Cupcakes or Cake?

I would do the cookies as well - less mess. But I am also a huge fan of cookies so I could biased! If you go to Michael's, they have seasonal boxes that are like Chinese food take out boxes that would be good to carry a cupcake in. If you get the plain ones, you can decorate them too.

Have a cake! It is a birthday party! Plus, it is a myth that sugar makes kids hyper. It doesn't. We just tend to feed children sugar at already exciting occasions like a birthday. Enjoy the day.

Those little tiny cupcakes you can get at Walmart are perfect for little guys...big cupcakes are just too much for kids in my opinion. I just spent $15 on cupcakes to take for my son's birthday to school and 6 and 7 yr old could only eat about half and what a mess!!

Maybe a cookie? A bakery could make a special cookie for her...maybe ice each child's name on it or something...

Just some thought...

Good luck..

If you like the idea of having a cake, but prefer the convenience of cupcakes, go for a cupcake cake. It looks like a sheet cake, but is made out of cupcakes. You can get them at Market Street. Then you can have your daughter blow out the candles, and you can hand out the cupcakes as they are leaving.

First of all, I LOVE THE IDEA OF CUPCAKES! Go to party city (or whatever party store is here locally) and get those little fortune cookie boxes. here is a sample from online http://www.americanbridal.com/gourmet-fortune-cookie-take...
I think party city has them in white.
Anyway... that is my idea.
Good luck!

Happy 2nd Birthday to your little girl!!

Maybe it would be better if you buy the cookies with icing or sprinkle with platic bag or wood stick at one of the bakery for them to take home with little goodie bags. You could call Starbuck or cookie bouquet for the pricing. I think Christmas or Gingerbread man cookies would be perfect. Up to you..

Good luck and have fun!:)

Hi C., Merry Christmas. I would do the goodie bags as mentioned and the very small cupcakes (about 2 bit size). At the end of play time and like someone said, let parents decide whether they get to eat them or not then. Happy Birthday to your daughter. Best Wishes

We just did ice cream cone cupcakes. They were a big hit. You can get the recipe on most sugar ice cream cone box, Keebler. A couple of suggestions bc the cones will fall over several times as you are attempting to fill them. Place a small dollop of icing on the bottom of the cones to keep them on the baking sheet. And give them enough room, you don't need to place them in a cupcake pan, just a flat baking sheet works. A box of cake mix is more than you'll need to make a box of 24 cones. Fill the cones to about 3/4 full. Buy 2 boxes of cones just in case you are a perfectionist and need to experiment a bit on the amount you need to put in the cones to achieve your desired look. Then just frost with store bought frostint. If you're nuts like me then you might do both choc and yellow cakes. If so, then leave enough space around the base of the cake so that you can tell if its choc or yellow. Then sprinkle with colorfull sprinkles. You can then buy clear celaphane goodie bags and place the cones in it and tie it at the top. You can take it further and think of something creative you can place at the bottom of the bag and put the cone in the middle. Also, as a snack during play think about having a "trail mix" of some sort. You can make these yourself as well; goldfish, pretzel, rainsins, chex cereal, ect. Put them in a clear drink cup of whatever cup you want to use. Or as a party favor, you can put them in the less expensive plastic containers that you can buy in sets of 5 that may also have lids. I think the mommies would appreciate that. You can also have juice and zippy cups and have those as party favors. Bring a sharpie or a lable strips so you can put kids names on each. Have fun.

What about those big cookies they make in some malls that they use in lieu of b'day cakes? If you get a p'nut butter cookie, it might not be as messy as let's say, chocolate chip. You can break or cut off just a little piece! Heck, you could make your own! I'm sure it'd be just as good! Maybe better! Then do the gift bags as well? S. :)

What about a healthy muffin with fruit instead of a sugary treat? (I'd avoid anything that contains any nuts due to the rampant nut allergies...)

