Mini Guiness Cupcakes

Nothing like an overload of sugary sweets to fill your weekend here at {So Wonderful, So Marvelous}.  I made these mini Guiness cupcakes for my husband's surprise 30th birthday beer tasting party.  They were a huge hit, they stayed very moist and they pack just enough of a Guiness punch without being overpowering.  Fair warning, we had many requests for the recipe and they are wholly addictive.  It has a Guiness cream cheese frosting as well to mimic the famous foam that tops a real Guiness.  They would be fantastic for a manly chocolate Valentine's treat and they couldn't be easier to make!

Guiness Cupcakes

12 oz. Guiness

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 TB of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

3 large eggs

dash cinnamon

pinch of salt {I used vanilla salt, but any would do.}

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder {use a good quality here, it makes a difference}

2 cups of sugar

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

- Combine Guiness, milk, oil, & vanilla in the bowl of your mixer.  Beat in the eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Then, mix in sour cream.

- Whisk together in a large bowl all dry ingrediants.  Gradually mix into the wet ingrediants.

- Butter {or use baking spray} mini muffin tins & add batter.  To make this super easy, you can fill a gallon size Ziploc with the batter and cut the corner off to fill the muffin tins.  I find this is much easier to control than trying to fill with a spoon.

- Bake 15 - 20 minutes for mini cupcakes, test with a toothpick. {Probably 25-30 minutes for normal size.}  Cool before turning out onto wire racks.

Guiness Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces of cream cheese, softenend

1/4 - 1/3 cup heavy cream

2-3 ounces of Guiness

1 pound of confectioners sugar

cinnamon for dusting

- Allow the cream cheese to sit out for at least 30 minutes to soften.  Do not microwave!

- Whip the cream cheese. 

- Beat in the heavy whipping cream & Guiness {start with the lowest amounts here}

- Slowly add the confectioners sugar and add more whipping cream & Guiness if needed for consistency.  It should be in between a stiff frosting and a thick glaze.  It should ooze a little to spread, but not drip down the cupcakes. Fill into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip & pipe on top of each cucake.

- Dust with a tiny bit of cinnamon.

Jump on over to Bake at 350 to see some other yummy alcohol inspired recipes!

Be Mine.

Finn and I were looking for a project, he was in massive need of something to occupy his time {and my sanity} so we decided to make cookies.  He will happily tell you that except for cracking the egg, he made these himself.  He *may* have been covered from head to toe with flour, but he did a great job dumping all of the ingrediants in and helping me roll them out.

I learned how to make these cookies from Bridget at Bake at 350.  She REALLY makes learning easy, with step by step directions and explainations of everything.  My edges are not even close to being as neat, nor the details as fine, but I'm happy to make cute & SIMPLE cookies like these.  The look so much harder to do than they are.  Give it a try! 

Use this recipe to make the cookies.  I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste in lieu of the vanilla extract.

Use this recipe to make the frosting.  Don't use the one listed on the cookie recipe page.  I only made half this amount for my purposes and put 1/4 t of almond extract in it, but if you want to do several colors make the whole batch.  If you do them like I did, you will make flood {frosting that has been thinned to syrup consistancy} in two different colors and keep a little of the frosting in it's normal state to pipe around the edges.  I put the flood in plastic squeeze bottles.

To decorate:
1.  With the regular frosting, in a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip {or a ziploc with a teeny tiny corner cut off} pipe a circle around the perimeter of the cookie.  Allow to dry for a minute or two.

2.  Fill with flood in the same color.  Use a toothpick to pull the flood right up to the edges.  Let it sit for a few minutes, then add dots in the opposite color.

3.  Use a toothpick and pull from the main color through the dots and it will make a heart shape.

4.  Let these dry overnight before packaging them, even if they look dry!  Trust me, you'll end up with ugly dents in the finish of the frosting.


Then, we just printed out a little Valentine's message on cardstock.  Finnegan set to work decorating them with his Crayolas.  He packaged them up in glassine bags and I did the folding and stapled them.  We're going to deliver them to grandparents and his three great-grandmas tomorrow as a special surprise early Valentine. 

