Eowyn's 5th Birthday

I just realized that I never followed up with how Eowyn's 5th birthday went :)

So, as you could see in prior posts, I had planned all sorts of fun games for our little guests, but once they got playing in the wading pool and the sprinklers, they really didn't want to do anything else :)

I did manage to convince the birthday girl and one of her friends to do the water relay.  They had a full bucket of water at one end with cups, spoons, sponges, and other things to use to transport the water to an empty bucket a few yards away.  At the end, both participants had the same amount of water in their "finish" buckets and were longingly looking back at the other children who were splashing in the wading pool, so we called it a draw and let them each pick a prize.

We also had our traditional pinata!  This year was a fishie!

I also, sadly, attempted to make Eowyn's cake.  I don't know why I do this to myself, but I plan something really cool and am always disappointed by the outcome.  I thought I did a great job with the "seaweed" and found some pearl colored Sixlets at iParty to use for bubbles, but the octopus ended up not being able to stand the heat and melted down.  Lol- it ended up looking like a purple sunshine =P

I'd have to say that the most fun was had with the water wars that the kids (and a few adults) had =)  water guns, water balloons, buckets, hoses... Water was flying everywhere!  And not one child got upset about getting water in their eyes or getting splashed.  It was a great day!

Devious little birthday girl!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Jello Shots

As I prepared the usual Jello Shots for our St. Paddy's day party, I decided that I wanted to try something new.  Since I'm pretty much addicted to Pinterest, I found a great idea from a fellow (and much more dedicated) blogger-That's So Michelle (http://www.thatssomichelle.com/2011/10/strawberry-jello-shots-in-mini.html).  I tried to adapt her recipe my desires...

Now, I will warn you that the finished product in these pictures are not exactly pretty, but they sure pack a punch.

Secondly, I plan to attempt this once I am able to find some silicon mini-muffin molds.  The use of the Press & Seal wrap in the metal mini-muffin tins cause a lot of frustration.  It didn't stick as well as I would have liked, so when I was trying to get the chocolate to form the shape I wanted, I had to contend with movement that wouldn't have been an issue if I could have used what I wanted to.


What you will need:

Glad Press 'n Seal
24 ct Mini Muffin Tin
24 plastic condiment cups (used by Jello Shotiers, such as myself, solely for Jello Shots)
1 Package (14 oz.) Chocolate "Make & Mold" Candy Wafers (I found a microwavable kind)
1 box of Cherry Jello
1 cup of hot/boiled water
1 cup of vodka 




First off, you will want to get two sections of Press 'n Seal.  As you press the Press 'n Seal in the depressions for the muffins you'll find that you end up with less than you thought you had.  Make sure that you start in the middle and have plenty overlapping on the top, bottom, and side.  Do the same to the second side.  It should look something like below.

Next, melt your chocolate.  I ended up tossing the whole bag in a microwave-safe bowl and kept heating it up at 10 second intervals and stirring until everything was all melted.  Pour the chocolate into the muffin tin (about 3/4 of the way to the top of each muffin).  


Then gently press one of the plastic condiment cups into the chocolate.  This is where it gets a little tricky...Because the Press 'n Seal doesn't stay as stuck to the tin as one would like, you may need to twist the condiment cup a little while holding the edge of the Press 'n Seal to make sure that your chocolate goes the way you want it to.

When you're done, pop them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

Again, another tricky part.  Now you need to gently squeeze the condiment cups to get them out of the chocolate molds.  I found that if you gently squeeze all the way around the cup and then twist it, the cup will pop right out.  If the chocolate cracks a little, don't worry.  You can use some melted chocolate to seal any holes or cracks.

 As you see here, this cup has a few cracks near the top of the cup.  I just spattered some chocolate to make sure the cup didn't crack apart during the next step (make sure you put the cups back in the freezer for a few minutes to get any newly added chocolate to set).

Now you can gently peel your cups out of the tin.  I simply started at one edge and lifted the Press 'n Seal so that I could hold the chocolate cup with one hand and then peeled the plastic wrap off of it. 

Remove all of the chocolate cups and take the Press 'n Seal off of the mini muffin tin.  
Put the chocolate cups in the fridge or freezer to keep cool until you are ready to add the Jello (I put my cups back into the tin after I had taken the Press 'n Seal off).

