Goldfish Marshmallow Pops: Photo Tutorial

A few weeks ago I spotted this fun idea to make a goldfish marshmallow pop on Pinterest from a super cute goldfish themed birthday party. I saved the idea to make for my bug's preschool class for an end of the summer treat. **Please forgive the non-uniform nature of these photos, I tried using my i-phone and will stick with my actual camera from now on.**

Here are the step-by-step photos:

Everything you need: blue candy melts, goldfish crackers, large marshmallows, graham crackers, white pearl sprinkles, and lollipop sticks

Get your candy melts ready to go! I prefer to melt them in a glass bowl. I like to start the melting process in the microwave for 30 seconds and then switch to a slower melt in a simmering water bath

This is how they look after they start to melt in the microwave. Stir well and add to your water bath - this can be an electric frying pan or regular pan on the stove over low heat with about an inch of water in it

After the candy is melted, it will likely still be a bit thick (when you stir, you can see the peaks/swirls stay in the chocolate as above). You don't want to try dipping your marshmallows when it's still this thick as it will clump and be really heavy on your pop. You can thin the chocolate by adding a drizzle of vegetable or canola oil. This will not alter the flavor and will thin it out perfectly. Just add a tiny bit, stir thoroughly, then add more if needed

This is how you want your chocolate to look when you are ready to dip...thin and smooth

I used the bite sized graham crackers - about 1 cup - and finely ground them in my mini processor

You want it to be nice and "sandy" in consistency

Set up all your decorations - goldfish, pearls, and graham cracker crumbs

Dip the end of the lollipop sticks into the melted chocolate and then stick into the marshmallows. Let the chocolate harden to help stabilize the pops

Dip your pop into the melted chocolate and shake off all the excess so you have a thin, even coating

Coat the bottom of the pop with the graham cracker crumbs by gently tapping the bottom into the bowl and rolling the sides in the crumbs to coat the bottom third of the pop

Press a goldfish cracker into the melted chocolate - it should stick without difficulty

Add two pearl sprinkles to look like bubbles coming from the goldfish's mouth

Place the pops on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. You can place them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to harden the chocolate faster if you want

Final product!

Party Inspiration: Red Sox Bridal Shower

As I was on a blogging hiatus, I never posted about the planning and execution of my little sister's bridal shower. For years (long before she ever got engaged!), I knew I wanted to honor her love of the Red Sox and throw her a baseball themed shower. Once the question was popped and she started planning the wedding, she decided on hot pink and yellow as the color scheme. Taking my idea and her colors, I worked tirelessly to create a shower with ideas and decorations essentially coming from scratch as nothing was readily available pre-made and I didn't want to spend a fortune hiring someone from Etsy to do the dirty work for me. I am putting these photos out there because I hope my ideas will help inspire someone else someday...

Details

My cricut machine and "Sure-Cuts-A-Lot" programs were working overtime creating these custom Boston Red Sox "B"s in various sizes to decorate the gift table and outdoor seating area. Tiny "B"s adorned photos of the happy couple (and family!) at Fenway - these were coupled with fresh flowers in inexpensive bowl vases as table centerpieces.

Cricut Boston Red Sox "B"s

Party set-up in the backyard. Paper lanterns from Hobby Lobby.

Simple Centerpieces.
Glass vases for less than $1 at AC Moore. Flowers from Sam's Club. Hot Pink pearls from Michael's. 

Menu

I created a baseball/Boston themed menu featuring snacks/appetizers you'd find in a ballpark and a dinner menu straight from the North End. I added a flare to the menu by stamping it with a baseball stamp (the same I used to seal the invites) and embossing it for extra sparkle.

Snacks: "Fenway Franks" (pigs in a blanket), jumbo soft pretzels, buttered popcorn (in handmade paper treat cones), peanuts, and Cracker Jacks

Dinner: Tossed Salad with Olive Garden style dressing, caprese salad, bread and butter, baked ziti, and eggplant parm

Handmade Menu

Paper treat cones

Dessert

For dessert, I ordered a custom cake from a local baker. Unfortunately, this did not turn out as I had hoped. The baker did not take the appropriate notes during our meeting and had to change the entire cake last minute which resulted in (almost) the right design, but with shoddy decorations that were airbrushed instead of actual frosting mixed to the right color. I have liked this bakery in the past, but will not be using them again as I was very particular in my requests, brought a photo of the cake I wanted, and pointed out other cakes in the store that were done in the colors I wanted for the cake. 

My mom made chocolate dipped marshmallow pops and I made baseball cake pops to fit the theme as well. I also made a beautiful fresh fruit salad served in a trifle dish (not pictured). 

Baseball Cake

Dipped marshmallow pops

Baseball cake pops

Living Decorations

As an added touch to carry through the baseball theme, I made custom "team" shirts for all the bridal party members. All t-shirts and iron-on decorations were from Hobby Lobby. 

I'm going to ignore how unflattering this photo is of me to show the shirts...front of the t-shirts featured our names and a rhinestone number.

The back of the shirts featured the "Team Bride" logo and the "title" of the bridal party member - my bug's had a rhinestone iron-on for "flowergirl".

So that's it! I hope my work and ideas help someone planning a girly baseball themed party out:-)