How not to become popular as a preschool mom... aka Cookie Monster cupcakes

In my defense, I really did not now just how much food coloring it would take to get a true Cookie Monster blue.  I really should have purchased the Wilton Royal Blue food coloring, but I was short on time and has some store brand blue food coloring in my possession already.  Well, they look really cute right?  I used the grass tip for the hairy monster look.  Found these guys on the web, and the person who posted how to make these mentioned that they could be quite tedious...  the last two I could not even move my fingers to squeeze the bag, so they are hairless (or fuzz-less).  To get the blue shade here I ended up using two entire containers of blue food coloring.  Yes, my hands were stained for a few days.

When I picked up Maddie at preschool that day, I did check out the other kids to see if anyone (or everyone) was covered in blue dye.  I think I escaped coloring any of the children, but I was sent home with the extra cupcakes.  If you want to try these guys out I suggest using the Wilton's brand food coloring.

Barnyard Birthday

For Madeleine's and Cameron's 4th and 2nd Birthday, Madeleine wanted a Barnyard theme.  After many weeks of shopping at the dollar store, we were able to pull together a real farm!

So, we already had "Summer Socks" (the horse) and the barn.  I visited our local grain store to pick up a bale of straw.  The store tried to sell me hay which has much better nutrition for horses.  I had to explain that the only animals eating the straw/hay were not real.  We either found the other animals at craft stores, a flea market, and of course, we made the pigs ourselves!

For the cake, I made piggy cupcakes and a barnyard cake with plastic animals that we had around the house.  The barn behind the large cake is another Cape Cod flea market find!

For the piggy cupcakes, I used fruit flavored marshmallows for the ears, and the meltable chocolates found in most craft stores for the nose.  The goody bags were actually baskets I found at the dollar store with farm related items including the piggy banks the kids painted during the party.  The children also had to hunt for Mrs. Hen's eggs, using the plastic eggs I never got a chance to use last Easter.

 I had so much fun putting the party together!  Thanks everyone who came!