Bowling Party Design

This year 1st boy wanted to celebrate at the Bowling Alley.  What a fun theme to work with for a "boy" party.  But, if you have a boy you know all the foo-foo isn't necessary so I tried to take it down a notch...

We started with delicious sugar cookies decorated and personalized for each child attending instead of the typical waste-of-money trinkets that get thrown away anyway. I personally like the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Pouch using the recipe on the back for rolled out cookies.  I do like to add a teaspoon of Almond extract to the simple three ingredient recipe to give it that bakery taste.  They were decorated with Wilton Cookie Icing in the squeeze bottles for the bowling pins, and then the bowling balls were iced and covered in black sugar crystals with three white chocolate chips upside down for the finger holes. 

Simple-Sweet-EASY!

 Cupcake toppers were made using a WORD document set for Avery circle labels, and I inserted my graphics and wording.  They were punched with Stampin' Up's circle and scallops punches.

 My boy is simple he is a vanilla-kind-of-kid.  However, there is a chocolate lover out there somewhere so we went with both very vanilla and fudge chocolate.  As I mentioned I am a simple sort of girl, I used a pudding-in-the-mix cake for the cupcakes, but I added a few ingredients.  For the very vanilla I used a white pudding-in-the-mix and added a white chocolate instant pudding to the mix, this was a very moist cake when all said and done.  The very vanilla cupcakes where iced with a simple classic vanilla buttercream (recipe following) and topped with clear coarse dusting sugar.  The chocolate cupcakes started out with a devil foods puuding-in-the-mix cake with a chocolate fudge instant pudding added.  They were frosted with the BEST perfect chocolate buttercream frosting found here at Hershey's website (bottom of the link page).  They too were topped with the clear coarse dusting sugar.

 I used a zipbag to frost the chocolate cupcakes (just add your frosting to a large gallon bag-and snip off the corner and swirl around the cupcake).  The vanilla I used a disposable Wilton bag with a large open star tip.

I know a ton of photos on those cupcakes....I was so excited they tasted better than any bakery I know!

This was a fantastic fun theme, loved the cupcake picks, take home treats, and all the delicious frosted cupcakes! (the bowling was fun too!)

Classic Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Makes 3 – 3.5 cups
Directions:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)  Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
Instructions:
Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.  Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter.  Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt,  and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for for 3 minutes.  If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar.  If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.  Enjoy!

linked up to Favorite Things Friday, and Chic on a Shoestring