Cinco de Mayo Cupcakes

Being room mom for my son's class give me the opportunity to come up with fun treats when they have  a party and this was no exception.    Today they are having a Cinco de Mayo celebration in school with nachos, salsa etc. so I took the opportunity to make fun "sombrero" cupcakes!     They were really easy to make!  Here are the steps to make the "sombrero" cupcake toppers.  

Step 1: Start with a round cookie.  (This was the roundest cookie I could find without having to bake sugar cookies but if you want a rounder cookie, the refrigerated cookie dough would be perfect for this)

Step 2:  Pipe icing around the edge of the cookie and a small circle in the center 

(it doesn't have to be perfect)

Step 3:  Add sprinkles to a shallow dish and place the cookie, icing side down, into the sprinkles

When you remove your cookie, it should look like this:

Step 4:  Add a drop of icing to the bottom of a gum drop and place it in the center of the cookie 

How cute is that?! A little "sombrero" cookie topper!

Here is the tray of them

 Step 5: Bake and frost your cupcakes and top them off with a delicious sombrero

all packed up an ready to be devoured by a bunch of hungry children! 

but seriously…..no Cinco de Mayo party is complete without a little faux mustache!  I found these at my local party store for $.25 and I couldn't pass them up.   

Enjoy!! 

Star Wars Weekends 2013 at Disney's Hollywood Studios

By now, information is beginning to trickle out for this years Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios and you've probably heard some of it by now or seen some of the pictures from previous years unless you've been lucky enough to experience it in person.  I have not.  For the last 7 years,  we've been taking my son to Disney and it is always in the fall, for Halloween.   Halloween is my favorite holiday and I absolutely LOVE Walt Disney World at Halloween time.  From the decorations throughout the park to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, it is seriously, in my opinion, the best time to go.   However, having an 8 year old at home is is OBSESSED with Star Wars (and a mom who is just as obsessed) it seems logical that we go check out Star Wars Weekends.   There's just something about a Stormtrooper eating a Mickey ice cream bar that makes me want to pack my bags and go!

I'm on the fence on whether or not to give up our fall trip and go in May.  After all, Fall is the only time I know. This is completely new territory for me.  I plan my trips months in advance,  I'm up at 5 am on the morning I can book my dining reservations, NOTHING is last minute with me when it comes to Disney and here I am contemplating a trip less than 3 weeks away!!  No dining booked, no reservations booked (which means NO discount -ouch!) NOTHING!  Part of me really, really wants to go and check out the events in person and if they are anything like the YouTube videos we've watched hundreds of times, then it will be an amazing time.    If we do decide to go, I will finally be able to surprise my little guy with a trip.   He is always involved in the planning process, and our monthly count down dinners so he knows the trip is coming but this could finally be my chance to surprise him and that itself would be priceless.

This year, the festivities will begin the weekend May 17 and run through June 9 (weekends only). If  you're looking for more information on this year's Star Wars Weekends, check out Disney's website here.

 Check out some of the cool merchandise that will be out for just for this event.  Donald Duck as Boba Fett …. Stitch as Yoda….does it get any better than this?! 

Check out the Disney Parks blog for more pictures.  

What about you?  Have you ever attended Star Wars Weekends?  Share some of your tips with us.

Xtreme Customz by Ridemakerz

I recently had the opportunity to host a "Mommy Party" sponsored by Ridemakerz and their new line of Xtreme Customz car kits.    Having a child obsessed with cars at home and having experience with Ridemakerz before, I jumped at the opportunity to check out these cool new cars!  It also gave me an excuse to get my son's friends together for a little party….. and I love to throw parties! 

The cars were awesome!!  My son immediately started taking them out trying to decide which was his favorite!  They have different sports cars and even the character cars like Iron Man, Batman and Spiderman.   The details on the pieces were incredible, like these little Batman logos on the wheels for the Batman car.  Each kit comes with a car body, frame, tires and rims and extra pieces to customize each car. 

We immediately picked a date for our buddies to come over as it was the only way to keep him from opening the cars that instant!  The day of the party, a couple of kids were sick so we kept a car for each of them to build when they felt better but the others had a blast. 

The boys were all around 7 years old with a 5 & 8 year old mixed in.  The youngest had a little bit of trouble with the wheels and the assembly of the car but nothing that a little help from mom couldn't fix. The others had no problem at all assembling the cars.  In fact there were no complaints and the general consensus was that the cars were AWESOME!!

