WINTER LUAU

I live in a great apartment with a solarium in the courtyard.  It is a little tropical paradise with a heated pool and palm trees.  BEST REASON EVER to live in the ghetto of north west Provo.  Ever since I moved in I have been planning on having a luau.  We have some pretty ugly winters here and what's better than pretending it is summer in March?  After reading Glorious Treats every day for about 4 months, I made some cookies and cupcakes, invited all my buddies, and the WINTER LUAU was born.

I made 4 types of cupcakes.  An easy vanilla, easy chocolate, the classic coconut cupcake, and a PINA COLADA cupcake.  The last one was clearly the best, but everything tasted great.

I had lots of help from friends with decorating and baking.  I think everything turned out adorable.  I especially loved the little cherries and umbrellas on the pina colada cupcakes.  I used my really fat round tip to pipe the frosting on these ones.

I also did some sugar cookies.  I used my same Better Crocker recipe and got all my decorating ideas from Glorious Treats.  I am in love with these cookies.  They are bright and really brought together the theme of the party.

For decorations we had balloons, tissue balls, an ALOHA banner and this dessert table.  The area is already tropical, so it was not hard to make beautiful.

Between swimming and talking and eating, it was a great afternoon.  I'm thinking that party planning is my new favorite thing!