Birthday Party Fun!

The big day finally arrived!!!

I've found a new love. Baking and crafting go very well together! I had so much fun decorating the cookies and frosting the cupcakes! This was only my third time using a piping bag (ever!) and I've never decorated cookies before. I love how they turned out!

The cookies are chocolate sugar cookies (recipe is here) and I dipped them in red royal icing. I used a mock royal icing recipe from Kids With Food Allergies which is free of Taylor's allergens.

Hubby did the grilled chicken with barbeque sauce and I made the amazing I Love Tomatoes Pasta Salad (this recipe is also from Kids With Food Allergies)

Taylor got some fabulous gifts, and we gave her friends plastic flower pots filled with handmade goodies! In an upcoming post I'll offer the details of how I made all the party favors.

I even painted Taylor's toenails for her special day. She's never had her nails painted before and she thought it was pretty fun!

She had soooo much fun and as you can see, she was beaming when everyone sang "Happy Birthday!" to her.

Thank you to everyone who celebrated Taylor's special day with us. And, I have to give a HUGE shout out to the fab folks at Kids With Food Allergies (KFA). When we first discovered Taylor's food allergies about 2 years ago, I didn't bake at. all. I was a decent cook, but baking? No. Definitely not. The baking support I've received from the people at KFA in the Food & Cooking Forums and the Celebrations Forum, is what gave me the confidence to pull this party together. Thank you SO much! I love you guys!!!