Any day can be a party day!

Simple Stripes Picnic! 

Enjoy the rest of the summer with special little moments!

Invite the gang and don't forget the toys!

Surprise the kids with an outdoor lunch & special treats!

Soak up the sunshine & smiles!

Garden Tea Party

Garden Tea Party!

Start with a great tea set!
This one was an amazing find at T.J. Max.  Keep it after the party
and use it for many years to come!

Flower Garden Cupcakes!  Red Velvet with cream cheese frost,
from Samantha's Sweets.

Garden Vegetable Cupcakes!  -with fondant veggies and butter cream icing
By Samantha's Sweets

Table scape with garden tea party items!

Table scape!

Just some of the decoration elements.  If you look around the table scape, you will see there where matching tissue boxes, coasters, name tags, favors and treat bags.



Garden Cupcakes!  -with edible dirt, chocolate butter cream and fondant veggies. 
The shovels are pretzel sticks with gum paste and edible silver paint.  The seeds are
candy coated sunflower seeds, which are also great for favors.  I placed them in
little bowls around the party and cake table.



Gotta have a Tea Party Cake!

Set the Scene...
For any tea party, the table is the most important area of focus.  Have a beautiful, cloth table covering.  Have a eye catching center piece.  This could simply be your tea set before use.  I used a pop corn container that I found at discount store.  It had the perfect colors and decorations to match the theme, and also the kids loved the pop corn as part of the celebration.  Have the table set with everything needed for the tea and treats.  Assign seating by using name tags.  The birthday girl helped me make them and planned where all her friends would sit. 
We adorned the walls with flowers, a banner with tea party stickers and a large picture of a garden that the birthday girl made herself.

Let the kids be part of the decorating!  It makes the party extra special!

Garden Tea Party Games:  The tea itself is the main activity for the party.  Take the tea around on a tray and have each guest pick which tea they will drink.  I used all decaf teas of a wide variety.  Research tea how-to information first!  I'm embarrassed to say, but I actually had the tea water too hot and the cream curdled.  Not cool!  But the party went on to be great.  Everyone makes mistakes when party planning, just learn from them.  : )

   
The focus on this particular party, at the request of my little girl, was vegetables. 

Veggie Toss:  Get realistic veggies from a craft store.  Have a large wooden harvest basket.  Let the kids simply take turns tossing the veggies in the basket.  Award small prizes for how many they get in.

Veggie Coloring:  Printable coloring sheets online are the best!  We found cute vegetable ones and Veggie Tales also. 

Veggie Tales Movie:  Veggie Tales movies are uplifted and great for kids. 

Decorations:

*Tea set and tea cups--most important

*Garden veggies in a basket.

*Flowers on the walls.

*Seed packets on the table.

*Greenery around the cupcake stands.

Table Scape:

*Pictures above.  Again, start the decorating adventure with the perfect tea set.

Favors & Treat Bags:

*Grow your own flowers, wrapped in cellophane with a garden tag.

*Seed packets.

*Carrot bubble sets.  (Because this party was in April, I was able to get Easter decorations, etc., with spring like elements and carrots.)

     Bags...

*I used carrot shaped treat bags filled with seed packets, garden pencils and erasers, garden stickers and fruity lollipops.

Cake:

-Garden cupcakes with fondant veggies and flowers

-Tea party table cake

Sweet Treats Table

The dining room table was completed with sweet elements like...

   *Candy coated sunflower seeds

   *Fruity lollipops

   *Garden cupcakes
   *Colorful Lemon-Cooler Cookies  -on recipe page
   *Edible dirt with gummy-worms -on recipe page

Ice Cream Party!

Ice Cream Party!

Hire your local ice cream truck to attend!  It's the perfect way to kick off the party!  There will be a fee for attending in addition to the cost of ice cream.

Ice Cream Party Games...

*Stack the Ice Cream  *Pin the Cherry on the Ice Cream Sundae

*Make your own sundae  *Decorate party hats & bags  *Ice Cream coloring sheets

*Ice Cream Cone Relay Race  *Ice Cream eating contest  *Ice Cream Pinata

Set the Scene!

