These Koi Goldfish Cupcakes are seriously WAY too cute!! Another genius idea from the gurus behind Hello, Cupcake!, this design is actually from their follow up (and equally fabulous) book: What’s New, Cupcake?.

The fish – which are made from those squishy orange circus peanuts, orange peanut butter M&M’s, brown M&M’s Minis, vanilla frosting as the “glue”, and orange cereal O’s (Fruit Loops or Apple Jacks) – sit on top of light blue-frosted cupcakes.

The cupcakes are displayed on top of blue & white paper circles (with blue & white M&Ms sprinkled around) for a fun “Koi Pond” look.

As cute as these cupcakes would be for a kids party, I think adults would appreciate them just as much, and I can’t imagine a more perfect dessert idea for a “Kissing Fish” (or “Of All the Fish in the Sea…”) bridal shower or engagement party theme!

So… using the cupcakes as inspiration, here are some more ideas for this theme:

PARTY DECOR:

Above, clockwise from top left
1. Fish bowls filled with blue aquarium rocks and plastic goldfish make for an adorable centerpiece idea. For a fun twist try super-gluing 2 plastic fish together in a “kissing position” before dropping them in the bowl!

2. Translucent blue glass vases look great grouped together with some tropical greenery or orange & white flowers. HomeGoods is a great place to find translucent colored glass at affordable prices! {image via pics digger}

3. Fill clear vases with blue-tinted water. {Glass Sea Urchin Vases by Roost / image via brides.com}

4. White & Blue Capiz Garlands are great for hanging, wrapping around vases, or using as table runners!

Above: Table Inspiration from a “SeaSide Heights Wedding“. Recreate this look using glass bottles, colored votive holders, white bud vases, white coral, and white bud vases.

Resources: Turquoise Blue Glass Bottles and Turquoise Candle Holders from Luna Bazaar; Decorative Glass Bottles from Sunburst Bottle Co.; and small  IKEA FARM Vases.

Below: Use fishing wire to hang blue, white, and orange paper and honeycomb decorations for a “floating look”. (All available at Luna Bazaar)

Below: Adorable “Kissing Fish” personalized water bottle labels from The Knot Wedding Shop and orange Fish Straws from Birthday Express.

Below: Inspiration for a pretty blue & white candy buffet from a SeaSide Heights Wedding.

To tailor this candy buffet to the “Kissing Fish” theme, I’d mix in some jars of orange candies to tie in the koi goldfish color and sprinkle some orange plastic goldfish around the table. Make sure to include some fish bowls as candy containers too!

Below: These “Fishy Fishy” invitations are gorgeous! They’re wedding invitations though, so they’re a little pricey for a bridal shower (unless budget isn’t an issue, of course!). I love this chic style, but couldn’t find anything similar to this for an everyday party, so I’m thinking I might have to design something soon… =)

And last but not least, these Handpainted Goldfish Stemless Wine Glasses would make a great themed gift for the bride-to-be, and they could also double as decor during the party! (They’d be great as small decorative vases for fluffy white flowers like hydrangea or ranunculus.)