Add a little pizazz to your party with unique and creative cupcake decorating ideas that will transform a simple dessert into a delightful experience.

Cupcakes are becoming a popular choice for every event from birthday parties to weddings because these perfectly portioned treats combine extraordinary flavor, innovative design, and clever artistic presentation. Able to fit any theme and appropriate for any age group, these mini cakes will complement both your menu and party décor, making them a great option for any occasion.

Christmas: Celebrate the holiday season by topping your cupcakes with a little Christmas sparkle. Red and green icing, glittery snowflake toppers, and silver balls or sprinkles will provide holiday cheer with very minimal work. Purchase sugar snowmen – or make your own from marzipan – and nestle them atop a snowy buttercream pile. Holly leaf toppers or mini ornaments also make great, yet simple, decorations that will make your cupcakes look like expert works of art.

Valentine's Day: Appreciate your favorite sweethearts with heart-shaped cupcakes covered with smooth pink icing. Dress up your little love cakes by inserting a heart shaped lollipop or chocolate pop, or cut hearts from colorful paper, attach to a stick and use in place of the candy. Cinnamon hearts, candy grams, or even Hershey's kisses make excellent toppers that will bring a smile to your special someone's face.

Easter: Usher in spring with cute Easter Bunny cupcakes. Cover white icing with shredded coconut, attach large marshmallows squeezed into the shape of ears, and complete the face with jelly beans and black decorating gel. Celebrate new life by topping your cupcakes with a bird's nest constructed from chocolate flakes and filled with speckled jelly beans or foil wrapped eggs.

Halloween: Honor the spookiest night of the year with some spine tingling, goose bump raising treats. Cover chocolate icing with black cookie crumbs, use a fine decorating tip to write R.I.P. or any other appropriate information on a thin, rectangular wafer. Insert the 'tombstone' vertically into the icing and have guests find their personal – yet tasty - grave. Top cupcakes with severed body parts, ghoulish eyeballs, or creepy, crawly spiders. A Jack-o-lantern cake can be made quite easily using orange icing and black decorating gel.

Baby Shower: Top iced cupcakes with little plastic rocking horses, marzipan rubber duckies, or baby feet sprinkles. You could even write "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl" on each cake and accent with pink flowers or blue teddy bears.

Wedding: Elegantly decorated cupcakes can add class and sophistication to your special day. Top these tasty treats with delicate edible lace, miniature silk flowers, truffles, or fondant bows. Attach a photo of the bride and groom to a small skewer stick and insert into the cupcake or purchase wedding ring toppers to accent cupcakes iced in the wedding colors. For a dainty dessert, cut the cupcake in half, put whipped frosting between the layers and on top, and complete your piece-de-resistance with sprinkles, chocolate shavings, or rosebuds. For a simple, yet beautiful dessert, use a frosting tip to top your cupcakes with fancy icing swirls, then crown with a chocolate covered strawberry or mini homemade cookie.

Bouquets: Cupcake bouquets create breathtaking centerpieces and charming decorations that will taste as amazing as they look. Insert a stick into mini cupcakes, cover with colorful icing, top with a jelly bean or round candy, place in a flower a pot and, voila, you have an attractive spring arrangement appropriate for a baby shower, kids party, or easter celebration. For a little more sophistication, place the cupcakes on a stick, dip one half in melted dark chocolate and the other in melted white chocolate. Cover in sprinkles or top with molded candy butterflies, flower petals, or hummingbirds. Place your creations in a flowerpot or vase, or wrap in cellophane and tie with a bow. Larger cupcakes iced with a rosebud tip and inserted into a styrofoam ball make a tighter arrangement, ideal for wider flowerpots and bowls.

Favors: Uniquely decorated cupcakes make great favors for wedding, showers, or special events. Purchase cupcake boxes or plastic domes and place your creation inside. You can even top the cake with a "thank you" sentiment or a decorative tea light.

Whatever the occasion, there is an abundance of cupcake decorating ideas that will add dazzle to your dessert and panache to your party.