Cupcake Stand

Ok, so it isn't the fanciest thing on the block, but I wanted to use supplies I already had on hand.  Call me frugal but there was a budget and I was sticking to it!  Birthday parties can get mighty costly if you aren't careful...   The only thing I bought to put this together was the scrapbook paper which cost 65 cents a piece and I got four sheets.  Not bad, huh? :)

I had some foam board lying around from when we had our garage sale, so I had those cut into squares.  Big, medium and small.  Simple!  Got the scrapbook paper I wanted and then looked around my stash of empty containers.  Yes, I save containers.  They are great to store kid's stuff and can be used for all kinds of artsy crafty stuff.  Case in point!  So anyway, I wanted something tall because I didn't want the cupcake toppers I made to be smooshed down in the cupcake.  So I chose my empty Gerber Puffs container. 

I was initially going to wrap the container with red satin ribbon, however it was too much red and I decided I liked how it looked as plain white and it had a really nice shape to it.  Easy peasy!

I used hot glue gun to attach the containers to the foam board (make sure to first glue your scrap paper to the foam board before attaching the container!  I used my daughter's gluestick because it didn't leave any bumps and it was nice and smooth when dried), however it wasn't very stable so here is where my dear hubby comes in:

He screwd the caps in to the foam board giving me peace of mind that cupcakes won't be raining down on the table during the party!  And it held up REALLY well!  (thanks hubby for helping!!!)  I should also mention that I glued the lids to the containers, too.

Notice the pencil marks on the foam board?  The arrow?  I made sure to add arrows under each foam board piece so I'd know which side it was facing.  Because I added some ribbon around the foam board, I wanted to make sure I aligned all of the pieces properly and the extra overlapped ribbon in the back was not noticed by anyone.  Hope that makes sense!

So here ya have it:

I took a small gift box I had saved from Christmas, covered it with light green tissue paper and put the cupcake stand on top of it.  I loved how it was the centerpiece of the table and how it stood out nice and tall!

After the party I took it apart (with the hubby's help!) and saved it.  I can always buy new scrapbook paper and re-assemble it for another party!

Frugal, easy and I think it looked cute!

Some questions answered

I received an email asking about the goodies in my daughter's birthday party.  Yes, I did bake just about everything you see there.  The hubby gets credit for the ladybug chocolates, though.  He had the patience to do those candy mold doodats.  I just kept giving the ladybugs a black eye LOL 

It took TWO HOURS to dip the pretzels in red and dark chocolate..  my hands were cramping up but they were sooo good and so worth it!!

The lovely 3D ladybug cake topper is from the wonderful Julie over at Cakes and Kids.  She is so awesome to work with!! 

The birthday cake is from scratch and it's a homemade strawberry flavored cake (daughter requested flavor).  May not look purty but it was YUMMY!  And there was not a slice left by the time the party ended. 

I did cheat on the cupcakes..  that's a butter recipe cake mix, however the chocolate ganache on top I did make.  Hubby added a wee bit of Irish creme liqour and it was sooooooooo good!!

Also made the yummy cake pops and dipped them in red candy melt and then added some black sprinkles.

Hubby makes a divine punch!!  I'll have to find the recipe for that and share it.  It is SOOO good!  It was originally a recipe I found online but he has altered it so much that it's nothing like the original I found.  It is GOOD!

The decor...  yes, I made the cupcake stand.  Also designed and printed the birthday banner.  You can't quite see it clearly from the pics, but it's got cute little ladybugs flitting around the letters.  Designed the cupcake toppers, labels, etc.  Also punched out some black dots using my Friskars 1 inch squeeze punch and then just sprinkled it all over the red tablecloth.  Super easy and cute!

Can't think of anything else, but feel free to email me with any questions!  (...baby's crying so gotta run!)

The Party

Exhausted beyond belief!  But it was a big hit :)

Sneak Peek

Only days left...

..till my daughter's birthday party!   Eeeek!  Going to post pics when all is said and done.  Just finished rolling the cake pops.  Next, I need to dip them in red candy melts and sprinkle some black sprinkles.  That will give it the perfect finished touch!   Ten thousand more things to do so I am off!  See you in a few days :)