I think I may have mentioned that Asa’s first birthday party was FUN! I enjoyed it so much. My parents came over to help me out before the party and if they had not been there, it would not have been as cute as it was. Once the party started I didn’t feel like I forgot anything or missed a beat. It was perfect!
I think we’ll start with the food. It was all EASY. I really didn’t cook anything. So, even better, right? I wanted all of it black, white or red. Let’s begin with the cake.
My bff, Staci has made all of Lydia’s birthday cakes and is absolutely a pro. We were having a hard time coming up with something creative for a black and white party that didn’t look scary or stupid. So, she ended up doing cupcakes with white frosting in a silver liner. I MADE, yes MADE cupcake toppers. And can I just say that I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF? Well, I am. PROUD. Because it looked stinkin’ awesome.
Yes! That is an actual playing card in the middle! Should I do a tutorial on these? It was just so easy and they are so cute! Oh, I love it. I could just stare at it all day. But where were we?
Oh, right. The food. Well, we also had the best and most famous black and white food ever:
Oreos. And how much better when they are stacked like poker chips?
I also grabbed some chessmen cookies. Because they look the part of an ACE party.
We had chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with white chocolate. Lydia and I made these in about 30 minutes. It was an easy peasy video recipe from Kraft Foods that unfortunately included lard shortening. I was going to half white on black and half black on white. But the white chocolate would NOT stick to the strawberries. It was weird. So, I just blobbed the white chocolate into a ziploc bag, snipped off the end and drizzled it it on top instead. I think it turned out nice. Especially after I stopped trying to make it look neat—the more chocolate the more better.
Next was the ACE of HEART sandwiches. Nothing like an $.88 pack of white bread and a tube of squeezable jelly to make a fancy shmancy sandwich, huh? I just sliced off the crusts, cut the remaining bread in half, then popped out a little herat with a cookie cutter. We skipped the peanut butter because we were lazy peanut allergies who needs it? I coupled the sandwiches with my favorite red (and red-ish chips), Terra Chips. They are veggie chips and I could eat a whole bag in one sitting.
The only food I didn’t get a pic of needs no explanation introduction or review: THE MAGICALLY DELICIOUS CORN DIP from my friend Jessie at Vanderbilt Wife. I may soon be bottling this.
As for drinks, I bought some Spongebob Squarepants mini water bottles at KMart that were BOGO. Lydia tore the tags off and I created a SUPER cute label with some digital scrapbooking stuff. Alas, my printer ran out of ink and refused to print them. SO. I looked around and noticed all the playing cards I had used to make the cupcake toppers. They had a perfect hole in them for water bottles. And look how cute they turned out!
Easy. Frugal. Recylable-ish. Original. Creative. Totally works for me!
I decided to do a punch, too. I wanted something red that didn’t taste like Hawaiian Punch. In fact, I tweeted the exact same thing:
And within 4 minutes I had 2 punch recipes—one of them from two different people. So, without further googling, I took my tweeple’s advice and we served Amy’s Strawberry Punch. It was so yummy! Thanks, ladies for pointing me in the right direction!
And because I love Picnik-ing and because I think you really want to see it all in one spot, here is the final reveal:
Yummy, right?
And if you missed it: The Ace Invitations, The Ace Games, Decor and More!
{linking to My Insanity’s 3rd Anniversary Blog Party–link up YOUR Birthday Party and win big!}
I have a Special Education teacher who is simply wonderful. Her students are significantly disabled and she is a first year teacher. She has had a rough start to the year because the students are so challenging. They are intellectually disabled have autism and severe behavioral challenges. She is doing a fabulous job. Budget cuts have been difficult and these students need so much that she like others ends up buying things with her own money. She probably has the most challenging class in our county and is deserving of something special to help.
.-= Cindy Golden´s last blog ..Visual Representation of Data =-.
You did an awesome job! Very creative!
.-= Brandi´s last blog ..It’s New To Me: Flickr & Picnik =-.
Fabulous and Oh so awesome! 🙂 Makes me wish I lived closer so I could have crashed the party. My fav?? The water bottle toppers! I love ideas that come at spur of the moment (aka – in a pinch!), that’s when real creativity flourishes! 🙂
Wow… you went all out & it looks like some yummy food indeed! I need to pick your brain for a party for my girls, lol.
What a great party and theme! I am seriously impressed!
.-= Monica´s last blog ..Early Bird Shopping =-.
love love double-stamp-no-erases LOVE IT! Amanda you did an amazing job! So fun and such a great idea, esp. with the fact his nickname is Ace. Love it. My favorite are the ace of hearts sandwiches – those would be awesome for Valentine’s Day too. Wonderful!
.-= Candace´s last blog ..Shop re-stock: Last call =-.
I am so impressed that I am (almost) speechless!
I just knew you got those cupcake toppers off of etsy!! ;0)
(Maybe now you can SELL cupcake toppers on etsy!)
.-= Janna´s last blog ..Top Ten Tuesday: Websites I Visit Most =-.
Wow, that looks AMAZING!! Can you plan my next party?! 🙂
.-= SkylarKD´s last blog ..Organizing with recyclables =-.
Oh my goodness! What an amazingly creative spread – the table looks beautiful!!! What a wonderful 1st birthday memory!
If you bottle that dip, I think I get a cut of the profits!
It’s so cute, Amanda. You are so creative with these things!
.-= Vanderbilt Wife´s last blog ..Paul and the Pursuit of Liberty =-.
Great theme, those strawberries look heavenly!
.-= Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy´s last blog ..WFMW – Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances =-.
what great ideas! I heard about a Monte Carlo themed wedding shower last year that also doubled at a red/black party (they were UGA fans). These projects would be super cute and easy to add in. And who doesn’t love a stack of Oreos?
It really was a super cute party! Glad you liked the cupcakes!!
.-= Staci´s last blog ..August NEW =-.
okay, i am definitely going to need you to help me come up with some creative ideas for juliet’s 3rd birthday–I love the pic of the entire table–it all worked so well together.
.-= vanessa´s last blog ..Goodwill Wednesday: Book finds! =-.
Oh my word girl, that spread is out of control fab! Happy birthday Asa! -Christine
.-= Boston Mamas´s last blog ..Little Locket =-.
This looks like an awesome party. Love all the little details, like the heart sandwiches and the chess cookies. Too cute.
How adoreable! I love it.
Love this idea … your use of playing cards is so cute and I love the themed food. Visiting from My Insanity.
Thanks for commenting! I loved the playing card theme just b/c it was a little different! 🙂
so creative!!
What a fun and unique theme! I love unexpected themes. Great party!
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