Oh my goodness, I love this party so much! My friend Keisha from Cupcake Wishes and Birthday Dreams created this cupcake decorating party for her daughter Nikki’s 9th birthday. My two have tossed out the idea of a baking party, and I’d LOVE to style it, but at the moment, they want a Sharks & Surfers party next year. Seriously? What am I going to do with that? My mind totally goes to gore and mayhem. Sigh… I envy Keisha her cupcakes.

If you don’t know Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams, Keisha specializes in boutique party decor through her Etsy shop. And if you are in the Washington, D.C. area, Keisha also offers styling and sweets tables for your child’s themed party or your own small scale private event.

I’ll let Keisha take it from here:

Cupcake Decorating Party Theme

“We decided on the cupcake theme after Nikki saw me making a cupcake garland for a client. Plus, we LOVE cupcakes at Casa de Sibert. I redesigned a cupcake themed printables set I created for a client so we’d have a more retro color scheme and look but with a modern feel. My sweet friend, Andrea from Paper+Pop printed the printables for me. When I got them in the mail, I was in LOVE with how bright and colorful they looked. They were perfect!”

Cupcake Decorating Party Party Helper

“This party was the first time that we worked together on pulling all the details together. Miss Thang had tons of suggestions for me, of course about whom she wanted to invite, what flavor cupcakes she wanted, and the activities we should do. It was such a fun for her to be at an age where she could really get into the different aspects of planning her party. Each time a new item arrived in the mail, she was so excited to open the box and explain to me what it was for … as if we didn’t sit together and choose them! The days leading up to the party, she was very helpful in assembling favor bags and decorations. This was truly one of my favorite celebrations ever for her and I know for sure that she had a blast planning it.”

Cupcake Decorating Party Decor

“When I started planning the party, I envisioned a really retro bakery vibe, with the main colors being red, aqua, pink and yellow and a bit of brown kraft paper thrown in the mix. For the sweets table backdrop, I asked my amazingly talented friend, Sunny Duran of Sunny by Design, to create a cupcake themed chalkboard menu with all the different sweet things that would describe the birthday girl and cupcakes! Rosettes, hanging garlands and tissue paper globes (courtesy of Martha Stewart Celebrations) and poms are placed over the sign, and I love how it turned out.”

“I also created festive displays on our fireplace with some artwork that I put together using the cupcake prints and painted canvas squares. Then I added one of my cupcake pompom garlands as a focal point for where we placed all of The Mini Diva’s gifts.”

“At the entryway was a welcome sign from my printables collection. I decorated the table with a cupcake liner garland and the cutest box signs from The TomKat Studio.”

Cupcake Decorating Party Table Settings

“I knew from the start I wanted to incorporate kraft paper in my design. I have a huge roll of it that I got at Home Depot and use it for backdrops and table coverings and also to let my kids draw on. For the party, I used it to cover our dining room table! I had to use two long pieces to cover the whole table. To hide the seam, I used paper rosettes and large confetti dots that I made with a 2″ and 1″ circle punch. I also added footed table signs, cupcakes and the cupcake toppings.”

“There were no seats at the table, as I needed to fit 12 girls around the table and my table only seats 10 people. So, it was standing room only for this affair. Each place setting had a piping bag filled with frosting and tied off with a grosgrain ribbon–a little tip I got from my friend, Andrea at Paper+Pop! The bags were placed on the cutest striped plates that I desperately wanted for the party but could not find until super sweet, Stefanie Frazier Grimm of Couture Parties sent me over a few she had on hand. They served as my charger and I topped them with a solid color plate and an adorable Toot Sweet scalloped polka dot napkin by Meri Meri.”

Cupcake Decorating Party Activity

“After a little play time in our backyard, the girls got to decorate their aprons and chef hats for the party. I found felt cupcakes at Michaels and sparkly bling that they used to dress up the aprons individually. After their aprons were done they decorated two cupcakes–with a little instruction from me and the assistance of some of my AWESOME mom friends. One cupcake was for eating and the other was for taking home.”

Cupcake Decorating Party Food

“The Mini Diva really wanted honey bbq wings and pizza – which was NOT my original plan for the menu, but the birthday girl gets what she wants. So, we set out the food for the girls to nibble on —- after they wolfed down their cupcakes of course! For the sweets table, Fresh Bakes provided the most adorable and delicious decorated cookies for the party, along with fondant toppers and colorful sprinkles that the girls used to decorate some of their cupcakes. I baked all the cupcakes with a little help from Duncan Hines. I also made a big ole cupcake cake per Nikki’s request…..and what a task it was to frost this thing, it took me a few tries to get it just right – but in the end – I WON…..and my baby girl got her cupcake cake!”

Cupcake Decorating Party Favors

“Tonya Coleman of Soiree Events sells the most darling little bags of cotton candy with custom labels – and cotton candy is one of Nikki’s faves. So, Tonya sent over the cotton candy with labels personalized for Nikki’s party and coordinated to match the theme perfectly! The girls also got to take home the aprons they decorated for the party along with the baker’s hats and a favor box filled with a cupcake lip gloss that I ordered from Amazon. They also went home with one of the cupcakes they decorated packaged in a cute kraft paper favor box from the The Tomkat Studio and some got little retro oven boxes that I purchased from Simply Everyday Me.”

“I really loved how the party turned out, my sweet baby girl was so happy and excited to share this moment with her friends. I am so grateful for all the helping hands that came to my house and stepped right in to help with setup and activities. Huge, HUGE hugs to my Mister, my momma and her beau! A special thank you to Stephanie Frazier Grimm for being a lifesaver!”

Vendor Credits

• Styling & Design – Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
• Cupcake Yarn PomPom Garland & Printables – Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
• Chalkboard Sign – Sunny by Design
• Printed Items – Paper + Pop
• Tutu – Atutudes
• Decorated Cookies, Colorful Sprinkles and Fondant Toppers – Fresh Bakes
• Custom Cotton Candy Bags – Soiree Events
• Pretty Pastel Decorating Kit – Layer Cake Shop
• Red tissue paper globes – Martha Stewart Celebrations
• Kraft Scallop cupcake boxes & Box Signs – Tomkat Studio
• Retro Oven Cupcake Boxes – Simply Everyday Me
• Scalloped Paper Napkins by Meri Meri – purchased online at Williams Sonoma
• Cupcake Cake – made using The Great Cupcake Pan
• Fancy Footed Frames – Michael’s Arts and Crafts
• 36″ Crystal Clear Latex Balloon – Amazon
• Children’s Aprons – Amazon
• Cupcake Lip Gloss Party Favors (Not Shown – but super cute) – Amazon
• Happy Birthday Table Cover – Ruby’s Farmhouse

Keep up with Keisha:

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