Party Favorites: cut-out cupcake papers

If North America were to be suddenly and violently smothered in volcanic ash and preserved, Pompeii-style, as a giant 3-D time capsule of western life in the 21st century, and scientists and anthropologists came back to study it in a few thousand years, I would only be a little bit surprised if they determined that our current stage of human development should be called The Cupcake Age. Specialty cupcake shops have flooded our cities, leaving a trail of icing-dotted noses and crumpled wrappers in their wake, and cross-town flour wars have even broken out over whose goodies reign supreme. Not that I can't understand why—I mean, cupcakes are delicious, after all, and not even that dangerous since the portion control is built-in. Most important, they are perfect for parties—no slicing, no fumbling with stacks of plates—and Estilo Weddings' beautiful, laser-cut cupcake wrappers make them just that much more festive. The Hostess With the Mostess blogged them earlier this week, and I have seen no cuter cupcake presentation out there. (Plus, party guests might be tricked into thinking your cake-mix creations have a higher culinary pedigree.) They come in several styles and colors, including the black stars shown here, as well as butterfly, filigree, and ivy patterns. They're $12 for 12 of $46 for 50 at estiloweddings.com.

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Then download our top ten one-hit-wonder dance songs and pretend that doing the macarena really is burning off some calories.