Ordinary Cupcakes with a Custom Look

Anchor Cupcakes: Not So "Vanilla"

Grab a Quick Cupcake Kit from Target... or DIY Them

Why is it that every event seems to fall on the same weekend in the spring (e.g., dress rehearsals, parade, wedding, dance recital)? With so much going on, I didn't have time to make a birthday cake for B3's party yesterday. But I knew it was coming, so when I saw these cupcake kits at Target a few weeks ago, I scooped up two of them ($4.99/each). Each kit came with 12 of the red cardstock liners, 24 paper liners (which I didn't use), and 12 anchor toothpicks.

Knowing I'd be in no state to make my own (although that would have saved even more $$), I ordered plain white cupcakes from the grocery store at about $0.65/each. Popped them into the custom red liners, stuck the anchor toothpicks on top, and we had custom cupcakes. Altogether, with the anchor/liner kits, these guys still cost us less than a dollar a piece.

I would have loved to have baked my own cupcakes and decorated them myself, and I'm sure I could have done it less expensively than this, but in this case, I just didn't have the time (and honestly, mine wouldn't have looked as good). I still wanted to do something special for my little guy, and this ended up being the perfect fix for me. So in my effort to avoid adding even more stress to a stressful weekend, I certainly chose the "easy way out," but I love knowing that when I need a convenient, easy, QUICK solution like this, I have that option.

These would also make easy Memorial Day or Fourth of July treats!

And there you have it: the quickest custom cupcakes in the world :)

As an aside, if you're planning everything ahead of time, there are lots of cute cupcake toppers on Etsy!