Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Olivia's Baking Birthday Party!

Back row Olivia, Emily, Cassidy, Jennifer, in the front Lauren (my neice), Daisy & Erika

Ok so we had Olivia's party with her friends on Sunday. Last year they decorated giant cookies, made personel pizzas, and made crowns for their stuffed friends (mostly webkinz). We took lots of pictures of everyone individually & together. Then my Husband ran to the 1 hour photo booth, & brought back all the pics. I had premade a brown bag scrapbook for everyone, then we broke out the punches, designer paper, embellishments etc. & they made their own! It was great, but I had no clue what to do this year until....
A while back, Melanie Muenchinger decorated an apron for her son using her set "have a Cookie", have a look and this was pretty much my inspiration for the party!
I bought the aprons on Ebay, they were great quality, but Olivia's didn't fit over her head, so I ended up cutting all the neck straps in half, and added velcro. I also ended up buying a pkg of 3 in adult size from Michael's, which honestly, were not as nice!
I made this for my Nephew Jack so the girls could see one done.

I knew I wanted them to decorate the aprons, but how was I going to bake with 7 kids in my tiny kitchen? The wheels started turning, smoke was present and then bam! I solved the problem!

1st, we decorated the aprons, with stazon ink & the pentel fabric dye sticks Melanie used, I bought them on Ebay too!
2nd, they decorated giant cookies. This is easy, 1 pillsbury cookie dough pkg makes 3 cookies. use tin pie plates, cut parchment to fit in bottom, make each cookie using 1/3 of the dough. Put out topping in bowls with spoons (cho chips, white chips, m&m's, marchmellows, sprinkles etc....constantly remind them less is better! Have an adult bake them at 350F for 20-30 minutes.
3rd, Cookies in a Jar! so they get to measure everything, & make a cool layered piece of art, then they get to take them home & bake them! Each girl had a set of measuring cups in their loot bag. I bought the canning jars at 2nd stores, score! We passed the ingredients around one at a time & they measured them into their jars. For the top, I bought napkins & trimmed them so they were round. I copied & printed the instructions of the computer, & premade the name & recipe tags. It was easy for the girls to put them together.
4th, Chocolate sprinkled banana pops. We melted chocolate, gave each girl 1/2 a banana which they put on a wood stick. Dip the bananas in chocolate, cover with sprinkles, put in the freezer.

Then they watched Olivia open presents while I got dinner ready, nachos & rootbeer floats! I found the old fashion coke glasses at Dollarama they were perfect for the floats!

The colour scheme was bright and I got a great deal (25 cents) on sturdy black gift bags to use for loot bags. Each included brightly coloured oven mitt, pot holder, measuring cups, tea towel, recipe in a jar, apron, coke glass, and whatever was left of their cookies & banana pop!
I must be crazy, because I've really enjoyed these parties & the kids have such a good time. It wasn't any more expensive than paying per person to go somewhere, in fact I think it may have been cheaper, and who needs more little party bag junk!
Hope you enjoyed the party! lol
Laurie

10 comments:

Melanie said...

THUD!!!!!!!!!! now I'm wishing I hadn't booked William's upcoming birthday elsewhere, this turned out GREAT(of course 4 year-olds is a different story!!) Love that they got to make a cookiet at the party and have the jar batch for hom, and their own aprons! you're amazing! :)

buggin2stamp said...

That is the coolest idea for a birthday party. I love it!!! Makes me wish I had a child to plan a party like that with. Thanks for sharing all of the details.

Anonymous said...

This is so clever!!! Into the memory banks for future use. TFS!

Theresa Momber said...

Laurie, what a great party! I love all your fabulous ideas!!!

Jennie said...

Wonderful idea...how fun for the girls :o) Thanks for sharing!

Donna Baker said...

what a FUN idea! TFS

Katy said...

What an absolutely great party idea!!

Lee said...

OMGosh.........GENIUS!!!!! Absolutely adorable and fun and just........WOWZA!!!!

Gina Lindsay said...

I love all your ideas, what a great birthday party!

postcardgirl said...

OMG, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea! My daughter is going to be 10 in September and this is PERFECT! Thank you so much for sharing and inspiration!!