Ladies Birthday Party

I mentioned last week that I was going to attempt to make Texas Sheet Cupcakes for a special event at our church.  Our event was called the Ladies Birthday Party.  Each table is decorated by month.  Above are my very successful rendition of the yummy cake.  I used a Devil's Food Cake Mix.  I substituted buttermilk for the water and added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Then I used the normal frosting recipe.  The trick is to cool it off in the refrigerator enough to spread, but not too runny.  If you get it too cold, it does warm up.  I added a pecan to the top so people could choose it or not.  They turned out very good.

These are the final version of my Raspberry Angle Food Cupcakes.  Again, I used a mix.  I know, horrors!  But, for 50 some women, I needed to have good time management.  So, a mix it was. I dusted the pieces of fresh raspberries with powdered sugar  and added them to the batter.  Then I topped them with Martha's buttercream frosting tinted a light pink.  These are Unbelievably good! My friend Kathy made yummy Red Velvet Cupcakes and Lemon.  The ladies had FOUR choices!  

The ladies sit at the table of their birthday.  It's a great way to meet and talk to women you don't know very well. We had two fun birthday games and lots of prizes. Here is a bad picture of an adorable table.  It was the March table, decorated with a Spring Cleaning theme.  She had half aprons tied around every chair and her own collection of hankies and vintage dish towels along with her depression glass.  It was an amazing table.  Our soap favors fit right into her theme and we didn't even plan it that way. 

My friend Kathy did a table for July with a picnic theme.  She used fresh sunflowers, bandana plates from Target, striped beach towels, mason jars for glasses, and bandanas for napkins. She had a thermos and a jar of snack mix.  I've never been on a picnic this cute.  So incredibly adorable!

This is my April table that had a gardening theme.  I got out my large collection of gardening sprinklers, nozzles, flower frogs and gardening books.  Fresh roses and ferns gave it some life.  I used my vintage dessert plates that don't match, but all "coordinate".  It was very fun, but crazy since I was heading up the entire event.  These pictures aren't the best, but I'm just glad I got some.  I thought I'd show you a sampling of our day.