Traditional Birthday Cakes and Their Alternatives

!±8± Traditional Birthday Cakes and Their Alternatives

One of the first things that comes to mind when you think of a birthday celebration is the cake. It is often the focal point of the table. When planning a celebration, you have more cake design options than you would ever imagine. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing a cake. You can simplify the process by following a few simple suggestions.

First, you need to decide the theme of your party. If you are buying the cake from a bakery or ordering it from a professional baker, you need to know how large you want the cake to be, how many people you plan to serve, and the price range you want to stay within. Ask them what designs are available related to the party theme you chose. You definitely need to plan ahead and order your cake in an appropriate time frame.

If you plan to bake the cake yourself, you can find recipes and decorating ideas online and in almost any cookbook. Some designs will require special pans while others can be made in the standard round, square, or 9 X 13 cake pan. If decorating a cake is a new experience for you, staying with a simple design will make the process less stressful. As an alternative to decorating a large or multi-layer cake, you might opt for decorating cupcakes instead.

Some children do not actually like cake and would prefer some other option. An ice cream cake is a popular alternative to the traditional decorated cake with lots of icing and candles. You can special order ice cream cakes just as you would a standard cake. Or, you can mold the ice cream yourself into various shapes that match the theme of the party.

A large sugar cookie can be decorated to take the place of a standard cake. You can add candy pieces, icing, sprinkles, or numerous other toppings to create a uniquely personal cookie. You can also make smaller cookies to serve the guests. You could decorate the small cookies in a more simple manner, but in a design that matches the large cookie.

Some children prefer pies such as strawberry, chocolate, or lemon to cake. Their favorite pie decorated with candles would surely make them smile. Brownies, ice cream sundaes, pudding cups, a cheesecake, or decorated rice Krispie treats are all possible cake alternatives to consider. Another uniquely creative birthday cake alternative would be a popcorn cake as the centerpiece for the table with smaller popcorn balls for individual guests.

Traditional Birthday Cakes and Their Alternatives

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Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

!±8± Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

It doesn't matter if you have a big family or if you're on your own... Halloween is one of the most fun holidays ever invented. But if you are a busy mom (and your house is the one house on the block where everyone goes for Halloween parties) you may be looking for some quick and easy Halloween party snacks to have ready for kids, visitors, guests, and freeloading adult friends during the Halloween season.

Looking for some new ideas for festive snacks that don't take a hundred years (or work your fingers to the bone) to put together? The ten Halloween party snack ideas below are lots of fun, simple to make... and some of them are even healthy!

1. Rotting Eyes and Severed Fingers

This is a very healthy but rather creepy Halloween party snack that makes good use of black olives and baby carrots. Arrange the black olives and baby carrots on a party tray with a bowl of your favorite dip (I like a cream cheese veggie dip). Inform your party guests that the tray is filled with rotting black eyes and severed fingers. And then watch this snack disappear. A good way to get your kids excited about veggies!

2. Jack o' Lantern Oranges

This healthy treat is so easy to make, and looks so pretty! Carve jack-o'-lantern faces into oranges and place on a platter. The kids will love it. And they can help, too, without ever having to pick up a knife. Have them simply draw the faces on with a black marker, and carve them yourself. Or don't worry about carving them-- they look just as good with faces drawn on.

As a variation of this fun Halloween party snack, I like to hollow out an orange with a Jack o' Lantern face and fill it with fruit salad. Healthy, easy and quick!

3. Easy Bugs in the Bone Yard

This is such a fun Halloween snack for the kiddos. All you have to do? Sprinkle raisins into a bowl full of white-chocolate covered pretzels. (You could also use chocolate covered raisins.) Kids will eat them up once they learn the name of this snack. Or they'd eat it up anyway, since this mix tastes divine.

4. Slimy Halloween Jigglers

You know those Jello jiggler molds? They work great for Halloween! Either use whatever you have lying around the house, or go out and pick up a brain or a heart-shaped Jello mold. Make up a batch of orange, black, purple, or flesh-colored Jello and pour into your mold(s). Or make a flat pan of Jello and cut out shapes with Halloween cookie cutters instead.

5. Ghost Cereal Bars

Prepare a batch of the Rice Krispies marshmallow treats recipe on the back of the cereal box. When the mixture has set up, cut out shapes with ghost shaped cookie cutter. Pour warm white frosting or melted white chocolate over the shapes to cover. Add M&M eyes and mouth. A delicious and easy Halloween party snack.

6. Green Gelatin Intestines

This is one of the grosser looking Halloween party snacks. Make lime gelatin and add pineapple bits, chopped marshmallows, sliced bananas and mandarin oranges. Pour gelatin mixture into an angel food cake pan and let set up. Invert pan to remove gelatin mold. Slice the mold horizontally into about 5 layers. Slice the layers in half and arrange on a platter in semi-circles to look like intestines. Gross!

7. Spooky Healthy Eyeballs

This Halloween party snack is both easy and healthy. Wash a bunch of green grapes. Insert a raisin into the stem end of the grapes and freeze them all until ready to serve.

8. Monster Crackers

Color some white vegetable spread or cream cheese with green food coloring and spread on your favorite crackers. Arrange small bits of green and red bell peppers to make a green-eyed, red-mouthed cracker monster. Use small amounts of broccoli sprouts to make the monster hair. A sneaky way to get kids eating their veggies.

9. Wormy Halloween Punch Recipe

No respectable Halloween party snack list would do with out having this squeamish punch. Just make green Kool-Aid and put in a clear glass punch bowl. Set the punch bowl on top of a glow necklace so the light shines through the punch bowl. Add some gummy worms and watch the kids squirm when they see it.

10. Vampire Blood

You use V8 juice for this one so it is healthier than the wormy punch above. Pour the V8 juice in a clear picture that you have labeled as "Vampire Blood." For an adult party, add the ingredients for a bloody Mary, if you like. For a kids' party, well... good luck getting them to try it. It is V8, after all!

Ten Fun and Creepy Halloween Party Snacks

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