Homemade Hello Kitty Cupcakes

My daughter, Madelyn, turns 6 on November 22nd and she decided that she would like a Hello Kitty kids' party this year for her birthday. (Check out her Hello Kitty birthday party details here!)  The Hello Kitty invitations have been sent out and I am now planning out the activities. So far, I have pin the bow on Hello Kitty planned and Hello Kitty pinata. I think it would be really fun for the kids to decorate their own cupcakes as an activity, so I experimented with some candies to make Hello Kitty cupcakes. Oh, my gosh -- you should have seen the look on Madelyn's face when I showed these to her! She was SO excited! I decorated a few other characters since there were neighbor kids playing with my daughter when I made these.

Ingredients:

• Cupcakes, prepared and cooled - click here for my vanilla cupcake recipe
• Vanilla frosting
• Fur: White jimmies
• Ears: White chocolate bar, cut into small triangles
• Eyes: Brown reese's pieces, cut in half
• Nose: Yellow reese's pieces, whole
• Whiskers: Black jimmies
• Bow: Red Swedish fish

Directions:

• Preparation work: Cut the rounded portion off of the top of each cupcake, so there is a flat surface to work with. Have a sample cupcake prepared ahead of time, so the children have a visual of what they will be doing. Frost each ear piece and dip into the white jimmies.
• Hand out a cupcake to each child along with a dollop of frosting on a plate. Give them a small bowl or bag filled with the candies as well.
• Have the children frost their own cupcakes and dip their frosted cupcakes into a bowl of white jimmies (fur).
• To assemble the face, press the ears into the top of the cupcake, press in the eyes (cut side down), nose and and black jimmies for the whiskers.
• Finish Hello Kitty off with a red Swedish fish bow.
• ENJOY!

Madelyn Rating:
"Good!"