My son Josiah turned a year old this past Sunday. A YEAR. I'm a little sad about his babyhood leaving so soon. Anyway, I threw a little birthday party for him at home. I knew I wanted the "Little Man" theme, so I picked a color scheme, and went shopping. I expected a party of 12 and I promised everyone dinner.
If I'm being honest, not everything went according to plan. I really, REALLY wanted someone else to make a cake for this shindig because though I am good at making things taste good, I definitely lack some skills in making things look good. However, I got going on my search for a cake decorator a little too late. My husband encouraged me to at least consider making something on my own. After giving it much thought I decided to give cupcakes a try (and I'm glad I did).
I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some mustache cupcake toppers, mustache liners, and the 1 candle for Josiah's cupcake. I made the chocolate cake from scratch (which is just as easy as buying cake mix), and made the icing out of powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, butter, and food coloring (my sister said the icing tasted like "vanilla ice cream" by the way!). I had all the ingredients needed to make the cupcakes and only had to purchase butter and powdered sugar for the icing. So, this cupcake display only cost me: $12!
Things you should know:
- I messed up the first batch of cupcakes. I put too much batter in each cupcake liner and they poured over and stuck to the pan while baking. When I tried to pry them out, they crumbled. I said some bad words, went to bed, and tried again the next morning. For the second batch, I only filled the liners a little less than half way and they ended up working out.
- I colored the icing with food dye. I made the turquoise looking ones by adding half blue and half green (5 drops each), then I just did blue in the second batch of icing.
- I used Betty Crocker's recipe for chocolate cake and vanilla butter cream frosting.
For dinner, I made spaghetti and meatballs, with a side of crusty, buttery french bread. I made all from scratch, and it only took about an hour and a half to prepare both. The only ingredients I had to buy that I didn't have at home were noodles, tomato sauce, and ground beef. The total cost for dinner for 12 people: $15! (Click here for my spaghetti and meatball recipe, and here for my french bread). |
For decorations and other party needs from Hobby Lobby, I bought a banner, some mustache napkins, and mustache straw inserts. From Walmart, I bought some balloons, colored plates, forks, and cups.
Decorations and paper supplies: $17 Cupcakes: $12 Dinner: $15 Total cost for Josiah's first birthday party: $44! |
I was proud of myself for spending less than $45 for a nice first birthday party for Josiah, and he enjoyed it. Happy First Birthday little man.