For Ally and Hudson’s class valentines this year, we went with what else but sugar cookies. Minted has the most darling stationary, from invitations, party decor, thank you cards, and everything else in between. I discovered their adorable line of gift tags and thought they’d be perfect to tie on to each cookie. Ally and Hudson chose their favorites, so we ended up with a red elephant saying “I’m nuts for you” and a pirate saying “me hearty belongs to you” (my fav, and SO Hudson).
I gotta say, they turned out pretty cute. Ally and Hudson can hardly wait for their classroom parties to hand out their treats! And who could order just the gift tags with so many adorable Valentine photo cards staring you in the face. After looking at every card and debating which one was the cutest (good luck with that), we chose this one.
You may have already chosen your child’s valentine, but there is always a birthday party, wedding, graduation party or baby shower on the horizon. Here’s where it gets good. Minted is giving away a $100 gift certificate to one lucky Jenny Cookies reader.
Here’s how to enter:
6 ways to enter! Each person can leave up to 6 separate comments if they do all the tasks listed below. The more tasks you complete- the more comments you can make- the higher your chances are of winning!
1. “LIKE” the Jenny Cookies Facebook page, and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.
2. Follow Jenny Cookies on Twitter and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.
3. Facebook, tweet or blog about this giveaway, then come back here and leave a comment saying you did so.
4. “LIKE” Minted on Facebook and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.
5. Follow Minted on Twitter and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.
6. Follow Jenny Cookies on Instagram and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.
Include in your comment whose classroom Valentine you like better, Ally’s elephants or Hudson’s pirates. Arrr!
Good luck! Giveaway ends Wednesday, February 20th at 11:59 PST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced the following day.
My crazy fun friend Kaylee of Kaylee Eylander Photography threw the best Neon 80′s party for her daughter Estelle’s 9th birthday. Being a child of the 80′s, I instantly loved the theme, and was thrilled to create a coordinating dessert table for Estelle’s big bash.
With neon cake pops, cupcakes, 80′s shaped sugar cookies, and a two tier multicolor cake with a giant hot pink bow on top, I think we nailed it!
My sweet Ally James is now 7. SEVEN! I swear I start every one of my children’s birthday party blogs with the same first paragraph. I can’t believe he’s THREE…I can’t believe he’s FOUR….I can’t believe she’s FIVE…I can’t believe she’s SIX….. Well, we are at seven. Still can’t believe it.
Since Ally was 18 months old, she’s been head over heels for Cinderella. At age 3, she spent three solid months in her Cinderella dress. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. FOR THREE MONTHS. We’ve watched the movie more times than we can count, and have stood in the princess line at Disneyland for more hours than I’d like to admit. Ally was soon nicknamed Cinderally for her overwhelming passion for all things Cinderella. So coming up with Ally’s birthday party theme was pretty easy. CINDERELLA! To make it a little more creative, we went with Cinderally’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
Ally invited 25 of her classmates, friends, and family to join her for an afternoon of princess pampering and a royal tea party. Guests were greeted with tutus, magic wands, crowns and princess jewelry. After their princess attire, the girls moved on to the hair, makeup, and nail stations for their makeovers by the Fairy Godmother herself! The girls were given Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique bags to collect all sorts of fun treats like lip glosses, glitter spray, nail polish, etc. as they worked their way through the makeover stations. After they got all their goodies, they crafted necklaces and bracelets, and painted princess jewelry boxes.
The royal tea party table was set for 26, just enough for each girl and one surprise guest. When the clock struck one, our special guest arrived…who could it be, but Cinderella! When Cinderella walked through the door, Ally could hardly believe her eyes. She beamed from ear to ear, never once taking her eyes off Cinderella. She arrived just in time to enjoy all the tea party sweets. The table was overflowing with cakes, cookies, cake pops, cupcakes, and just about every dessert you could imagine. Cinderella took time to greet each and every guest around the table, even our very own Prince Charming AKA Hudson, and then read the girls princess stories. Ally never stopped smiling.
