Ducky cookie favors and cake - Kacey's Shower

I think one of my favorite parts of the shower was the duck cookies I made for favors. It was my first attempt at royal icing and while it was messy and I don't think it tasted that great it looked beautiful.

I made sugar cookies from the Better Homes and Garden's cook book. I made the cookies on a snow day in February and then froze them until the shower. I made royal icing based on the Martha Stewart recipe. I made the royal icing with meringue powder because Kacey shouldn't have raw egg whites which are usually in the icing.

I decorated each duck cookie with yellow and then put a squirt of orange and spread it with a skewer for the beak. I also gave each duck a brown eye and a pretty pink bow. I was really proud of my work!

The best part was putting the ducks into individual cellophane bags. I tied each bag with a pink ribbon with while polka dots. I placed them on a big lazy susan that my mom made me and placed another sign in front of the platter so everyone knew to take one when they left.


I got a cake from Sam's club with a ducky on it as well. The chocolate cake was DELICIOUS! I will continue to get cakes from them because of the good taste, ease of ordering, and great price! It was much easier than making a cake, which was kinda out of the question since I thew the shower by myself!

Baby Pink Punch - Kacey's Shower

So, I looked all over for the perfect recipe for Kacey's shower but I didn't feel like making that sherbert punch and I didn't want to put Jell-O in it so I made up my own punch.

Amy's Baby Pink Punch
1 can pink lemonade concentrate - thawed
2 liters of sprite
1 bag frozed strawberries
ice cubes (I made little star-shaped ice cubes)

Mix well in a punch bowl - enjoy!

Everyone loved this punch and it was INCREDIBLY easy to make. It was a bit tart but that's what made it fun. The strawberries were mostly for decoration and keeping it cold but it was quite pretty for a little girl baby shower.

Cheese Dip - Kacey's Shower

For Kacey's shower I also wanted to have some munchies for people while they were waiting for everyone to arrive. I made my mother in law's tried and true cheese spread. I am tempted to make you try it before you read the ingredients. Everyone LOVES the cheese spread when they eat it but the ingredients are weird. They all work together very well but its hard to believe that it would work!

Cindy's Famous Cheese Dip:
Melt cheese (velvetta 1 large box) in a double Boiler

In a separate bowl mix:
1 cup of Catalina Dressing
1 cup of French Onion Dip
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

After the cheese is melted pour the cheese into the dressing, dip, butter mixture and mix with mixer. Pour into smaller containers.

Ooookay, I know what you are thinking, I warned you. Honestly, though, its SO yummy! You should really give it a try at your next get together.

Strawberry Walnut Spinach Salad - Kacey's Shower

For Kacey's shower I also made a green salad, like I said I wanted to serve something spring-like so I decided to make this salad which has been a favorite of mine in the past and is WONDERFUL for entertaining. I got this recipe from Kraft Food and Family magazine.

Layered Strawberry Salad
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
3 cups torn Boston lettuce (I used romaine)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings (I put this on the side because I HATE onions, in fact it made me ill just to cut them!)
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup PLANTERS Walnut Halves, toasted
1/2 cup KRAFT Creamy Poppyseed Dressing

I also offered Raspberry and Ranch dressings, most people chose raspberry. I also included the recipe card in front of this dish so that everyone knew what it was. This salad was a big hit again and it did make everyone long for spring again! I served the salad with croissants from Sam's club, they were SO flaky and tender, yum!

Fruit Salad - Kacey's Shower

For my friend Kacey's shower I made a fruit salad that was delicious. Our friend Heidi is allergic to pineapple and anything it touches so I decided to leave it out even though I LOVE it. So here is my fruit salad recipe it was PLENTY (more than enough) for 20 people.

Fruit Salad
1 canteloupe
1 small seedless watermelon
3 kiwi fruit
2 cans of mandarin orange segments
2 big boxes of strawberries
1 small container of raspberries
1 big bunch of green grapes
1 big bunch of red grapes

I sliced all of the fruits the day before and kept them in seperate containers so that the fruit salad didn't get mushy. It was SO yummy. I also put a menu card in front of the fruit salad at the shower so everyone knew what was in the salad. I embelleshed it with a duck to go with the theme!

Kacey's Shower

Okay, so I threw a baby shower at the beginning of the month and I haven't blogged about it yet, so sue me! I am excited to show all of the little details that went into making a special day for my friend and fellow Kindergarten teacher, Kacey.

I had about 20 people over on Sunday, March 2nd to celebrate Kacey's second baby. I know its kinda taboo to have a shower for a second baby but Kacey lived in Florida and none of us knew her then. At that point she only had one very small shower and didn't get to celebrate in a big way. Now, the other big factor here is that Kacey has a four year old boy and Kacey is VERY excited to welcome a baby girl! So, we were all excited to get her some cute, frilly girly outfits and accessories. We were all happy to get together to celebrate the birth of her new daughter.

Okay, so first I decided that I was sick of winter so I had a spring menu of fruit salad, croissants, and green salad with strawberries, mozzarella, and walnuts. I also made a delicious punch in my mom's deluxe punch bowl. I made ice with a star shaped ice cube tray. The punch was simple with frozen pink lemonade concentrate mixed with sprite and frozen strawberries.

I had a duck theme so the cake had ducks and the favor was a duck shaped sugar cookie that I made and decorated with royal icing. I also had some cute decorations to make everything just right.

Here are some pictures:

I'm bad at blogging

So sue me. I am terribly lax lately and I am truly sorry. Blame American Idol, Project Runway and laziness. I will be more active soon. Seriously, that baby shower I threw was really cute. I will get around to posting about it soon! I hope everyone is well! I will try to be better soon!