Each kit came with the car frame, body tires, center caps for the wheels and some accessories that had to be assembled. 

 The wheels were probably the hardest part for the little one but again it was nothing that a little help couldn't fix.
Here are some pictures of the completed cars.

They all played with their cars for hours and went home with a wish list of all the others they want for their collection.    Even the moms were impressed with the fun the boys had building and customizing their car.

Xtreme Customz by Ridemakerz were definitely a hit!!
 For more information, check out their website here

Note:  I received the above party kit from Momselect as compensation for my review.  All opinions are my own. 

Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival

Going on right now at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.    Anytime is a beautiful time to visit the parks, but during the festival Epcot is transformed with all these beautiful character topiaries.  This year they have characters from Monsters University (we cannot wait for this movie!!), Lightning McQueen and friends, Phineas and Ferb, the princesses along with Mickey and of course Donald.   The Flower and Garden Festival runs until May 19th so you still have time to check out the park and all the wonderful activities and special merchandise you can only get during this time.   For more information be sure to check out Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival website here.

In celebration of the festival down in Florida, I'm bringing some of the Disney magic home with this adorable Mickey Mouse planter.  

Every year, we plant a garden in our backyard complete with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, watermelon, pumpkin and strawberries.  Each year it gets bigger and we add something new.   It's great to have fresh, homegrown produce right outside your door when you need it and and we love working on it as a family!

I even made a little video using my new planter!! 

Dawnn

Note:  I was compensated for my time making the above video with the adorable Mickey pot but due to my love of all things Disney, all opinions are my own.  

California Pizza Kitchen Scout Tour

Did you know California Pizza Kitchen does Scout tours?   I didn't either until recently but they do and they are free!  As a Cub Scout Den Leader, I know how important it is to find fun activities for the boys   while not spending a fortune at the same time.    This one was definitely a hit.  

  We started off by meeting at the restaurant before they opened to the public.    Our waitress came out, took the scouts drink orders and we waited for everyone to arrive.    Once everyone was there, they brought out the personal pizzas and toppings and each scout was able to create their own pizza masterpiece.    Once they were done, the pizzas were whisked away to cook and our tour of the restaurant started.    

The scouts toured the freezer, the kitchen and each station where the food was cooked.  After the tour, we returned to our table and they were each presented with a goodie bag or should I say goodie box.      Each scout was given a mini pizza box with an assortment of goodies inside.    How cute is that?!

Inside were crayons (you can see they were used to decorate the boxes while we waited), a coupon for a free kids meal on our next visit, some coupons for local attractions.

But most importantly a patch.  If you have a scout at home, you know how important patches are to these kids! 

Once their pizzas were done cooking, they brought them out for the kids to eat.

and they even had the choice of a brownie or ice cream sundae for dessert.  

It was a great tour and the boys had lots of fun learning making their pizzas and seeing behind the scenes of a restaurant.  

Thank you California Pizza Kitchen for this great program!! 

Check out California Pizza Kitchen's website to find a location near you and schedule your own scout tour!

Darth Vader Cupcakes

I am in LOVE with my Darth Vader silicone mold.   I bought a few of these awesome molds to use for my son's Star Wars party.  They can be used to make ice cubes and even candy.   For my son's class party this year, he requested vanilla cupcakes with chocolate Darth Vader heads!    They are so easy to use and the detail is perfect!!  I'll be posting lots of cool treats that I make with these great molds!

Orange Creme Cupcakes

My little guy suffers from a bunch of different food allergies, eggs being one of them.   Because of this he can't eat cake.  He usually doesn't mind as we always find something he would rather eat instead.   I remember coming across a cake recipe one day using a can of diet soda in place of the oil and eggs.   So I decided to try regular soda too see how they would taste and I was shocked that they tasted so good. In the past,  I've only ever tried 7up in my cupcakes but there is tons of flavors you could try and today I did just that.  I used orange soda and the final result turned out delicious!!  

Here's my recipe:

Orange Creme Cupcakes

1 Box cupcake mix

1 can icing 

12 ounces of orange soda

Mix together orange soda and cake mix.  Fill cupcake liners and bake normally.  I've noticed when I'm using the soda in place of the eggs and oil I have to add a few minutes to the baking time so keep an eye on them - you made need to add a few minutes.  

Once they cool, frost them however you like and enjoy these yummy orange creme cupcakes 

YUMMY!!