What do you have planned for Valentine's Day treats?

Self proclaimed nerd.

Elise from the Attic is a weekly blog post from my sister Elise who is currently kicking up her heels and studying her ass off in Kentucky.  She is a fashionista and a lunatic, but we love her.  Mostly.  OK, sometimes.  Here is this week's edition of:

I am a self proclaimed nerd.

For example, I hoped and prayed that I would need braces and glasses when I was younger... until that day actually arrived. I'm that girl in class that gets a little too feisty when a professor decides to share stories of his weekend with the class, stalling the beginning of lecture. So bear with my nerdiness, because I am going to have to share with you my current college disappointment: Students come to class for all of ten minutes until attendance is taken, and then they retreat to their dungeons to sleep, Facebook, partake in mindnumbing activities, etc. After my sociology professor addressed the problem in class I started to think about how awful it is that education doesn't seem to be valued as much as it has been in the past.

I will admit that when I was a young, naive kindergardener who had not quite grown into the complete geek that I am today, my mother would ask me what I learned that day. I would give an annoyed groan, roll my eyes and maybe manage a vague answer. But, after seeing a quote that was something along the lines of "go to school, kids in China would love to have your job" years later, I realized what a complete ass I was for praying for snow/fog/torndados/water heater incidents, etc. every night before I went to sleep (after putting my pajamas on backwards and a spoon under my pillow). I realized that I was beyond lucky to be able to go to school. And although my mom hasn't asked me in years what I learned in school that day, I have since tried to make a conscious effort to ask myself.

I realize you're probably thinking why the hell should I take advice from someone who was arrested in an attic, but I encourage you to try to learn something new daily. It doesn't matter if you're learning a new recipe (this is just an example... NOT something I plan to actually take part in), one word from a different language, or how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

Ya know that saying that humans only use a portion of our brain? I was going to mention something about this, but out of curiosity I looked it up and we actually use 100% of our brains so there you go, your newly learned tidbit for today!

Until next week,

Elise, From The Attic

{My} Favorite Blogs: aka Pure Fabulousness I Think You Should Know About

You know I am convinced that I have adult ADD and I really feel that my Google Reader illustrates that wonderfully.  It is chock full of everything from crafty women, to moms with whom I can commiserate, to party planners who are unbelievable, to personal finance bloggers, to home renovators, to humor blogs, to fashionistas, and EVERYTHING in between.  I tend to lean toward the bloggers who lift me up.  There are some I can't wait to read every morning and some that post infrequently, but that I still light up when they do.  Some might be new for you and some may be old, but all are fabulous.

Here are my faves:

Zakary aka ZDub at Raising Colorado is quite possibly the funniest blogger masquerading as a normal mom I have ever met.  Well... as normal a mom as you can be with a manly first name and having to raise your children in the wild.  Ok, she doesn't really live in the wild, but dude she has unidentifiable animals AND bears in her backyard.  I almost always feel compelled to click over and comment on her posts, they are that freaking hilarious.  You will fall in love with this woman. 

Joy at Big Time Fancy - Oh my, I don't even know where to begin.  She is hilarious, and raunchy, and used to sleep with half the world and never felt the need to apologize for it.  Now she is in love, and less raunchy, and deserves all of the happiness in the world.  I found BTF years ago and she was actually one of the few strangers who was invited to my blog when it was private.  I can not tell you how much she reminds me of myself 10 years ago.  Read her entire archives.  It will delight and amuse, I promise.


Rachel at One Pretty Thing finds the coolest stuff ever.  Seriously, I can't even imagine how much time and energy she devotes to finding the most interesting parties, before & afters, printables, crafty stuff, DIY projects and basically anything awesome on the web.  You will want to visit daily just to be inspired and delighted.  She posts daily and each roundup is better than the next.  The woman has an unyielding supply of awesomeness in her arsenal.  She's also incredibly friendly, approachable, and sweet to chat with via email even though she's like the popular girl in school, everyone wants to be her friend!  


