Going Batman

Okay, so my husband is a huge Batman fan. He even wrapped his car in purple vinyl and took off the regular Dodge ornaments and put on Batman ones. No lie.

So it was a milestone birthday for him a few weeks ago, and I'm nothing if not all over birthdays. I think they're super-fun, because it means you made it through another year, alive. That might sound morbid or depressing or whatever, but let's face it. As adults, we don't have as many reasons to celebrate as kids -- and we should! You made it through another year! And I'm sure that year was hard in ways, and YOU DID IT.

Thus, adults get birthday parties too.

For my husband's, I decided to have a cupcake open house. I mean, cupcakes are all the rage, right? And we're sort of hermits, so the open house is the best way to go. Definitive beginning and ending time, no lame party games. It was perfect.

Here are some pictures of the 85 (EIGHTY-FIVE) cupcakes I made for the party.

I made two kinds of cupcakes. These chocolate cupcakes from All Recipes (one of my favorite websites!) were delicious, moist, and absolutely perfect. I baked them the night before. I don't use liners when I make cupcakes and muffins, so these silver ones were just for ease in handling the cupcakes -- and they're pretty! I got them at my local grocery store.

These blonde cupcakes are actually sugar cookie cupcakes. They are THE BEST cupcake on the planet! And it's a recipe from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) that is actually a cake. I took the cake and frosting recipe and made it into cupcakes. I know raspberries taste AMAZING with this cake and icing, and hey. If I eat fruit with my cupcake, I feel like I'm doing something healthy. Ha!

For cupcakes, make the same recipe, but bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I use a Demarle flexipan. It makes the cupcakes crispy and delicious!

My daughter and I made the text toppers. I found a free Batman font and experimented in Word to make them the right size. Text boxes became my best friend! Easy to move without messing everything else up. 

We cut and glued the paper to yellow poster board, then added decorative ribbons and sticks to be able to put them in the cupcakes. A great kid's project to get them involved in helping for the party! They love it -- because they love their moms and dads!

These are frosted with a basic chocolate cream cheese frosting. I also made German chocolate frosting from scratch! They were both a bit hit!

Black table covers and yellow tableware. Easy and inexpensive. Who says partying has to be loads of work and cost a lot? Not Batman!! (I just got these at my local grocery store. They have party supplies like this for 4 packages/$4. Cheap!)

And I love using a cup for my silverware. I don't know when I started doing that, but I think it looks so much better than just lying there on the table. Dimension or something. 

The whole spread. If you don't have one of those tiered serving things, you should get one. I bought mine on a whim at Costco years ago. I can't even tell you how many times I've used it! A LOT.

This is the cake topper. My husband wanted a sugar cookie cupcake with raspberries, so we staked this one as his. 

I bought the Batman cupcake cake toppers/rings and this cake topper from Amazon. Nothing beats Prime shipping -- not even sure Batman could deliver faster! 

We knew we'd be having a lot of kids to the party (because our friends have kids!), so these ring toppers were perfect. It was like a decoration AND a party favor! Double win.

And there you have it. A themed party that was a mega-POW!