A few weeks ago I had the chance to throw a baby shower for one of my best friends here in Texas. Marianne was the very first person I met after we moved in, and she has kids just a few months apart from mine. She is due with her third baby, a boy, in just a few weeks, and I was so thrilled to be able to host a little get-together and help her celebrate! Since we live in Texas, I thought it would be fun to have a fiesta-themed baby shower!

I hung up some cute decorations from Witty Bash above our fabulous food table that was filled with fiesta-inspired foods. I loved how bright and colorful the fans were and the cactus and fiesta banners really made the theme pop!

For food I set up a nacho bar complete with taco meat, white queso cheese sauce, and refried beans, along with traditional nacho toppings like salsa, jalapenos, guacamole, and sour cream.

The dessert was my favorite part, though. We had churros and tres leches cake balls along with a Mexican chocolate cake with cinnamon frosting. I loved the way the cake turned out, even if decorating it did make my hand cramp up something fierce! And the “It’s a Boy” cake topper from Lula Flora was perfect!

I served it all with some teal plates, green forks, and these adorable cactus napkins and cups from Cranky Cakes Shop.

When all of our lovely guests arrived, we ended up sitting around the table, eating, and talking the whole time. It was so much fun celebrating Marianne and getting to have a moms’ night out away from the kiddos!

I also was able to give Marianne a new VTech VM342 Video Monitor with Wide-Angle Lens and Standard Lens. When you’re on your third baby, a lot of things you use have been used a few times already, so a new monitor was exactly what she needed! And since every family approaches parenting differently, VTech has an assortment of baby monitors that allow parents to choose the best unit for their style. Whether they want a simple audio monitor or would prefer an option with audio, video and soothing lullabies, VTech offers the product versatility they need.

We’ve used VTech monitors since Little A was little, and I have always been impressed. The VTech VM342 video baby monitor has a standard lens and an attachable wide-angle lens so you can switch back and forth between regular and panoramic view to see the whole nursery at once. The 4.3-inch LCD video screen is full-color and has automatic night vision, so parents always have the most vivid image of their little one, day or night.

The VTech VM342 monitor also has a two-way, talk-back intercom, a temperature sensor, built-in lullabies and soothing sounds, and has up to 1,000 feet of range. You can even add up to four cameras (only one is included) if you want to keep an eye on children in different rooms! And digital transmission ensures all videos are private and secure, while cutting down on background noise. I was so happy to give Marianne a VTech VM342 video baby monitor. I think having a good baby monitor is a must!

Marianne’s fiesta-themed baby shower was a hit, and I loved being able to throw it for her and help her celebrate her new little boy. We all had so much fun getting together, and I definitely enjoyed the leftover food we had at our house the next day! If you’re looking for a unique, easy baby shower theme, definitely try this one out. It was a big hit!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The post How to Throw a Fiesta-Themed Baby Shower appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for hosting a #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate. All opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.

On Monday I shared all the details from our amazing #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate. All the details except for how to make these adorable Mickey Mouse cupcakes, that is!

They were a hit at our party two weeks ago, even if they did start to get a little melty sitting in the hot Texas weather for a few hours. They looked great in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cupcake liners that came in our playdate kit, and I loved showing them off on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cupcake stand I found.

And I know these look super cute and fancy, but they were actually way easy. All I used was a box of cupcake mix, chocolate frosting, OREO Thins, and Baker’s Dipping Chocolate.

First, bake a box of chocolate cupcakes according to package directions.

While your cupcakes are cooling, dip OREO Thins in Baker’s Dipping Chocolate and let dry in the fridge on a sheet of wax paper.

When the cupcakes are completely cooled (I’m serious on this one!), frost with chocolate frosting. I like to use Wilton disposable decorating bags and tips like these to frost my cupcakes.

Then, take two “Mickey ears” and stick them with the chocolate side up into the frosting. I did mine a little behind the middle point of the cupcake. I also did a quick little line of reinforcement frosting behind the ears to make them extra sturdy.

And guess what! All done! I told you they were easy! Now you have some adorable cupcakes for your Mickey Mouse party. Or just for fun, because who needs a party to make cupcakes??

If you need more fun ideas on how to throw a Mickey Mouse party, check out my post all about our #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate here!

