{GIVEAWAY} Candy Making for Kids by Courtney Dial Whitmore

The talented Courtney Dial Whitmore of Pizzazzerie has come out with her second book, Candy Making for Kids. Courtney is doing a Blog Book Tour and I am so excited she's making a stop here.

I love making lollipops and candy and I can already see my girls showing an interest in candy making. Anyone who makes candy knows that boiling hot sugar is not something young kids can work with which is why I am so excited about this book.

Filled with fun and easy recipes, it would make an awesome gift for the budding candy maker. None of the recipes require a candy thermometer so it's great for kids of all ages. 

You can get your copy of Candy Making for Kids on Amazon  and Barnes & Noble 
As an added bonus,  Courtney is offering book plates if you want your book signed. You can email Courtney at courtney@pizzazzerie.com with the subject line BOOK SIGNATURE.  In the email, include a  proof of purchase (screen shot of Amazon order, picture of receipt, etc) along with your address and who to make the greeting out to and she will send it your way.

OR your could try to win a copy here!

Courtney is giving away ONE copy of Candy Making for Kids to one of my readers. This is open to all U.S. residents, age 18 and over. A winner will be chosen on Friday, August 10 at noon (pacific time).

To enter the giveaway:
Head over to  Lollipops & Paper's facebook page and "like" it (or let me know if you already like it), then "share" this post and comment on who you will be making candy with.

How awesome is that?!


Photography by Zac Williams

Summer dessert table ideas

Summer is in full swing at our house which means lots of swimming, tantrums and planning for my oldest daughter's birthday in September. Last year, her Tangled Garden party at the park fell on the hottest day of the year.

Apparently, our city was the hottest area in all of the county.  I think it reached 110 degrees that day. A news crew doing their heatwave story stumbled upon our party and interviewed us.  For my 15 seconds of TV fame, I was sweaty and yucky. Oh Well. But you know what, my dessert table was in tact despite the heat because we loaded up on treats that could hold up to the weather.  YAY!

So today, as I plan her mermaid themed swimming party, I am sharing my favorite things to include in a sweets table that I've used over the years. The temperature can easily reach over 90 degrees in our area so I have several go-to things I use when I know it will be warm. While almost anything will melt or go bad in extreme heat, I've found that the following hold up really well.

 I hope this helps some of you as you plan your summer parties. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that the news crews and heatwave stay away from us this year.

 In the jars from left to right: marshmallows, popcorn, wafer sticks.

Animal crackers and pretzels are also great.

Popcorn and Goldfish crackers are in the apothecary jars.

The basketball was a Rice Krispy cake which also holds up better to heat than cake.

Rice Krispy cake by Cupkits Edible Creations

Cookies with royal icing,  fondant decorations or left uncovered hold up really well. The important thing is to not use chocolate.

Silhouette cookies by Cupkits

Licorice  and sour candy (either belts, gummies or other shapes)

Gumballs

And lastly, I almost always include my hard candy lollipops

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer

Parisian Onesie Decorating Party

There is something wonderful about a Parisian themed gathering- whether it's a birthday, shower or holiday. Last Christmas I bought an Eiffel tower dessert stand for a Christmas Tea table and I haven't had a chance to use this beautiful stand since. ( it has been borrowed a couple times by friends- does that count?).

My neighbor is having her third baby, a girl, next month and I wanted to do something special for her. Since our kids are on spring break this week I thought it would be nice to get our kids, along with a couple other kids in our neighborhood together for a playdate to decorate some Onesies.

I decided on a Parisian themed playdate so I could use my cake stand again. Yes, honestly, that is why I went with this theme. Isn't it a beautiful tower?

Then I figured, Paris is the fashion capital of the world and since our kids were designing some Onesies for this future fashionista, it would work out nicely.

I bought some fabric markers, white Onesies in various sizes and let the kids get creative.

It's not very often that I get to use my Eiffel tower chocolate mold. I made these chocolates out of black candy melts.

The cupcakes were cookies and cream with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Rice Krispy cupcakes. I found these cupcake liners at Sur la Table.

Strawberry marshmallows & strawberry Whoppers.

more photos from this playdate are on the facebook page. Go to http://www.facebook.com/lollipopsandpaper

Free Printable: Allergy Info Dessert Tags

Our family has been blessed to be allergy free but we still have to be cautious of those with allergies when sharing food. I all too often hear people at parties and potlucks ask if something contains nuts and more often than not, they don't get a clear answer.
At bake sales, treats are taken out of their original packaging and displayed on a table so any allergy info listed gets lost in the hustle and bustle of things. At potlucks, I see the same thing happening-- someone has an allergy question and no one can answer it because the person who brought the dish can't be found.
I bring a lot of food to a lot of places so I've decided to label my things to help minimize any confusion. I've designed 3 labels, "Contains Nuts," "Nut Free," and "Gluten Free" that I'd like to share with everyone. I made them in fall colors just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving.


Even if your treats aren't homemade, sometimes store bough foods are removed from their original packaging so they could use some extra warning.
Print these out and use your favorite puncher (up to 2 inches) to make cupcake toppers. You could print these on sticker paper and have them work double duty to seal treat bags.

Any way you use them, I hope these help you out at you next gathering.
You can download all three labels here

Enjoy!

