Benjamin Birthday Party #2

Benjamin's 2nd birthday party at the Woodland Park Zoo was a success.  We had good food, good friends and a good time.  I didn't make a cake for this birthday party I opted to do cupcakes instead for my own sanity.  I did monkeys and lions for the cupcake theme.

 Love my Martha Stewart cupcake stand

These cupcakes were really easy.  All you need is:

Chocolate Frosting for the monkeys
Vanilla Frostng tinted with orange food coloring for the lions
pull-apart twizzlers for the lions mane and the monkey smile
chocolate sprinkles for the monkey hair
runts for the lion nose
black icing pen for the lion's whisker and smile
M&M's for the ears for the monkey and lion

I also made sugar cookies to go with the animal theme and frosted them with a delicious cooking icing and tied each cookie with cute animal parade ribbon I found at the fabric store.

Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe (recipe adopted from food.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• assorted food coloring

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

For the party favors, I made each kid a goodie bag with a book, animal print sunglasses, animal cookies, a personalized picture frame with each kid's name and an animal decal, and a safari hat. 

I think the birthday boy had a good time.  Time to think about next year, hmmmmm.