Ornament Review: Salty and Sweet - Keepsake Cupcakes #5 - 2015 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Cute ornament with great Christmas colors and theme

Cons: Name is very confusing

The Bottom Line:

Christmas cupcake cheer

With darling, seasonal piece

Given funny name

Sweet Ornament of a Reindeer at a Salt Lick

What’s in a name?  At times, not too much.  Other times, I find myself puzzling over the name and wondering why it doesn’t make sense.  That’s the only thing tripping me up with Salty and Sweet, the Christmas entry in the Keepsake Cupcake yearlong series from Hallmark.

The ornament itself is wonderfully festive.  We start with a green cupcake foil and a little bit of a red velvet cupcake peeking out at the top.  Right there, we’ve got classic Christmas colors, and this is the first red velvet cupcake from Hallmark, so I love that change.  On top, we’ve got white frosting that drifts across with just enough creativity to look like snow.  There are flakes of glitter in it as well to catch the light.  On top of that is a tan reindeer with a red and white scarf around his neck.  And his antlers?  Pretzel sticks or course.

So I’m still trying to determine exactly what makes this particular cupcake salty.  I’m guessing the big pieces of glitter are supposed to be sea salt, so we’ve got salt on the frosting and salt on the pretzels for the antlers.  Plus, since the only thing on the reindeer that looks edible is the antlers, I’m wondering if he’s supposed to be another animal pretending to be a reindeer.  If so, I’m drawing a blank on which animal that might be.  Don’t get me wrong, I think this ornament is extremely cute.  It works well as a Christmas ornament or as a part of this yearlong cupcake party (or both).  I just can’t stop puzzling over the name.

Of course, since this is a cupcake, it’s got a nice, flat base that makes it easy to display year round.  And you’ll find the 5 in a triangle on the bottom, representing the fact that this is the fifth in the series.

With the Christmas theme, it would be an obvious choice to hang it on your tree.  There’s a loop on the reindeer’s head, and you’ll find that he tips slightly to the right, but it is virtually unnoticeable.

A rose by any other name might be a rose, but I can’t get past the name of Salty and Sweet.  The ornament itself is cute and fits in with the series well.  I just can’t help feeling like I am missing something with that name.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Keepsake Cupcakes.

Original Price: $12.95