Ninja Party: Dessert Table (Party Part II)

To see the sneak peek of the party invitation, click here.

For Part I of the party (table decor), click here.

 

Every good party deserves a good dessert table right?   

 I LOVE a good dessert and/or snacks table at a party.  It really showcases the food, gives you more choices (for those that don't want cake) and in our case also give your guests a little something more to take home with them!

Since there aren't many "ninja specific" foods, I went with more of a red, black and white color scheme with the desserts.

Hand dipped fortune cookies, oreos, hershey kisses (with cute little party coordinated stickers on them)...

   

I displayed black and red Twizzlers in glass vases adorned with ribbon and paper pinwheels (meant to mimic Chinese throwing stars)...

   

Yogurt Covered Raisins, Strawberries (healthy option) and Swedish Fish - not pictured (mmm... Swedish Fish...).

 

My favorite dessert project however (and the favorite of the party guests) was the faux sushi:

Made with Rice Crispie treats, assorted gummy candies, fruit roll-ups and Fruit-By-The-Foot.  They turned out pretty cute (if I do say so myself).

Cole requested chocolate cake but I know not everyone likes chocolate cake, so I did white cake ninja cupcakes as well. (free printables from here)

I've learned from past experience that I can NOT frost a cake to save my life (and my sister-in-law who makes the most amazing cakes lives 4 hours away now) so I just ordered a cake from the local grocery store-- knowing I wanted a cake that was as plain as possible (and as inexpensive as possible). 

I ordered the cake-- just plain white-- no borders, no writing.  I got some weird looks both when I ordered it and when I picked it up and said "perfect!"-- but it really was just what I wanted.

Then since the whole reason we were doing a ninja party was because of my son's obsession with LEGO Ninjago (and the black ninja -- ninja Cole- which was essentially named after my son) I took four of his Ninjago mini-figures (washed them with soap and water) and placed them on top of the cake-- no need for fancy (or expensive) custom cake toppers when I already had the perfect solution right in our... toy box. (sounds weird I know, but it worked!)

We had so much dessert/snacky type food that I also bought some clear treat bags (20 for $1 at Walmart) and asked guests to fill a goodie bag before they left (in addition to the kids goodie boxes that they would get at the end of the party.)  I'm happy to report MOST of the candy/desserts went home with other people!

All in all, I was pretty happy with how it turned out and it was a big hit with kids and parents alike!

Oh and the reason that we had to have both a cake and cupcakes (besides the flavors) was this:

Cole got to cut his cake with a REAL Samuari Sword.   He was SO excited!   

And see the back of his shirt.  His birthday party shirt was my first project with my Silhouette Cameo.  I have never been so excited about a t-shirt before, but I LOVED it. (that's the Japanese symbol for the number five- for Cole's 5th birthday)

And a little "behind the scenes" look at the dessert table and the fabric backdrop I created for the dessert table.

So, do you do a dessert table at your parties?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm just going to pretend that it hasn't been more than a MONTH since my last post and just carry on as if I've been blogging right along.  If I just pretend I haven't been ignoring my blog then maybe its not true.  Right? :)

Aaaannnyyyy waaayyy....


Look who came to our house last night!

This little guy snuck in last night and left Cole a pot o' gold!!

He left 5 clues around the house that led Cole to his surprise.

Thanks to a last minute decision to use these awesome FREE printables from One Charming Party and a late night hunt for supplies, we had a lot of fun this morning.  Cole was SO excited about the whole thing.  Thanks One Charming Party for ANOTHER great idea!

 Hopefully I'll be back later today with MORE St. Patrick's Day fun!

ps-- those stinkin' Gold coins were hard to track down at this time of year!

source list:
Chocolate Gold Coins:  iparty   If you're thinking of doing this next year, I would consider buying them  
                                                   around Christmas when they seem to be in abundance (and cheaper)
                                                   -- $4.83
Ice Cream Cups:  I couldn't find these anywhere so I bought a small white tin at Michael's (with a 40%        
                            off coupon of course!) -- $1.20
Paper Easter Grass:  Five Below -- $1.00
Free Printable:     from One Charming Party-- FREE
LEGO minifigure:  LEGO  these are "luck of the draw" surprise packets so you don't know which one
                               you've gotten until you open the package but it can CERTAINLY be done without
                               the minifigure guy $2.00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cole's school Valentine's cards.  Idea and FREE printables from here. 

 Teacher gifts.  Idea/Inspiration from here.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Let's Call It a Football Party (so I don't get sued)!

Sorry I'm skipping around a bit, but I just wanted to share my latest party while it's at least a little bit timely.  I'll be back with more details about the "girly party" soon.

Football.

#1.  You know the name for the big game that just happened?  It's copyrighted.  So...

#2. We had a "football" party for said big game.  It was a small party, but we had a blast!  (warning:  lots of photos taken with very little natural light ahead)

We kept the "menu" very simple with tailgate type foods (for the most part).  We served hot dogs --both in buns and cut up for the little one...

FYI my mustard and ketchup bottles made a come back.  That was one good $2.00 investment.   I kinda love them!

chili cheese (waffle) fries (which look disgusting in these photos but that were actually delish)...

hot pretzels...

popcorn...

rye boat (and carrots) with chip beef dip...

and pizza rolls.  These were kind of a joke-- we saw them in our local grocery ad (frozen foods).  They were called Cole's Pizza Rolls and since Cole LOVES pizza I bought them.  FYI:  They were gross.

For dessert we had football brownies...

OR if you REALLY wanted to go all out we had SuperBowl Sundaes (complete with green tinted coconut to look like turf).

also looks gross, but was sooo good!

Of course this party would've just been a run-of-the-mill tailgate party if it weren't for the AMAZING and FREE printables that I found all over blogland.  

The snack baskets, popcorn cups, pretzel bags and footballs (for the picks) were all designed by Jen St. Clair from Little Sprout Creations as seen on Hostess with the Mostess-- one of my all time favorite party sites.  They also have beverage labels as well with this collection.  Aren't these some of the best FREE ptintables you've ever seen?!

Oh, and the same cake stand that I used here, here and here (hiding under the green tutu) is back and coordinated well with the help of a scrapbook paper wrap.

The straw flags (for this year's game) and the cupcake wraps (that I used for baby carrots) were found at Living Locurto (whom I've been following for a long time).

how funny are those that say "I'm here for the commercials" ?

The banner and food tent card labels I found on Catch My Party (they are from 9 to 5 Mom).

We also played SuperBowl bingo and had football coloring pages and mazes to keep the 4 year old occupied during the game.  Oh, and the Giants won so we were happy campers here -- even though our REAL team is the Pittsburgh Steelers-- next year :) 

Add to these printable pieces a $1.97 tablecloth from Walmart, some solid green wrapping paper for the background (which I already had), some thin brown ribbon (on hand) and (2) $.20 (on sale) pieces of 12" X 12" brown scrapbooking paper (for contrast on the green tablecloth) and I put together this party (not including food costs) for around $2.50!   

Proof that if you're willing to do a little bit of work, you CAN throw an awesome party on VERY little money.