My Party File - blog

Posts Tagged ‘general’

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.

These rich chocolate tarts are delicious, and are so easy to make!  Great for a girls’ night in, a tea party, sleepover or a treat for mum on Mother’s Day.  I used Turkish Delight in half of them, and a Bounty bar in the other half, but I think a Peppermint Crisp or Fru Chocs would also be scrumptious.

You will need:

• 400g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup thickened cream
• 220g of Chocolate Bars of your choice (ie 4 x 55g Turkish Delight chocolate bars), cut into 1cm think slices
• 2/3 cup flaked almonds, toasted
• 12 x 6cm pastry shells

Arrange chocolate bars on base of tart shells.
Put chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on HIGH until smooth (about 1 minute), stirring halfway during cooking.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the tarts, and top with the almonds.
Put in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until set.

This is a simple idea for a craft at a sleepover party, and it can double as a party favour.  The raw wooden words are available at craft stores (I got these from Spotlight), and come in a variety of words, including “dream”, “princess” and “diva”. Simply paint in a desired colour with acrylic craft paint. When dry, paint a coat of clear glitter paint on top.

My girls actually painted these themselves to give as birthday presents. We attached a tag that said “Handpainted by (name)”.

Good, healthy food can be served at a kids party.  There are always ways to make it exciting for the kids - even just putting it in the right dish can make a difference.

I served vegetables, crackers and dip at Bella’s mermaid party in this gorgeous starfish platter I picked up from a variety store.  Yum!

I thought I’d try out a Martha Stewart project - and I’m pretty sure I picked out the easiest!  These sponge balls are good clean fun and are a great alternative to water balloons - easy to fill, no broken pieces to pick up, they are reusable, and softer and splashier than balloons!

Fill a few large buckets of water and let the kids splat each other, and afterwards they can take home a fun party favour!   These are also good for a pool party, and make a good bath toy (a great party favour for a rubber ducky theme - keep them in the theme colours of blue and yellow).

To make sponge balls you will need:

• Sponges (4 sponges will make 3 sponge balls)
• Scissors
• Dental Floss

Step 1: Cut each sponge into six equal strips.

Step 2: Grab eight strips and stack them into two layers of four sponge strips (as shown), into any pattern you like. Place a length of dental floss under the pile.

Step 3:  Tie dental floss around the middle of the sponges and pull tightly,  drawing strips together into a pom-pom shape. Knot the dental floss and trim.  Fluff and twist the sponges to get the desired shape.

Tips:

• You can use zip/cable ties instead of the dental floss.
• These are machine washable - just let them air dry.

Here is a fabulous idea for easy, but stunning cake decorating - just the thing for busy mums who want to decorate their kids birthday cakes but aren’t too confident, or to salvage a disaster cake (please tell me I’m not alone!) .  Shayna from Texas Monkey guides us on how to create this, and other similar masterpieces.  Make sure you check out the ones with Kit Kats and M&Ms - just tie the colour of the M&Ms in with the colour scheme of your party - good way to avoid making a novelty cake!

These tasty morsels are made from my favourite biscuits - Arnott’s Mint Slices, but you could use any biscuit that tickles your fancy (Not Quite Nigella used Tim Tams, but I think Kingstons or Mandarin Slices would be great also).

Mint slice pops are easy to make.  All you need is:

• 1 packet of Mint Slices (or biscuits of your choice)
• 65 gms light or regular cream cheese
• 125 gms milk or dark chocolate
• Wooden skewers or lollipop sticks

Pop the packet of biscuits and the cream cheese into a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth paste, stopping to scrape, as required. Put the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).  Scoop out some mixture with a small spoon and roll into truffle sized balls between your palms.  Insert a skewer into the base of the pop, and freeze them for a bit.  Melt the chocolate and dip each ball into it.  Stand them in a glass or florist’s foam, decorate with sprinkles and then leave them to set.

I found this cute and clever idea on Zakka Life, and just had to give it a go!  These paper cup gift boxes make such wonderful party favour boxes (and would be great for small Easter treats!).  So, next time you buy paper cups for your party, make sure you have a few extra for the goodie bags - or scrounge out your collection of left over paper cups!  To make these, you will need:

• paper cups (any size)
• scissors
• sticky tape
• sticker or label or bow

Follow these instructions.  If required, print the ladybug tag for the paper cup goodie bag.

This post is linking to The Idea Room link round up