The post Mickey Mouse Cupcakes appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for hosting a #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate. All opinions are my own.

My family loves all things Disney. We love Disneyland, we love Disney shows and movies, and we love Disney characters. So when I got asked to host a #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate, I about flipped. My kids were both super excited to host a party and invite all of their friends, and right up to the day of our party they were asking how many days until our “Mickey party.”

Guys, it was so much fun! I haven’t put together a good party since Little A turned one, but I had such a good time getting everything ready. And I am 100% sure that all our little guests had a great time, too!

To announce our party, we used the HP Card and Invitation Kit that we got in our playdate kit. It was super easy to pick a cute Disney design, fill in the text, add a picture, and print them out. My kids both loved delivering their invitations, and their friends were all excited when they opened them!

I sort of go crazy when it comes to food for parties, and this one was no different. We had lots of food, but with eleven kids over the age of two and their mamas, I’m glad I made a lot! We had Mickey-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit salad, and carrots and celery with ranch to start out. Then there were the desserts! Oh, how I love making desserts! We served rice krispie treats, Mickey sugar cookies, Mickey’s “magic wands” (pretzel rods with vanilla candy melts and sprinkles), and delicious chocolate Mickey cupcakes (full tutorial here). I also decided to serve water, which was a good decision because it ended up all over our patio and my daughter! And of course, our playdate kit had Mickey Mouse napkins, cups, plates, and a tablecloth to serve it all on! We also “decorated” our patio using some fun Mickey Mouse swirl decorations. They kids were really bummed when I took those down at the end of the day!

I decided to let my 4-year-old decide what games to play and when since it was sort of his party, so as his friends were arriving we had them decorate Mickey sorcerer hats! They were just some simple blue party hats and different star stickers that were in our kit. It was easy and the kids loved making them! My kids even wore their hats for a few days after!

After everyone was done with their hats they made some fortune tellers that were in our kit. Remember cootie catchers? Well that’s how you folded them, and it was fun trying to help all those cute littles make their own! And they loved the characters on the inside!

Then Little J decided he was ready to eat, so everyone took a break and had lunch. Everything was a huge hit, and despite me making 16 Mickey PB&J sandwiches, I only had 1 left at the end! The pretzels were a big hit, too! I guess I know what kids like!

After everyone was full and had spent some time playing on the playground, Little J decided he was ready for another game. I don’t have pictures of this one because I was the one doing it, but we had all the kids play Disney character charades! Even though they may have not all gotten the concept of charades, it was so cute how excited they would get when they figured out a character. My daughter’s favorite was of course, Sofia the First, and my son guessed Mickey first!

Our #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate kit also had some fun reversible hats for each kid, so after charades each kid got to pick whether they wanted a Sofia the First crown or a Jake and the Neverland Pirates pirate hat. They were so cute running around the yard in all of their hats, and at one point, almost all the kids were on top of the playground playing pirates! We mamas loved watching them use their imagination!

At the end of the party, Little J and his friend handed out Mickey goodie bags filled with Mickey trail mix that we had made the day before. We used Pop Secret popcorn, raisins, red, yellow, and brown chocolate candies, marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and tiny graham crackers. We also handed out a pack of HP Social Media Snapshots to each mama so they could make print out pictures from their social albums on 4×5 prints with sticky backs.

We had such a fun time at our #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate, and it made us want to go to Disneyland or Disney World even more! Last year was our first time going as a family and we had so much fun. We told Little A that if she gets potty trained we can go again, but to be honest we’re planning on going either way!

Thanks to the Disney Parks team for letting us throw such a magical party! We had so much fun!

The post Our #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post.

On the 12th was my daughter’s first birthday party. I had so much fun planning and throwing it, and it turned out exactly how I had imagined it in my head (having a vision is key to party-planning!). If you saw  last Monday’s post, you’ll know I am doing a series called “How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party.” In the first post I gave you basic tips to throwing a Pinterest-worthy party, then I gave you tips on invitations, and decorations. Today is the last post and I am going to focus on food (the most important part!) and go more into detail about what I did for Little A’s sprinkle party!

