Puppy Cupcakes - our Girl Turns 7

Tell me these aren't some of the cutest cupcakes you've ever seen.

Go on, tell me.

Ha.  I knew you couldn't.  :)

I took the idea for these straight from Hello Cupcake (which I borrowed from a friend) and Marissa, our little dog lover, couldn't have been more delighted.  The other little girls were pretty excited about them too.  

They're really simple, and not as time consuming as I anticipated.  

Since I don't want to violate any copyright laws or anything, I won't give all the instructions on how to make them.....but I will tell you that you use miniature cupcakes for the heads - and miniature marshmallows for the ears and shaping the nose.  For the tongues, I used tiny bits of pink Mamba candy (Starburst would work just as well), and the eyes and nose were mini Reeses baking bits.  

They were very fun to make and the girls sure had fun eating them!

The biggest activity at the party was cake decorating. 

I had gotten the idea from Glorious Treats months ago and just HAD to do it for Marissa's party.

I baked little cakes for each girl - most were 5" layer cakes, a couple were 4" cakes.  I frosted them with white vanilla buttercream and then set out various sprinkles, candy (I knew those Easter M&Ms I got on clearance would come in handy!), and bags of colored frosting with various tips for the girls to decorate their own cake to their heart's content.

It was SO. MUCH. FUN. to watch them and to see their personalities reflected in their work.

One little guest started out very meticulously working on a design - but by the end she had thrown all caution to the wind and just piled the frosting and candy on as high as she could.  It was hysterical.  

Marissa was very proud of her cake.

All the girls - Marissa, Natalee, Annika, Lydia, Anna, Esther, and Elizabeth. 

An awesome group - just lovely.  

And their cakes were lovely too.  

Here's a look at the food table.

Yeah, not a lot of healthy stuff there.  But they sure enjoyed it!

Honestly, it was one of my favorite parties we've ever had at our house.  

Children in this age range are just a blast to have around.  

I just wish our kids weren't growing up so fast.  

And for the record, I wouldn't recommend having three children born in the same month -  if you can help it.  Not only is it a lot of work planning and pulling off three parties, it's really hard to not gain like 10 lbs with treats like Cinnabon Popcorn and Puppy Chow sitting on my counter.  Not to mention the cake and ice cream. 

Great, now I need to diet going right into the holidays. 

So now we have a *short* 1 month break until the next child's birthday.....

Linked to Trick or Treat Tuesday