Megan at Whatever - Meg rocks.  She is creative and fun and just when you want to hate her because of her amazing house {the kitchen Meg, the kitchen!} she turns around and posts something so sweet and nice that you have to love her.  She also very clearly has a laundry problem {we can't all be perfect}, and with all of those gorgeous kiddos, Waffle the wonder dog and all of that time spent being creative, I would too!


Courtney at Two Straight Lines - Courtney is the ultimate crafty Mama.  Everything about her blog is calm & creative & wonderfully imaginative.  She allowed her son Elliot to have a fantastic lemonade stand and her little Lucie is near Finn's age.  She also lives in an unbelievable house and makes time to do things like sew oh, 14 geese costumes for her son's class without a hitch.


Kim at Today's Creative Blog - yeah, ok everyone in the blog world knows Kim, because her blog is GENIUS.  I mean really really, I want to kick my own ass for not thinking of this.  She first finds and then blogs about the most creative women of the web.  I can not tell you how many people she has 'introduced' to me through TCB.


You will spend approximately 928940 hours perusing Brooklyn Limestone.  I have been reading since it used to be called Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone and now is A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress because their renovations are largely complete.  If you're not in the mood for home renovation photos that make you drool over your laptop, perhaps you'd like to check out all of the insane travel they get to do?  She also creates the best, most creative invitations I have ever seen.  If you have spent any time here, you know my love of stationery so yeah, this compliment is saying a lot.


Casey at Moosh in Indy is genuine.  She is amazingly talented and a little fucked up and a lot wonderful.  Some days, you will want to pat her on the back and cringe in the same post.  Some days you will just sit in awe of her mad photography skills.  She oozes strength as she very candidly shares her struggle with depression and infertility and the worst home buying experience I have ever heard of.  Oh, and this is not the blog of a whiner, she is raw, she is honest, and she overcomes.


And my Bloggy BFF Ashley over at Sugar Britches, of course.  She had me at hello.  Well not really hello, but she let me call her Ash and that's about the same as hello.  Right?

 

Well, there you have my very tippy top favorites and there are easily about 20 more I could add.  I would love to hear about YOUR favorites too. 

And if I haven't told you lately, thanks for reading!

I used to be afraid of spaghetti squash.

I was afraid of spaghetti squash.

I was intrigued, sure.  I mean goreous golden strands that look like buttery lovely pasta?

But I mean, it's not pasta and it's WEIRD that it seems like pasta.

WEIRD, I say.

But, I did it.  I not only tried some, I roasted & shredded it mysef.  And oh, the shredding.  The sweet sweet shredding.  Funnest thing ever.

Don't be a fool like I was!  Make this.  Make it soon or you'll forget & then you'll try it years later & kick yourself in the butt when you realize how long you could have been eating deliciousness healthy.

And it's EASY too.

Buy one of these.

Cut it in half, scrape the seeds out with a spoon.  Then roast in the oven {cut side down} at 425 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  I did end up adding a bit of water to the pan.

I let mine cool a little bit, then you take two forks and kind of rake the squash.  All of the strands will pull apart nice and fluffy.

And you end up with a big giant bowl of yum.

I made a chicken marsala to put over the top {which was really good}, but really you could just toss with a little olive oil and garlic if you wanted to keep it simple.  I am going to make this again.  and again.  and probably again.  Because it works for me!

Visit the other great tips at WFMW hosted by We Are THAT Family.  And if you're not a total dork like me and you already know the deliciousness that is spaghetti squash, tell me how YOU prepare it.  I'd love to get some new recipes!

I'd do it all over again. Maybe. Except for the crazy parts.

Here is your fair warning that this post is going to be picture heavy.  And long. 

A few weeks ago, the magnificent bloggy BFF and I were discussing weddings.  Mostly this post is for her, but a little for me too.  I'm not going to lie, I love weddings.  I love peeking in on my friends Facebook pages with their wedding pics, I love reading about strangers' weddings in the blogosphere, & I even love attending them, especially if they don't suck.  Maybe it's the party planning piece, maybe it is all the mushy love junk, but I love them.  I'm just glad that when I was planning, I knew nothing of blogs because I am pretty sure things would have been out of control, there is SO much out there now, so many incredible ideas... just remember this was almost five years ago.  And it was fun, so fun that people still tell us it was the most fun wedding they've ever been to.  I think it's because we viewed the reception as a party and dispensed with all of the traditional stuff. 

