I love making cakes and crafts. My passion is to create things, anything that people will enjoy. I put this passion into my children’s birthday parties in order to please them and their friends. I have been doing this since my daughter’s 3rd birthday when I decided that the store bought cakes weren’t for me. They never had what we wanted and they were so expensive and never tasted that good. My daughter is now coming up on her 11th birthday party and it is another great day to celebrate.
In order to make parties successful, I typically like to see what is popular at the time and also what my kids are interested in during that year. This past year, I had a pirate party for my son and a Radio Disney party for my daughter. Both of these parties were under $150 total, closer to the less than $100 price for cakes, cupcakes, decorations, party venues, and treat sacks. And just so you know, I have the greatest treat sacks ever. No, I am not trying to brag, but I see what my kids bring home from parties and they just can’t compare to what I give away. If you have a little time and creative side, you can do this as well to make your kid’s party the most popular one on the block. (By the way, I will tell you after my son’s party, I received an email from a parent who said I threw one heck of a party and I should stop making other parents look bad. That says it all!)
I will tell you how I planned the two most recent parties that I have done and the next upcoming one so it will hopefully get your creative juices flowing.
1. Pirate Party
We get several catalogs for party themes throughout the year. My children always look through them and pick things out. You can get some great package deals through there or your local party store has some items you can also purchase. For the pirate party, there was a package deal for maybe $40 or slightly less. This package included plates, utensils, napkins, balloons, bandanas, swords, eye patches, table cloth, netting, gold coins, confetti, and treasure boxes for each child. There was enough of everything for 12 people. I then bought a large treasure box for $4 and a pack of 150 pirate goodies for $10 to fill the treasure box with. This was what they got for their goodie bags.
My son wanted to have his party at a local mini golf/arcade place. They have package deals you can get there as well. So, first I decorated the place and then I had a large pirate cutout for the children to stand behind and get their pictures taken upon arrival. I took these to the local store while the kids were playing golf to get them developed instantly as another take home. Then as they finished golf, they came in and dug through the treasure chest picking out items to fill their take home chests.
I made my own invitations using the tea method to make paper look old. I drew a treasure map to the location of the party, wadded it up, opened it back up and dipped it in tea. I put them in a low temperature oven for a few minutes until they were dry. I then rolled them up and put them in recycled water bottles. I also make name tags for each invitation the same way. The children loved their invitations!
Now, for the cake. This is where the creativity comes in. I always like to have vanilla and chocolate available so the kids have a choice. I will typically make one flavor of cupcakes and one flavor of cake to match the theme. For the pirate party, I had vanilla cupcakes that were strategically placed on a board of crushed cookies to look like a treasure map. The last cupcake on the map had an “X” for the treasure and inside I dug it out and placed a chocolate inside. That was the cupcake for my son, the birthday boy. The chocolate cake was cut into a shape of a pirate hat that is upright on the board. I was able to tint the chocolate frosting black and then added a skull and crossbones for decoration. What a hit!
2. Radio Disney Party
My daughter was really big into everything on Radio Disney or Disney Channel last year. We looked for certain types of characters from there and they typically didn’t have full sets of items because they were on clearance. So, instead of having a one theme party, I decided it was going to be all the themes from Radio Disney. We had napkins from Wizards of Waverly Place, plates from Hannah Montana, cups from Jonas Brothers, napkins from High School Musical, and party favors from each theme. They were all on clearance so it was a great idea to combine them all.
She usually has sleepovers for her parties. So what we decided to do with the party favors was play BINGO at night to earn the favors. I had a big bag of all the favors and each time a person called BINGO they were able to pick out something from the bag. We played until everyone’s treat bag was full and the main bag was empty.
Because she had so many themes at the party, for the cakes she decided on a music theme of a pink electric guitar cake. So I patterned a guitar out of a chocolate cake and decorated it pink. The cupcakes were vanilla with just some music notes decorating the top.
3. Movie Theme Party
This is my next project. My daughter has decided on a movie party. She wanted to do it at a sleepover where they are watching movies all night. Well, they do that anyway so I told her maybe we can have the party at the local theater. For us, this is a little pricier than the other parties we have had, but we are not doing decorations or anything like that so it may even out on the cost.
For the cake themes, I am going to make a chocolate cake that is in the shape of a movie clapboard. Then vanilla mini cupcakes mad to look like popcorn placed inside popcorn boxes. The “popcorn” is made out of mini marshmallows and I am not kidding, it really does look like popcorn. I carried these around one day and everyone thought it was really popcorn.
To get your creative juices flowing, check out the candy aisle in your local store. Imagine what those pieces of candy look like and then try to create something out of those candies. Crushed cookies make for good dirt, roll out candies to make flat pieces, use licorice laces for hair, and that is just to name a few. Here’s an idea. Open up an chocolate sandwich cookie and look inside two cookies with filling on both sides. Put a small chocolate coated candy in the center of each cookie and you have a pair of large eyes that would look good on an owl or a dog. Or take a Twinkie and “glue” (with frosting) round cookies on four corners and you have the beginning of a car. Play with the food and use some imagination. Better yet, ask kids what they think it looks like and it might give you an idea.
If you think you can’t create cakes like the ones that are described here, don’t worry. Practice, search the Internet for ideas, and just do it. They may not be perfect, but your children will love you for trying. I almost will bet you that they will have the most creative, authentic cake of all their friends this year! Even if you buy the cake, try out some of the themed ideas to make the party the best you can! I never just put little pieces of candy in a treat sack for take homes. I always have a theme and look for clearance items or bulk deals that can score you some great good bag gifts!