Throwing the Perfect Party-It's All in the Details

I wanted to share a few small details from Queen Bee's graduation party.  To me, it's always the little details that make a party special. Above, is the table we had sitting at the entry to our backyard.  I used my grandpa's old vintage suitcase and glammed it up a little for people to leave their cards. Instead of the traditional guest book we wanted to do something unique and meaningful for Queen Bee.  I decided to have guests each write their favorite memory of Queen Bee on a little square of paper and then place them in the glass jar.  It was so fun for us to read all of the memories of people she loves!  Some of our cute younger guests wrote many notes to her, it was so sweet!  They turned out to be a great keepsake from the party.  

I love thinking of things I already have around the house that I can repurpose for the party.  This red metal picnic basket was the perfect thing to corral all of the plates, napkins and silverware.  One of favorite party planning tips is to just look around your house for inspiration.  Base some of your party decor around things that you already have.  

On the inside lid of the picnic basket I taped one of Queen Bee's graduation pictures.  I used Queen Bee's graduation pictures to decorate throughout the party and added some fun travel and adventure themed quotes to some of them.  I love this one from Lady and the Tramp!  This was Queen Bee's very first Disney movie, she was obsessed with it!

Need and inexpensive, simple and meaningful graduation gift that is under $2.00?  Click below.

Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipe-Chocolate, Chocolate Chip

I have an obsession with bundt cakes!  If I had to choose only one type of cake to eat for the rest of my life it would be a bundt cake.  I have perfected 3 different bundt cake recipes through hours of grueling baking and eating research, and I can't wait to share one with you today. 

 There are  four things that fuel passion for bundt cakes.  1-All of my favorite bundt cake recipes begin with a simple boxed cake mix, making them super easy to make.  2-They are always so moist!  You would never know from tasting these cakes how easy they are and that they came from a box.  I have made this cake many times for friends and family and they always rave about it!  3-They are a cinch to frost.  I just plop the frosting in a large ziplock bag, cut off the corner to desired width, and loop up and down the cake while Worker Bee slowly turns the cake plate for me.  4-They are simple and fun to decorate and always look amazing.  On this post I have used the exact same cake pictured four different ways. They look perfect sitting on top of a gorgeous cake stand. You can place a giant silk flower in the middle, use a mini flag bunting, or even just fill the middle up with frosting, the possibilities are endless.  Check out Nothing Bundt Cake's website for some great inspiration.  Here is  my version of Nothing Bundt Cake's chocolate chip bundt cake, ENJOY!

Simple and Inexpensive Birthday Party Decor Tips and Tricks

We celebrated Baby Bumblebee's 3rd birthday this weekend with friends, family, and Mickey Mouse!  He is a huge Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan, so this was the perfect party theme for him.  My goal for this party was to keep things low stress and simple so I could just enjoy spending time with my Baby Bee, so I found some generic Mickey Mouse Party supplies at Wal-Mart and used a few tricks to create a fun display.  A great way to create a fast, simple and inexpensive party display is to use your wrapped gifts.  Just a few wrapped gifts with brightly colored bows create a huge impact and become a key piece in your decor. I fell in love with this polka dot paper I found at Home Goods, and knew it was the perfect thing for our party.  

Another simple and functional way to decorate is using glass jars full of candy.  Not only can your party guests enjoy munching on their favorite candy throughout the party, it looks great too.

The bundt cake below is my favorite element of our party decor.  Queen Bee had a terrific idea to  add Mickey Mouse shoes, hands and ears to the cake (from a play-set that we already had) to make a Mickey bundt cake!  I love how it turned out, she is so creative! I used my version of a Nothing Bundt Cake copy-cat recipe and it tastes exactly like the original.  I will share this recipe with you all on Wednesday.  Trust me, you will want to try this cake!  It is so moist and the cream cheese frosting is to die for!