Cuddle Bug's 2nd birthday

My second child's birthday is in February. I really didn't want to do anything with Valentines Day in it since her birthday is very close to it. Instead I opted to do a Ladybug theme since she was really into all sorts of insects, more so then Princess Pea is at the moment.

I didn't take as much time to plan for this as I wasn't going to do a huge cake like I did for Princess Pea's birthday. Instead I made cupcakes, which is really my Achilles' Heal, but shh! don't tell anyone I said that! ;) The cupcakes were a lot easier to make, and easier for a two year old to chow down on.

I made a Red Devil's Food cupcake recipe that I found, where else, Pinterest! I used the whipped icing that was colored green, red, and black to decorate the cupcake with. I didn't compromise on the icing with the husband this tim, but he enjoyed it all the same. I do have to say, trying to make a black frosting without the Wilton's icing color was stinking hard! But I managed to get it a black looking color. I also made the invitations to the party with the scrapbooking supplies I had on hand (Thank you mommy!).

At the time, daddy was doing some classes out of state for a few months, but he was able to come home for the weekend of Cuddle Bug's birthday which we were all happy he was able to come!

As for her party outfit, I crocheted her some red and black leg warmers, a ladybug hat, and made a tutu with a bow and flower glued to it. Of course, Princess Pea wanted a set of leg warmers and a hat as well, but I only managed to get the hat done for her, just slightly different from Cuddle Bug's. She was happy with the hat non the less.

For the decorations, I used a red plastic table cover and got a roll of black wrapping paper from the dollar tree to use where the food was set up. I used black and red balloons and streamers. I made ladybugs out of the balloons and placed them around the areas we were most likely to be in the most. I did have a number two on our garage door out front that I did with the left over balloons I didn't use in the house, but they got torn off when we accidentally opened the garage door to run a quick errand, and I didn't get a picture of it! :(

Keeping with the red and black theme, I went for foods of the same color. For the fruits, I did strawberries, black grapes, raspberries, and blackberries. I made a strawberry fruit dip using cream cheese and marshmallow creme. You could let the cream cheese come to room temperature then stir in the marshmallow, but I really like the texture and consistency of having the cream cheese whipped before stirring in the marshmallow cream. For the vegetables, I did grape tomatoes, black olives, and baby carrots. I would have done a red bell pepper sliced up, but I don't think too many of the kids that were invited would like it. I made a ranch dip using 16 oz of sour cream and the ranch dip powder package mixed together. The dip taste better after it has sit for a while in the fridge. I try to do it the day before, but if you are in a hurry, at least a few hours before the party starts. Lastly I made a cheese ball using 8 oz of cream cheese, at room temperature, and another package of the ranch dip powder. The best way to incorporate the ranch into the cheese is by hand. I bought some wheat thins to eat with it, but you can also do triscuits, especially the new flavored ones they sell these days. For the drink, I made a strawberry-watermelon lemonade, otherwise known as "Ladybug Juice." The recipe calls for 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of pureed watermelon, 1/2 cup of pureed strawberries, and 6 cups of water. Instead of squeezing a bazillion lemons just to get 1 cup, I used the yellow bottle of frozen lemon juice (thawed of course) that you find in the freezer section of your grocery store where all the other frozen juices are. I like the taste of this, better then the stuff you get in the green bottle, but if you like the green bottle, by all means use it. :)

For the goodie bags, I dipped pretzels in chocolate and candy melts to make them look like ladybugs! You guessed it, another Pinterest idea. (Don't you just love Pinterest??) I dipped the whole pretzel in the red candy melts, shook the excess off, and let them dry completely. Then I just dipped the rounded edge in the chocolate. Once they were all dipped, I pipped on the remaining melted chocolate for the spots. They turned out super cute and one of my favorite projects to make for a birthday party! Some times it's hard to find toys and little things to put in a goodie bag until I stumbled upon the idea to make these pretzels. I think having something edible for a goodie bag is so much better and less costly then little toys that your kids will only play with once!

All in all, everybody enjoyed themselves and it was nice to have some family around to help us celebrate Cuddle Bug's second birthday!