Bee themed baby shower + FREE PRINTABLES

I don't get to attend many baby showers where the parents-to-be choose to not know the sex of the baby. With ultrasounds getting more detailed and home gender test kits being so readily available, most parents are so excited to find out what the sex of their new addition. This is precisely what made this shower exciting to plan because everyone has been waiting to know, "What will it bee?"

Several months ago, my friend Sheila co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend of hers and asked me to make some lollipops, cupcake picks and poms ( which we lovingly refer to as fluffy balls). After looking through photos and other inspiration for a gender neutral shower theme, she decided on a bee theme, specifically, "Baby number three, what will it bee?"

She chose to go with a bright yellow and black color scheme instead of sticking to pastels which some people do for baby showers. I think the brighter yellow gave the party a more modern feel.

I wish I had more photos from the shower to share but my dear friend to this day, has not given me any photos!

Yesterday, another friend asked me if I had any gender neutral baby shower themed printables available and I remembered the bee shower. I figured, heck, if I'm sending her the party set, I might as well share it with everyone else.


So here they are- party circles which can be used as cupcake toppers, favor tags, napkin rings, etc. I used my scalloped edge punch which I think has a 1.5 inch diameter but I think a 2 inch circle punch would also work well. I am also giving you a bunting banner that spells out " What will it bee?" that can be hung above a dessert table, doorway, mantle or anywhere for that matter.

Download the party circles here

Download the banner here

If you do use these, please give credit to Lollipops and Paper, do not resell them and please please please, come back and share pictures!

Thanks!

RECIPE: Party Punch

Walking through Pottery Barn one day, I fell in love with this double drink dispenser but not the $109 price tag. A few weeks after seeing the dispenser at PB, I saw a similar one at Home Goods but like an idiot, I skipped on it.

With my daughter's party coming up I've recently been searching Home Goods, TJ Maxx and Ross and could not find it again- until today. There it was, on the shelf, waiting for me, this beautiful double drink dispenser that looks so much like the one from PB, except this one cost me $28 with tax!

So with this new knockoff double drink dispenser of mine, I am sharing with you 2 punch recipes that I plan to use for my daughter's party.

The first is a variation of a punch they served at a church I used to attend. It's simply refreshing and as a child I looked forward to the end of church every Sunday when I could get a cup of it. It is now a drink staple at my parties.

The second is a recipe I got from a book. If I knew the the title or author, I'd totally give credit now, but I don't, sorry.

Grapefruit punch:

1- 2 liter ginger ale

1- 64 oz bottle ruby red grapefruit juice

a good splash of grenadine

mix all ingredients together, chill and serve

Pineapple punch:

1- 64 oz bottle white grape juice

1- 48 oz can pineapple juice

1 liter ginger ale

mix all ingredients together, chill and serve

If you have a punch recipe you'd like to share, please feel free to post it in the comment area below.

DIY: Gift Card Garden

This week my daughter's school hosted an art festival that included a silent auction consisting of gift baskets in various themes. Each grade level was given a theme ( movie night, coffee, family game night, etc) and had to make a basket filled with goodies relating to the theme. Our grade's theme was "Gift Cards Galore" and I was asked to put the collected cards in a basket for the auction. Being that out items were cards i knew I couldn't present them in a traditional gift basket. I had seen several ideas online during Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week for gift card bouquets so I decided to run with the idea. Instead of using a flower pot, I made my arrangement to look more like a planter box.

I was lucky enough to have left over die-cut flowers from another project and my daughter's teacher also had some spare die-cut flowers. If you don't have access to a die-cut machine, you can use a paper puncher or even cut the flowers freehand.

Materials:

baby wipe tub with the lid removed

wooden clothespins

wooden popsicle sticks

die cut flowers made from construction paper and / or scrapbook paper

hot glue

floral foam block

Instructions:


1. To make the stem, hot glue 1 popsicle stick to 1 clothespin, with the mouth of the clothespin facing upward. To vary the height of the flowers, you can glue two sticks together for some flowers.

2. Glue the clothespin part of the stem to the flower


repeat steps 1 &2 til you have as many card holders as you need


3. Place a floral foam block inside a baby wipe box with the lid removed

4. Stick the stems into the foam, arranging them in various heights


5. You can cover the foam in several ways. I cut a piece of green construction paper in half lengthwise then fringe cut it to create grass. You could also cover the top of the foam with green shred, small stones or even crushed crackers to look like dirt.

I also attached flowers to the popsicle sticks (without the clothespin) to cover any gaps or holes.

I think this would be a really cute way to present gift cards or even notes and greeting cards.

Rainbow cupcakes

I was introduced to rainbow cupcakes last year when one of the moms in my oldest daughter's preschool class brought some in for rainbow day. The kids just loved how the colors were layered and biting through each cupcake was just pure joy for each child.

One year later, it's time for rainbow day again, this time for my second daughter and just as I was thinking of making them, Tip Junkie posted a tutorial on how to make them! The most time consuming part was layering the batter.

I opted to put a small cloud of icing instead of adding a full thick layer because preschoolers and icing are not the best combination, on so many levels.

My girls really enjoyed making them and they are well worth the effort. I have to figure out how to pour each color so that it layers more evenly.

We will probably make them again for St. Patrick's Day.


I could repost the tutorial here but you can just head on over to Tip Junkie or Family Fun for complete instructions.