What a clever and simple way to create an impressive party favour loot bag! Must remember these for the next Rainbow themed party...
Showing posts with label party themes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party themes. Show all posts
Noah's Birthday and my special secret icing...
This evening I'm a proud mum. For a few reasons...
First, my little guy has turned 3! He makes me proud every day (well, most days).
Second, we had a little get together with friends to celebrate today and it was fun! I didn't stress too much beforehand and it all came together ok!
But mostly, I'm proud of my cake effort. In the past, icing and I haven't really taken to eachother very well. We just don't get on. But this birthday I found a secret. And I'm going to share it with you... It's incredibly easy to make, tastes delicious and it makes cake decorating as easy as playdoh...
Here's Noah's cake...
Here's Noah blowing out the candles... (with me hiding in the background)
And because the cake itself was a bit special I had to show you that as well. It's a vanilla rainbow marble cake. Looks impressive. Dead easy to make. Ready for some instructions?
Vanilla Rainbow Marble Cake
250g (9oz) softened butter unsalted
2 cups (15 1/2oz) white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups (1lb) self raising flour
1 cup (8 1/2oz) milk
Preheat oven 180 degrees celcius (360 farenheit)
Grease and line your cake tin
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add eggs one by one, beat well after each
Beat in vanilla
Add sifted flour and milk a little at a time mixing well
Pour mixture into 5 bowls evenly.
Add 3-4 drops of colour to each bowl and mix.
(we used red, green, blue, yellow and purple)
Pour each colour into prepared tin and run a knife around the mixture in the tin to create marble effect.
(you only need to run the knife around once or twice at the most - any more and your colours will blend into preschool brown)
Bake for around 35 minutes or until golden.
Marshamallow Fondant Icing
(aka: My secret weapon)
500g marshmallows
2 tablespoons water
1kg pure icing sugar
Seperate your white and pink marshmallows into 2 bowls.
Add one tablespoon of water to each bowl
Take the first ones you want to work with and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
Once they start frothing take them out and mix with a spoon or knife till smooth.
Add your food colouring at this stage. Be generous as the colour will waeken a little as you add the icing sugar.
Start adding sifted icing sugar mixing as you go
Keep doing this until mixture turns into a dough like consistency.
Once it forms a ball, move it to a "sugared" bench (like a floured work space but using icing sugar instead of flour), and knead.
Roll into a ball and wrap in plastic cling wrap
Repeat for second colour
Refridgerate overnight
When you're ready to use your icing microwave it on high for 10-15 seconds to make it pliable again
Roll our to a thickness of around 5mm
Lay your sheet of icing over your cake
Trim excess at base
I used rolled up balls to cover the cut edge
And we used our playdoh cutters for the letters and shapes to decorate.
Simply wet your fingers with water to dampen the back of the shapes before placing them to "glue" in place.
Done!
Notes: Use a good brand of marshmallows - ones you'd eat anyway. If you use cheap nasty ones your icing will taste cheap and nasty too.
This fondant really is a godsend for me. I love making kooky cakes for the boys birthdays and I've never had any success with butter cream icing. I'll never use anything else now. This is incredible stuff.
Cake recipes via Hip Hip Hooray by Julie Lanham
Marshmallow fondant recipe adapted from here
FREE Printable Circus Party Invites
Soooo, here are the Circus Party invitations I designed for Hugh's birthday.
Like them? Hugh certainly does. He likes them so much he's been passing out "tickets" to what seems like everyone he knows and we're now sitting at 20 - TWENTY!!!!! - friends for the bash. (That's just his friends too - not counting their parents or our friends). Is that excessive? It seems excessive to me. All I can say is thank god it's not at home! Can you image? Twenty 5 year olds running around my house high on sugar and cake? Nuh-uh!
Anyway, I was so pleased with them I thought I'd share, so if you fancy having your own circus themed soiree the invites are already taken care of and the come FREE!! Just click the image below, print them onto nice card and fill in your details (if you want your details printed onto the invites just import the image into your editing/design program and type in your info on top). My only advice is don't print 40 like I did or you might end up baking the biggest cake in the universe for the entire neighbourhood!
DIY: Circus Big Top Pinata
Over the weekend Hugh and I decided to have a go at making a pinata for his birthday party. Why make one and not buy one? Why not? Generally, I find making things like this so much more gratifying than just going out and buying it, and "doing it yourself" is a way of thinking that I like to impart to my boys whenever I can. Besides, you end up with exactly what you want instead of having to compromise to what's available... so, in the spirit of all things "circus" we couldn't think of anything better than a big top to model our creation on. Here's a step by step tutorial of how it came together...
1. With an old corrugated cardboard box broken down flat we made a cylinder and fastened the join with masking tape. 2. using the cylinder as a guide we traced a circle on a second piece for the bottom and taped it al together with masking tape. 3. Cut triangles from the leftover cardboard and tape them together to for a cone and tape to the top of the cylinder (there are 8 triangles in the shot below but we took one off to leave an opening so we can later fill the pinata with goodies). The number of triangles you'll need will depend on the diameter of your cylinder. We didn't use any measurements but made it up as we went and it all worked fine...
