Birthday parties are everyone's favorite reason to celebrate and a great opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind original event. One fun way to plan a memorable birthday party for your child is to start with a theme. A theme can inspire the food, activities and invitation design, neatly tying everything together. Select a fun theme tied to the child's interests such as favorite toys, books or hobbies, and allow him/her to assist in party planning and preparation. Plan an activity that gets all the party guests involved and serve something scrumptious, such as Banana Bumblebees. Banana Bumblebees Prep Time: 40 minutes Ready In: 1 hour, 30 minutes Ingredients: Muffins 1 (14-oz.) pkg. Pillsbury� Banana Quick Bread & Muffin Mix 1 cup milk 1/2 cup oil 2 eggs Topping Gel or paste food color 1 (16-oz.) tub Pillsbury� Creamy Supreme� Vanilla Frosting 12 large yellow gumdrops 1/2 cup Pillsbury� Creamy Supreme� Chocolate Fudge Frosting (from 16-oz. can) 12 semisweet chocolate chips 24 miniature semisweet chocolate chips 12 large white gumdrops Black string licorice Directions: 1. Prepare and bake muffins as directed on package, using milk, oil and eggs, and lining pans with paper baking cups. Remove from pan. Cool 30 minutes or until completely cool. 2. Add orange, blue, green or yellow food color to vanilla frosting; blend well. Frost tops of muffins. 3. To make bees, cut yellow gumdrops in half crosswise. Use rounded pieces for heads; flatten remaining pieces into ovals for bodies. Place on cupcakes. 4. Place chocolate fudge frosting in small resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Cut small hole in bottom corner of bag. Squeeze bag to pipe stripes on each gumdrop body to resemble bumblebee. Place 1 chocolate chip on one end of each gumdrop body for stinger; place 2 miniature chocolate chips on opposite end for eyes. 5. Cut white gumdrops in half lengthwise. Insert 2 gumdrop halves on edge of each gumdrop body to resemble wings. Insert small pieces of string licorice into gumdrop heads for antennae.