First, some general tips. Like I have said multiple times in this series, the most important thing to throwing a Pinterest-worthy party is to pay attention to details, and work the theme into everything.

For my daughter’s sprinkle themed party, it was easy to tie sprinkles into the food. When I threw my son a train birthday party, I did train-themed cookies, traffic light brownies, train-shaped sandwiches, and a veggie train car. Search Pinterest for whatever your theme is and I’m sure you’ll have tons of inspiration to work with.

And as far as details with food go, take the time to make things exactly how you want. Don’t be intimated because someone made adorable cookies and you want to try them. DO IT. Ask for help, look for tutorials, and just try. Even if it’s not perfect, people will be impressed that you went for it. One important part of taking your party food to the next step is customizing it. Sure I could have served plain donuts, cookies, pretzels, and strawberries, but I made them my own with chocolate and sprinkles!

The day before party day I designate as “baking day” and I get all of the food ready. For this party, that entailed decorating the cake and dipping tons of things in chocolate and sprinkles. But seriously, if you are going to go all out and really get into your party, you will need at least a whole day to do this. When I did my son’s party, I actually had to take two days because one day was devoted entirely to decorating royal icing train cookies. I don’t know if I would recommend that haha.

Okay, let’s get onto the party food!

First, since my theme was rainbow sprinkles, I used Wilton Rainbow Nonpareils in everything! It was amazing and easy and no-stress.

I had store-bought donuts dipped in a vanilla glaze and sprinkles,

pink wafer cookies dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles,

strawberries dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles,

and pretzels dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles.

The easier the better! And these were all super easy and delicious! When you are doing food for a party (especially if it’s a big party), you don’t have to make everything from scratch. I didn’t make my own donuts and the pink wafer cookies and pretzels are obviously from the store. Easier, but I was still able to make them my own.

I also had cute little chalkboard signs that tied in with some of the other decorations (but you can read more about that here).

Now let’s talk about the cake.

If you aren’t good at making cakes, go buy one. I promise it will be easier for you and you won’t end up serving something you aren’t proud of. But if you are good at cakes, then show off your skills!

For Little A’s cake, I used boxed vanilla cake (dyed pink) marbled with boxed funfetti cake. I did two 8″ layers with frosting and homemade raspberry jam in between, and then two 6″ layers with frosting and homemade raspberry jam in between. I almost always used boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting because I think they taste delicious and I don’t like homemade buttercream.

I layered the cakes and then dirty iced them. (If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some sneak peeks of this!) Then I refrigerated the cake and decorated using frosting, Wilton Rainbow Nonpareils, Wilton cake decorating tips and bags, and Wilton’s new line of flavored Sugar Pearl Sprinkles. It was perfect! And of course, I used Pinterest for my inspiration!

The cake should be the centerpiece of your dessert table, so seriously, if you aren’t good at cakes, get a store-bought one. And if you really are bad at them, I promise there is hope if you practice. I used to be super bad at them. Like, should-we-eat-that-thing-bad at them.

I also used a cake topper from Mika’s Party Shop on top of the cake. It was a silver glitter “one” written in script and it was beautiful! I used it for Little A’s cake smash shoot, too, and I loved it then as well!

Plus the silver tied in really well with the silver in the decorations and Little A’s headband.

And if you look closely at this picture, you’ll see very clearly where Little J decided to stick his toddler fingers into the cake and lick the frosting off. THREE TIMES. Toddlers.

Last, I had a big glass mason jar-style dispenser filled with black cherry lemonade (P.S. it was amazing).

One more thing about the food. You obviously want to make sure that you have it set up in a way that is easy for your guests. I put the silverware, napkins, and plates on one side of the table, food in the middle, and then the drink and cups on the end. It was simple and made sense as you went from left to right.

The food for your Pinterest-worthy party is (in my opinion) the most fun part of throwing a party. It’s the most rewarding part, since you get to eat it, and it definitely doesn’t have to be the hardest part. Just remember to tie in the theme, don’t go overboard, and pay attention to details.

Thank you guys for joining me in my “How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party” series! I had a lot fun planning, throwing, and writing about Little A’s party, and I’m glad I was able to share some tips to help anyone else out!

