International Party!

 My daughter wanted an international party, so we had fun.  We made mini passports for each guest.  They got to travel to different countries around the world (rotations), and play a variety of games.  Also, the guests were encouraged to dress up.  Some were oriental, some polynesian, some were French....they loved it!

We made a world cake out of 2 circle pans.  Then covered it in blue frosting and  green continents.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  The kids just loved it!

As the kids rotated to each country we stamped their passport and played a game.  The games included: England - where we played "simon says", only we called it "the queen says".  The person leading the game wore a crown for her turn.


In Jamaica we did the limbo and played tropical music as the kids danced under the limbo stick.   They loved this!

Next we visited Italy and built a leaning tower out of plastic cups. They toppled all over.  Fun!

We then visited the orient where we played a game where Mr. "X" whacks someone on the head while everyone has their heads down.  Then they have to guess who did it.  The "whacker" was a Japanese squeaky stuffed bat.  Didn't hurt, but made noise so it was super funny!

"Ponyo" cake!

Ponyo is a Japanese animated character in the movie "Ponyo".  

My daughter loves the movie, so for one of her parties 

we made a Ponyo cake.  

Harry Potter Party!

We had a party to celebrate the 7th book release. We had a short party at home, then spent the rest of the evening at the bookstore with all the crazy fans waiting in line for the book to come out at midnight.  

For the party we served the following: 

The sorting hat:  Easy to sculpt from cocoa crispies.  Just follow the rice crispy treat recipe.
Cornelius Fudge: Fudge
Gilly Weed: Sea weed
Golden Snitches: Gold Lindt chocolate balls
Goblet of Fire: A goblet with  "hot tamales".
Slytherin Snakes: Gummie worms
Candy Wands: Long laffy taffy sticks
Gryffindor Goodies:  Colored m-n-m's
Plastic cauldrons filled with cotton candy
Fortune Cookies: divination desserts
For games we played Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit and sorted the party guests into houses.

For decorations we made a banner for each house and hung them in our "great hall".

Reptile Party!

 Reptile Party!
Believe it or not, this party was for a 9 year old GIRL!  I have learned that girls love reptiles!  So, since my daughter wanted a reptile party we tried to make it fun for ALL the guests.  We started by giving the kids each a can of play-doh, and they got to create their own reptile.  They got very clever with this game!  Then we made bead snakes out of pipe cleaners and heart shaped beads (they work best).  Then I dressed up like I was on safari and pretended I was a reptile scientist.  We put on a reptile show using stuffed turtles, geckos, snakes etc.  The kids enjoyed it. We mimicked the show we've seen at our local university zoology museum.   Then because it was a "9th" birthday, we shaped the snake on the top of the cake to be a number 9.  For party favors we made each guest a snake using a "knifty knitter" tool.  It took a minimal amount of yarn and about 15 min per snake.  Very easy!!!  My kids made half of them.  SSSSSuper fun party!

Care Bears Party!

Care Bears Party!

This was for a 2 year old girl.  She loved care bears so we did the care bear theme for her birthday.  For invitations we got the care bear font and typed all the party info around a color page of a care bear.  We printed them out...they looked like a color page.  We rolled each invitation like up and tied it with a ribbon and a colour crayon. The kids loved it! For the cake we made 4 care bear sugar cookies, since there were 4 guests, and placed them around a white cloud cake.  EASY!  For party favors we gave each child a bag with a care bear note attached.  The bag carried home their crafts they made.  For the activities we beaded pipe cleaners and made bracelets.  We also decorate our own care bears.  Since these were 2 year olds, I did not have to be fancy or professional.  I found a couple of flawed purple fleece sweatshirts at the dollar store, so I used the fabric to make 4 stuffed bears.  As you can see they are not fancy, but they only cost a couple of dollars.  We had each girl decorate the tummy of the bear with foam shaped stickers.  They created their own care bear.  It was loads of fun! 

Star Cake!

Star Cake!

Sometimes we feel like we have to bake a cake in a cake pan....well here is proof you don't have to!  I'm posting this cake because I love to experiment when baking.  I used an old chocolate tin that was star shaped ....greased it like a cake pan ...and baked my cake in it.  It turned out great!!  You can also use soup cans and other aluminum tins.  Experiment and have fun!!!

Dinosaur Cake!

Dinosaur Cake!   

