Sweet Birthday Present Idea

Photos taken just before I walked out the door to attend Party Central!

Thank goodness I don't usually attend two birthday parties and give three birthday presents on the same night! While celebrating friends is fun, it's stressful to make an appearance at concurrent events! When I realized I was going to have so much birthday excitement going on over this past weekend, I knew I wanted to give each birthday lady her due. I also wanted to make things easy on myself. Whenever I have presents to give, I like to think of some sort of unifying theme, such as "after work cheer" or "the color yellow." That makes gift purchasing, making or gathering an enjoyable project (prospect??) for me.

When you have multiple people to celebrate, coordinating your presents under a theme that suits all the recipients can simplify the gift-giving process even further. For my party weekend, I chose to focus on cupcakes and how they might be presented. The three girls I was celebrating adore a good cupcake, and they all appreciate a variety of serving dishes. 

I bought each friend a strawberry cupcake from Babycakes (and tried a lemon cupcake myself! It was scrumptious!), and I found each girl a dish I thought she would find appealing. You don't have to spend much money on a gift like this to make it look thoughtful and pretty. The cupcakes were under $3.00 apiece, but you could make your own to save big. I lucked out and found the mini-cake plate for under $5.00 at a thrift store, the red-orange candy dish was $25.00 (not a steal, but definitely a hit), and I found the handmade pottery piece for $15.00 at a local shop. You can go high end, low end or anywhere in between as long as the piece will please your pal... and your wallet.

A tip for giving a cupcake in a dish: glue the cupcake down. I used agave syrup to stick the cupcakes in place, but I should have used something tackier - honey or maybe even rubber cement! I'll be honest. I had a little accident with my cake plate. The cupcake rolled when I was getting out of the car. Boo! Luckily, the recipient was a good friend and didn't hold the smeared frosting against me! Ramekins or other small dishes will work the best, as far as keeping the cupcake in place. I think using a lidded dish is really cute!

What are your favorite, "I'm going to a party and need a cute gift" ideas? Anything you go back to time and again? I can definitely see myself "wrapping" cupcakes in dishware again.

Hope you're having a spectacular day!

Alison :)