Hi C.!
How exciting!
Since they are so young, you might want to make the mini cupcakes with just a little icing on top. I have a mini muffin baking pan I bought from pampered chef, but I'm sure you can find them at WalMart, Target, etc. You can arrange the mini cupcakes in a heart shape on a tray and they'll each have a cupcake and you can still hand out goodie bags without the mess.
Take Care and have fun!
D.

Hopefully you did a cake with the family. Because you want to atleast make sure you have a second birthday with her blowing out candles. If so, cookies sound good and not so messy. Good Luck, L.

They sell cupcake boxes at Wal-Mart and Target. I'm not sure how expensive they are but that may be better than a bag.

i would do a light lunch, then cupcakes!

You could make the cupcakes and bring them out on a tray together so it looks like a HUGE cake and have your child blow out 2 candles and then disperse the cupcakes.. they may or may not eat them there but.. then it's up to the kid's parents to decide what to do... and you won't have to worry about wrapping them and whether or not they get smashed.

Just my 2 cents.

J.

Try this...see if u like...make the goody bags with a bag of chips and some type of fruit like an orange or apple...and then fill up maybe with a fruit roll-up and one piece of candy or like u said a trinket...then do the traditional happy birthday cake or cupcake and blow out the candles...like...almost by the end of the party and have the parent's take the piece of cake or cupcake instead...and let the parent's decide wheather their child can have the cake ...or any other treat that is in their goody bag...they have the not so healthy/sugary treat...but they also have the choice of a fruit item...I hope this helps...blessings at your daughter's party!!!!!!

Cupcakes will be much easier to handle. To cut down on the mess, bake them in a flat bottomed ice cream cone.

Get the favored cake mix.
Prepare as directed on the box adding 1 cup of flour
Put ice cream cones into 9 X 13 cake pan and fill 2/3 full.
Bake according to package directions. May take a little longer than the standard cupcake because you can do 24 at a time.
When you ice them, be sure to cover any cake runs with icing (If there are any, it makes it look like melting ice cream.)
You can transport them in the same pan that you bake them in.

Extra tip. If you replace the 1/3 cup of oil in any boxed cake mix with 1 cup of mayonaise, it will be hard to tell that the cake is from a box and not from scratch.

I think that's a great idea. I've been to parties at that time of day and really hated the pizza and cake. Your idea is great and let's the parents decide when to suger up the kids. D.

I agree with Emily, get those boxes and send the kids home with their treats. If you were having a party at your house, then the cake woudn't be a big deal. But since you are all out in public with toddlers, it would be easier on everyone to do the goodie bags. Stress free AND mess free parties are always so much more fun! :)

Cup cakes on the go sound good, but think of the mess with the icing! If you do, get some royal icing (it's just poweder sugar whipped up....recepies are all over), this icing hardens ( I use it for my ginger bread men). That way you can put it in the little boxes with toys and there won't be alot of mess later.

Have fun!

Have you considered a big decorated individually wrapped cookie instead of a cupcake for your guests? (e.g. Cookie Bouquet or other places can do fun decorated cookies). Probably would wrap better and if one of the kids gets anxious and wants to open their gift bag in advance of getting home, their mother will appreciate the fact that a cookie will make less mess in the car than a cupcake with crumbs and icing. Your birthday princess could have a very special cookie (maybe bigger or decorated differently) with her two candles in it so you can let her share that blowing-out-the candle experience with everyone at the end of the party right before they leave...then the guests can all take their gift baggies (with their cookie imside) and go home. I think it is a good compramise that allows you to maximize play time, incorporate some bday tradition, and minimize the complications that would be associated with a cupcake or cake "to go". :-)

Best wishes...

I'm definitely for cupcakes over cake anyday of the week, however, you're right about them being messy in the bag!

What about doing a Hostess Snowball? They're made of chocolate cake, icing cream inside and marshmallow around topped with pink sugar. They're also individually wrapped and pink so it's all set for a girl.