A Sweet Nutcracker-Inspired Party For Little Ballerinas

This past Thanksgiving, Darcy used branches as a centerpiece; they make great decor as they last for weeks. She transformed the "thankful tree" for the Winter by adding some paper and doily snowflakes and glitter leaves made from Martha Stewart Crafts punches. Using glue dots, she adhered the assortment to the branches. The paper angels were made out of doilies and also glitter paper cut with the Martha Stewart circle edge punch. The snowy scene was on cotton batting embellished with Crate and Barrel glitter stars and Lindt chocolate reindeer.

A tiered cake stand and little bowls with candy, topped with a paper angel, make a great centerpiece. To create the angel, simply use a doily for the body, a circle edge punch to edge the wings, and a doily punch to edge the angel's body.

A simple white One Girl Cookies buttercream cake is made special by embellishing it with cookies. Darcy used Eleni's nut-free nutcracker cookies, but you can use any cookies that you like! The cake stand was embellished with a strip of glitter paper cut with Martha Stewart Crafts' doily edge punch.

Darcy collaborated with NY Cakepops for these sweet angel pops — she sent an image of her paper angels to inspire their creation. For displaying cake pops, Darcy suggests using styrofoam edged with a strip of white paper that can be punched with a doily edge punch.

"This quick and easy project makes a big statement on the dessert table or even displayed alone." A simple white One Girl Cookies cake can be made into a Winter wonderland by placing three snowflake lollipops as a cake topper. Darcy crushed up some extra lollipops to make a sparkly border on the bottom of the cake. "Edible gold sparkledust from NY Cake and Bake (they have almost every color!) is sprinkled on the top."

What would a Nutcracker party be without the ballerinas? Darcy loves these nostalgic ballerinas placed in One Girl Cookies mini cupcakes. "The lace cups and ballerinas remind me of the 'snowflake' ballerinas dancing in The Nutcracker."

Inspired by the Hot Chocolate dancers in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, marshmallow stars were served with mini cups of hot chocolate.

Strung gumdrops can be used in many ways — as a necklace or garlands to hang. Darcy used a sewing needle and monofilament to string gumdrops to make this playful garland.

"Last week my daughter and I visited Make Meaning (one of our favorite DIY craft shops) and made this Nutcracker-inspired gingerbread house. We strung gumdrops onto monofilament with a sewing needle for a colorful backdrop."