And what would a party be without a Jenny Cookies dessert table? We did 3 textured buttercream cakes, magic wand cake pops, pink marshmallow pops, cupcake bites, mini cupcakes topped with baby blue chocolate hearts, and sugar cookies in the shapes of glass slippers, carriages, crowns, wands, and hearts. The desserts sat atop various cake plates, in front of the most amazing vintage tile backdrop we rented from Vintage Ambiance, and surrounded by darling florals by Flora D’Amore. For the final touch, we hung a gold and crystal chandelier above the table. It was magical!
As if we didn’t have enough dessert, my husband and I decided to make Ally an actual Cinderella cake. It was quite the experience. We spent an evening carving cake to shape Cinderella dress, and I decorated Cinderella in blue buttercream roses until the wee hours of the morning. When the cake was done, it was gorgeous, but ended up being almost 4 feet tall! A little too tall to transport. So we had to call in a friend with a van to get Cinderella to the party! We placed Cinderella on her own table, in front of the cutest tassel garlands made by The Flair Exchange.
After the guests were all sugared up, they danced to Cinderella songs, had their individual photos taken with Cinderella in our vintage door photo booth, and left with Cinderella spa salts as a favor.
When it was all said and done, I felt as if I had just thrown a wedding, but it was well worth all the work. So much time and love went into throwing Ally’s party, from crafting all the decor to baking my heart out, but she couldn’t have loved it more. Even at the age of 7, she noticed every little detail and gasped with each new creation she saw. Appreciation and love make every hour of lost sleep worth it!
Happy 7th Birthday sweet girl!
Thank you to all the amazing vendors who helped make Ally’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique nothing short of magical!
Enchanting Princess Events: Cinderella!
Molly Vaden Photography: Photography
Caskey Design : Cinderella invitation
Vintage Ambiance: Vintage rentals
Flora D’Amore: flowers
The Flair Exchange: Tassel garland & Balloon Tassels
Basic to Bombshell: Fairy Godmother makeovers
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. All the hearts, the red and pink, the classic conversation hearts, and all the love that’s in the air. So fun. But my favorite is the vintage valentines. I love, love, love vintage valentines.
So last year, while Dan watched the Superbowl, I baked and set up a fun Valentine’s Day cookie decorating table, vintage valentine themed. I invited a couple of my friends and their children over for a heart shaped pizza lunch and an afternoon of buttercream icing and sprinkles.
In December I met Bachelor alums Jason and Molly Mesnick at Santa’s Secret Workshop. Jason and Molly have been married now for three years, live here in Seattle, and are expecting their first baby together this March. I was thrilled to create a dessert table for Molly’s special day, her “baby party” as she called it.
Minted designed a darling invitation and coordinating party decor. Using gender neutral colors (gray, green, yellow, and white) along with baby animals, giraffes, elephants, zebras, and sheep. To incorporate the stationary into the dessert table, I pulled the colors into the icing, and made animal shaped sugar cookies to coordinate with the invitation. With Minted’s matching table confetti, I made a bunting to hang across vintage windows, and made an even tinier one for the top of the cake.
Our table was featured on people.com as well as E! online, Yahoo, Project Nursery, The Bump and more. The shower was also shown on E! News with Giuliana Rancic, giving Jenny Cookies a great shout-out! Yay!
Congratulations Jason and Molly! I can’t wait to meet your new bundle of joy!
Back in October, I had the pleasure of creating a dessert table for Tori Spelling’s youngest daughter Hattie’s 1st birthday party. Hattie, known as Hattie Cat by her family, is just an absolute doll. Tori chose a Mad Hattie Tea Party theme, with Alice in Wonderland accents.
For Hattie’s dessert table, we decided instead of a separate table for desserts, we’d use the tea party table as our actual dessert table. Tori has an incredible farm table that seats 16, which was perfect for this party. We used mismatched vintage chairs for seating and set gorgeous vintage china teacups at each place setting. The abundance of overflowing desserts made up our centerpiece. I made 5 different cakes, 3 different kinds of mini and regular sized cupcakes, cake lollipops, sugar cookies, brownie bites, rice krispy treats and more. It was a dessert feast! Paper lanterns hung above the table creating the tea party scene from Alice in Wonderland. It was more than perfect. I have to say, this was one of my favorite tables ever!
Happy 1st Birthday Miss Hattie Cat!
