This week we celebrate Jack’s 2nd birthday. It is amazing that he is already two. Before you have kids everyone always says time just flies by with them and it is so true. We are loving every minute of it. This past weekend we celebrated with a birthday party. One thing to remember is they don’t always go as planned. We planned to have a party outside at our house but the wonderful weather in Iowa went from 70 degrees to 37 degrees on the morning of his party. Luckily, we noticed the weather was going to change so we moved indoor to a local pizza place and it worked out perfect.
We chose a cowboy theme. We found cowboy hats at the dollar store and the goodie bags included popcorn/M&M’s, a water gun, and candy. I was really trying to keep the costs down but I also wanted to make it fun for the 15 kids we had there plus the 3 babies. I managed to do my goodie bags for $1.41 per bag and the hats were $1.00 each. It definitely added to the theme and made it a little more exciting for the kids.
We had pizza for lunch and I made a chocolate mayonnaise cake upon request from Jack and my husband. I also made White Almond Cupcakes with Red Buttercream frosting. I covered them with black and white sprinkles to make them look like bandanas.
Overall, it was a fun party and we loved seeing everyone. Just remember it is the little things that people love and you don’t have to spend a ton of money to have a great party.
The cake recipe below is definitely a keeper along with the delicious frosting.
White Almond Wedding Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour an 11×13 inch cake pan or get cupcake pans ready.
Stir together dry ingredients until well mixed. Add remaining ingredients and beat with electric mixer on low until all ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, about 4 minutes.
Pour batter in prepared pan and bake in preheated oven until golden brown. About 25 minutes for a cake or 18-20 minutes for cupcakes.
Allow to cool before frosting.
Special Buttercream Frosting
1 cup shortening
1 cup butter
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tsp. butter flavoring
6 ounces heavy whipping cream
Cream butter and shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner’s sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
Add vanilla, butter flavoring, and whipping cream. Blend low speed until moistened. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.
Add food coloring if needed.
Enjoy!
where did you buy those goodie bags at?