Getting Ready to Party...

Party planning and preparations have begun!  

Tyler is turning 5 in a couple of weeks so it's time to get our party on before school starts!  

We made up a bunch of back pack charms for the goody bags.

(also what we'll give to his classmates on his actual Birthday)

 He decided he wanted a tie-dyed theme after seeing it in the party catalog, so to go along with that we found these mini swirly lollipops and added a 5 to make them special. 

 Then came the cupcakes. After putting my Google skills to work, I found tie-dyed cupcakes.

You start with a basic white/yellow cake mix. 

Divide it evenly between as many colors you would like to have. 

 This is two boxes of mix to make enough cupcakes for all the guests.

Next, add your dye.  I had some orange left over from another time and purchased basic food coloring gel from the grocery.  

Color to your liking...

Then add the batter a Tablespoon at a time, dropping it in different areas of the cup so it's a mosaic of color.  Once settled it will look like this.  

Next take a knife or dowel and swirl to give it that tie-dye effect.  

I put my dowel in the middle of the cupcake, then made a big swirl towards the edge, only going around about one time.  Carefully pull the dowel out and swirl it a bit around the top with the excess, then wipe the dowel clean.  If you swirl too much the color will run together to make brown and you'll lose the effect.  

Here's the the swirled cupcake ready to bake. 

 Out of the oven...

Tyler was disappointed that I bought plain white cupcake liners (instead of characters or something) until we pulled them out and we were able to see through to the awesomeness.  

I'm not sure how we are going to frost them yet.  Something simple so as not to take away.  If Ty would let me I would dust them with powder sugar and call them good, but I'm not sure he'll go for that!  

So, the party is planned, snacks purchased, tableware ready and we are just waiting for Tuesday!