Cosmos are the obvious signature drink of choice for Sex and the City parties… but there’s more than one way to enjoy them!

Below is a super easy recipe for Cosmo Cupcakes, along with 2 options for icing: yummy homemade Lime Buttercream or (for when you’re in a time crunch) simple store-bought vanilla, both tinted pink.

I found some Cosmo Cupcake recipes online, but they all had a bunch of ingredients, so in the interest of keeping things simple, here’s my shortcut: just buy a box of SuperMoist Vanilla Cake Mix and swap out the water called for on the box for a ready-made Cosmo Drink Mixer instead – it works great! (I used Simple Cosmopolitan by Stirrings®).

Read on for the full Cosmo Cupcake recipe, “Sex and the City Style” decorating tips, and the free printable cupcake wrappers…

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COSMOPOLITAN CUPCAKES:

• 1 box SuperMoist Vanilla Cake Mix
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1-1/4 cups ready-made Cosmo drink mixer

Directions: Make cupcakes according to box directions, swapping out 1-1/4 cups Cosmopolitan drink mix for the 1-1/4 cups water called for on the box.

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PINK LIME BUTTERCREAM ICING:

• 8 Tbsp butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 Tbsp Cosmo drink mixer
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 5-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Red or pink gel icing colors (a little red gel will make hot pink)
• Sprinkles

Directions: In a large bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, lime juice, Cosmo mix, and lime zest. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue beating until smooth. If icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar, a couple tablespoons at a time. Tint icing with food coloring. (Gel icing colors enable you to tint icing without watering it down.)

Spread or pipe icing onto each (completely cooled) cupcake. Garnish with sprinkles and/or a lime twist.

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OR: Super-Easy Icing Alternative: Use gel food coloring to tint store-bought vanilla frosting hot pink. Done!

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CUPCAKE DECORATING – “SEX AND THE CITY STYLE”

These SATC 2 cupcakes combine the sparkle of NYC city lights (as hinted in the design of the toppers & wrappers) with the colorful decadence of the ladies’ getaway to Abu Dhabi, (via rhinestone embellishments and gold foil doilies).

You’ll Need:
• “City Sparkle” SATC Toppers, cut into 2″ circles
• Craft stickers – gold rhinestones & colored gems
• Wooden appetizer skewers (long toothpicks/available at grocery stores)
• SATC Cupcake Wrappers – download them here in PDF format
• Small gold foil doilies (in the baking aisle at Michaels)

Directions:
1. Print the cupcake wrappers on sturdy photo-quality paper, cut them out, and wrap them around the bottom portion of the cupcakes. Secure edges with tape or glue.

2. Decorate the SATC Toppers with craft rhinestones & gems, attach to wooden skewers with tape or glue, and insert into cupcakes. Display each cupcake on a gold foil doily. Cheers!

I’ve received a ton of emails asking about Sex and the City party ideas lately, and I love that so many of you are planning to celebrate with a pre- or post-movie party! Soooo… we’ll be featuring SATC party ideas all week long! (…in addition to other types of posts too!)

To kick things off, here’s the first round of free printables, which can be used to create things like cupcake toppers, drink stirrers, napkin embellishments, party favor tags, etc.

There are 2 different sets of designs to highlight both of the locations featured in the movie. (I utilized the free wallpaper downloads offered on the SATC movie site for the pics of the ladies.)

“City Sparkle” represents New York and features a sparkly lights background in pink and orange, and “Arabian Getaway” represents Abu Dhabi and features various beaded & silk textiles in several different colors.

Both designs are set up 12 to a page, and you’ll need a 2″ craft circle punch to create the finished circles. (Cut the sheet into columns before using the punch.)

I recommend printing these out on photo quality cardstock. Printing them at a place like FedEx Kinkos or another commercial print shop will guarantee the best print quality.

