Welcome to the Pixie Christmas Gift Guide 2015: for the baker

We would love to help take some of the stress away for you this Christmas & help with the Christmas gift shopping. We have been working hard to source a fabulous selection of gifts and have showcased a few of our favourites in this guide

All these items are available from our retail store at 555 Manukau Road, Greenwods Corner, Epsom, Auckland and most can be purchased online: www.pixiepartysupplies.co.nz

Here are our top picks for the baker

Cookie cutters

Santa lollypop mould

Cooking books

A great range of cupcake kits 

This is just a small selection of our full range. We have heaps of Christmas gifts in store & online

Stay tuned as we will be launching the full gift guide as a series of posts over the next few weeks

The cutest little ballerina party

We were very excited to see the latest edition of the OH Baby magazine and check out the most adorable little ballerina party featuring lots of our products

Here's a few of the pics and links to the products so you can re-create the look at home:

 The Little Dancers cupcake cases & toppers are so pretty

How sweet are these Little Dancers party tiaras?!

Milk & cookies in style! 

A pretty healthy option

To see the full article check out issue 30 of OH Baby magazine or you can purchase just the article here: 

http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/parties/party-themes/ballerina-party/

We love the Little Dancers products from Meri Meri and stock most of the range including the products featured above and lots of others, you can check it all out here: Little Dancers

One of our favourites is this adorable garland which is equally at home in a little girls bedroom as it is at a party

Another favourite is the ballerina theatre centrepiece which is a stunning addition to your party table 

For serving your drinks either use doilies & ribbon with plain bottles or how about our doily print bottles with paper straws:

Serve fruit cups & snacks our Sundays pink polka dot baking cups - they're great for single serve desserts & snacks as they're grease proof inside. 

Team with some wooden forks or the cute printed wooden spoons

The wooden cones are a great option for serving popcorn and we also stock the stands for easy presentation

And everything looks prettier with the addition of some doilies, we've got lots of designs and sizes to choose from. These frills & frostings doily sets are one of our favourites:

We've got some other pretty ideas over on our Ballerina party board on Pinterest and we did a Ballerina party blog post a few years ago with some more inspiration including some great cake ideas so pop back to that one too: For your little ballerina

If you come across any other pretty ideas please share with us in the comments below!

Share the love on Valentines Day!

Love hearts, sweet treats, hugs & kisses ....  yes it's nearly Valentines Day so here's a few of our favourite finds:0)

Something simple ... repackage store bought chocolate with a homemade wrapper & include a personalised message inside

{source: www.marthastewart.com}

These chocolate dipped marshmallow cupids arrows look like a cute idea

{source & tutorial: www.rookno17.com}

And a couple of other ideas on the cupids arrow theme ... cupcakes

{source & tutorial: www.bakerella.com}

Or how about cupid crispies

{source & tutorial link: lisastorms.typepad.com

There are heaps of ideas around for decorating heart shaped cookies for Valentines Day but these ones from Cookies with Character are my favourite

{source: www.cookieswithcharacter.net}

How fab do these strawberry flowers look? they would be a lovely addition to all sort of different desserts or use to adorn a breakfast tray.

{source: diy-crafts-tutorials.blogspot.co.nz}

Making breakfast in bed or brunch for two? add a little heart shaped note to the tea bags

{source: www.marthastewart.com}

And our friends at Sweet Event Stationery have very kindly put together some free printables. Here's the link for some cupcake toppers, a cute mini banner and bottle topper: free Valentines printables

We've also got a range of products in stock for Valentines Day including mini milk bottles that look great filled with lollies as a gift or pop in a single flower and add to your breakfast tray. And of course the very popular mini cello treat bags are great for filling with lollies for any occasions. Lots more items too, check out our range here: Valentines Day range

Cute Christmas packaging ideas

Here's a few simple but effective packaging & gift ideas for Christmas

Soap tied with bakers twine and a thank you stickers are nice little thank you gifts. 

My daughter will be giving these as teacher gifts this year.

{product links: thank you stickers; bakers twine}

And how's this for super easy - a chocolate bar dressed as a snowman. These would be cute for the kids to give their friends.

{source: http://livingpractically.blogspot.co.nz}

I love this idea using block bottom kraft paper bags and turning them into reindeer. 

