We held a baby shower after Christmas at a friend’s house that was decorated in red for the holidays. Rather than adding soft pastels, we decided to embrace the color scheme and use red accents for the shower. It was a beautiful and vibrant party with twinkling lights, Christmas trees, themed sugar cookies, and tiny little baby clothes. I didn’t get photos while at the shower, but here are some photos before we set up. Click here to jump to the recipe for Vanilla Sugar Cookies.
The mother-to-be had set up an elephant-themed nursery so we chose to serve an elephant cake.
This shower theme was “Shower the Baby with Love.” The cake had red sprinkle hearts raining down on a baby elephant. The buttercream frosting seemed a little bumpy after I finished applying it. Did you know that you can fix uneven frosting without adding another layer? Pipe evenly spaced dots that are the same color as the base frosting all over the cake. This will cover the blemishes and also give the cake more texture? It is a good fix for fussy frosting! I used a small star tip to make the scattered dots.
We served heart and elephant butter cookies with red and blue sugar sprinkles. Those sprinkles did not want to adhere to the cookies. Every time they were sprinkled, they jumped off and landed all over the kitchen! There is a better way to contain the sprinkles if they don’t stick to the cookies. Line up and place the cookie cutter over the cut cookie and spoon sprinkles into it. The cookie cutter helps prevent the jumping sprinkles from escaping. It is that simple! Then remove the cookie cutter and use a spoon to gently press the sprinkles into the cookie. To some heart cookies, we baked a wooden toothpick in them so we could use them as cupcake toppers.
We used red roses, which really looked gorgeous in the red Christmas house.
We had a self-serve bar with lots of food. People came hungry even though it was early afternoon, but no one would eat the cake!
When we asked if anyone wanted cake, they said yes, but didn’t want to be the first one to cut into it. So I cut the cake, and everyone rushed to get a slice. It was funny and cute! If you leave the cake uncut so everyone can see it, be sure to go back and slice it before everyone is ready for dessert. Don’t rely on the guests to help themselves. No one likes to be the first one to cut into a decorated cake.
Aww, what a fun day for a sweet little baby boy!
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 12-14 minutes |
| Passive Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- parchment paper
- colored crystal sprinkles (optional)
- wooden toothpicks (optional)
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and vanilla until creamy. Slowly add the sugar, beating well after each addition.
- Combine the flour and salt and gradually add to the butter mixture. Beat until well blended.
- Shape the dough into a disc and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Then roll dough to 1/8 thickness on a floured surface. Using a cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place 1/2 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If using sprinkles, add before baking. If adding a toothpick to make a cupcake topper, add it now by inserting it into the bottom side of the cookie.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Rotate pan after half the cooking time, if necessary, to promote even cooking. Cool on a rack.