Brody's Party: S'mores cupcakes in a jar

I purposely didn't go overboard on Brody's birthday. Having somewhere other than our house was great! And we tried to stick to a pretty lean budget. The hayride and campfire was a great deal through the parks and rec. They provided Louisburg Cider and marshmallows. I brought the stuff for s'mores and hot dogs.
Since we had no idea what the weather would be like, I decided to not do cake at the park. Instead, I did the cupcakes in the jars with a tag that read S'more For Later!

To stick with the theme (and make sense of the s'more for later pun) I made S'mores cupcakes.
I started by mixing a half stick of melted butter with 2 sleeves of crushed graham crackers. I sort of made this up myself, and I wish that I would have experimented a little before. I should have gone for a whole stick and baked the crusts for a little bit before adding the cake mix. They stayed crumbs, which was fine, but it's not really what I was going for. I wanted more of a crust.

I sprayed each jar (I used the wide-mouth half-pints) with non-stick spray and put a couple of spoonfuls of the graham crackers in each jar.

Next, I made the cake batter (I used a box of devils food). Put a couple of spoonfuls in each jar so that they are even. Then bake according to the box instructions. I had to add about 8 minutes to the minimum time to the one on the top and 10 minutes for the one on the bottom. I thought the jars would make them bake more quickly, but that was not the case.



 I let them cool, and put the lids on overnight.

Then, I made a marshmallow buttercream that was amazing! Julie thought it had too much almond and not enough vanilla. I thought it was perfect! In fact, I don't usually like vanilla in my buttercream and I ran out so I didn't put the whole amount. It's just a matter of your taste preference!
Recipe adapted from here. I doubled it for my 24 cupcakes in the jar. I imagine that one batch would be fine to do a cake or 24 regular cupcakes.

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups margarine, softened
2 cups marshmallow cream (7 oz tub)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp milk (I used a little more so that it would be a little creamier in the jars...perfect to eat with a spoon)
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Blend butter and marshmallow creme together until smooth.
Add liquids and mix well.
Blend in powdered sugar. I added mine about a cup or so at a time and let it mix.
I let it mix for about 15 minutes or so.
Then, spoon into a gallon ziplock or decorating bag, cut off the corner and fill your jars.

Then I just put the lids on and tied on the tag with some twine (actually my mom did most of them). Then we gave one to each of the guests when they left. I knew everyone would be filled up on hot dogs and s'mores (and Chili at our house).

I also added a few other touches. Since the hayride was an hour long, I tought it would be nice to offer a snack. We had 'trail mix' and I added a little tag that read "Happy Trails." I made a chex mix that I got off the Chex website with a packet of ranch dressing mix, Parmesan cheese, butter, Chex, Cheeze-Its and pretzels. It was pretty good. I actually ran out because I made the servings quite a bit bigger than the recipe called for so we had to pick up a couple bags of regular Chex mix. I found these cute red bandanna cello bags at Hobby Lobby. They corresponded with our theme nicely!

I also created a label for bottled water. I handed them out with the chex mix on the hayride.

The water bottle most closely resembles the invitation that I designed.

And the last personal touch was labels for the chocolate bars! I wanted to incorporate the pictures that we had taken recently and decided to do it here.

And there you have it! I really enjoy making all of this stuff myself. It allows us to personalize the party for really cheap! Already brainstorming for Madelyn's party in February!