Lemonade Birthday Party

My baby girl is turning 2 and we had a lemonade-themed birthday party. I served regular and pink lemonade, had lemon-themed food and decorated with white, yellow & pink. It turned out really cute!

I ordered the pink & yellow striped paper straws from GlitterDaisyShop

Some of the food did double-duty as decorations. I filled apothecary jars with Lemonheads, cotton candy, and pink, white & yellow meringues. I also made Jello Jigglers in lemon peels and lemon sugar cookies.



Got this idea from Pinterest - simply follow the Jello Jiggler instructions on the Jello box and pour into hollowed out lemon halves. Once set, slice with a wet knife.



These marshmallow pops were SO easy. Just stick a popsicle stick in the marshmallow, dip in melted Wilton Candy Melts, sprinkle on the sprinkles or colored sugar, and stand up in a glass until set.

 

I adapted my usual rolled sugar cookie recipe by adding lemon zest and lemon juice (recipe below). I used a lemon-shaped cookie cutter that I got from my all-time favorite cookie-cutter shop, http://www.cheapcookiecutters.com/.
If you can think of a cookie-cutter shape, chances are they have it!
For the lemon slice cookies, I used a circle cookie cutter and just cut the circle in  half.

I made pink & yellow pom poms using this tutorial and hung them from the light fixtures over my dining room and kitchen tables.



I ordered this sign from HelloLoveBoutique, where I also got a cute vintage-style lemonade birthday party invitation.



In the kitchen, I had a drink dispenser filled with lemonade and a pitcher with pink lemonade. I also made a cute pink & yellow Happy Birthday banner, which I forgot to take a picture of (oops).

Lemon Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) softened butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

5 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

zest of one lemon

Directions: Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.

Icing: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar, 4 tsp milk, 4 tsp light corn syrup, 2 tsp lemon juice, food coloring


This was the perfect party for a little girl. Although I feel I must get away from the fruit themes next year... her first birthday was a Strawberry Party, her second birthday was lemons.......

Places I'm Partying:
http://www.craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/
http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/
http://www.linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://www.craftomaniac.blogspot.com/
http://www.cherishedbliss.com/
http://www.thenymelrosefamily.blogspot.com/
http://www.thediydreamer.blogspot.com/
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/
http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/
http://www.the36thavenue.com/
http://www.igottacreate.blogspot.com/
http://www.504main.com/
http://www.whipperberry.com/
http://www.tatertotsandjello.com/
http://www.ourthriftyideas.com/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/



 

Elmo Birthday Party

As most 2 year olds do, my little cousin LOVES Elmo. I jumped at the chance to help with her Elmo-themed 2nd birthday party. We wanted it to be a girly Elmo party, so made sure to use lots of pink!

Favor Bags:

We just bought a pack of simple pink paper gift bags at Michaels and adhered Elmo die-cuts made using the Cricut Elmo Party cartridge.

Banner:

I used the Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge to cut flower shapes out of pink polka dot cardstock, and the Elmo Party cartridge for the Elmo shapes and the letters. To give the letters a little more dimension, I did a white layer under the red. Then strung them all together with some narrow red ribbon.



Elmo Cookies:

I am not a professional cookie decorator (clearly), but love to try my hand at making cute cutout cookies.

The recipes I used for the cookies:

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Icing

Note: the eyes are Wilton Candy Melts with dots of black icing

The Elmo cookie cutter was purchased from http://www.cheapcookiecutters.com/

Places I'm Partying:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

www.lilluna.com