Sweets for my sweets...

Y'all know that I LOVE a party - the planning, the decorations, the menu.  But, I do find the cleaning to be a real drain on the fun!  So, because I hate to clean, and because all three boys have birthdays within about three months of each other, we decided to have one big party for all three boys.  We also decided rather spur of the moment on the date - which happened to be not quite two weeks away by the time we chose it.  So, I hightailed into party mode and we were off. 

We decided a dessert bar would be fun. We went really low key on the dinner menu and then I had some fun with the sweets menu.  It all came together pretty well - of course, about midnight the night before my husband, who was a huge (!) help actually said to me, "I didn't know you were going all out."  Umm, then honey, you don't know me!  Ha ha!! 

 

I settled on red and white with a bit of turquoise as our theme colors.  My cricut and I had not been getting along very well but I pulled the equivalent of "turn it off and back on" by disassembling and reassembling and it worked fine.  This left me free to create the fun little banner above.  We went with "celebrate" as it wasn't actually anyone's birthday that particular day.

The six year old and some party balloons. 

 The dessert bar at a glance.  I borrowed the candle sticks and platters from a friend.  She apparently loans the platters out frequently and the party throwers just hot glue whatever on the edges and then peel them off and return them for the next friend's use!  I learned that gum drops and hot glue do not mix.  They stuck and it was so cute and then I looked up and there was a growing pile of gum drops on the table that were just dropping off the platter.  Cinnamon disks were a much better option, AND the boys thought it was fun to unwrap them for me.  Woo hoo!

I also spray painted scraps of wood with chalkboard paint and then wrapped them in ribbon, with just one spot of hot glue so that they could be reused in the future by just swapping out ribbon.  I used chalk and wrote what each dessert was.  I love to label the food because then I don't have to stand around by the food all night and repeat what it all is.

 I made (and David assembled) homemade oatmeal creme pies.  Store bought ones, especially the leading brand, are not safe for Luke so he'd never had one.  I'm still not sure that he ever ate one, but it was fun to know that they can be duplicated at home.

We also made cake pops that we attempted to shape like gum drops and coat in sugar.  We had a dipping party the Thursday before the actual party.  My mom and sister came over to help me dip chocolate cookies, pretzels, and cake pops.  Dave helped out too.

I have decided no party is complete without s'mores caramel corn.  Perhaps just because I know that then I get to eat it, but no one else seems to complain either. 

 I found the triple chip cookie recipe on Bakerella's website and decided to try it as a pan/bar cookie because I really am not a big fan of standing around taking cookies in and out of the oven.  It worked fine and makes a big pan.  (Wow, first I hate to clean and now this - I'm not sounding so domestic, huh?)

 Caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels, a la Gretchen.

 Chocolate dipped homemade chocolate cookies, from Pioneer Woman.  We used (pretend/Luke safe) M&M's, whoppers, and mini marshmallows - all allergy friendly options.

 With so many sweets we needed some milk!  We also had warm coffee, cold coffee, strawberry lemonade, and some soft drinks.

The sweet boys got some gifts.  Max just looks too big here - sitting there on his feet, opening his own gifts. 

 They look like they were so patiently waiting on each other.  You have to love how a picture captures only a tiny moment in time!

 Luke is so full of energy!

The boys got a grill from Grammy and Grampy - "just like Daddy's!"

And for party favors, I put out ziploc bags and begged our guests to take food home with them.  We also had a jar of toothbrushes - don't blame me for your cavities, peeps!