Check out what we did today for Paige:

Katie & Mari getting started (photo courtesy of @edorr)

Co-workers getting in on the fun

Almost done!

Erin and Katie putting together the final touches

Paige, you don't know it yet, but you just got FOILED!

And pictures from when Paige got to work:

Surprise! (photo courtesy of @emilycdoyle)

Working hard! (photo courtesy of @sajaro)

A great big special thank you to Erin and the rest of the Imagination team for helping us foil Paige (and her desk, and her computer, and her pens, and her lamp, and her calendar, and her books, and her mouse, and her mousepad, and her post-its, and her phone . . . but not her Paula Deen.)

Hope you all enjoyed the crazy foil AND the company cupcakes!

Paula Deen wears her shades for a reason

Vanilla cake, purple passionfruit buttercream, and a butter waffle garnish

Orange cake, orange and vanilla buttercream swirl, and a rolled wafer garnish

Ginger cake, honey cream cheese frosting, and a crystallized ginger garnish

Vanilla cake, blueberry filling, cream cheese buttercream frosting, and a dried blueberry garnish

The Sweet 16 games start today, so NATURALLY we’re giving away 16 dozen cupcakes to both our Twitter AND Facebook friends. ***That’s 32 dozen total!***

The deal:
At 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., we’ll Tweet and Facebook-status our location.
(HINT: 11 a.m. = west burbs; 2 p.m. = Chicago)

You should:
1 - Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook so you know where to find us at 11 and 2.
2 - Put on your college sweatshirt, t-shirt, hat, sunglasses, foam finger or any other school gear you have. If you don’t have anything, print out your school logo and tape it to your forehead. (If you don’t have tape, gum works too.)
3 - Come hunt us down at 11 and 2 showing your school spirit.

We will:
1 - Tweet and Facebook-status our location at 11 and 2.
2 - Give the first 16 people who show up at each location a box of a Dozen of our Favorite cupcakes.
3 - Wish your school best of luck, but secretly be rooting for OUR schools (BYU, Marquette, Butler and KU )

Happy Sweet 16!

It’s 2:50 a.m. and I just finished scrolling through another set of heart-wrenching pictures of the earthquake and tsunami aftermath in Japan.

It’s absolutely because because I spent my childhood summers in Japan, and because I have family there (all of whom are safe and sound - as are their homes for the moment), and because a good friend’s husband didn’t come home for hours after the tsunami hit the coast - that the recent events have affected me on a very, very personal level.

A fall flower in front of my grandparents' house

My Japanese family's farm, December 2010

My grandparents' home of 60 years

Like many of you, I first saw the news on Twitter. Then asked Rockit to change the channel from ESPN to CNN - ASAP. Then watched the story unfold. Then called my mom to let her know what was going on. Then went to my parents’ house in the suburbs to make phone calls to relatives in Japan. Then worried when the calls didn’t connect right away. Then checked Facebook to see how friends over there were doing and what the status was.

Of course, I keep telling myself that the media coverage is the absolute worst of the disaster, and that the majority of the people there are fine. But who knows for sure. It’s just how I’m consoling myself.

I’m not entirely sure what to do next. Going to Japan would be impetuous and hazardous, not to mention a thoughtless gut reaction. Creating some sort of cupcake promotion would be pointless and malapropos.

So, I guess I’m just going to ask that anyone who feels compelled to do so, please donate to the cause. Because that’s the best I can do, and the only idea I can come up with for now.

Thank you so much.

-Mari

If you know anything about Mari, you’ll know that she is a crazy, insane MARCH MADNESS fan.

In fact, she won all of her brackets last year. And she placed 7th in ESPNChicago’s bracket. And she was on ESPN.com’s top 50 leaderboard the year before.

(Her strategy? She doesn’t know a THING about basketball.)

But enough about her.

Now it’s your turn.

Fill out your bracket at http://foiled.mayhem.cbssports.com/e (password = foiled).

The winner will get either

1 - Cupcake decorating party for 10 (winner + nine friends at our kitchen in Chicago, with hands-on training by our pastry chefs; each person gets to take home a dozen cupcakes they decorated themselves), OR

2 - Cupcake office party (10 dozen to be delivered to your office whenever you have a reason to celebrate - along with a bragging rights certificate).

What are you waiting for? March Madness is HERE, baby!

(And please don’t call Mari on Thursday or Friday afternoon. She will be occupied. No, really.)

Happy NCAA Tournament time, everyone! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The following is a guest post by Robin Chung, who throws some of the most amazing parties we’ve ever seen. Thanks so much for featuring Foiled Cupcakes at your event!

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Anyone who knows me would know that the Oscars ranks up there as one of my favorite holidays - or at least tied for Thanksgiving. It’s one of the few times you can embrace cringe-worthy “bad puns,” and is an appropriate time to whole heartedly embrace an authentic theme party without fear for someone wanting to slap you. And while the Oscars were a total snoozefest this year despite all the hype around a younger, fresher show with Anne Hathaway and James Franco as hosts, Foiled Cupcakes were my party’s show stoppers!

My Oscar invitations always include a blank Oscar ballot, as the annual show can only be made better with some good old-fashioned gambling. This year, I tied the ballot (a free printable designed by Twig & Thistle) to custom printed movie tickets with red and white striped twine.

My favorite part about my annual Oscar party is of course, coming up with a menu and spread that embraces the year’s Oscar nominees in some way. After weeks of debating my menu, I decided on the below:

• Blue Valentine: Foiled Cupcakes with custom cupcake toppers featuring romantical messages like “U + me = us”, “Be Mine” and “Facebook Me” printed in blue! The cupcakes were gorgeous, and tasted just as good as they looked with the coffee cupcakes as my guests’ favorite! Bonus: cupcakes are perfect for parties - so easy for guests to grab and eat!
• 127 Hours: trail mix and Mountain Dew
• True Grit: cheddar and bacon cornbread and whiskey cocktails
• Black Swan: black and white pasta salad
• Social Network: open Facebook-ed sandwiches
• King’s Speech: tea sandwiches
• The Fighter: Champion’s Punch and Dicky’s sticky popcorn (caramel corn)
• The Kids Are Alright: The Curds are Alright (cheese curds)
• Harry Potter: butter beer
• Toy Story 3: Cheese Mini Macs
• Inception: dreamy layered dip

In addition to all the eating, drinking, and fashion gawking, I also printed out Oscar Bingo cards (via How About Orange) as another means to win a prize - an AMC gift certificate. This was the first year that I did this and everyone loved it - though it got competitive really fast. Each card is different and customized to the year: “Anne Hathaway sings” or “Winner says they don’t have a speech prepared.”

Huge thanks to Foiled Cupcakes for the generous cupcake donation for my Oscar Party! As an obsessive party host, they made my life so much easier: gorgeous to look at, better to eat, and one less thing I have to make so I can enjoy myself with my friends too!

xo,
Robin - Twentysomething Test Dummies