Cupcake Bites

Birthday cupcake chair cover

I had no idea that cupcakes were such a popular theme for children's first birthday parties. There's the cupcake pull-ribbon pinata, the Pin the Candle on the Cupcake party game, edible cupcakes themselves of course, and now the birthday cupcake chair cover ($12).

I don't know why the designer of the 26" x 25" polyester cover didn't open his/her eyes when choosing and arranging the cupcake's awful decorations, but I suppose "star," "ribbon," and "ugly" are all words that a one-year-old should know. Fortunately for the person sitting across the child of honor, the atrociously adorned cupcake is only printed on one side of the chair cover. The other side is plain white felt.

Children's cupcake birthday game

Other than an adult version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" played at a bridal shower (I'm sure you can imagine what it was we were, ahem, pinning on the poster-size drawing of the groom), I don't have any equine-related party game experience.

And since we all want our children to grow up with more than we had, isn't it nice to see a new take on the classic kids' game? With Pin the Candle on the Cupcake ($20) from Celebrate Express, our little girls will become young women who were blindfolded, spun around, and laughed at as they stumbled toward a 26.5" cloth hanging on the wall and failed to stick one of the 14 included plush candles onto a cupcake. How character-building!

Also available in blue.

Faux cupcake place card holder

When my husband and I were planning our wedding a few years ago, we briefly looked into setting out place card holders that doubled as favors. We eventually scrapped the idea and let our guests choose from a table of favors (the night was such a blur that I can't remember if there were two or three choices) and sit wherever they wanted.

It worked out fine as far as I know, but the next time we plan some sort of big event, place card holders will be a requirement. That way, I'll have an excuse to buy a case of these faux mini cupcake card holders handmade by Jenni B Originals, the same woman responsible for those beautiful very cherry faux cupcakes.

Each place card holder is sprinkled with rhinestones and sells for $5.

Cupcake wooden pick candles

Is it wise for a burning flame to be attached to something made out of wood?

If so, then this cupcake candle set ($3) from Celebrate Express is pretty darn smart. Each vibrantly colored wax cupcake measures 1" and, as you can see, is set onto a wooden pick of unknown length (I'm guessing about 2" or 3"). The probability of the picks actually catching fire is pretty slim, I'm sure, and a sliver of wood burning atop a birthday cake is hardly a catastrophe or fire hazard, but I'd still like to the see the back of the candle. Does the wick touch the pick?

Colorful cupcake confetti

If you've ever opened a letter or an invitation and been first surprised and then dismayed at all the confetti that spilled out of it (and onto your floor), here's your chance to pay it forward cupcake-style.

Offered in a dozen mix-and-match colors (dark plum, purple, lavender, sky blue, grass green, sage green, light olive green, apricot, light peach, butter yellow, pink, and blush pink), RockerJewlz's hand-punched cupcake confetti comes in bags of 50 and sells for $3.50. Each cupcake measures about 0.4" and is punched from "top notch cardstock."

Cupcake dessert plates

Well, technically they're called Sweet Tooth plates, but the four hand-painted earthenware plates still look like cupcakes to me. The "liners" are a little out of proportion, sure, and the cupcake-resemblance of the one without a fruit topper is a bit suspect, but what else could they be?

Each plate in the four-piece set measures 5.5" in diameter and is described as being both "perfect for birthday parties" and fine for salads. Whatever the occasion, the plates can be purchased from Target for $18.

Ceramic cupcakes filled with soy candles

They may not be as lovely as rich custard in real cupcakes, but scented soy candles with lead-free wicks are equally welcomed inside 4" ceramic ones. Nestled inside the birthday cupcake shown here is a candle infused with a buttercream vanilla fragrance that can fill a room for up to 18 hours.

Bundled with cello bags with raffia ties, the descriptively though unimaginatively named "Set of 4 Ceramic Cupcakes with Candles by Valerie" is currently on sale for $27.12 from QVC. The full assortment, which includes a caramel apple candle inside an apple cupcake, a mint chocolate chip candle tucked inside a chocolate chip cupcake, and a blueberries and cream candle poured into a blueberry cupcake, can be seen below.

Faux cupcakes look good enough to eat

I don't like frosting and could actually live my life quite happily without tasting another cherry, but looking at these amazing Faux Very Cherry Cupcakes ($8 each) makes me want to eat them. And there isn't even an oxymoronic real faux cupcake underneath that silver liner! It's just potentially "harmful if ingested" artificial frosting topped with a glossy red fake cherry. I'd say it was deceiving, but I suppose that would be the most obvious statement to make about faux food.

The cupcakes are purely decorative and (as you may have guessed from the ingestion warning) should not be added to your child's plastic play food collection. They'd make cute party favors, though.

Wooden picture frame with pink cupcake accent

Here's a unique centerpiece idea for a first birthday party that could easily make the transition to a mantle or bookshelf at home once the festivities are over.

As long as you don't glue the 4" x 6" photograph of the birthday girl into the 10" x 8" wooden frame or seal it shut so that guests can't slip in a picture of their pet or favorite vacation spot when they get home, the pink cupcake frame ($38) from KooKoo Bear Kids is a centerpiece party-goers wouldn't feel they got stuck with by being the "lucky" winners.

Frosted cupcake candle

Hmm. This frosted cupcake candle ($9.95) looks more like a chocolate peanut butter cup topped with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkled with candy beads, but if Mellow Candles says it's a chocolate cupcake, then it's a chocolate cupcake.

The company scents most of its candles with "true to name" fragrances, but I don't think the 3.5" tall cupcake smells like anything. That's okay, though, because with a burn time between 30 and 60 hours (quite the range, eh?), the smell of warm chocolate would probably get old anyway.

Pink cupcake pull-ribbon pinata

I know they're a lot safer than the smack-it-with-a-bat pinatas from my childhood, but the pull-ribbon ones taking center stage at children's birthday parties these days are still rather boring and anticlimactic, aren't they? If it weren't for the delight on the kids' faces when all the candy and other treats fall to the ground, I wouldn't be able to watch the orderly ribbon-pulling action for very long.

But since I, like all the rest of the adults, are watching, I'd much rather look at something I don't secretly want to see beat up and whacked to bits with a stick. Take this cute 13" cupcake pinata, for example. Since its likeness is something I definitely do not want to see destroyed, I'd happily stand around and take pictures of toddlers waiting in line for their turn to pull a string.

Available for $16 from Amazon.