As I was just talking about my sprinkle collection, I thought I would post a few pictures of cupcakes that I have done lately. I made these cute Pokemon cupcakes for a birthday party. Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, topped with pokeballs from Amazon.

Here is what they look like without the Pokeballs.

These are some of my favorite sprinkles, the blue sanding sugar with the gold stars!

So this was technically not a cupcake, it was a cake, but I loved the contrast of the chocolate cake with the vanilla frosting swirls and the bright colored sprinkles.

Here are the cupcakes to go with the cake. I don’t usually do chocolate cupcakes, you have to be one of a select few to get me to make them!

Lastly, these are pretty simple and fun, but love the color combination of these.

What is your favorite sprinkle color combination?

The post Cupcakes: What I’ve Been Working On Lately… appeared first on A Little Bit About a Lot of Things.

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Witches and Wizards alike will love the Harry Potter Exhibit now at the CambridgeSide Galleria. Fans now have until April 27th to come and experience the magic. Choose your house carefully and earn points by completing tasks. Make potions, test out spells and even face your biggest fears! Have the chance to see authentic movie props and costumes and even try your hand at quidditch.

The boys loved trying to repot the mandrakes and taking pictures until the famous stairs on Privet Drive. The interactive experience made it fun for everyone – they loved seeing their names pop up on the Marauder’s Map.

They have just announced a special ticket bundle that includes 4 FLEX tickets (go any time), 4 commemorative posters, and 4 audio guides for $175 (a $250 value). We went on MLK day when the kids had off of school – it’s a perfect place to spend a few hours during school vacation week!

We had so much fun doing this together since we are on book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and we have just finished the first movie!

For more information, or for tickets, check out their website.

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This year for the holidays, we decided to focus more on experiences over “things”. We decided to take our kids to the Langham Hotel again for their Gingerbread House event for the second year in a row. We paired up one big and one little, which we weren’t sure how it was going to go, but turned out great once it was clear when big sister said, “this is going to be great, you can do the back!”

Ticket prices went up this year to $170, but the ticket included a pre made gingerbread house (for up to two children) and a Paddington themed diner set. Here is what I liked about this event, you had your own space, your own supplies, and a box that fit your house. There were plenty of staff members walking around available to help you with anything you needed. Pastry Chef Kerry Levesque and her team really make this event special. Throw in a complimentary hot chocolate bar and pictures with Santa, and you have yourself a magical afternoon.

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The Langham Boston is located at 250 Franklin Street, Boston MA

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One of our favorite places to be in the summer is Falmouth, in Cape Cod Massachusetts. The first of six must do things in Falmouth is catch a Falmouth Commodores baseball game. Grab a blanket or a lawn chair and head down to Guv Fuller Field with the whole family. There are no tickets, just a suggested donation at the gates. You can bring your own food or purchase something from the snack shack. They always have some fun events for the kids (from t shirt toss to running the bases after the game) – they even run a baseball clinic for kids ages 5-14 during the day.

The second must do is stop in to Duke’s Donut Worx in Mashpee Commons. These are hand cut donuts made fresh on site throughout the day. They have both cake and yeast donuts – super tasty. Pre-order is available.

Or third must try is new on the scene cookie company Hatchville Baking Co, also in Mashpee Commons. This mother-daughter baking team has lines waiting around the block to get their baked goods.They run six monthly flavors, and if you can’t make it to Mashpee Commons, they can also be found at the Falmouth Farmer’s Market on Thursdays.

It isn’t a Cape Cod vacation without some fried food. Our fourth must try is Seafood Sam’s, open through 11/30, with the exception of Thanksgiving Day. It is always packed, and what we like is the ability to call ahead or order online. You can order mixed fried plates and there is something for everyone, whether you’re a seafood lover or not.

A family favorite is our fifth must do on the list, a visit to the Carousel of Light, for a spin on Patriot, Butterscotch, or Pearl. $4 a ride or pick up a punch ticket, $25 for 10 rides.

A trip to Cape Cod wouldn’t be complete without mini golf, so our sixth must do is a visit to Cataumet Crossing. They have mini golf, ice cream, bumper boats, penny candy and batting cages – a little something for everyone.

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This summer we signed up to make fairy gardens at Wilson Farms. For $35, you can spend an hour or so down in the greenhouse with your kids at this fun workshop. The kids painted their flowerpot “houses” and then added metal wire for their butterfly to attach on to the top.

They were able to add potting soil to their container and plant their “fairy flowers” ie. lemon honeysuckle. They decorated their gardens with brightly colored rocks, fairies or gnomes, hedgehogs or mushrooms and moss.

How fun did these turn out? Keep an eye on the Wilson Farm events page for more fun workshops throughout the year.