We did food stations with a really creative chef that let us do what we wanted.  We had stirfry made in front of you & served out of takeout boxes; and a potato bar that had mashed potatoes & hand cut fries; carved beef with bernaise; and a salad station with vichysoisse... a complete jumble,  but we had all our favorites represented. 

We had a martini luge. 

And a live band.  I am pretty sure that is where the insanity started.  Oh, and it was 9 million degrees out and we got married in a historic church that doesn't have air conditioning.  But I am getting ahead of myself...

Here we are, those little specks there sitting on the alter.

The deacon of my church and the pastor of Dave's both married us.  It was important to us that we were both represented in the ceremony.  Dave chose all of the music, every last piece except the Hawaiian Wedding Song which is my Meme's favorite. 

The girls all chose a black tea length dress in whatever style they wanted and most of them have worn their dresses again, which was our goal.  We had our friends stand up for us no matter what their sex... we still tease my cousin that he was a "bridesman" in our wedding & Dave's sister was his "best woman". 

This is my favorite photo, taken right after the ceremony.  It was published in the Knot Ohio magazine shortly after we were married.  

Oh, and the ridiculously giant bouquet? I had the most important women in my life {there were 24 of them} choose a flower for me to carry.  Something that represented them or me or us and they wrote why they chose their flower on a beautiful card that I was able to keep. 

I didn't care that a bird of paradise was nestled in next to a white rose that was bumping up against a calla lilly, or that it was huge, or that my florist thought I was nuts.  I absolutely loved having them 'with me' as I married Dave.

We gave our photographer approximately 20 minutes for posed photos before we were on to the reception in a giant bus that we rented one week before {a GENIUS idea Mom!} the wedding.  Thankfully, Kristen only thought we were slightly nuts and got us on our way.  We didn't want to miss the reception.  She really captured everything we wanted in such an unobtrusive fantastic way without needing posed pics. 

Now we're on to the reception.  

We really wanted to do our own thing.  We went traditional with the ceremony, so the party was about us.

Our parents about had a heart attack that we weren't having a cake.  Or doing the cake cutting.  Or the bouquet toss.  Or the garter thing.  Or making our guests sit around for an hour while we danced a million dances.  We skipped all of it.  

We heard, "you're doing what??!?" a lot during planning.  It still makes me laugh just thinking about it.  

Here is what we DID do... 

A Polaroid guest book. These pictures are hilarious. And when we ran out of film because everyone took a ton of crazy fun photos, people started drawing in pictures of themselves. I love that book, even years later we pull it out.  Who can say that about a guest book?

A candy buffet.  Now, everyone and their mother does them, but it was pretty out there back then. 

My mother thought this was the dumbest thing ever.  She told Dave the morning of the wedding  that she thought we would be carting home 57 pounds of candy at the end of the night. Then, she walked into the reception and saw giddy 21 year olds and 57 year olds both filling bags and squeeling like the little kids that were in line behind them.  There were a few giant buttermint peppermints left at the end of the night that I happily took home because they are my favorites.  Janet eating her words was even sweeter.

We had frozen novelties in lieu of cake.  And don't forget a martini from the luge.  We also had a full bar complete with a keg of Guiness to celebrate our honeymoon to Ireland a little early.  My mom and my aunt went on a wine scouting trip to Napa a few months before the wedding and had wines paired for each food station.

I loved the tables.  We had a small vase with a rose at each place setting.  The favors were homemade {by my BFF's mom as a wedding gift to us} unbelievable caramel turtles.  She makes all of the caramel herself.  We put them in boxes that had all kinds of random facts about us & our bridal party, some were funny, some sweet.  We had so many compliments on this, especially from guests that might not have known a lot of people, it was a great ice breaker to ask everyone else at the table what fact they had.  The escort cards had the table number written in on the back.