If you missed any of the other posts in the series, you can check them out here:

How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: General Tips
How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: Invitations
How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: Decorations

The post How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: Food appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post.

Last weekend was my daughter’s first birthday party. I had so much fun planning and throwing it, and it turned out exactly how I had imagined it in my head (having a vision is key to party-planning!). If you saw Monday’s post, you’ll know I am doing a series called “How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party.” In the first post I gave you basic tips to throwing a Pinterest-worthy party, then I talked about why invitations are so important in setting up your party’s theme. Today I am going to focus on decorations and go more into detail about what I did for Little A’s sprinkle party!

The two centerpieces of Little A’s party were the dessert table and the gift/favor/guestbook table. I highly recommend having at least one table for food (two if you are serving lunch or dinner) and then a separate table for non-edible things like gifts, favors, and a guestbook. For Little J’s train party, I had two food tables and then the gifts, favors, and guestbook each had their own place around the room. It really just depends on you and how much you want to do (and what you have available).

The reason I mention that first is because deciding what you want to have at the party is going to dictate your decorations. Once you have that decided, scour Pinterest for ideas and then pick some that you like. Then, sketch out your design on some paper. I’m no artist, but I drew a basic layout of how I wanted things arranged and what decor I wanted where. Guys, THIS HELPS SO MUCH!

Another tip I want to give you before I give you some more inspiration is to remember the details. The more little details, the more Pinterest-worthy your party is going to be. And yes, sometimes handmade is best. If you aren’t crafty, round up some crafty friends or go search for things on Etsy. It’s a lot more custom and unique if you don’t just go to the party store and buy a boring cardboard banner that matches your theme.

Okay, now let’s go into what I did so you can see more of what I mean and so that you can be inspired in your own decorating adventure!

For each table I had balloons on the sides, white tablecloths, and then decor above on the wall. For my dessert table, I created a scrap fabric banner using colors that were in the Wilton sprinkles I was using. I also added in some white tulle and scalloped ribbon for dimension.

I also cut out the word “one” using my Cricut, and then tied that on. It was simple, cheap, and the bright colors were perfect above my bright desserts. And it tied in the sprinkle theme, which is important.

To hang it (and my other banners), I used Command 3M hooks. They were perfect, and when we were done, I just pulled them right off!

I also bought some little chalkboard signs that were perfect for labeling the desserts. Obviously, everyone knew that the donuts were donuts, but details, people! Little labels like these were super cute and they added to the decorations on the table. Think about how boring the table would have been without them! And they also tied into the chalkboard-style prints I made for the second table.

To tie my theme in even more, I also put the extra Wilton sprinkles I had on the dessert table for props. If there is something like that that will tie into your theme, add it to your table! It makes a big difference, and again, think how boring the table would have been without the sprinkles (also, this was before I finished adding my confetti!)!

I used some plastic trays from the dollar store for the food, and then I used my sister’s cake plate for the cake. Whenever possible, elevate your cake!! It should be the centerpiece of your dessert table! And, as you can see, I used some white plates, white napkins, and white cups with pink silverware for the food. It made the food the focus, and I think it worked great!

I also added some small rainbow confetti that I cut out using my Cricut to each table (I know it’s not in the shot above). It helped tie in the sprinkle theme even more. Whenever possible, use confetti!

Now that you know how to decorate your dessert table, let’s move on to the non-edible table (haha).

I wanted to do a cute banner above the table again, and since it was my daughter’s first birthday, I used prints of her monthly photos I took to document her growth.

In between the two banners I hung up her name in sparkly letters that I used my Cricut to cut out.

On the table below, I had a guest book, a place for gifts, pictures of Little A, and the party favors for guests to take home.

I designed some matching chalkboard prints for the guest book and favors.

Then I bought frames from goodwill and painted them white. DIY people! It looked rustic and was so cheap! I used the frames for the prints and for some pictures of Little A I wanted to display from her cake smash and newborn shoots.

A quick note about the guest book. A guest book is a great way to remember who came to your child’s birthday, and I love the idea of using an actual book that ties in with the theme. For Little J’s train party, I used “The Little Engine That Could.” For Little A’s party, I found a book about a raindrop. It didn’t match entirely, but it had a rainbow and was cute so I went for it. Anyway, I love using a picture book because then you can read it with your child later and it becomes a great keepsake.

