vegetables, etc.), prepare easy dishes that the guests can serve themselves (salads, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, etc.), another option is to set a specific time for the snack of the children, so we can use a big table and the children can share together. As for the drinks, you probably know the favorite drinks of your friends, however, it is good to include variety and that the same guest select what you take during the birthday party (soft drinks, juices, cocktails, etc.), in the children's parties should not include alcoholic beverages and in summer it is advisable to increase the budget on drinks and ice.

6.- Games and Entertainment

When the birthday party is to adults, the  entertainment could be limited to music, but for children's parties besides music, we must include variety of activities to keep children entertained and happy, among the most common options is to develop a list of games,  craft, you can design a frame and add some funny accesories for a photocall, both children and adults will enjoy it, and if the budget allows we can rent a bouncy castle, children will  jump almost all the time, we can hire clowns, magicians or people dressed as the theme of the party, this kind of shows makes children to be very happy.

7.- Gift or souvenir

Prepare the gift for friends guests is a point that it will take time, we must to broach it as soon we know the number of guests. This small gift is a souvenir that is given to the guest as a thank their support to the event. In the case of children it is common that this gift be candies and toys. Only we must consider the age of children to give them a gift that they can enjoy.

Birthday parties are very important especially for children and can be a simple or very attractive birthday party, always will become an unforgettable memory.

Cupcakes for a Hello Kitty Party

Hello Kitty Cupcakes decorated with Fondant to celebrate a little girl first birthday. Children would like to try a sweet cupcake at the party. The fondant formed from water, sugar and glucose becomes our ally when we cover our cupcakes and make them fun and attractive to children.



To make those cute Hello Kitty faces just need fondant, coloring gel, edible market, Hello Kitty shape cutter and roll to extend the fondant.

1. First knead the fondant until it is completely elastic.
2. Dye the fondant with gel dye.
3. Extend the fondant with a roll in a flat surface.
4. Cut the Hello Kitty shapes with the special cutter.
5. Cut the ties or small flowers to complement.
6. Paints eyes and nose with edible markets.

Cupcakes are part of the decoration in the sweet table

The lovely Hello Kitty produced by the Japanese company Sanrio and designed by Yuko Shimizu has won the hearts of girls of all time. Many other cartoon are imposed today, but Hello Kitty is always very close to us. Hello Kitty is so famous that not only found in toy stores but is also in theme parks, restaurants, even in Asia is the Hello Kitty airplane.