4. For the decoration we didn't have any crepe paper so we used red and white laser printer paper - either will work well. Cut strips of paper about 7cm (3") wide (we cut an A4 sheet lengthways into thirds) and then snip a fringed edge almost all the way through leaving a little bit at the top for gluing. 5. Glue the fringed strips onto the structure overlapping as you go. We started out using sticky tape for this but glue (just PVA craft glue) worked much better we learned a little way into it. 6. Using a contrasting colour (we used yellow) cut a bunting/banner type strip to wrap around the top of your walls. 7. Cut a small circle from the same colour to sit on top of your cone shape to cover up the untidy bit at the top where all your fringing joins up. 8. We made a flag from some old silver gift wrap we had in the craft box - cut into a triangle shape and wrapped around a skewer fastened with sticky tape and stuck through the tip of the cone. 9. In the name of environmentalism we poked all our scrap leftover bits of paper inside the pinata to cascade out when it gets broken party day. Voila!
Circus
I can't believe it's October already! And the 10th month brings with it not only a lovely christmas buzz, but also party plans for Hugh's birthday. This year he's requested a circus theme (thanks to our Lennon Bros experience last month), and now everywhere I look there's a circus theme... From Yo Gabba Gabba to Summer 2012 Fashion launches...
This little splash of circus fun in the bedroom is just for starters...
Eeni meeni mini moh have just launched their new range including these little lovelies. I wish I could style all the kids at the party in these threads! How cute would the pictures be?! OTT I know, but this is how my mind works... I daydream about the boys staying clean in their cute clothes and red high tops.
And then there was this bedroom! How could a kid sleep here? I'd be too excited to sleep in a room like this! But it'd be a great location for a circus party sleepover... Obsessed much? If you've seen anything circus that made you gasp I'd love the link! x
I've just finished designing Hugh's party invitations - I'll be posting a free download (with blank spots to fill in your own circus extravaganza details) in the next few days so keep an eye out if you're feeling inspired...
Inspired party table setup
Too cute huh? I love this idea. Possibly a bit wasted on the little ones - I'm not convinced they'd "see" it from their height? But I've no doubt the effort would be appreciated by any adult within shouting distance. And I guess you could apply the idea to any scene too - farms, underwater, cowboys, zoo... it's a great way to tie another layer of decoration to your party theme...
Shark bites
What a fabulous party idea! Do you think the kiddos would be too scared to put their hand in for a piece?
6 pinks in 1 cake
Remember my friend Vanessa who made the fabulous Little Helper Tower? Well, she's been at it again... this time creating a mind-blowing 6 layer pink birthday cake for her hubby's mum's 70th birthday soiree... (the woman's a saint I tell you!)
6 shades of delicious - ready for the oven...
6 shades of delicious - perfectly baked...
Details details! How cute is the tiny bunting banner?
And just when you think the tiny bunting and cake are an effort worthy of applause - there's handmade rouched streamers and FRAN's name decorated in coordinating glitter... At this point I need to remind you that this was for her mother-in-law...!
Ohhh, and doesn't it look fantastic!?
Too clever...
Oh look! That's Ness! Isn't she lovely? I thought she deserved a starring role for this effort.
(Insert applause here)
Mr Rowan seems to be enjoying the pink deliciousness.
Sometimes a party can really take it out of you. Especially when you do it this well. Good job Ness! You have just raised the party planning bar for mum's and daughter's-in-law everywhere...
For the recipe to this over-achievers delight, hop over here and change the colours to whatever takes your fancy.
Make it: Party Pinata
This Ice Cream Cone Pinata is a great alternative to the sometimes scary-looking syndicated types you can pick up at big department stores and party shops, and it's a great craft project to tackle with the birthday boy or girl! Click here for the instructions
The BEST party ideas
When birthday time comes around at our house I spend my nights dreaming about high impact - low fuss party ideas. I learnt my lesson this year by making 12 stick horses for the kids to race around the garden. The day was really hot, the kids didn't want to run or ride and the whole project didn't fall into either category. But today, my dreams may have become a reality... Enter One Charming Party.
Hugh has been at me since his last party about wanting to have a superhero party. I even made him his own superhero cape to get him off my back! So I was super-pleased to find this little gem... OCP sells party plans for around $25 which include more invitations, thank you notes, game ideas, cake toppers and printables than you can poke a ray gun at. Have a look!
Cake: Nothing too tricky there... Especially when a PDF arrives in your inbox with all the cute signs to go on top!
Games: Who wouldn't want to play this!
The banner looks like a keeper!
And they might even eat some healthy food!
Sara and Brittany, you are heaven sent! Pop over for a gazillion more fab ideas, a lovely blog and stunning pictures. Hey, you might even want to throw a party!
Party theme of the week: Butterflies
So much pinky, princessey, lacy prettiness!
I need some of those candy elastic necklaces right now!
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