My Party File - blog

Archive for the ‘party ideas’ Category

Charlize’s “Spotty Party” is fast approaching, so I’ll be sharing some ideas in the coming days.  Here is an easy one to get started with.  These are mini cupcakes, simply iced with butter icing, then topped with mini m&ms.  They proved to be very popular at playgroup with Charlize’s friends  - and the parents, too!

I’m always impressed when someone makes a birthday cake themself - especially when it looks as good as this!!   My friend, Beau, and her husband created this wonderful clown cake for a circus party.   It tasted pretty amazing, too!

Want to know how to make this clown cake?  Simply download our clown cake instructions.

I just had to share this stunning cake!  It was made for a birdie party, but it would also be lovely for a rainbow party.  You can find all the details at  Heartfelt Handmade.   It’s not something you’d want to attempt if you are a novice at cake decorating, but that’s what the bakery is for, isn’t it?

This is space party food you can make ahead, as it will store well in in an airtight container.  Asteroid popcorn balls are simply honey popcorn rolled into balls.   To make them you will need:

• 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1/3 cup raw popping corn
• 250g butter
• 4 Tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 pieces of popping corn. If the corn slowly turns around in a circle then the oil is hot enough.
2. Add remaining popping corn and cover with a lid. When the corn starts popping, gently shake the saucepan.  When the corn stops popping, remove from the heat. Transfer to a large bowl, discarding any unpopped corn.
3. In a separate suacepan, melt the butter,  add honey and sugar, and stir until sugar dissolves.  Boil, uncovered, without stirring, for 5 to 8 minutes or until light golden.
4. Pour honey mixture over the popcorn and stir until popcorn is coated.
5. Use dampened hands to shape the mixture into balls. Set aside on baking paper to dry and set.

Yesterday at Tuesday featured these adorable personalised beach buckets, complete with tutorial.  What a wonderful party favour or “goodie bag” for a beach party.  To make them you will need to use masking tape to mark off a rectangle on the bucket.  Apply chalkboard paint in the rectangle area  - you may need to do about 4 layers (letting each layer dry before applying another one) to get a consistent chalkboard colour.  Add a design and name onto the chalkboard area using Deco Color markers.  Then carefully remove the masking tape to reveal your masterpiece!

Here’s a fab idea for a craft/arrival activity for a beach or mermaid party. You will find a great tutorial on how to make these sea shell balls at Keen Inspirations.  For a mermaid party, you could use coloured sea shells, or embellish them with small coloured star fish, or add some glitter!

Inspiration for a party theme can come from anywhere… My youngest daughter has a favourite nightie that is covered in big colourful spots.  She loves this nightie so much she has decided she would like a “spotty” party for her fourth birthday!  So the planning for a spotty (aka polka dot) party has begun.  Here is one of the first ideas we tried out - a polka dot drink.  This was made by cutting marshmallows in half, and sticking the cut side to the inside of the glass.  Then we added milk.

You can use a variety of coloured marshmallows to suit your party theme, and use strawberry, chocolate or any flavoured milk.  Just ensure you press the marshmallows firmly onto the glass.

I recommend using normal or larger sized marshmallows.  I tried the little mini mallows, but most of them came unstuck from the side of the glass when I poured the milk in.

Can you believe these are sugar cubes??  They would be such a ’sweet’ touch at a kids’  Tea Party - or even an adults’ High Tea!  I found them at Such Pretty Things.

To make these shaped sugar cubes, you will need:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• food colouring of your choice (liquid or powdered)
• 4 teaspoons water or 4 teaspoons reconstituted powdered egg whites
• mould or small biscuit cutter

Thoroughly mix the sugar with the food colouring.

Add the water or powdered egg whites into your sugar.  Water works just fine, but your sugar hearts will be much stronger if you use the egg whites.

Firmly push the sugar mixture into a mould of your choice, making it as compact as possible.  If you are going to use biscuit cutters, you will need to pour your sugar mixture out onto a smooth, non-stick surface (parchment paper on the counter top works well) and press it down firmly with your hands, a rolling pin, or the bottom of a plate, until the sugar is as compact as possible. The thickness will depend on the depth of your biscuit cutters, but about 1.5cm works quite well.  Press the cutters straight down into the sugar and carefully release the shapes onto a parchment lined Biscuit sheet. If the sugar isn’t holding it’s shape well, try adding a bit more water or egg white - but be careful not to overdo it or you’ll just get mushy sugar!

Harden the sugar by air drying for a day or two (or you can speed up the process by placing them in a 200 degree oven for about ten minutes).  Once they cool, they will become really hard - just like sugar cubes.

Alternative:  You can add whole vanilla beans or used vanilla bean pods to your sugar a day or two before you make your “cubes” - this will give them a hint of vanilla flavour and an incredible fragrance.

This looks just like a soft serve icecream, but it is actually a cupcake. Pretty cool, hey?  This fabulous cupcake was made by Jayne Harrison, and she claims they are easy to make.

How to make icecream cone cupcakes

Use a cake batter of your choice, and pour it into flat-bottomed cones - filling no more than halfway.  Then cook according to your cake recipe or packet instructions.   You may need to keep checking the cakes with a skewer to ensure the cake batter is cooked through until you’ve worked out the perfect cooking time (afterall, it will depend on the size of the cones you use).  When the cake is cooled, trim any excess (you can see she has scooped a little of the cake out before adding the icing), then pipe vanilla buttercream on top, and then push a Cadbury flake into the icing.  No more effort than normal cupcakes!

Alternative:  For some extra scrumptiousness, use a bismarck piping nozzle to pipe some jam or chocolate spread into the middle of the cake before icing it.

Here’s an eggscellent idea for adding a little fun at a slumber party breakfast.  Draw silly faces on some eggs with a fine permanent marker.  The kids will get a real giggle when you open up the egg carton and ask them to choose their egg(s) for brekky.  Or let the kids draw on the eggs themselves before you fry them up or boil them (the eggs, that is - not the kids!).

Alternative:

Send kids home from your farm party with a funny faced egg.

Linking to:

Making the World Cuter

The Persimmon Perch

It’s so Very Cheri

The Girl Creative

Blue Cricket Design