Baked with Love!

There has been a trend lately of darling baking-themed parties, such as some of my adorable faves by Passion for Parties, She's Kinda Crafty and One Charming Party! My daughter, Anabelle, and I were so inspired to put together a sweet little play date to celebrate Valentine's Day with one of her BFF's, Mikayla! 

For the invitation, I found the cutest "Lil' Baker" clip art from Shelley at SpringHill Graphics (she was even so kind to revise the girls' hair color to that match that of Anabelle and Mikayla!), which was attached to a heart-shaped wooden spoon from the discount bins at Target. I used additional images from this set, along with background patterns so graciously offered for free download by Print Candee, for the rest of the paper goods throughout the decor.

The table was set in the coordinating colors of pinks, white and browns with a burlap tablecloth and felt heart cut-out placemats from Home Goods. I am in love with utilizing these placemats for the bright colors and variety of patterns, for even other, creative uses, such as in my Silly Old Bear party last year where I attached several together to create a backdrop. I utilized beautiful cupcake plates that my sister-in-law had given me a few years back, along with cupcake mugs my mother had bought me (can you tell my friends and family spoil me with cupcake-related gifts?!), which were filled with chocolate milk and whipped cream. The girls were greeted with a set of oven mitts, aprons and chef hats adorned with cupcake liner flowers. I first saw this adorable idea from One Charming Party and followed a tutorial from Urban Comfort to create my own! I added little rubber cupcake pins found at Joann Fabric & Crafts. Little mason jars filled with spatulas (thank to a tip from Sugarbelle's on Facebook!) and rolling pins were at each setting for when it came time to decorate their own cupcakes and cookies. 

My daughter's kitchen set from Pottery Barn Kids was absolutely perfect for the occasion and displayed all the desserts, ingredients and favors!

Although Anabelle and Mikayla were going to decorate their own treats, I just had to make some of my own! I had originally made chef hat cake pops for my dear friend, Natalie at Southern Belle's Charm for her son, Greyson's pizza party last year. This time, I added pink flowers to match the girls' hats and also made some cupcake cake pops, while both were housed in mixing bowls with baking ingredients of flour and "frosting". Instead of utilizing sticks, I made the pops on these super sweet polka dot paper straws from Cakes and Kids. Just a couple of days before, I saw the most darling tutorial to make edible cupcake boxes from Sweet Simple Stuff out of chocolate and meringue cookies and decided to try it and the result was absolutely precious and perfect!

The rest of the fridge displayed milk cartons (from a template from A Little Hut), egg-shaped sugar cookies and marshmallow bags. The favors were also housed here, including pastries of both felt and erasers from the Target discount bins. I also ordered the most adorable brown little treat bags from Cakes and Kids, which carried the erasers, and provided cupcake boxes in which to carry them home.

The play oven displayed some cupcakes that I made with toppers matching back to the adorable clip art. Baking inside were the plain chocolate cupcakes and sugar cookies, baked with love, of course, and waiting to be frosted and sprinkled! I also found the cutest cupcake-shaped truffles in my local grocery store, which I included inside measuring cups.

The sprinkle section of the cupcake bar was inspired by a pin by the fabulous Jessica at Party Box Design on Pinterest (originally from Keukenprinses), who also has some of the most darling cupcake invites and printables! I also made some cupcake chocolates on sticks, which I arranged in "I ♥ U" mini vases. The vanilla and strawberry frosting for the sweets were packed into individual plastic cupcake containers found at Home Goods, which were perfect for the girls to carry to their tables and spread some love!

One of my favorite aspects of parties these days are the photo ops and I was inspired by some bakery booths that I had seen from Pottery Barn Kids last year, as well as She's Kinda Crafty's latest party. For an easy-to-make prop, I simply used an empty frame that my husband tied to some tree branches, and embellished it with additional cupcake liner flowers with the word "BAKERY" spelled out, inspired by the gorgeous banner created by Natalie at Southern Belle's Charm with doilies and coffee filters from our latest "Just My Type" Valentine collaboration!

Both Anabelle and Mikayla had an absolute blast dressing up in their chef hats and aprons, decorating their goodies (especially with the sprinkles ~ so glad we decided to do it outside!) and gobbling up the goodies!

The bakery window did not disappoint! How cute are these photos of the girls showing off their creations and treats?!

These days, we are so fortunate to have access to so much inspiration on the internet, in blogs and on Pinterest. As you can see, I definitely took advantage of all the amazing resources and tutorials out there! We had such a fun time "spreading the love"! Wishing you all a very sweet Valentine's Day! ♥