Well, there you have it.  Our wedding, or most of it at least.  I'll leave out the crazy parts, maybe another post?  The food was great.  The drinks were strong.  And all night the dance floor was full, so were our hearts knowing how many people flew in, drove in, and made time to be there for us.  That by far surpassed all of the rest.   Thanks for peeking in.
Oh, one more little thing... 

Friends don't let friends stick their heads in martini luges.
{unless you're at our wedding... then, it's pretty normal.}

{All photos in this post were taken by the fabulous Decisive Moment Photojournalism except the last one, taken by my ridiculously talented uncle who was mistaken for a drunk photographer.}

Meatloaf Cupcakes & Mashed Potato Frosting

I can't wait for dinner tonight.  Oh yeah, it's going to be a good one.


I made these fab meatloaf cupcakes last summer after I read about them on Bake at 350.  Bridget made them as an April Fools dinner for her family.  {She is also added some amazing cupcakes for dessert.}  The meatloaf cupcakes were a huge hit with Finnegan.  I credit these with curing his {OMG he is not my child!} hatred of mashed potatoes.  I love how easy it is to sneak in tons of veggies, they were lighter tasting than my usual brick of a meatloaf, plus let's face it, it will make you a fun mom to serve these. 

This weekend, Dave and I were talking about the meal plan for the week, and he asked me to make them again.  Six months later he remembered them.  If that doesn't convince you to give these a try, I don't know what will!

This time, I will also be making horseradish mashed potatoes instead of making instant that are pictured below.

Recipe {adapted from Bake at 350}

1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground pork {or 1/4 lb ground pork and 1/4 lb ground turkey}
1 chopped carrot
1 chopped parsnip
1/2 large white onion
3/4 c bread crumbs
1/4 c milk
2 Tb chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs
1 Tb ketchup
1 Tb worcestershire
thyme, rosemary, seasoned salt & pepper to taste {around 1/2 - 1 tsp of the thyme & rosemary}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a cupcake pan with a little Pam or olive oil.

Sautee the parsnip, carrot, & white onion until just softened.  {Bonus: You could add celery, green pepper, or any other veggie your family likes.}  Stick this in the food processor on pulse until the veggies are finely chopped.  Add the veggies to a large mixing bowl with all of the other ingrediants and mix well.  It feels gross, but really the best way is to use your hands and mush it all together. 

Add the meat to the cupcake tin in 12 equal portions.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and they pull away from the sides of the pan a bit.

Serve with the vegetable of your choice & mashed potatoes piped on top with a large star tip.

Honey B

Thank you to the Honey B Blog for sending me a sweet packet of goodness!  I am absolutely in love with the Envirosacs, not only are they awesome patterns, but they are super strong, and  they fold up so tiny.  I can fit all 5 of them in my purse at any given time & they hold a ton.  So thank you Miss Honey B, I sincerely appreciate being the recipiant of your giveaway. 

The Classy South

Elise from the Attic is a weekly blog post from my sister Elise who is currently kicking up her heels and studying her ass off in Kentucky. She is a fashionista and a lunatic, but we love her. Mostly. OK, sometimes. Here is this week's edition of:

I think I should start by thanking my lovely sister for finding such becoming pictures of me to include in the previous post. Needless to say, FJ will be allowed (if not encouraged) as many CapriSun lemonades as he can possibly down before bedtime next time Aunt Lisey babysits.

The before mentioned sister of mine has asked me to share my riveting life experiences with you weekly. Why, you ask? I wish I could say I live a quiet life as a sensible, level headed girl. But the truth is, my life is filled with these situations which tend to be rather funny anecdotes that I would love share at parties and other social functions if only I was not the subject of them. For example: I am currently using the library's computer because I reset the password to log in to my own and for the life of me have not been able to recall it. More examples include, but are not limited to, calling the cops on the paperboy at 4 am after watching him for an hour and coming to the conclusion that he was going door to door doing God knows what to my neighbors and soberly following a crowd of strangers up a set of pull down stairs into an attic at a party to hide from the cops. I dyed my hair dark two years ago to escape the ditzy blonde tag and am convinced that these mishaps are my previous hair color's way of retaliating.