This has got to be the easiest cake ever, yet the birthday kid loves it!!!!  Just frost a cake with chocolate frosting for dirt.  Add candy rocks as the boarder and top with your child's birthday present....a new dinosaur toy!  My children loved it!

Race Car Party!

Race Car Party! 
"Go Speed Racer Go"
As you can tell from the shape of the cake, this was an 8 year old boy's party. My son was really into the old cartoon "Speed Racer"...and the fun toys called "play mobile".  So we combined the two and made a party out of it.  We used two round cakes to shape the 8.  Then we made it into a race track with chocolate and yellow frosting.  We placed the car and playmobile figure on top.  We free-handed the picture of "speed" and used an old "mach 5" car we had. Party favors were "racing" cello bags from the dollar store, with water balloons and a toy car for each boy.

 For the games we raced in a pop up car we had gotten at a yard sale.  We had each boy get in and run around our HUGE yard. We timed each boy.  Fun!  Then we went inside where we had made a ramp going down our stairs.  The ramp was out of cardboard.  We gave the boys each a few minutes to construct a race car out of legos...then we raced them down the ramp.  Most of the cars broke as they hit the bottom, but it was grand for 8 year olds!  They loved it!

 We found some swimming floaties at the dollar store that looked like tires, so we made them into a ring toss game.  Only the boys had to pose and the tires were the rings that we tossed.  Ha!  Fun party!!

Game Party!

GAME Party!
For one of our parties, we decided to just play games....JUMBO games! So we made a huge "yahtzee" using a clean garbage can (as the cup) and homemade jumbo dice!  played a variety of games that were "enlarged" for the party.  So easy.  We placed pieces of cardstock on the floor to make a board game. We also made a "boggle" game.  Jumbo squares out of fabric with the alphabet fabric painted on it.  For the cake we made a twister board with barbies playing it.  Ha!  It turned out to be a JUMBO success!   Party favors were homemade cubes, using the "scrabble" font to spell out the kids names.   To stuff the cubes, use mini "UNO" cards and candy. Fun! 

Sledding Party!

Sledding Party!
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We took the kids sledding for about an hour.  It was really cold and that was long enough.  The kids were easy to spot because of the neon scarves we gave them.  We bought a yard and a half of polar fleece. That stuff is great....no sewing at all!!! 
We cut the strips, fringed the edges and rolled them up.  Those were their party favors.  It was the easiest party, cause the whole thing was outdoors.  When we were done sledding we came home and opened presents while we had hot cocoa and cake.  We had kindof a cocoa bar with things to put in the cocoa...like marshmallows,  

peppermint, etc.  I let my daughter make the sledding snowmen for the cake.  She made them out of marshmallow fondant.  Easy!  (See my blog for the recipe.) It's a great party for pre-teen boys or girls.

Keroppi Cake!

Keroppi Cake!

Super simple cake design.  My daughter and cousin share a birthday.  They both love yellow and they both love the Japanese character  frog, "keroppi". It's just from a 9x13 pan.  We free-handed a sketch of keroppi on the cake, then frosted it. We had some popsicle pics from some cup cakes someone gave us. We topped it with those. My cakes are NOT perfect or professional....that's what makes them so fun!

Glow Stick Party!

 GLOW STICK PARTY!

Great for teen age girls and boys!!! We had a blast with this party!  We started the party later, so that it would be dark. We gave the guests each about 10 glow sticks.  First we had them cover themselves with glow sticks, then played charades.  It was hilarious.  Here's a photo of them!

We also played with a  hula hoop covered in glow sticks.  We counted how many times they could spin it.  We also played night games.  More ideas....glow stick croquet, frisbee, basketball....the list goes on.  We made the cake chocolate and used neon colored "airheads" for squiggles on it.  Then we outlined the cake with bright yellow frosting to add contrast.  It looked cool.  For party favors, we have the girls each a blown up balloon that had a glowing glow stick in it and some candy. It was so fun!

Cowboy Boot Cake!

Cowboy Boot Cake!

For my mom's 76th birthday, she wanted a fun cake!  We brainstormed for a while and then we came up with this.  She has always loved cowboys, so this was fun!  SUPER easy to make too.  The dots are all m-n-ms and chocolate covered fruit.  It was a chocolate cake.  We baked it in a 9x13 pan, froze it, then cut the shape.  *It is so much easier to cut the shape when it is frozen.  Too Fun!  Mom loved it!