Winter Wonderland Birthday Party

My Mami does so much for my sister and I, so I always try to throw her the best birthday parties that I can to show my appreciation.  This year I picked a "winter wonderland" theme and chose decorations and treats to make it all come together!  

The decorations were actually rather simple.  On top of the wooden hutch in the dining room I just wrote "Feliz cumpleaños Mami" on a chalkboard.  I then covered the hutch with a blue foil curtain that I reused from an "Under the Sea" party a few years ago and added a nice white drapery. 

I wrapped the gifts in different shades of blue tissue paper, reusing some bows from Christmas, and placed them all on a white plush blanket.  It made it look like they were on top of some snow! 

Then there was this "Adopt a Moose" station, where I placed 3 cute moose stuffed animals, each with an "adopt me" tag, in a basket.  I think that it was a nice little cute touch! 

As for decorations, the last little bit was a pair of small deer figurines.  I personally really like them.  And best of all, they can easily be reused for Christmas! 

Decorations aren't the only thing needed for a good party though.  There was also the snacks and treats!  And I made plenty of those! 

It's not much of a birthday party without a birthday cake! 

This year I decided to make a chocolate and coconut cake.  The coconut flakes made it look a bit like snow and tied it in with the theme!  

It was also the first time that I've ever successfully made and decorated cake!  On other occasions, the cake itself tasted good, but the frosting usually wasn't the best.  And my cakes would always crack!  This time, I think that it all tasted good and the presentation was too! 

And I made sure to find some great, affordable vegan candles which also went nicely in a winter wonderland!

Other baked goods on the menu were two different types of donuts!  The first were some classic powdered sugar donuts.  I've made these quite a few times, and I thought that they'd be fitting as they resemble snow. 

The other donuts were a similar, more colorful, version of them.  The donut itself was the exact same recipe.  I simply doubled the batch of powdered sugar donuts.  However, half of them I rolled in powdered sugar.  The other half I dipped in some leftover cream cheese frosting from the cake, and then topped with some homemade sprinkles!  

And how about a hot chocolate station to warm up?  It's been a long time since my family has enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate, so I thought that Mami's birthday would be a great occasion to make this tasty treat! 

And not just hot chocolate, but a whole station for it!  I grabbed a wooden tray and set out some homemade hot chocolate in a thermos (stayed hot for a long time and still warm after 12 hours) unfrosted sugar cookies, oat-based whipped cream, Dandie's mini marshmallows (vanilla and mint), chocolate chips, condensed oat milk caramel, chocolate chips, and extra sprinkles! 

To be honest, we really only added whipped cream and vanilla marshmallows.  Sometimes the traditional is really the best!  Either way, the hot chocolate itself was a hit! ​

As for the savory part of the snack menu, how about a vegan charcuterie board? Yes, that's all 100% vegan!

There were grapes, saltines, pita chips, hummus, "pepperoni," cheezes, a spinach dip, and French bread!  It was all really tasty! 

The Pita chips, hummus, and saltines were all from the 365 brand at Whole Foods.  The cheezes were a block of Violife parmesan and some melted Violife cheddar shreds that I reshaped with a ramekin to make a wheel of cheese. 

But the part that I think Mami liked best was the French bread and spinach dip that I made! 

And though that concludes the party buffet table, there were still two other things that I made to be revealed later during the day.  The first was a special surprise that I'd planned: vegan cotton candy ice cream!

Before going vegan, cotton candy was one of my family's favorite ice cream flavors.  However, we haven't been able to find any vegan versions available, so, I made some as a surprise for Mami. 

I bought some of Hawaiin Shaved Ice's cotton candy flavored syrup and used it to make the frozen treat!  All that I did was add a one 1.5-quart container of Breyer's new vegan vanilla ice cream to a large mixing bowl and beat it with an electric hand mixer.  Then I added between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of the flavored syrup and some blue vegan food coloring, and voila, vegan cotton candy ice cream!  We absolutely loved it, and it was exactly how I remembered it!  

And last but not least on the menu, some French onion soup!  It's one of Mami's favorite soups, and it's been a long time since she's had any, so I decided to make some!  I'm thrilled to say that she loved it! 

So, that's the winter wonderland themed birthday party that I threw for my Mami!  We all had a great time, and I hope that Mami loved it as much as I loved planning it for her!