Frugal Birthday Cake Ideas!

Today Life As Mom is doing a great Birthday Cake Round up post for anyone that wants to post any of the birthday cakes they have made in the past to help others find great ideas for their own birthday cake making. So I thought I would join in. If you have never really decorated your own birthday cakes before I would highly suggest it.

There are some great cake decorating books out there for beginners and even cake decorating classes that can be taken at local craft stores to learn the basics, which is enough to know how to make some great birthday cakes. Some of my favorite books that I have learned from are the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 for basic decorating, Course 2 for flowers and borders, or Course 3 for fondant and tiered cakes. These are all books that are used when taking the Wilton cake decorating courses but if you do not have time to do the classes, the books are very easy to follow and learn on your own. They show you step by step how to hold your bags, consistency of frostings, and how to squeeze and release for the proper shapes of designs.

Since my kids aren't very old (3 and 1) I don't have a whole lot of different birthday cakes that I've made but I LOVE making them. I don't think I've ever mentioned on this blog before but I actually decorate wedding cakes as a small hobby and by no means am I a professional but I know the basics and have been making wedding cakes for friends and family for the past couple of years and love the chance when I get to do one. But one thing I like even better than decorating wedding cakes is making cakes for little kids. I love that I can make a complete disaster of the cakes and my kids will still love me, not judge me for my mistakes, and think I'm the best mom ever for making something special for them on their day! And, not to mention that they are probably about 4 times cheaper to make then they are to buy.

So, here goes:

This is the EASIEST cupcake creation EVER. It is honestly quicker to make cupcakes into little roses than it is to spread frosting on with a little knife. And even the most beginner cake decorating person can do it with the right tip. I'll try to do a little tutorial on how to do this cute cupcake bouquet the next time I make it. This is a great cake to make for Valentines day, Mothers Day, Baby showers, Wedding Showers, and birthday parties. It is a quick decorative table center for any party and easy for adults and little kids to grab their own little cupcake without ruining the whole creation.

My little boy is a HUGE fan of Trains, so for his second birthday I made just a plain 9X13 cake, make it look like the grass and dirt with a little train track and then just added his new toy train he was getting for his birthday. Quick and easy! Using your kids little toys is a great way to decorate any cake. Just plop them on there and you have a masterpiece they will love.

This was a huge daisy I made for my daughter's first birthday party. It was a PAIN IN THE BUTT! Making the actual shape was really EASY but the frosting I used was a marshmallow type frosting so it was VERY sticky and just made a big mess all over myself, the table, and everything else in our kitchen. But it tasted delicious. The great thing about this cake is that you can just frost any cake white, put a little food coloring into some coconut and then sprinkle the coconut where ever you want on your cake. The center of the flower is also filled in with crushed pineapple to make the yellow center. Although the marshmallow frosting was messy, cutting the shapes was very easy. There are books out there like "Bakers Cutup Cake Party Book" that tells you how to take a 9X13 cake and cut it up to make different designs like Rockets, Flowers, Hot air Balloons, Teddy Bears, and Dolls.

This was one of my first fondant covered cakes I ever made. We had an African Themed Party for my hubbies family! It was great practice for learning how to do a small tiered cake and learn how to color fondant. Also I was not very good at laying fondant over cake yet so this was a great cake to learn on because if I made mistakes I was able to cover them up with the spots and grass.

If anyone is interested in learning how to decorate cakes but doesn't know where to start, I would suggest the books I mentioned above for the Wilton Cake decorating classes and I would also invest in this great starter decorating kit by wilton as well. It has some of the most common tips that are used for the basics as well as bags for your frosting, food coloring, and everything else you need for the basics. You can order it online through Amazon HEREor you can also go to Roberts, Michaels, or any Craft store that carries cake supplies and the y should have the starter kit and books available there. Make sure to use the 40% off coupons that Roberts and Michaels have to make them even cheaper.

Toys for the Holidays!

I read an article today by The Simple Dollar as well as a short article from the USNEWS about how the "stick" was just put into the Toy Hall of Fame. I had no idea there was a Toy Hall of Fame so I was immediately curious to see what the top toys were. I was VERY surprised to see that almost all of the toys were either FREE, like the cardboard box, Play-Doh and stick or Almost FREE like the Slinky, Silly Putty, Marbles and many more.

I loved seeing the Toys that made it into the Toy Hall of Fame because it gave me some great ideas for Frugal Christmas ideas for our kids, especially stocking stuffers, as well as brought back a ton of memories for me as a kid!

To see the detailed list of the 41 toys to make it into the Hall of Fame you can go HERE. Or, you can go to the Simple Dollar and read his article on the subject and hear his great idea for my "Favorite things #2."

My Frugal Pirates

Happy Halloween to Everyone! I wanted to do a little post to show you my cute kids and their "frugal" costumes for this year. In the past I have not been a big fan of Halloween but this year has seemed to be a little different for me. I have loved making and putting up some homemade Halloween decorations, making little gift bags for some of my kid's friends, making pumpkin cookies and bread, and now getting ready for some trick-or-treating with my kids. Halloween is so much funner when you have kids to dress up.

For this year, I really didn't want to spend very much money on my kids costumes, simply because we just didn't have the money too; but I also had no idea what to dress my kids up as. Thanks to a little dress up birthday party my little boy went to a couple of weeks ago I was able to come up with his costume as a pirate or "jack sparrow" by using some of his clothes we already had around the house. We simply rolled up his church pants, put on his snow boots, untucked his shirt and vest and added a little drawn in chest hair, mustache, and eyebrows to finish up the look. Then all he needed was a sword and he was all set!

I was actually pretty excited about my little girls costume this year because I used the 20% off coupon from Shopko (this expires tonight if you still want to use it for something) and found her pirate costume on clearance for 75% off. The costume was originally $40 and I got it for around $8 after the 75% discount and then the 20% off coupon. I thought that was a pretty good deal and it is even a 3T costume so she could wear it next year as well as just have it around the house for some cheap dress up clothes. So total spend on both of my kids costumes was around $8!

So, did anybody find any good deals on their Halloween costumes or decorations before Halloween? And if nobody did, make sure to go shopping tomorrow to find all the Halloween decorations and costumes you need for next year for more than 80% off at some stores! I love the after holiday sales!

Happy Halloween Everyone!