Surprise!

On January 27th,  My boyfriend and I drove from Vancouver to Seattle for my lola's surprise 80th birthday party.   I was sooo excited about the the whole thing!  I love birthday parties, don't you?  All the food, the desserts... yum!  And surprising my Lola? Wow!  That was something I was a little concerned about at the beginning, she was alright though, she even had an amazing time! :)

These were later wrapped in treat bags tied with a white ribbon.

"Nanay" means "mother" in Tagalog/Filipino.  That's what our friends and family call her, except for me.. I got used to calling her "Lola" meaning "grandma" because that's just what I grew up calling her as.  Sometimes I call her Nanay though :)

Anyway, I received a call from my Aunt from Seattle 2 weeks in advanced but by the time I got an approval for time off from work, I only had a week left with me to work on some of the things that I needed to bring:  the tags for the party favours, the fondant cupcake toppers, and the cakes that I needed for the cakepops.
 
I made 64 cakepops that we used as party favours, and 80 Red Velvet Cupcakes as part of the dessert menu.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I know they're not that red because I didn't want to use 1 bottle of food colouring for each batch!   If you know a more natural way of colouring Red Velvet Cupcakes, please leave a message, I would love to know how!  

Anyway,  I had to make these cupcakes... with my Aunt's hand mixer.  *Sigh*.  Just when I thought I had everything.. I brought my Kitchen Aid BUT I forgot the whisk attachment!!!   =( Doh! I was quite disappointed at that, but now I just laugh about it. 

Thank goodness, my Aunt had a hand mixer on hand.  It would have been a great disaster if she didn't have one (because she doesn't bake).

As for the cake that I used for the cakepops, I decided on t his Cake Recipe that I found here, except I added Pure Vanilla Extract to the Lemon Cake. I think it adds to the flavour.  I baked two 8" cakes for the cakepops and they were more than enough.  I think we had 8-10 extras.

The tags were cut using a pair of plain old scissors..

I have made tags numerous times, but I don't own any craft puncher.. Except for the 1/8 whole puncher that I've got.  I should start investing in some.   It would make my life (and those who are always there to help me with these things) a whole lot easier..  I was going to buy some at Michaels but they had no 40% off coupon at that time. Regular price was from $25-$30. Boo. I am NOT paying that much.  I want them for cheap... because that's how I roll. haha.

To make the whole story short, we arrived in Seattle on Friday night at 10:30pm and started baking at... 11:00pm.  We left Vancouver at 7:30 because of work.  I stayed up all night until 10:30am to finish everything up. Yes, I pretty much didn't stop until I got the job done. I did not want to disappoint anyone after all.  Most of my back up went to bed between 3:30-4:30am.  My hon, stayed up until 6.  Aren't they the sweetest little bunch? :)

So, I would like to take this time to THANK my ever dearest friends and family for helping me out!  From cutting out the tags, to making the fondant toppers, to helping me weigh the ingredients, wrapping the styrofoam cakepop stand, and everything else in between.  Thank you!

Here's a snap shot of my grandma :)

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY LOLA!