Ice Cream Scoop on a Stick: A Cool Treat for a Hot Day!

Image via Martha Stewart

I absolutely love this idea! Scoop out ice cream, insert a craft spoon. Place in freezer until chilled. And then my favorite part, choose your topping! Almonds, coconut, sprinkles, candies, or whatever topping your sweet heart desires!  Store them in the freezer on a freshly lined baking sheet, until ready to serve. I'm thinking, Blue Bell chocolate ice cream topped with toasted coconut and almonds = DELISH! What is your favorite ice cream? Do you have any special creations I should try?

10 Reasons You Should Have A Dessert Table At Your Wedding

1. Dessert tables make for a memorable wedding reception - Skip the traditional wedding cake and opt for something  your guests will surely remember.  With so many options on a dessert table, there will be plenty for guests to sample...and talk about.

2. Glam up a traditional banquet hall - With a great backdrop, dessert tables can serve as a focal point at the reception and give your reception the wow factor you're looking for.

geniusdessertables.com

3. Add humor - Do you have a quirky side? Does your spouse-to-be have an infatuation for Elvis that he or she is bashful about? Use a dessert table to add a fun element to your event that will not take away from the elegance of the entire venue.

4. Transport your guests anywhere - Want to bring that little corner pastry shop in Paris to your Hill Country venue? A dessert table is a great way to showcase your favorite travel locations or hobby. 

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5.  Dessert tables can double as party favors - Send guests home with packaged treats of their choosing. Donating left-over desserts to a local shelter is also a great way to reduce waste.

6. Accommodate guests with dietary needs - Is Aunt Betty a vegan and cousin Johnny lactose intolerant? With custom designed desserts and labels to match your theme, a dessert table can be all things sweet to guests with dietary needs.

7. Have your cake and eat it too - literally! You and your significant other can't decide on cupcakes or wedding cake? Chocolate or butter cream? Macrons or pie? Savory or sweet? Have it all on your dessert table.

geniusdesserttables.com

8. Save money! A dessert table is a great way to add a "WOW" factor to your wedding and you don't have to break the bank. By combining artistically crafted desserts with budget friendly options you can create a beautiful display that fits your budget.

Custom cookies with delicious, but inexpensive,  powdered donuts.  geniusdesserttables.com

9. Display uncommon objects you want part of your special day- A dessert table is a great way to display items that don't belong on the wedding alter, but  fit in perfectly at the dessert table.

10. Dessert tables make AWESOME wedding pictures.

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Say "I do" to Genius Dessert Tables

Bridal Expo

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we officially attended our first bridal expo! I think the biggest challenge was deciding on the color and theme. We wanted to choose something that would appeal to the greatest number of guests attending the event. Ultimately, we decided on a blue, green and gold color scheme. I think it was a great choice!

Our goal was to establish a couple things:

1. To let people know we exist.

2. To make our name known - we are Genius Dessert Tables!

3. We are genius - we don't just create a dessert table, we create an experience. We do this

by incorporating props and backdrops to wow the "hardest to wow" guests:)

4. Show attendees how we are able to personalize a dessert table, by using specific desserts and decor.

The oversized tissue paper flowers were inspired by a diy blog post, featuring The Ruche Team  on Design Sponge. You can check out the tutorial here. We followed the directions for the most part, although added more tissue paper than suggested and also included tulle, which helped fill them out a bit more. 

Personalized Chocolate Truffles from Arte Y Chocolate - arranged in a flower shape, to coordinate with our flower  theme, and topped with a shimmery gum ball!

Personalized cookies from Polkadots Cupcake Factory! 

This glass pear container was perfect to hold some candies and our business card! We put this
on our "party favor" table.

Say "I do" to Genius Dessert Tables with a Hershey Kiss Party favor, which also included our business card.

Overall,  I think everything went smoothly! We received a lot of great feedback! A HUGE thank you to Arte Y Chocolate for the most amazing truffles - they were beautiful and delicious! And thank you to Polkadots Cupcake Factory for the gorgeous cookies that people didn't believe were edible, now that's a pretty cookie:)

Bridal Expo Prep

I was going through some of my photo booth pictures and discovered the pics below. We recently participated in our first bridal expo as Genius Dessert Tables. We had a great time preparing for and coming up with ideas for the event!! Because of our busy schedules, we often communicate by phone and email. The pictures below will give you a peak into the theme of our dessert table, as well as ways in which we share info to insure everything is running smoothly. Pictures of the expo to come soon! Also, incase you are wondering, yes, I do fix my hair occasionally!

