Catapulting Easter Bunnies

This post is a description of my Easter.  But if you came to this post just to

see the catapult, the link below shows you how to build your own. 

Learn here how to build a catapult

I finally broke down and bought chargers.  I chose bamboo ones because they are so flexible.  I saw the little bird's nests on Pinterest last year and decided to get them for this Easter.  I used the same woven napkin rings from the Safari baby shower, but added a chick graphic to them tied on with ribbon.  The robin's egg candies were a hit.

I made chocolate bunny cake pops.  I rolled chocolate fondant into logs, then I pushed one end onto the counter to make it flat.  I used my fingers to flatten the log from the flattened end up to the top.  At first, I made the ears short.  Then when I realized that they were drying quickly at longer lengths, I got braver.  I used one heaping tablespoon of shortening per bag of candy melting disks.  I had the eyes, noses, and cheeks all ready in an assembly line.  I put them in each in a cellophane bag tied with ribbon.

I found egg clipart.  I used my PrintShop program to enlarge them to 2 x2 sheet size.  I used them as targets.

  

I had purchased bean bag bunnies and ducks to use with the catapult.  Even the three year old had fun stomping and watching them fly.  There was a lot of elation when a bunny or duck landed on the egg.  I only put out two targets due to the rain.  If you look carefully by the top corner of the red cushion, you will see a bunny and a duck mid-air.  I gave you the plans for your own catapult in an earlier post.  Use the search box to find them.

I made lemon mini cheese cakes following the oreo cheesecake recipes.  I just substituted lemon cookies and put extra lemon juice in the cream cheese mixture.  I used lemon flavored pudding mix in the whipped cream.  I molded little chicks and topped each cheesecake with one.  I used TWO pound cake mixes in my four 9" round cake pans.  They baked up thin enough to make this very tall strawberry shortcake torte.  I sure made an impression on everyone.

I couldn't show you kids faces when I made all the adorable hats with drawing tissue paper.  See blog post:  Adorable Hats.  My daughter let me take her picture wearing one of the hats.

My sister-in-law took an "after" photo.  But, you can see the jelly beans layered with peeps in the centerpiece.  We kept the tulips in our downstairs fridge to keep them from opening too soon.  If you look out the window at the end you can see mama bear in her Easter fur coat.  Her babies all have bunny ears on their heads.  They were supposed to be posed under a jelly bean tree, but it rained, so I couldn't glue the beans onto the branch I had sprayed white.

 Here is my sister Patty showing that with 30 people for dinner, I wasn't going to put out plastic cups that people use, put down, throw out, grab another.  So I used my collection of empty Starbucks bottles from the past two baby showers.  I used "Glue Gone" to spray the sticky stuff off of them before hand washing them, then running them through the dishwasher.  I LOVE acrylic straws and have LOTS of them. I had enough for every bottle.  We made name tags, so that everyone knew at all times where their bottle was.  I found nice sized acrylic glasses at World Market for $3 each.  I bought a dozen of them for adults wanting a little something "stronger" than punch.  I had a drink station set up for water and punch in the front hall.

Since I had nieces and nephews and adopted daughters and long term boyfriends of the kids, I bought the 15oz Tervis Tumblers and lids and straws for them.  I put grass in the bottom of each and filled them with candy.  I kept them in the plastic bags they each came in, but put name tags tied on with ribbon around each.  These were a hit with all these coffee drinkers.

With all of these people, I had to use my round outside table in the sun room.  I had these tablecloths left over from my girl scout party days.  I used three of them.  Two of them, I cut in half lengthwise.  I sewed all of the ends together, pleated them, and sewed the tops to hold the pleats.  I just taped this unfinished edge to the table on the edge with masking tape.  I squared off the third cloth and used it as an overlay.

Here is the table all set in its finery.  I am so glad I made the chair covers from a tablecloths years ago.  I have to use so many different chairs of all sizes from around the house.  I would love to make some with big ties I've seen on Pinterest.  I saved the pin.  

The Drink Station

I love my Gardening Bunny.

   
             

After cartooning everyone in my family who came to dinner, and their friends, I put together a book for my five year old nephew.  Everyone at the party was on a page. Nathan and his brother Benjamin laughed when they saw the book and had fun pointing out everyone.

 I just printed out the ten pages on cardstock landscaped.  I put the family portrait as the front cover and stapled the book together.  Nothing fancy, but a lot of fun.