DIY Monster Party: Easiest Monster Cupcakes Ever

Picking a cake for Dexter's birthday party was a bit of a journey. At first I wanted to make this delicious St. Louis gooey butter cake that was such a hit at Bible study. But it's not really a "fun-looking" dessert for kids. Then I saw this easy ice cream sandwich cake that would be awesome! But... it's not really conducive for Dexter's smash cake. Finally, while browsing through some Halloween party ideas, I saw these really cute owl cupcakes. How adorable! And I think I can make them fit the party theme too...

Introducing... the world's easiest one-eyed monster cupcakes!

I originally was going to make the red velvet cupcakes from scratch, but with five finger foods that all required prep time, I decided simplify in this case and settle for a box mix. Duncan Hines has a wonderfully moist cupcake mix that even comes with cream cheese frosting and a piping bag for decorating. The rest just takes a little creative imagination...

Easy One-Eyed Monster Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• Red velvet (or other flavor) cupcake mix
• Ready-made white frosting (if it isn't included)
• Oreos with regular white cream filling
• Small bag of M&Ms or Reese's Pieces
  

Recipe:

1. Follow the box directions to make the cupcakes. When cool, spread white frosting on top of the cupcakes as a smooth, flat base.
2. Twist apart the Oreo cookies and keep the cookie half with the cream. Place the cookie half centered on the top of the cupcake, with the cream side facing up.
3. Stick an M&M on the Oreo using some of the frosting. I like placing the M&M off-centered so the cupcake monster seems like it's looking around.

A perfectly-sized smash cake for the 1-year-old birthday boy

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the final result, especially Dexter (as you can see above) and K. In fact, when I tried to give away some of the leftover cupcakes, K got super possessive and was like, "Noooo!!" :P

Next up: fun party games for young kids to play! How do you keep the little ones entertained when you have 1- to 10-year-olds in attendance? O_o