My niece has a “Family Birthday Party” every May for her young girls.  I always ask her for the girls’ “wish list”.  My niece emailed several of us back with their lists.  One of the items on her younger daughter’s list was that she was now into baking and loves to wear her “Cake Boss” apron.   Well, I quickly snatched that item off her “wish list”.  I told my niece I would love to give her a basket with baking goodies, and inquired if she already had a cupcake stand.  My niece said the basket and cupcake stand were awesome ideas because her daughter was going to have a “Kids Cupcake Birthday Party” a couple of weeks after the family party and she could use the cupcake stand for that party.

One of the reasons I had jumped at the opportunity to do this gift was I had previously used this idea for a fundraiser I had worked on about a year ago.  I was in charge of the silent auction items for the fundraiser and knew that kids auction items tend to do very well (lots of bidding) at fundraisers.  Cupcake TV shows were already very popular so I had come up with the idea of doing a “Lil’ Cake Boss Basket” and a “Lil’ Ace of Cakes Basket”.  

“Lil’ Ace of Cakes” basket for the fundraiser I worked on 

“Lil’ Cake Boss” basket for the fundraiser worked on

The items in the baskets were not wrapped.  We wanted people attending the fundraiser to be able to see all the different things in the baskets.

 Instructions for Building a Kids’ Baking Basket (or for an adult):

First, get a great container (“basket”) to hold the items that you are planning on putting in the basket.

  I like the plastic, colorful kids pool totes for this purpose.  They only cost a couple of dollars and can be used again.  The totes can usually be found at a Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or other craft store.

Next I like to put a “base” into the bottom of the tote.  It gives greater height to the items you are putting in the container and makes the basket more visually appealing.  I used a piece of heavy cardboard that fit nicely into the bottom.

I wrapped the cardboard with a piece of tissue paper so it would look nicer from outside the basket.

Some of the items I purchased and put into the basket:  different shapes of cookie cutters, lots of sprinkles, cupcake wrappers, frosting, and icing.  I also put in a couple of stickers for fun:  a glittery cupcake sticker and stickers with baking items from Martha Stewart’s collection.

Other possible items to put into a baking basket:  ready-made fondant (a huge time saver in case you have never made fondant)  and cake mixes.  I also included cute tulip-shaped cupcake papers from Wilton. 

 What kid doesn’t love to get those giant boxes of candy like Whoppers, Sour Patch Kids, and Ring Pops?!  The candy also helps fill in those little gaps that can occur between the items you are putting in the basket.  The green squishy guy has a great feel to it.  He is also very lightweight and can be tossed around without doing any damage.  My main purpose for having him, though, is to cover the twist-tie when wrapping the basket.

Of course, I also purchased a cupcake stand.

I wrapped the cupcake stand because it was too large to fit into the tote basket.

Some photos to show the basket filled with the items

Use cellophane paper or a cellophane bag to wrap up the basket.  If you really want to secure the basket tightly, use the type of cellophane paper that can take the heat of a hair dryer to shrink it.  We did this with the fundraiser baskets.  I used a large bag this time.  As you can see I put the wrapped cupcake stand underneath the tote. 

The finished basket – I used tissue paper to cover the items inside the basket.  I  would not do this for an adult gift basket but I thought it’s more fun for a child to open a basket without knowing what’s inside of it.

Kids’ “Cupcake Party” 

As I mentioned, my niece had a “Cupcake Birthday Party” for her daughter’s kids party.  The party was held at her home.  Here are some photos from the party to give you some ideas to throw your own fun cupcake party for your child. 

When the party started, each child was given a white apron to decorate.  They would later wear their finished aprons for the cupcake decorating part…

There were lots of markers and stencils for them to use to decorate their aprons.

Using a stencil to decorate her apron…

Decorating their aprons…

“Cute as a Cupcake” finished apron – and it is…

Some of the creatively designed finished aprons…

My niece’s daughters baked and decorated these gorgeous cupcakes before the party and displayed them for inspiration with the cupcake stand.  The cupcakes looked like they came right out of a bakery. Yummy! 

Each child got 6 cupcakes to decorate.

There were lots of pretty frosting and icing for them to choose from…

and sprinkles too…

See how pretty the cupcakes look when you bake them in the Wilton tulip-shaped cupcake papers… 

She’s making her own “custom color frosting” by swirling some colors together…

 My niece found these plastic containers at a “supply type” store – perfect for the kids to take their decorated cupcakes home with them… 

One of the decorated cupcakes – how beautiful is that!

Cupcakes all packed up & ready to travel home…

The children also played a few games, sang Happy Birthday, and had cake and ice cream.  Everyone enjoyed the party! 

Kids “Beauty/Spa” Party :

My niece’s older daughter had a “Beauty/Spa” Kids Party.  This party was held at home too.  My niece had 3 adults to help her with the party.  There were 3 stations set up for each girl to visit:  a Hair Station, a Nail Station, and a Make-up Station.  The adults had previously gone to a “everything’s-a-dollar” store and purchased lots of pretty hair clips, ribbons, nail polishes, etc.  They also had various lipsticks and eye shadows for the girls to choose from.

The girls then got to visit each station and tell the adult the service they were interested in having.  For instance, one girl with very long hair wanted her hair styled “just like Cinderella”.  The girls not only looked very beautiful at the end of the party but had a great time too.

It’summer and you know what that means…Baseball!!

Kids “Baseball Themed” Party :

If you are planning on a baseball themed party for your son or daughter’s upcoming birthday party, here’s some tips to add some additional fun and interest to it:

Have each child wear their favorite baseball team T-shirt or possibly their own uniform shirt if they play on a baseball team.

Of course, serve hot dogs and have peanuts and cracker jack.  Baseball-decorated cupcakes for dessert.

Have open bags of Big League Chew bubble gum on the table for the kids

Purchase enough baseballs for each child.  Put the date of the party on each baseball.  Pass around the baseballs at the party and have each child autograph every baseball.  Give each child a signed baseball to take home. 

I hope you got some inspiration from some of these party ideas.  Take the time to enjoy these special times with your child!