The next step is to make your Jello.  As per the back of the package, boil one cup of water and mix in the Jello mix until it has completely melted.  Instead of adding cold water (as per the back of the box), you will want to add your cup of vodka.  Mix thoroughly.

Unfortunately, now comes the waiting game.  Pouring hot Jello into your chocolate cups will cause them to melt, so you will want to wait at least 45 minutes (I waited an hour) until the Jello cools to about room temperature.  The Jello should not set during this time, but I made sure to stir it a few times while I was waiting.  


About 5 minutes before I was ready to put the Jello in the chocolate cups, I removed the cups from the freezer.  I didn't want them to be too cold and possibly crack.

Now you can pour your Jello in your cups!  I found it was less messy to take each cup out and pour the Jello in it, then put the cup back in the tin so that it didn't tip and spill.

When you have filled all of your cups, put them in the fridge for a few hours.  

After the Jello has firmed up, you are ready to eat your yummy Chocolate Covered Cherry Jello Shots!

I had unfortunately grabbed a bag of DARK chocolate wafers, but my guests said they tasted great!  I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but found that the bitterness of the dark chocolate did cut down on the strength of the vodka ;)  Next time I plan to be a little more careful and READ the bag before I buy it... and also see if I can find some silicon mini muffin tins.  I DID try to find some before this experiment, but I think they're just a made up product that I assumed would have been invented for this very purpose... =)




~Rissa

Planning E's Fifth Birthday

So, Eowyn and I have agreed on having a water themed party.  She, as usual, wants something princess related, but I think I finally have her sold on the idea of something more water-based (purchasing a kiddie pop-up pool for her might have been an evil way of me persuading her...).  In doing some searching online, I have found some really cute games that the kids can play:



Game One:  Water Brigade

In this game there are two teams of kids.  They have to get the water from one bucket by using different items (sponge, spoon, measuring cup, etc.) to a bucket on the other side of the yard.  I am thinking of adding a little rubber ducky or something similar that floats so that the kids can see their progress as they run back and forth.  This seems like an easy game for kids of all ages to play =)

 
Game Two:  Cold Feet!

We will put a bunch of ice cubes in a smaller wading pool for the kids to retrieve and fill a bucket.  The trick is... they have to get the ice out of the pool and into the bucket using their itty bitty footsies ;)  I'm thinking it will be a good idea to put some of E's smaller chairs around the pool so the kids can sit down to do this ;)



Game Three:  Musical Sprinkler

This is just a variation of musical chairs.  Well... without chairs... and WITH water.  I guess this is more like freeze-frame, actually.  The kids dance and run around while the music is playing and the sprinkler is off.  When the music stops and the sprinkler turns on, the kids have to strike a pose and hold it until the music stops again.  Anyone who doesn't stop when the music stops/water turns on is out.
 
Game Four:  Water-balloon Volley


I'm still contemplating which way to go with this game.  One way is to just have the kids break up into pairs and toss the water-balloon to each other (taking a step back with each completed pass).  The other option is to use a towel in which a pair of children will hold the ends of the towel to use to catch and toss their water-balloon to another pair of children.   


Game Five:  Sponge Toss


This is another game that I am not sure exactly how we will play it...


Variation 1:  This game will be played with a small wading pool that has some Frisbees floating on top of the water.  The kids have to toss their sponges and try to get them to land on a Frisbee to earn points.

Variation 2:  Children are paired up and are facing each other (with a decent amount of distance between them).  Each child has a sponge and a bucket of water in front of them.  The object is to toss the sponge and get it in the opposite child's bucket.  I think I like this one more because there is more opportunity for the thrown sponge to soak the child on the receiving end ;)


Game Six:  Fishing

Wendy and I saw a cute little duck fishing game at iParty the other day.  It's basically just a small wading pool with some ducks that have loops on their heads.  It comes with a fishing pole that has a plastic hook that is used to "catch" the ducks.  