{source: http://lisastorms.typepad.com}

Or how about snowmen using white bags or Christmas trees from green bags

{source/tutorial links: snowmen and Christmas trees}

There are heaps of ideas around for 'gifts in a jar' but I think this is one of my favourites ... the pamper jar. These ones contain fluffy socks, bubble bath, lip balm, hand cream and chocolate. 

{source: http://livingpractically.blogspot.co.nz}

If you're giving cookies as gifts we've got some lovely boxes

or how about recycling some Pringle containers

{link to our cookie boxes}             {link to Pringle box tutorial}

And these are sure to bring a smile ... Oreo Elf feet! 

Here's the tutorial & template: www.thediaryofdaveswife.com

{source: www.thediaryofdaveswife.com}

And here's some lovely sets which contain everything you need to package homemade sweet treats, jams & pickles to give as gifts.

{link to our treat kit & jar label kit}

These Christmas house themed cupcake boxes are super cute! You could also fill them with homemade truffles or fudge. Or how about little soaps or bath bombs.

{link to our single cupcake boxes & large cupcake boxes}

Little favour boxes are a sweet way to package small items such as jewellery. They are also nice filled with a few chocolates as gifts for clients - thanks to a local beauty therapist for this idea who just purchased lots of these to make up as little thank you gifts for her customers :0)

{link to our confetti mini treat boxes}

This looks like a really simple & effective way to wrap presents

{source: http://blogs.babycenter.com}

And here's a fun way to decorate bottles of beer or any any other bottles you're giving as a gift

{source: http://lifeofamodernmom.blogspot.co.nz}

*** Want to get in the draw to win a pack of the small cupcake boxes featured here? To get in the draw just leave a comment telling us which idea was your favourite - make sure you include your email address in your comment so we can contact you if you're the winner! We will do a random draw at 7.30pm on Friday 6th December 2013 and will email the winner :0)
Note: competition open to New Zealand residents only ***


If you have any other ideas I would love to see some photos so feel free to post pics or links here or over on our facebook page

Googly Eyes!

I got lost today on Pinterest looking at 'googly eyes' to get some ideas for using candy eyeballs which we've just got in stock for Halloween.

Here's some of my favourites which I hope will give you some inspiration:

Monster cupcakes from www.myrecipes.com

Monster cupcakes from hoosierhomemade.com

Eye ball cake pops from www.kidstylejunkie.com - follow the link for the tutorial, shows how to make the eyeballs from ready-to-roll icing if you don't have the candy eyeballs

Monster eyeball truffles from marcicoombs.blogspot.co.nz - click the link to view lots of other fab photos from this amazing Halloween party

Ooey gooey monster eye cookies from lilluna.com (found via www.mamasstyle.com)

Dipped Oreo Monster Cookies from www.cupcakediariesblog.com
  

I love these cute owl sandwiches with candy eyeballs and carrot noses from fourcornerfoodies.com - follow the link for more healthy Halloween party food ideas

If you feel inspired and need some candy eyeballs feel free to stop by our website

Click the links: white eyeballs; spooky eyeballs

Lots more Halloween products available on our website and plenty of ideas and inspiration on our Halloween pinterest board as well

And if anyone has any more ideas for the eyeballs would love to see them!

Winter parties

Well it certainly feels like winter has arrived so I thought you might like some fun winter party ideas.

These snowman popcorn cups are easy to create and are so cute

{source: www.creativekidsnacks.com}

I love this 'pull-apart' snowman cake made from cupcakes 

{source: www.todaysparent.com}

How about serving white hot chocolate in a big punch bowl? 

I love how they've tied white ribbons around the blue cups in this setting too, so simple & stylish

(source: www.todaysparent.com}

Different shapes & sizes of doilies look really effective against this glass door for a snowflake effect

{source: www.marthastewart.com}

I think having a hot cocoa bar is a fab idea and sure to be a hit with all ages!

{source: http://bebehblog.com}

And these are my favourite winter party product from our range, latte paper coffee cups, these would work well at the hot cocoa bar :-)

Available at www.pixiepartysupplies.co.nz

And what better sweet treat to accompany your hot chocolate than a hot chocolate cupcake!

(source: www.ohcupcakes.net)

And last but not least, one just for the adults ... warm up with winter cocktails! 

Check out the link for some great ideas from eggnog to citrus punch: winter cocktails

{source: www.marthastewart.com}