Create an ice cream shop as a background for the guest of honor

to open his or her gifts.  Use an already made scene setter like this one

or create your own.  This scene setter was for a 50's themed party.

It made a perfect, old-fashioned ice cream shop.

After the games, presents and cake...

Put on some dance music and twist & shout!

Ice Cream Party Games...

*Stack the Ice Cream:  Purchase an ice cream cone stacker game like, "We All Scream For Ice Cream," made by Zwiggle games.  It could be an early birthday present for your child and then be part of the party fun!

*Pin the Cherry on the Sundae:  Create a large ice cream sundae or cone out of card board, then make a cherry for each guest (with their names on it.)  Then blind fold, spin and pin on the cherry.  You know the game.  *There are so many variations to "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," for pretty much ANY party!

*Make your own sundae:  Of course you need an ice cream sundae station at your ice cream party.  Set up a wide variety of toppings, bowls spoons, napkins and cute decorations like...

-colorful candy sticks in jars

-cotton candy

-ice cream sodas with colorful straws (center piece idea-described below)

-jelly beans scattered

-ice cream parlor hats (also make a great favor)

-retro ice cream dishes

-straws in old fashion straw containers                        The possibilities are endless!

*Decorate party hats and treat bags:  Have plain hats and bags(with names.)  Have a table with glitter glue, ice cream stickers and other crafty supplies.  Let the kids make their own favors.  They love to be creative!

*Ice Cream coloring sheets:  Available online.  Have crayons and coloring sheets available at the craft table. 

*Ice Cream Cone Relay Race:  Use the cones and ice cream from the game or other play food.  Break the kids into two teams and line them up.  Have them scoop, run and deposit their ice cream into a basket about 2o feet away; as a relay race.

*Ice Cream eating contest:  No explanation needed.  Try it if you dare!  Warning-mess and hyper activity will occur.  : )

*Ice Cream Pinata:  Fill with ice cream candy treats or the kid's favorite candies.  Let the younger kids go first.  Whack it and fill up those treat bags that the kids made. 

Ice Cream Party Decorations...

A perfect centerpiece--  Take a large fluted glass vase and use a large, colored foam sheet to line the bottom part (inside.)  Stuff with newspaper or tissue paper.  On top, stack white fluff or cotton balls.  Paint stripes on a paper towel tube for a straw and insert.  Decorate with sprinkles or jimmies and top off with a large red gum ball as the cherry!

Table Scape--Refer to the section above under Make Your Own Sundae.  Make it cute!

Streamers in ice cream colors:  When I think of ice cream, the colors I envision are -white, -pink, -chocolate, -mint green, and -red. 

Cake:  Ice Cream Truck, Ice Cream Cone, etc.

Balloons, ice cream parlor hats, large ice cream cones fan outs, etc. 

Adventures await...

Ahoy Mates!
     I'm just starting this blog adventure! I have been inspired by other stay-at-home moms, who have launched similar websites and blogs, to create a small business.  Small businesses can really help the family finances.   In these times, we need to support each other and have a little fun in the process. 
    As a cake artist, I have a passion for parties.  My kids plan their parties months, even years, lol, in advance!  I have learned a lot in my party adventures and still have much more to learn.  I want to share ideas and tips with people who love to entertain and need a little inspiration.  You do not have to be an artist or a chef to plan an awesome party!
     I will soon be added pics, how-to information, party theme ideas, tips and so much more!  Thanks to all of you who have supported Samantha's Sweets and my cake adventures!  Have a sweet day!

Ahoy Party Mates!!!

      I'm Samantha, of Samantha's Sweets. For years I have been told that I should get into party planning. I'm one of those mom's obsessed with party themes, especially for kid's birthdays. Well, cakes & life keep me pretty busy, so party planning is not an option. So I created this site to help fellow party people, cake decorators and mom's, plan the perfect party! My hope is that this will grow into an online business to help my family and yours. Thanks for stopping! All aboard mates, for some sweet party planning!