Throughout the party kids will have the option to play in the sprinkler and little wading pools.  I'm still trying to come up with some party favor and prize ideas that aren't too hokey (or expensive).  I've tossed around the idea of getting little sand buckets with some beach type prizes (and maybe some travel-sized sunscreen)...  I'm also trying to figure out invitations and decorations.  So far the game ideas seem relatively inexpensive, so I may be able to splurge a little more on prizes.  


Oh... and a cake... What kind of cake....  


It's okay... I'm just getting started ;)

E's Fourth Birthday

Eowyn's fourth birthday was, by far, the most elaborate party to date.  Since she and her friends were able to be more interactive we had more fun things we could do =)  

The theme this year was "Lady Bug Picnic."  I made up some invitations using a scene from the Lady Bug Picnic from Seasame Street (where the ladybugs are sitting around the picnic blanket with a big 4 on it).  We picked up a bunch of butterfly and bee wings at the dollar store for any guests who were without "bug" attire.  I also found some cute little plastic bug boxes online and used those as goody bags.  We filled them with little ladybug rings, temporary bug tattoos, a magnifying glass, some fake bugs, and bubbles.   

One of the games we played was the famous sack race.  This was a must to go with our Lady Bug Picnic ("They had 12 sacks, so they ran sack races... and they fell on their backs and they fell on their faces").

 

Even some adults joined in... though the pillowcases I picked up at Marden's were a bit small for the older guests ;)

 

Pinata!!!

 

We also had a castle for the guests to color.  This was supposed to be for last year's party, but it was hidden in a closet and forgotten about.  It was a hit anyways ;)

 

We had a tic-tac-toe game to play as well.  This worked well for the smaller guests ;)

  

These are my sad attempts at "bug" cupcakes.  I foolishly purchased some new dark tins and I didn't get the timing down for the cupcakes... so they look goofy... 

 

Cakie time!  I had a tin to make a football or Easter egg cake, so using each section separately worked well for two ladybugs ;)

 

 Eowyn got a ladybug pop-up tent that all the kids had fun playing in =)

 And the bubbles were a hit as well ;)

E's Third Birthday

Eowyn's third birthday party was a princess theme.  No, we didn't go the traditional Disney Princess theme, we invited guests and asked them to dress up as princesses, princes, wizards, or other fairytale creatures =)  

We had a basket of dress up jewelry for our princesses to pick from to get dressed up...

We played pin-the-candle-on-the-cake...

The girls fought a ferocious dragon pinata...

And I decided to go with a more simple approach with the cake.  My mom added the flowers as I was stressing about other things when she arrived =)

Snackies!!

 My favorite part of getting ready for this party was making the Rice Crispy Wands ;)

Make Rice Crispies like you normally would, then after they have cooled, use a star cookie cutter to cut the crispies into star shapes (I suggest greasing the cookie cutter to prevent breaking/sticking)...

Sprinkle with sparkly sprinkles (they stick very nicely to the marshmallow in the crispies)

Then insert a wooden dowel, popsicle stick, or some other stick type thing for the handle.  I then used a snack bag to cover and tied with a ribbon.  

E's Second Birthday

Eowyn's second birthday was celebrated at my mom's house in Carmel.  They were still in the process of building, so we got to benefit from the open basement in the hot and muggy August weather.  

This birthday had a bubble theme.  We played with bubbles and hula hoops (we just LOVE hula hoops).  I added some color to some of the bubble solutions and the kids blew bubbles on white paper and made some pretty neat pictures with the different colored bubbles as they popped on the paper.  

 E also got a ball pit for a present that we promptly filled with blow-up balls for the kids to play in =)

 

My attempt at E's second birthday cake came out less cool than I had hoped.  It's supposed to look like bubbles on the cake, but you kind of have to be told what it is... =(

 

E's First Birthday

Eowyn's first birthday party was a luau theme.  We had a hula hoop contest and a game where one person was blindfolded/had their eyes closed and their partner gave them directions to find all of the items to put on for their luau outfit.

 

We also had a bubble machine... because, well... bubbles are awesome =) 

Eowyn loving the bubble machine ;)

We also had quite a few snacks for everyone to eat.  I particularly love little umbrellas and other fun things to add some flare to the table ;)

This was my first cake that I made for Eowyn.  I crushed up graham crackers for the "sand" and figured out how to make pretty little frosting flowers =)