My son helping me hold the flowers I had just completed, so that i can take a pic to send to Leah.

Me (Coleen) holding up a box I just purchased from one of my favorite stores. This will be perfect to display party favors! Leah agreed:)

This was actually my first attempt at making tissue paper flowers. You will notice the picture above is much improved. We decided more tissue paper, multiple colors,  and tulle complete the flower

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The patten and color scheme we chose for the table--love this!

A flying 5th birthday!

I truly love spending time researching the perfect details for a party.  Since starting Genius Dessert Tables with my co-owner, Coleen, I feel like I have found a wonderful productive outlet for my creativity.  And this past weekend at my daughter's 5th birthday party I had to let all of that go.

My daughter was born with an independent streak.  She knows what she wants in life and is not easily persuaded.  In throwing her party, I had to decide between my desire for the perfect dessert table, or her birthday party dreams. 

She wanted her party at the bouncy house, a fairy theme, but boys were invited, and her cake had to be from the grocery store bakery, that she had been eyeing for "her whole life."

I was up for the challenge!  I decided to put my effort in the details of  the party, since a dessert table would not work at this venue (or with this client).  

I decided the best I could do was a flying theme for the party.  So I went with all things that could fly which made the indoor inflatable playground fit right in to "my" plan.

She chose a Tinker Bell chocolate cake and also vanilla cake because she wanted to give everyone a choice.

I added the edible butterflies to contribute to our flying theme. 

 Pink and green seemed like a good color combination for the party.  I decorated the tables with pink table cloths and green and pink paper ware.  I made pinwheel centerpieces, which added a lot of life to an otherwise dull room, and the kids loved them.  My daughter let each child pick one out to take home!

The party swag is my all time favorite,  so I probably had a little too much fun.  We  decided on fairy wings for the girls and capes for the boys. 

My daughter insisted that we also have goodie bags.  I really wanted to get creative with these and do something unique. 

We found a great fairy project on Pinterest (with the help of my fellow Pinterest addicts).  I made chocolate fairy lollies and added some stickers, Tinker Bell for the girls and superhero for the boys.  We were very happy with the final product.

The party was a blast and mom and daughter were very happy with the entire event!   It did not have that pulled together feel that I strive for when planning a dessert table, but my daughter was beaming the whole time.  That is the best feedback I can ask for.

Edible Butterflies - Modern Luxe Events

Wings - Halo Heaven

Capes -  made by mom!

Lollipop -made by mom!

Goodie Bags - Shop Sweet Lulu 

Snack cups -  Shop Sweet Lulu 

Clip art - Cocoa Mint

Faires in a Jar Project - Found on Pinterest

Broken-Hearted Valentine

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and love is in the air...or not! We, at Genius Dessert Tables, were inspired to do something a little different for Valentine's Day this year. We were inspired by the cutest broken-hearted cupcakes, made by our super talented friend, Lindsey, at Lollipop Cupcake Shop. Seriously, who knows how to make a broken-hearted cupcake?? Ridiculous, I know. Once we saw these beauties, we knew we had to take it a step further by creating our very own broken-hearted dessert table. 

Broken-hearted cupcake! Who knew a broken-heart could taste so sweet!

Broken-hearted dessert table complete with bubble gum ice cream, "Going to have my cake and eat it" cake, "S'more for me" S'mores, "Blow it off " bubble gum, and of course,  fortune cookies, for all the good fortunes to come.

A broken heart is no reason to stay home on Valentine's Day. So, invite your girlfriends over and make a toast to your new found freedom and all the adventures that lie ahead. After all, a broken heart just means you're one step closer to finding your true love!

Birthday Bowling Fun!!!

While I did not create a dessert table for my son's 3rd birthday, I still had fun with the desserts. I thought I would post a few shots.  

For his birthday at home with Mom, Dad and Sister, I made simple white cake cupcakes with vanilla frosting topped with chocolate bowling pins I found on Amazon.  

  

They were a big hit!

For his birthday party at the bowling alley, I made him a bowling alley cake and bowling ball cake pops!  I used Pinterest to  find a few great ideas.  Both were fairly simple. 

I am a big fan of cake pops because everything is more fun when you eat it on a stick!  The cake was my first personal attempt with fondant. I found an easy recipe online and it was painless.  The hardest part turned out to be finding a small bag of gumballs!!

While these are not the professional desserts I am used to working with, I think we rolled a strike!