“Make Sure You Add Some Sprinkles in 2022!”

Happy New Year! It’s 2022!!

I have a festive little New Year’s party to share with you today, compliments of my niece! At the young age of 7, my niece is already the party planning extraordinaire!! Her mama (my sister) has taught her so well! She reminds me so much of my girls when they were growing up, throwing parties for baby dolls and family pets. So precious.

One day recently, my sister mentioned that my niece would probably enjoy a day at my house “baking and making”. Of course I said yes immediately, and we later decided to throw a cousins’ New Year’s celebration!

It was a small affair due to so many of the cousins already committed to other holiday obligations, but, as you’ll see from our table below, still quite festive no less!

My sister and niece arrived earlier in the day to start preparations. Her boys came too and played with my son while we ladies party prepped. First up was a piping lesson which my niece took to quickly and naturally! I showed her how to pipe the cupcakes with a large star tip. After just a few practice cupcakes, this girl was working like a pro and finished them all herself. Of course we added plenty of sprinkles because when you’re a 7-year-old party-planning girl, you never use sprinkles sparingly!

But the sprinkles didn’t stop there! I had seen Memory Makin’ Momma (on Instagram) dip Nutty Bars in white chocolate and sprinkle them with confetti-like sprinkles for a kid’s New Year’s treat. I tucked the idea away for just such an occasion.

Once we finished snack preparations, we moved on to table decor. My sister had blown up balloons and hung banners while my niece and I had been working on the snacks. We then decorated the table with a kid-friendly color scheme. All of the gold and black party supplies I’d been seeing in the stores seemed a little mature for a kids’ party, so we kept the traditional New Year’s gold but added a vibrant rainbow of colors! Most of these supplies I already had in my party stash.

This girl was so cute sprinkling confetti all around the table with her sweet giggles and fairy steps. Once everything was ready, she snapped photos of her work.

So here goes–the table details!

I tried to let my niece come up with as many of her own ideas as possible, which she had no shortage of, and one of her cutest ideas was making signs for each of the foods! You have to take time to read each sign. They are so adorable!

This cupcake sign inspired the title of this post. So cute!

I’m calling this next snack “Confetti Bars”!

When I asked my niece what kind of salty snack she’d like to serve, she replied, “I like those round crackers with the salt on top.”, so we served Ritz with cheese cubes and pepperoni. I love her sign for the Ritz and cheese!

I wanted to serve a punch that would really wow the kids, and “Cotton Candy Punch” fit the bill. This punch was perfect and so much fun for the kids!! If you’ve got little ones in your life, make this punch with them, and be sure to take my niece’s advice written on the sign below…you’ll definitely want to keep your sweet tooth handy for this yummy punch!

Cotton Candy Punch:

Place a maraschino cherry and some of the jar juice in the bottom of a punch cup, pour raspberry ginger ale on top (I could only find cherry 7-up but it worked perfectly), and then top with a blob of cotton candy. The cotton candy instantly fizzes and dissolves into the punch. We put everything except the cotton candy in the cup at the start of the party and then let each kid add his/her cotton candy to watch it bubble and fizz like New Year’s fireworks!

She even put out cards for writing what we’re most excited about for the new year. How sweet!

Party blowers and “2022” glasses were our final touches!

This was a party on a plate!!

I asked my niece ahead of time to bring games or crafts. She and her mama put together the cutest BINGO game with cat and dog stickers. See the funny names she gave the pet cards?

She also brought “Apples to Apples” which is always a favorite with the cousins.

For the craft, she and her mom showed us how to make fun party blowers for New Year’s Eve! What a creative idea!

Once we’d finished games and craft time, they were ready to go outside and burn off their snacks with a game of basketball.

My niece is such a good little mama. She’s taught her babies to behave so nicely during her parties!

Happy 2022 from our silly kiddos,

the party planning committee,

and the mamas–my wonderful sis and me!!

Are you ready for a colorful new year?! (Confetti Bars sign!)

I plan to add lots of color with carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, sprouts, etc!! 😄 The holiday food splurges are a fun treat, but I’m always ready to return to my normal diet. Anyone else feeling it?