Cupcake Social

This is a little late (as I often am) but I was so thrilled to have a cupcake social a while back.  It was so much fun and I would love to do it again and again for my mommy group, birthday parties or just because.  We put a new spin on an old-fashioned ice cream social... with cupcakes!  First, I saw plastic artist palettes like this and thought "wouldn't that be cute with a ton of different sprinkles?"  They were about $2 each and I just felt like that was too much for maybe 20 kids for something I thought was going to be disposable.  Then I found these and they were perfectly priced (especially with a 50% off coupon).  I hoard stockpile collect sprinkles so I'm sure I already had enough but I couldn't resist the urge to get 3 different varieties of hearts since this was before Valentine's Day.  On a sidenote, I get my sprinkles all over- craft stores, grocery stores, online, but my favorite place is called Midwest Bakers Supply.  They are a local store and do not sell online :(  They have the basics but they also have a lot of things you can't find in stores and they are priced really well.  I don't shop exclusively local but I do like to shop local when I can.  They have every possible thing you could need for baking so if you're ever in need I recommend this little shop. 

Anyway, the palettes have 10 little holes or wells and I put different sprinkles in each well using a little baby spoon.  As it turns out, I really overdid it on the sprinkles bc I had TONS left over.  I also put buttercream icing into little disposable cups with lids so that there would be no double-dipping  (I did this ahead of time so it would be easier to set up)  The kids just used popsicle sticks to spread the icing onto the cupcakes. I got these tiny little spoons from Olivia's GiGi for them to put the sprinkles on top.  They look a lot like the spoons you would get at an ice cream shop for samples.  I have seen metal ones at bed bath and beyond.  I thought I saw the mini plastic spoons at party galaxy but I didn't find them on their website.

The kids had a blast decorating their very own cupcakes!  Most of them even ate the cupcake! My daughter, however, still just ate the icing and sprinkles.  I thought this was so much fun! I loved to see all the different ways the kids decorated their cupcakes given all the same supplies.  How fun would this be for a birthday party?! And just think how easy it would be! It would save SO much time and effort that you could put towards the decor or favors or some other part of the party.  Plus it could be used as entertainment too.  I wish I would have thought of this earlier.  If I didn't already have Olivia's party in the works I would totally do this.  So, does this look like fun to you? Let me know what you think!