Valentine's Day is much more fun to celebrate now that I have Hadley! There are so many fun things you can do to make it a fun and special holiday for your child/children. You can throw a party with cousins or friends, make valentines, craft and don't forget all of the yummy themed snacks! Hadley's favorite is always the snacks and she loved helping me make these cupcakes! This is an easy strawberry cupcake and icing recipe I found online. Then just add some cute heart sprinkles or this heart cupcake topper from
Glitter Party Co and your all set!
Whats a party without a party hat?! This sweet party hat comes is from
Little Blue Olive and comes in different colors. I also incorporated some small gifts for Hadley. The necklace is perfect for any age and is from
Hooray Everyday. Then I got some fun Valentine's Day books for her from our local Target. If you want a direct link for the books you can find them in my previous post!
The Ever Co has some adorable valentines that you can purchase from their website and print at home! I thought of some fun gifts that could be apart of the valentine and they are both affordable, easy and fun!
I love the Unicorn valentine! You can have your kiddo color or paint them or they are just as cute left blank! I found this awesome unicorn hot chocolate recipe and of course had to try it! As a fun goodie to put with the valentine I thought it would be neat to measure out the ingredients and put in a little bag and you can then attach one to each valentine.
The other card I chose was the fairy themed valentine. This activity may not be suited for children under three. Hadley had a lot of fun making the fairy dust but there is now glitter on every inch of my house. I choose just three colors of glitter to mix because I was going for a rose gold color. The little jar I found at my local craft store for $1.29 so this craft/gift is very inexpensive to make!
Below the pictures you can find the cupcake recipe, the unicorn hot chocolate recipe, and the fairy dust details. Hope you all enjoy and have a Happy Valentine's Day!
STRAWBERRY CUPCAKE RECIPE:
3/4 cup fresh strawberries, sliced in half
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat
oven to 350'.
- Using
cupcake liners, place 12 liners in a muffin pan and set to the side.
- In a
medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt and set a side.
- In a
food processor or blender add strawberries and process until pureed.
- Empty
pureed strawberries into a 1/3c measuring cup and set aside. Add rest of
strawberry puree to a small bowl and set aside to use in the frosting.
- Using
a electric mixer with bowl, cream butter on medium high speed until
lightly fluffy.
- Gradually
add sugar and continue to mix until well blended. Reduce speed to low and
slowly add one egg and egg whites and mix until lightly blended.
- Add
vanilla extract if using.
- Mix
together milk and 1/3c strawberry puree.
- Alternate
flour and milk mixture to mixer slowly ending with flour. Scrape down
sides of bowl and continue to blend well.
- Using
an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, add batter to prepared muffin cups.
- Bake
for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Cool
cupcakes completely on a wire rack before adding the frosting.
FROSTING RECIPE:
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
***I added a couple drops of red food coloring to make pink frosting
DIRECTIONS:
1 In medium bowl, mix
powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in
vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk.
2 Gradually beat in just
enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is
too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too
thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar. Frosts 13x9-inch cake
generously, or fills and frosts an 8- or 9-inch two-layer cake.
UNICORN HOT CHOCOLATE:
1 Icing, Blue
1 tbsp Imperial sugar
1 Pastel sprinkles
1 Pink food coloring
1 tsp Vanilla
4 oz White chocolate
2 cups Whole milk
colored mini marshmallows
***I used marshmallows from lucky charms and also added whip cream topping
FAIRY DUST:
small jar
tags
string
glitter
I added a lot of pink and then some silver and gold to create a rose gold color. You can make your own tag or sticker to label it with but I bought a set of tags that came with string for only $1.25 at my local craft store.