Last of all, I blew up 12 white balloons and put some colorful cardboard circles inside to give them something extra. You couldn’t see the colors as much as I had hoped, but I still really like how they looked.

I tied three to each side of my tables and it was the perfect finishing touch!

I hope those pictures and tips give you some great ideas for what to do for decorations at your Pinterest-worthy party. To review: do lots of homemade things, tie the theme into everything, and pay attention to the details. Decorating for a Pinterest-worthy party doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can make it exactly how you want!

Don’t forget to check out the intro post to this series for more general tips, the invitations post for tips on custom invites, and check back Monday for a post all about food for your party!

The post How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: Decorations appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post.

Welcome to the second post in my “How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party” series! Today is all about INVITATIONS!

Invitations are more important than you might think when you are throwing a Pinterest-worthy party. Not only do they tell your guests when the party is, but they set the theme for your party! An invitation is the first impression your guests get of what the party is going to be like, and you want to make them good. If you are throwing a Pinterest-worthy party, you want Pinterest-worthy invites, right!?

Here are a few tips for your invitation:

Make the theme clear. Above all, you want the theme to come across in your invitations. Little A’s birthday party was a sprinkle party, so I wanted to make sure that there were sprinkles on the invitations. Plus, there’s the cute phrase “let’s sprinkle her with love.” The theme is clear. For our son’s second birthday party, his invitations said “Choo choo, guess who’s turning two!?” The theme, people. Make it clear.

Don’t settle on your invitations. You want something that you are going to love. The invitations for Little A’s party are from the amazing Dana and her Etsy shop, fromtheNORTH (she also just started a blog which you can read here). These beautiful invitations were a custom order, and she did an amazing job! I just told her the theme and the information from the party and she put together these beauties!

I highly recommend checking her out because she seriously was super fast and made me exactly what I wanted. Custom invitations are going to make a big impression on your guests, and they are the perfect detail for throwing your Pinterest-worthy party!

Send your invitations 3-4 weeks in advance. You want to make sure that people have enough time to get work off, clear their schedules, and plan to attend your party. If you send the invitations out too close to the date of the party, you will have fewer RSVPs because people will most likely already have things scheduled.

Use envelope fillers. These are seriously the easiest things to make, and they really make a big impression! I used some rainbow polka-dot paper inside my envelopes. First, cut out some rectangles that are slightly smaller than the inside of your envelope.

Then put some glue on the back of your paper.

Then just slide your paper into your envelope (below the licky-sticky part) and then press.

It makes a big difference having a pop of color inside your envelope!

It really is that simple. Invitations are such a simple way to start your party off right, and it really makes a big difference when you get some custom-made!

Come back Friday to read all about decorations for your Pinterest-worthy party! And check out the intro post for this series where I give you some general tips for throwing the best Pinterest-worthy party!

The post How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party: Invitations appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post.

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s first birthday with a Rainbow Sprinkles party! It was so much fun! Both of our families were able to come to town, and we did it outside at the Mister’s grandparents’ house. The weather was perfect, and the kids had fun running around and playing. Everything turned out exactly as I hoped and I was really happy with the result.

As I was planning her party, I thought it might be fun to put together a series about how to throw a Pinterest-worthy party. There are so many cute ideas out there, and it really is fun to put together a big celebration. The only problem is that it can be hard to know where to start! This post and the next three are going to be all about how to throw a Pinterest-worthy party; from the preparation, to the invitations, to the food, and the decorations. I’m going to give you all my tips so you can throw the perfect party for the special person in your life! Hooray!

This post is going to be the intro post with general tips for throwing a great party. And if you want to make the most of it, you’ll want to refer to all the posts in the series, because I’m going to cover everything! But for now, here are some general tips to throw a Pinterest-worthy party.

Pick a solid theme. It needs to be clear, concise, and easy to set up. You don’t have to pick anything big or over the top. Even a color scheme or something simple like trains will work. Just pick something that people will easily recognize and that won’t make you crazy trying to tie into the party. For example, sprinkles was a super easy theme to tie into everything!