But now, the collegy goodness I have for you this week.

Last night, I was dozing off after a few good episodes of Law and Order, until my ever so polite neighbors began arguing....about whether or not one peed on the others clothes...I fell asleep to the accused one screaming, "No, I did not piss on your clothes last night!!!...Or at least I don't remember it."  Classy southern belles, let me tell ya.

Oh, and an added bonus! As I write this in the library, a man sitting to my left who...how do i put this...doesn't quite look like the students (he's old) who usually inhabit the library said "you type dat fass??? daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn."

I love Kentucky.

Until next week,

Elise, From the Attic

Excited.

Well, hello.  Hi.  Howdy.  Hiya.
I'm excited. 

Despite the fact that my two year old is sitting there crushing chips in his {now greasy} little hands and making a huge mess. 

So excited.
 
Even though my house is a little bit like a disaster hit, a whole lot more like a tornado came through.

I'm dancing around like a maniac, in fact.

It isn't even because the Davester and I got to spend a blissful night having a date.  A real live date that involved copius amounts of pinot noir. 

Well what is it then, you ask?

Because of her.  {Go on, click on the link, I'll wait.} 

My littlest {even though she towers over me} sister, the author of this post and subject of many, is joining us once a week here on So Wonderful, So Marvelous.  Oh yes, all of the collegy goodness you can handle every Friday starting tomorrow.  Lord knows what she's going to talk about.

I'm excited and proud to introduce you to

Now we just have to settle on a profile pic...

I hope you're as excited as I am.

WFMW - Reusable Coffee Filters

We are by far NOT the greenest household on the block.  We have old {leaky} windows, we run too many loads of laundry, we keep trying, but we've yet to break our paper towel habit, and until a few weeks ago we didn't have a dishwasher.  We're not perfect.  But we do try to buy local, we take bags to the grocery, we do a little gardening, we compost, and we recycle.  Baby steps.

One baby step that we love is our re-usable coffee filter.  We are a coffee drinking household, a pot, sometimes two each day.  Several years ago we came across a reusable coffee filter and were intrigued.  We haven't looked back. As a highly conservative estimation, we've saved at least 1,000 coffee filters.  So explore the possibilities, won't you?  Sure, it's just a small thing, but small things lead to big things and that works for me!

If you're interested in other tips, check out Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family!

I'm Pretty Sure Havarti is the Sexiest Cheese.

So maybe it was Michael Buble or David Sanborn.

      Or the two bottles of pinot noir.
       
              Or the fact that Finn stayed the night at Gigi & Papa's.

But I'm pretty sure that havarti is the sexiest cheese. 

Now it could be that I don't taste my food with an insane {oh and is he ever insane these days} two year old interrupting and talking and carrying on.  So, creamy lovely cheese that melts softly on your tongue goes unnoticed.

       It just might have been the date.  With my husband.  It reminds me that I'm still Michelle.  And he's still Dave.  And it's fabulous that we're Mama & Daddy, but it's nice once in awhile to just be us.

               Or that he cooked with me.  By the way, if you haven't made these yet, do it.  You can thank me later.  They are sexy too.

It could be that I held hands with my husband at the table.

And he lit candles.

            And we laughed and drank more wine.  Wine goes so well with sexy cheese.

And in the morning, I was able to cross off  #97 on my list.

Or maybe it really is just that havarti is indeed sexy?

Dr Seuss Birthday Party

Enjoy!

You can click here to see the original inspiration board for his party.

Seuss Invitations

I hooked up with Cassandra on Etsy when I requested help with a Seuss themed party.  She had a great concept AND was {more than} willing to work with me on making it truly unique.  I always design, print, and assemble my own paper goods, but she was so good that I let her do the design work for me, worked with her on changing the rhyme to something that worked for us, and she sent me the files so that I could print and assemble myself.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed working with her and though this is something I probably could have done myself, it was her brilliant concept.