Wilson Farm

10 Pleasant Street, Lexington, MA

https://www.wilsonfarm.com/https://www.wilsonfarm.com/v2.0/events/events.html

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Every year we head down to the Cape to spend the day at the Barnstable Fair. It’s a fun place to bring the whole family. They have rides and games, fried food, live music, animals and shows.

You can buy day passes or multi day passes. Kids under 5 get in free with paid adult tickets. Always a good idea to try and go on wristband days where you can do unlimited rides if you have kids. Best deal for ride tickets are $40 for 40 tickets, with most rides being 4 tickets. Games are $5-$10 to play.

They do have a section where the smaller kids can do rides – tea cups, spinning dragons, a carousel etc. My kids were big enough this year to do the rides that make me want to throw up just looking at them! Hahaha!

If you want to beat the crowds, go earlier in the day when the gates first open. Have you ever been to the Barnstable Fair? What’s your favorite fair food?

https://capecodfairgrounds.com/barnstable-county-fair/

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We found these cute ice cream cone cups at the Dollar Store and used them two ways. The first was for end of the year teacher gifts for our younger staff members. I made these cute printables and attached them to the straw.

Next, I filled them with these little waffle cone bites snack and of course tied on a gift card to Trombetta’s in Marlborough so they can get a free ice cream over the summer!

The second way we used them was for birthday party favors. Same things inside, the waffle cone bites and a gift card, but we personalized the outside of the cones with the names of our friends using my Cricut. I got a ton of compliments on these by strangers who were having parties at the same place.

You can make these as expensive or as inexpensive as you’d like. You could make a basket with a box of cones, sauce, sprinkles and other fun candy toppings; you could make a basket with waffle cones, brownies, whipped cream and amarena cherries; even just get ingredients to make Coke floats! Sky is the limit with the creativity of this gift.

Ice cream cones: Dollar Tree

Waffle Cone Bites: TJ Maxx

Gift Cards: Trombetta’s

Tags: Homemade

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored. All opinions are my own.

I have to admit that Bluey was not a show that we regularly watch in our house. Right now it is all Pokemon all day every day, cringe. So I had some catching up to do. I made a Bluey cake to get us in the mood. A supermarket cake that I did a little surgery on, cut it up, scraped off the frosting, made it multiple shades of blue, added some bits of chocolate for the eyes and nose and viola! Kids were impressed at this weeknight special treat!

So off in the early morning to the city to catch the Saturday 10am performance of Bluey. Two bigs and one little. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with the little, could she handle 50 minutes of sitting in a seat? We were about to find out. Of course I forgot the snacks in the car, but luckily we were able to head downstairs where JP Licks was sampling their new Bluey flavored ice cream. Success! It was a hit all around, 4 thumbs up. We grabbed some Bluey coloring and activity sheets, some crayons and headed up to our seats.

Pleasantly surprised at the show. It kept the kids interest and even made me tear up for a hot second. The “puppets” were amazing. There was a little bit of audience participation in the middle of the show which was fun.

The best part came at the end when there was a surprise…

A big game of keepy uppy in the audience, using these enormous balls!

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If you’re looking for an affordable birthday party option, Trombetta’s in Marlborough is your spot. Perfect for kids ages 5-8, they can host birthday parties of any size. You can bring your own food or have pizzas delivered from one of the local shops (Plum Tomato or Post Road Pizza). Bring your own drinks and snacks, party decorations and balloons to make the party room as fancy or as simple as you’d like.

We brought our own cupcakes (golf themed cupcakes with golf ball rings I found on Amazon) to pass out as favors at the end because we had the kids make their own sundaes at the party. At the beginning of the party, kids chose from 5 kinds of ice cream. While they golfed, Trombetta’s pre scooped the ice cream. When it was time to come back into the party room, each guest sat down to their ice cream and was able to add the toppings of their choice: candy, sprinkles, hot fudge and whipped cream.

We also made these fancy sprinkle cupcakes for those who wanted cupcakes instead of ice cream sundaes. You can bring your own cake or you can have Trombetta’s make you an ice cream cake.

When the kids were ready to go home, we passed out these gift cards as favors, $5 gift cards for them to come back and either spend on golf or get another cone for free.

Trombetta’s Farm

655 Farm Road, Marlborough, MA

https://www.trombettasfarm.com/

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Every year for the kids, I get them one “fancy” cake (read: professional), and then one cake that I make. My son has been very in to making paper airplanes, so naturally, I made him paper airplane cake toppers. I Googled some colorful maps, printed them out and carefully folded them into small planes. I glued them onto toothpicks, and viola! Simple, yet fun.

A simple two layer vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and Oreo crumbles in the middle.

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