Use Pinterest for inspiration. Pinterest is the party planner’s life saver. Pinterest makes planning a party so much easier! You can find decoration inspiration, theme inspiration, cake inspiration, activity inspiration, party favor inspiration, and so much more. If you aren’t using Pinterest, you are a dummy.

It’s in the details. While you shouldn’t go crazy planning your party, I do think that if you want to throw a Pinterest-worthy party, you want to pay attention to details. Put little labels on the food tables, tie the theme into the party favors and invitations, try to amaze your guests in all the little things you do.

Start planning early. I started planning my daughter’s birthday party three months early. And not super intensely, but I mean like picking a theme, searching Pinterest for ideas for food and decor, and getting an idea of how many people I wanted to invite. You definitely want to know what you are doing a month in advance, because that’s when you want to start making decorations and buying things and sending out invitations.

Make lists. Grocery, decorations, guests, food, and in the week leading up to the party, make a list of everything you need to do. When I planned my son’s train birthday party, I started planning two months in advance, and I used up 11 pages in my notebook with lists and plans. I even broke down my to do list into things to do each day before the party, and then one list of things to do to set up for the party. And it helped a ton! I didn’t forget anything, and I was able to relax during the party because I knew everything was set up and ready.

Don’t go too big. “Pinterest-worthy” does not mean big. You don’t have to do fifteen different desserts, plus serve four lunch options, plan five games for the kids, and have organized activities the whole time. Sometimes less is more in this sense. For Little A’s birthday party, I had a single dessert table set up with a cake, strawberries, cookies, pretzels, donuts, and a drink. Then I had some simple decorations, a table for the guest book and presents, and then some tables set up outside. We also grilled hot dogs and had chips (thanks to Grandma!). For Little J’s birthday party, we invited all his little friends. Instead of planning specific games, we brought over some balls and a basketball hoop and they were happy the whole time. Don’t overthink it!

Don’t invite too many people. I invited a lot of people to Little J’s party and it was overwhelming getting everything ready (and then we had TONS of desserts left over! Train cookies for days!). For Little A’s birthday, I decided to just stick with family members. That way I could invite less people and they all knew each other so they would talk and I wouldn’t have to plan a bunch of things to do. Much easier, and a lot better for everyone!

If you don’t know how to make something, find someone who does! One of my favorite places to look for party decorations is Etsy. I got Little A’s cake topper from Mika’s Party Shop and her invitations from fromtheNORTH. Paisley Palooza has some really cute serving things, and Design Sprinkle has some of the cutest paper products. If there’s something you can’t make, there’s always someone who can make it on Etsy.

Throwing a Pinterest-worthy party doesn’t have to make you go crazy. If you plan early and use Pinterest for inspiration, you’ll know exactly what you want and you’ll be able to do it. Don’t go too big, and have lots of fun! Planning a party can be a blast, and you really can have a lot of fun doing it!

For more tips on throwing a Pinterest-worthy party, come back Wednesday, Friday, and next Monday!! I’ll spill on invitations, decorations, and food!

The post How to Throw a Pinterest-Worthy Party appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Tomorrow is Little A’s first birthday party! I am so excited, and I have been working hard to make sure everything goes well. The party theme is rainbow sprinkles, and it is going to be so cute! For the party favors, I wanted to do something sweet and delicious to match the party food. I settled on white chocolate sprinkles caramel popcorn!!

This recipe is a twist on my mom’s caramel corn recipe that she would always make growing up. I added some white chocolate drizzle and some Wilton sprinkles, and they turned out perfect!

The chocolate is perfect with the gooeyness of the caramel, and the sprinkles give it a little extra crunch! Plus it’s so pretty!

And the best part is, this is a super easy recipe. Make the caramel, mix it with the popcorn, drizzle chocolate on top, and sprinkle sprinkles! Yum!

Yield: 12 popcorn balls

White Chocolate Sprinkle Caramel Popcorn

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

This white chocolate sprinkle caramel popcorn recipe is perfect! The gooeyness of the caramel, the sweetness of the chocolate, and the crunch of the sprinkles! It’s so yummy!

