Upcoming Birthday Party

On Sunday we’ll be hosting our granddaughter Lyla’s birthday party.  She’s turning two.  I found an adorable cake on Pinterest and I want to make something similar but I hope to simplify the design a bit.  In years past I enjoyed cake decorating, some of my creations for Ayla’s birthday parties were pretty elaborate.  It’s not so much fun for me anymore but I do want to make their parties memorable and cute so I’m looking for creative yet easy cakes.  If her cake turns out decent, I’ll post pix.  If not, well, she’s two.  She won’t notice until she sees the pix later in life, then she’ll have a good laugh at her feeble Mimi’s feeble attempts.  But she’ll know it was done out of love. 

Drake’s party was last month, he’s an Elmo fan so here are the cupcakes Tahnee and I made that day:

 

We did maybe 6 decorated ones, a few that were simply frosted, and left most of them with no topping at all.  Since the kids are so young and the parties are attended by just family and a few close friends, there’s no need to do more. 

Comparing the cost of my home-decorated cakes and cupcakes to that of a themed cake from a bakery, I know I’m making the right choice.  A pretty basic cake from Sam’s is $15.  A batch of cupcakes is, at the most, $4.  I made buttercream frosting for Drake’s Elmo cupcakes, but decided to buy frosting in a tub for Lyla’s since the cost is about the same.  I’ll use cake mix again, same reason.  I can make a cake from scratch, but it comes out to approximately the same cost, maybe a little less for homemade.  Not enough difference to get excited about.  What with my health issues I’m not against taking a few shortcuts now and then, while still keeping my eye on the big picture.