Minnie Mia's 1st Birthday - Part 1 of 3

This post is for a "Minnie Mia 1st Birthday Party" I planned for my niece Mia Marie's birthday a few weeks ago.  My sister asked for mostly red with white polka dots and a little minnie mouse.  I've been planning this party since August and really had so much fun since there was no real budget!  I love throwing parties for my sister and niece because part of my gift to them is the party itself so I don't have to worry about a budget.  My sister and entire family did help out a great deal with this party and I know I drove them crazy with all the details, but we couldn't resist with such a beautifully sweet niece!  My sister and family are all in South New Jersey (I live in CA) so I ordered all party supplies online and arrived a week early to bake the desserts.

All of the desserts were homemade:
- "Minnie Mia Sweet Sugar Cookies" (decorated with red/black sugar sheets shaped with cookie cutter for minnie, 1, & M and white sugar sheets shaped with hole puncher for the dots)
- "All for One Pie Pops" (cherry pie filling with sugar glaze and sprinkles)
- "Mouseka-Cookie Pops" (oreo, nutter butter, and chips ahoy cookies and icing dipped in chocolate)
- "Minnie Mia's 1st Smash Cake" (box vanilla cake with cream cheese icing dyed red and white sugar sheets for dots); the black / red fondant flower was made by Maria Nicoletti of RooneyGirl Bakeshop
- "Walt Disney White Chocolate Cherry Pops" (cherry jell-o with white chocolate pudding on top, push pop containers from The Sugar Diva)
- "Showtime Snickerdoodle Cupcakes" and  "Pluto-Butter Chocolate Cupcakes" (snickerdoodle and chocolate / peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese and fondant ears / bow; the black / red fondant flower was also made by Maria Nicoletti of RooneyGirl Bakeshop

We decorated the dessert table with
- red and black tissue garland from Shop Sweet Lulu
- homemade red and white tissue pompoms
- red and white polka dot small suit case from Shop Sweet Lulu
- red/white polka dot fabric purchased from amazon.com
- homemade "Mia is One" minnie banner, cake stands (made by my father), tutu table skirt, & homemade dessert labels

We also homemade the following for the party:
- smash cake photo shoot so that pictures could be used on a homemade smash cake banner decoration
- minnie cutout invitations with Mia picture on a magnet in insert on 1 side and invite on the other
- month to month banner with pictures from Mia's life
- "Happy Birthday Mia" & "Mia is One" banners
- red / black / white tissue pom poms
- black gable favor boxes decorated with ribbon & Mia picture (contents were 2 cupcakes & a cookie)
- signs for favors, gifts, games
- "Minnie Mia Bean Bag Toss Game"
- "Minnie Mia Activity Book" with minnie mouse pictures to color and personalized word search & word scramble
- Mia's high chair with tutu skirt and "Mia is One" minnie banner
- birthday hat with red/white polka dot fabric, black flower from Michael's, lace ribbon, and minnie, Mia, 1 cutouts
- food labels

Mia's outfit(s) minnie shirt, tutu skirt, hat, bib, shoe clips, bloomers, bow) was purchased by my sister through etsy and other online stores.

This part 1 of 3 shows pictures from the invitations we made & the smash cake photo shoot we did on Mia's birthday.  We then used the photo shoot pictures in a banner displayed at the party.

These chocolate cupcakes with a "tsp" of peanut butter in the center were a real hit!

These snickerdoodles weren't as good, but I think if we melt the chocolate before placing in center they'd be better

Punched sugar sheets for cake dots

the cake before we decorated it

Smash Cake # 1 finished for the photo shoot

Mia's cute bloomers for the shoot

Shoot set up waiting for Mia

Mia & her Mommy

Girlie Christmas Brunch

My friend Maria who is a very loyal return "customer" (Gobble Gobble Pops & Rockstar 1st Birthday Party) and great friend, asked me to help create a dessert table for a Girlie Christmas Brunch where guests would be able to purchase jewelry from Silpada Designs (www.mysilpada.com/jill.edgell).  She wanted to do a nice
late morning party where girlfriends from throughout the state of California could hang out, snack on some brunch / desserts, and purchase beautiful jewelry.

We used pink and grey with ornaments and gems to decorate the table.  I formed cake pops ("Chocoholic Pops") into girlie lips made with guilt free brownies and cookie butter from Trader Joe's.  I also had "Pink Ladies" (mini strawberry cheesecake mousse), "Player Hater Pie Pops" (cherry and apple pie on a stick), and "Skinny Strawberries & Cream with Almonds".  Our mutual friend Maria Nicoletti from RooneyGirl Bakeshop also provided the homemade "Classy Chick Cupcakes".  The labels, paper liners, tissue flowers, felt flowers, and cupcake wrappers are homemade.  The gems and girlie silhouette are from Shinoda Design Center (Santa Ana, CA), ornaments are from Michael's, and the grey table cloth is from Ikea.  We also provided mini decorations (stickers, feather boas, tinsel, ribbon, etc.) to place into glass ball ornaments as an activity for the party.

Create an Ornament Station

Brunch Fixings

Gobble Grub on Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with our friends in Laguna Beach, CA.  I offered to do desserts since they were providing all of the rest of the fixings.  We had a wonderful time and I had a ton of fun doing this table!