The Cluedo Party - Part 2 (NO BAKE)

 
I do like to put on a birthday party. But it occurred to me last week that this is possibly the only one I haven't actually 'baked' for. And perhaps that deserves a post.

The Party Theme - Cluedo
The Reason - Eldest Child Turning 12
The Guests - 9 boys and 7 girls

The Menu

Starters - 3 bags of chips and a heated box of 64 'party pieces' (spring rolls, etc).

Meal - a "DIY Burger Bar". With on-special bun rolls, pre-made burger patties and pork chipolatas.

Dessert - a "DIY Ice Cream Bar". Modelled on the 'Cold Rock' idea, just with less choices - and without a cold rock, obviously.

I did make a layered jelly that my kids call 'Awesome Jelly' - always a winner.

Birthday Cake - Icecream Cake.

I've done this 3 times before - simply softened icecream (this time it was just vanilla), piled into a metal bowl lined with glad wrap and refrozen. I've found it's best to also freeze the plate you're going to serve it on. Then when you turn it out, tip about 1 1/2 bottles of icemagic on top and spread it around. Just before it sets, stick plastic figurines of your choice into the chocolate. Ta dah!

The cake was the icecream that they added their toppings to.

Goodie Bags - a few lollies and an M&M Cookie (packed by me in a CD envelope with a thank you sticker on it) from Coles.

Extra prizes - disposable gloves (not the latex kind, more like the home-hair-colouring kind) filled with coloured popcorn.

And there you go. Done! The kids had a great time.

I really recommend the burger bar idea when you have such a variety of appetites at the party - and it's great now that they are all old enough to serve themselves. Am thinking it'll work at my 40th next year actually.

Now our 'birthday season' is over, and life can resume it's usual pace. It's been fun.

Until next year...

The Cluedo Party - Part 1

To be honest, I was a bit worried about how this party was going to work. Especially when we were looking down the barrel of cold, wet weather.

My eldest had his mind set on some sort of Murder Mystery Party, and we borrowed a board game for one from a friend... but it seemed like too much for 12 year olds.

So we settled on Cluedo.

We designed the invitations based on actual Cluedo cards. These are the actuals -

 

And this is the front and back of the invitation - 

Then did up our game cards. J got photos of all 16 of his guests to make cards for them, and decided on 16 motives and 16 weapons (including a pineapple and an octopus).

When they arrived, the 'Butler' told them all how it was going to work and gave them all one card and their Clue sheets.

Then they all played four games, with the winners getting more cards. They were encouraged to form alliances (although one boy came and asked me what an 'alliance' actually was - obviously not a Biggest Loser or Survivor watcher), but not to show their cards to just anyone.

They started with a general trivia game -

And then there was a game involving throwing tennis balls at a hanging piece of dampened pita bread (which I thought was going to be stupid, but it was possibly the standout game),

And the classic donut game -

And they finished with a "Guess this tune" music trivia game (and a spontaneous rendition of "Hey There Delilah" which was terrific).

After that, they all had to write their guesses for Murderer, Weapon and Motive on a piece of paper, and amazingly there was only one winner, who got to take home the cardboard trophy.

And then the three hours were up, and parents started arriving! And it had been a fantastic party.

The kids themselves were terrific though, and they all took the game very seriously (but oh, the NOISE! Their fun was deafening). We certainly couldn't have done it if the 'Butler' hadn't actually been a real-life teacher, used to dealing with huge bunches of kids. So, amazingly, it ended up going very well.

I'll do another post to talk about the food and how it ended up being a total NO BAKE party.

Hope these ideas help someone else at party time!

Mad Hatter's Party

We had a early birthday party for my nearly 9 year old today. It's been a huge weekend as he also had his Confirmation and First Communion on Saturday night. At his request it was a Mad Hatter's theme, and he got to wear his brother's bookweek costume (as was the plan all along). I was determined to keep it all pretty low tech, and the old classic, the egg and spoon race, was a highlight!

Decoration wise, the thing that I was most happy with were some VERY simple flowers made from tissue paper and florists wire. I now have a whole bouquet of them left over - love them.

This was the before photo of the cake. Definitely looking more 'safari hat' than 'mad hatter hat'. But the top was a chocolate shell with lollies inside. So this was the 'before' shot -

And here's the 'after'.

It was modelled on a Donna Hay spaceship cake, and while mine looked supremely dodgy and not really mad hattery at all, the kids loved it. The hammer was a big hit anyway (no really, it was!).

And because I'd over committed myself in my head, these lovely double-decker chicken sandwiches (also inspired by Donna Hay, and my nod to having some slightly healthy food) only got made because the very lovely Whitney came over and made them for me (she did lots of other very helpful stuff too! THANK YOU SO MUCH WHITNEY!) - 

The goody bags were put together late Saturday night. And Number 1 Son took on the job of decorating, running a scavenger hunt, and even got in and ran musical chairs and musical statues after the cake was demolished. He was a huge help and I didn't end up feeling like a performing clown, like I had after J's party two years ago.

So, we're 3/4 of the way through our 'birthday season'. One more to go in October. But now, to sleep. Goodnight!

Bad taste?

Is it bad taste to go to an Elvis & Abba Party as "Elvis' Last Meal*"? (Cue ethical debate here. And admire the accidental pun.)

Regardless, it was a great party, and I have to say, a sandwich costume is very appropriate for people with body issues, even though it's a little difficult to eat, drink, get through the door, sit down... I'll leave it at that.

I loved wearing the costume, which really is more of a two day project, rather than a 'think about it for a fortnight and make the thing in one afternoon' kind of project.

I followed most of the instructions from here, but have to add that I think foam core board makes the best sandwich front (and back, obviously) and I didn't have any spray adhesive (I did have an empty can though, which was an interesting surprise when realised at the 11th hour), so I made do with craft glue held together with sewing pins (removed when dry). It'd be good to use gap filler or even hot glue to attach the foam 'crusts' to the fascias.

And best to make it a little earlier so the spray paint fumes can subside prior to the actual event.

Now I just need to hope that I'm invited to a food themed party sometime in the future. I'd love to wear it again. And D certainly liked that Elvis wig too.

(Here's a pic of me at Elvis' grave, at Gracelands, in 1993. What can I say? I am a fan.)

*for those not in the know, Elvis regularly enjoyed fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches. And sometimes partook in valium. As discovered in his post mortem. RIP Elvis.

A butterfly themed Christmas table

Here are a couple of pics of the table at my 'staff' Christmas dinner - where we actually planned it all and enjoyed the most delicious salmon meal professionally and lovingly prepared by the amazing Suzanne. I'm finishing the last three bag orders tonight and then that's it! That's all the 'work' that I can do before Christmas. We're off to Sydney on Wednesday til Sunday and Nic and Kym will be opening the studio on Sunday. It'll be Nic's last time before she moves up to Hervey Bay so drop in and say goodbye if you can.