Print

Ingredients

• 16 c. of popped popcorn
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. light corn syrup
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 oz. white chocolate
• Wilton rainbow nonpareils

Instructions

1. Melt butter.
2. Add in brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk.
3. Heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
4. Pour over popcorn and mix well.
5. Spread out on a cookie sheet.
6. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over popcorn.
7. Sprinkle on nonpareils.

How simple is that? And it’s delicious! I can’t wait to give these out at Little A’s birthday party!

The post White Chocolate Sprinkle Caramel Popcorn appeared first on Life With My Littles.

 

Choo choo! Little J turned two!

Yes, my oldest child is now two years old! If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen all the pictures a few weeks ago from Little J’s second birthday party. He is completely obsessed with trains, so I knew I had to do a train theme. We moved away from Iowa on Friday, so I wanted his party to kind of be a last big get together with all of his friends. So yes, I did go all out. And yes, it was SO worth it!

First of all, I had been planning this party for months. I knew I wanted it to be perfect, so I knew I needed to start early. The Mister thought it was a little silly that I started in January for a March party, but let’s be real. I had to! So I scoured Pinterest for all train parties ever, and found great ideas. We also went to a birthday party in January for Little J’s friend Jack that gave me some inspiration, too. So when I sat down to write out everything I wanted, it was a big list. And I took 11 pages of notes to finally get me to the end!

Anyway, everything came together amazing! It was perfect from start to finish, the kids all had fun running around and playing together, and Little J smiled the whole time. I didn’t have any games or anything for the kids, but we brought over Little J’s basketball hoop and punching bag thing. So they had something to play with, but it didn’t take me a lot of work!

I designed all of the signs myself. I did buy a train clipart set off of Etsy from Little Prints Parties. I used the images for my signs, invitations, and decorations. So when you see cute little trains in the pictures, that’s where they are from! I made all the food (including the sugar cookies) and the decorations. It was a lot of work, and I was in the kitchen for three days straight, but it really paid off!

And a big thank you to my friend Alli for taking these amazing pictures! Go visit her Etsy shops here and here.

Okay so first, let’s start with the entry. I made a cute little sign and used electrical tape to make a railroad on the floor of our apartment clubhouse. Then above the doorway I made a double-sided banner that read “Arrivals” as you walked in.

Then when you walked in, there was a little table with “The Little Engine That Could” with a picture of my son and a sign telling you to sign his birthday book!

I made some little centerpieces for the tables that had pictures of Little J on a train and then some cutouts of the clipart I bought. I also made a little “2” since he turned two. And thanks to my sister for suggesting I use Easter basket filler to fill them! Genius!

Okay so the food. I hung some balloon banners above the tables to try and hide the ugly valances our apartment clubhouse has. Then we hung some streamers and I made some railroad crossing signs out of foam board and paint. I am keeping those signs for Little J’s new room!

I had a regular food table and a dessert table. The regular table had fruit salad, pasta salad, PB&J sandwiches in train shapes for kids, turkey and cheddar sandwiches for adults, and then a cute little train with coal (olives), produce (carrots and celery), logs (pretzels), and tender (ranch dressing). The containers are just mini loaf pans with wheels I glued on!

The dessert table was my special baby. I love dessert, so I had to make it good! We had OREO Cookie Balls, traffic light brownies, railroad crossing and train-shaped sugar cookies, and a giant four layer marble cake with chocolate mousse filling. I made everything myself, and my pride and joy were those sugar cookies. One day baking, one full day frosting. But completely worth it!

 

I also made a little drink station where we had water in a water tower and diesel fuel (rootbeer).

On the way out, I had the “Baggage Claim” where you could pick up your party favors. I just put some candy and graham crackers in bags. I didn’t want all my friends to hate me so I decided to forgo giving their children train whistles as favors.

Then there was the other side of the banner that said “Departures” as you were leaving.

And now because my friend Alli took such cute pictures, here are some more pictures of Little J and his friends all enjoying the party!

It was SUCH a fun party! When Little J walked in before his friends got there, he looked around and saw all the trains and got super excited. It actually made me get a little teary because he knew it was a train party and he knew it was for him. It made me feel like I did a good job! He was running around smiling and laughing the whole time, so he definitely had fun. I am so glad the party turned out the way it did, and I am so glad all of Little J’s friends were there. It was fun for everyone!

I can’t believe I have a two year old!!!

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