the countdown begins

I am about 10 minutes away from having the, "Oh shit. 45 people are coming for brunch in about a day and half," moment. So while I still feel like I can hold it together, I better post. I've made it this far in blog365 so it would be silly to bail out now. (Though probably no sillier than inviting 87 people for a birthday party!)

There is still plenty of cooking to be done for Saturday but the cookies for snack tomorrow at Oliver's school are made. Reinforcements, my mom and stepfather, have arrived. The basement room is nearly inhabitable. It just needs dusting and vacuuming. I have two planters to fill with pansies, and one more shopping trip to do. Then I can start making the cakes and other food.

The thing that is scaring me most is decorating the cakes. I picked up the Wilton giant cupcake pan (but at Michael's, with a 50% off coupon), and have planned to make one chocolate and one yellow but how I am going to decorate them remains a mystery. I have some simple decorating tips and bags, and everything I need to make frosting in a variety of colors. I have some cookie decorating colors in tubes from Christmas. I think I have the tools, but I am entirely lacking in inspiration. I have looked at lots of pictures but still can't decide exactly what to do.

Any suggestions?