It was a book!  Made up of a front cover, a back cover that contained the party information, and a 6 page story about Finn, his friends & the party in between.  It was the cutest, most brilliant thing I've ever seen and I can't tell you how many phone calls I got raving about it.  I printed it on two blank greeting cards and then carefully glued the spines together.

Seuss Menu & Food

The food was great and because I am slightly OCD in the party planning department we came up with names for everything we served and had little tags saying what it was and which book it was from!

The Menu

Thing 1 & Thing 2 BBQ  {pulled pork}

Praries of Prax  {coleslaw}

Poodles with Noodles  {pasta salad}

Diffendoofer Fruit Salad

Yot in a Pot {baked beans}

Schlott's Knotts  {rolls}

Green Eggs  {deviled eggs dyed green}

A crumb that was even too small for a mouse {empty plate}

Pink Ink Yink Drink  {pink lemonade}

Beezlenut Splash  {iced tea}

{beer + water too}

And you know my love of a fun dessert display!

       

The Dessert Menu

Valley of the Vungs Chocolate Rock Blocks  {brownie bites}

Who Cakes  {cupcakes}

{cupcake toppers also by Cassandra}

ABCs of Seuss Cookies  {frosted cookies with ABCs on them}

Yertle's Caramel Turtles  {Rolo turtle candies}

{And a small smash cake for Finnegan.}

Seuss Games & Activities
Since we had a pretty big mix of ages (from 1 - 87) we wanted really simple games and activities. We set up Finn's ball pit and tunnel activity set so the little ones could play. We also had crayons and giant coloring pages set up along with every Seuss book known to man for reading. We created a simple guessing game and 4 jars set up in the entryway along with pieces of paper for people to guess the correct number of candies in the jar.

Seuss Party Favors
Another Etsy find! Along with my request for Seuss ideas came this BRILLIANT idea from Mommy's Little Critters. She made me red & blue fish soap! She was also awesome to work with, she gave me an endless list of scents to choose from, I went with cotton candy and blueberry. Even months later they still smell awesome and the kids thought they were very cool! I designed the cute favor tags {so they knew it was soap & not candy} and packaged them up and put them into the favor bags.

And here are the favor bags! I ordered Seuss hat tags and glued them on to bags that we filled with awesome Seuss stuffed animals that we bought at Kohl's during their Kohl's Kids fundraiser... thank you so much to DentaLori for calling me to tip me off about this! Our original idea was to purchase Dr Seuss books for all of the kids at Costco, but they stopped carrying the 4 pack of small board books just before I needed them! {They have them again!} We also included m&m's just in case someone didn't win the count the m&m game above, they wouldn't be left out!

Seuss Party Decor
Lots of colorful balloons.  We also printed images of Dr Seuss book covers, stuck them in cheapie acrylic frames and had them sitting on the tables.  All of the book covers are incredibly colorful and people were talking about some of the more obscure titles we found.

I made the Seuss welcome sign & paper bunting using the Grinched font {found at dafont.com} and leftover paper die cut hats from the favor bags.  Mayor Finn wording came from here.

Seuss Extras
Probably my favorite idea was the guest book.  We had a table set up at the entrance with Dr Seuss' Happy Birthday To You book and this sign. We asked guests to write a message to Finn on any of the pages and had lots of really colorful sharpie markers set up. There are some great entries and he's going to be able to keep the book forever.  It was such a great keepsake from the day.

Finnegan wore a cute Hop On Pop t-shirt.  Dave had a Wocket In My Pocket t-shirt.  Midge & Elise had cute Seuss shirts.  Brenden & Dylan wore Thing 1 & Thing 2 shirts.  It was so hilarious seeing all of the t-shirts show up... they really added to the decor!

There are some unbelievably creative ideas you can do with a Dr Seuss theme. My biggest problem was narrowing down to the best stuff.  Other ideas I loved and didn't end up using... having the Grinch sled {& reindeer dog} to put the gifts on, a contest for the silliest socks, a green egg hunt {use green plastic Easter eggs}, having some of the old Dr Seuss cartoons playing on tv, and Pin the Wocket on Finn's Pocket game that would have been really be easy to create.

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