Here are the full sets and links to download:

SATC Printables – City Sparkle
• Download high-res PDF {3.3 M}
• Download high-res jpeg {1 M}

SATC Printables – Arabian Getaway
• Download as high-res PDF {4.6 M}
• Download as high-res jpeg {1.7 M}

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ENJOY!

I’m so excited to tell you about today’s Surprise Giveaway!! In celebration of the upcoming movie release this Friday, Hansen’s is generously offering up the entire Sex and the City: Complete Series DVD Collectors Gift Set to a lucky HWTM reader! And wait, there’s more…!

The winner will also receive these fun Mikasa Cheers Martini Glasses (set of 4) – perfect for sipping cosmos with friends while watching your new DVDs – and four 4-packs of the new Sparkling beverage from Hansen’s…one pack of each flavor : blueberry pomegranate, cranberry grapefruit, valencia orange, and dragonfruit! The Sparkling line is made from fresh fruit & real cane sugar…with only 90 calories a pop for the regular cans and zero calories for the sugar free versions!

(Details for how to enter the giveaway after the jump…)

HOW TO ENTER:

• Post a comment here telling us which Sparkling flavor (listed above) sounds best to you, or what mixed drink you can dream up utilizing one of the flavors. (As a side note, I’ll be doing a SATC party segment on Streetside San Diego this Friday and will feature a couple of the reader recipes that sound especially tasty!).

• Giveaway ends Saturday, May 31st at midnight PST. The winner be chosen at random and announced Monday, June 2nd here at HWTM!

Good Luck!!

As expected, the upcoming Sex and the City movie has inspired a slew of cocktail recipes around the web, and there’s much more than the tried-and-true Cosmo this time around!

Stirrings, a company that creates yummy drink mixes – which are great for making your life easier when mixing up “fancy” cocktails – has come up with some fun recipes inspired by each of the SATC gang: Samantha’s Punch, Carrie’s Cosmotini, The Charlotte, and Miranda’s Power Martini. Read on for recipes and fun cocktail garnish ideas…

Samantha’s Punch
1.5 oz Sauvignon Blanc
1.5 oz Stirrings White Sangria Mixer
Splash of peach juice
Garnish with cantaloupe, fresh watermelon, and raspberries

Carrie’s Cosmotini
1.5 oz Vodka
.5 Stirrings Lemon Drop Mixer
.5 oz Stirrings Cosmopolitan Mixer
Garnish with a Gerber daisy, orange peel and a fresh lime wedge

The Charlotte
1 oz. Stirrings Pear Mixer
Fill glass with dry champagne
Serve in a Champagne flute with a few edible candy pearls in the bottom of the glass

Miranda’s Power Martini
1.5 oz Stirrings Bloody Mary Mixer
1 oz. Vodka
1.5 oz Red Bull
Squeeze of fresh lemon
Rim with Stirrings Bloody Mary Rimmer® Garnish and garnish with a fresh celery stick

Yes – I’ll admit it – I’ve been looking forward to May 30th for what seems like forever! But you know what excites me about the Sex and the City movie even more than the picture itself? The fact that it’s giving us a fabulous excuse to get together with the girls and inspiring all this great buzz around the web about planning girls nights and SATC soirées!

I love the idea of hosting a "pre-party" at home a few days before actually seeing the movie. No need to show up in the Manalos at this party (which is a good thing since I have yet to actually own any!) … just gather the girls, serve up some easy cocktails & takeout, kick back on the couch, and watch episodes from the last season to get everyone up to speed on where we left off with the SATC gang.

To add a festive touch to the party, "sass up" martini glasses with feathers & other girlie details. In the image above, taken at a friend’s bachelorette party, we decorated pink plastic martini glasses with black marabou craft boa, hot pink sequin trim, and craft rhinestones (all available at Michael’s). Suddenly the "regular" martinis just seemed way more fun!

What fun things are you doing to celebrate the upcoming Sex and the City premier? Throwing a party at home? Meeting for drinks with the girls?