Category Archives: Family

Delicious Oreo Cookie Chocolate Cake

Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookie CakeWell, it party time! Today is the official date of Eden’s birthday and we’ll be having family over for cake and ice cream after dinner. Eden requested a Oreo Cookie Cake. I’ve made this cake once before, so I knew that it was pretty easy to make. I followed the recipe, but omitted the chocolate glaze on top and opted for our favourite frosting instead.

Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

This recipe was adapted from the original that I found on All Recipes. It makes approximately 16 servings.

Ingredients:

Directions:
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Prepare cake batter and bake in 2 (9-inch) round pans as directed on package. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto wire racks; gently remove pans. Cool cakes completely.
  3. For the filling ~ beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and crushed cookies.
  4. Stack cake layers on plate, filling with cream cheese mixture. Add a few sprinkles of extra cookies over the top and edges of the filling (the cookies become covered in whip topping and you can’t see the black/white contrast, so I added a few cookie crumbs to get that look.)
  5. The original recipe calls for a chocolate glaze on top. You will need Microwave chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl on high 2 minutes. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 minutes. Spread chocolate glaze on top of the cake; let stand 10 minutes or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Roy Family Favourite Frosting:

Instead of the glaze, I made a batch of our all time favourite frosting and then made rose like swirls all over the cake.

My aunt used to make this frosting when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it. It is made with a cooked white sauce made with flour and milk. You cook the flour and milk until it forms a thick pudding like texture and then add butter, white sugar (NOT ICING SUGAR) and vanilla. It is super creamy and not as sweet as most icing. You really have to try it as it is very different from any regular butter icing. The issue is that I have found it to be a bit finicky to work with and it isn’t the best for decorating. I used it on this cake and it worked out quite well, but I have run into problems before. I have tried many variations of the recipe over the years and I think I get pretty consistent results now that I have worked out some of the issues. The recipe I now follow is from Our Best Bites. Their proportions seem to work well on a consistent basis. For this cake, I doubled their recipe.

Cindy’s Tips:

  • Stir milk/flour mixture constantly to avoid scorching and forming lumps.
  • Transfer the pot with the white sauce to an ice bath (ice cubes in a bowl). Set the pot on ice and stir it regularly to avoid lumps and a crust forming on top. I used to place it in the fridge, but would often get a crust on the surface that will not beat out when making the icing. UGH! So, I stick to the ice bath and don’t have that problem anymore.
  • Stir the vanilla into the cooled flour/milk mixture.
  • MAKE SURE THE WHITE SAUCE IS COMPLETELY COOL or even COLD before proceeding. Be patient.
  • Add the white sauce one tablespoon at a time and beat well between. I use the whisk attachment on my beater to make the icing fluffier.
  • Beat for 7 to 8 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved and you can not feel the granules when you rub a bit between your fingers.

I know what you’re thinking….this seems like too much of a hassle, but believe me it is worth it. I have had to start over with this icing more times than I can count, but it didn’t prevent me from figuring out how to make it work. It is sooooooo yummy!

Swirly Rose Cake Decorations:

I used a large open star tip. Started at the center and while working my way out by circling around the center, I twisted the tip slightly. I would make about two rotations per rose. I started by just doing the top cake and was going to leave it at that as I really did like the look of chocolate on the bottom, Oreo center and then the white roses on top, but I worried about the bottom layer drying out if left exposed until tomorrow evening. I decided to go ahead and place another row of roses around the bottom layer to prevent drying. It doesn’t matter how good the cake looks, if it is dry then the effort is all for nothing. This was my first attempt at making these rose/swirls. They aren’t perfect by a long shot, but not bad for a newbie.

Here is what it looked like before I added the final row of roses along the bottom.
Winter Party Cake

Although our theme is really more for the kid’s party on Saturday, I thought the white swirls were a classic look that somewhat went with our snowflake theme and especially our colour scheme. I had baked the cakes on Wednesday, froze them and decorated them on Thursday evening after work. Eden already saw the finished cake and loved it. Hopefully it will taste great too!

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Shabby Chic Cupcake Wrappers

I searched all over to find a cupcake liner that either worked with my colour scheme or the winter theme, but could find nothing. So many cute little patterns and colour combinations, but not what I was looking for. So, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea ~ doilies. I had actually not seen this idea before, but went to my trusty computer all the same. Sure enough, not an original idea!

So, I proceeded to bake my cupcakes using the plain white liners I already had at home and then decided that I would dress them up with the doilies I had already bought for the table. (I am not really a doily gal, but I figured they would work well with the look I was going for and were even a bit snowflake..ish.

How To Make Cupcake Wrappers from A Doily

Here is a great little tutorial on how to make the wrappers. This video suggests cutting them in thirds, but another suggested cutting in half. I might have to play with the size a bit, but for the cost of doilies who really cares if I mess up one or two before I get it just right!

I think this idea will be perfect with our snow theme, but they could also be used to create a more elegant look.  I am sure I will use this idea again.  I am getting excited and can’t wait to pull every together at the end. Of course, you can’t see my cupcakes yet, as I won’t finish decorating them unit Saturday morning.

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Birthday Party Loot Bags

Obviously, the theme of the week is birthday party planning. My daughter’s birthday is Friday and so I have been busy pulling together everything I need to prepare for her family party on Friday and her “friends” party on Saturday. Today is my day off and on the list of “to do’s” is loot bags, bake the cake for Friday and cupcakes for Saturday. I won’t decorate them until closer to the time, but I generally bake ahead and freeze the cakes.

What to Put in a Loot Bag:

When my kids were younger, the loot bags were almost entirely theme related. As they have gotten older, the “themes” have definitely become less of an emphasis. When pulling together these loot bags, I tried to think of the “snow” theme, party decor colours and of course, what the girls might like.

Although I don’t always stick to it, many years ago I adopted this thinking when purchasing stocking stuffers and I loosely follow the same thinking for loot bags.

  • something to do
  • something to wear
  • something to eat
  • something to read (not this time!)
  • something to watch or listen to (for stockings I often get an iTunes card, CD or DVD)

Here is what I came up with for Eden’s loot bags this year:

1. I made little “Snowman Soup” baggies. I didn’t include the poem as the one I usually use is more “Christmasy”.

I got a great deal on these end of season Lindor chocolates. Mmmm…yummy.
Hot chocolate, mini marshmallows, Lindor chocolates and little cellophane bags. These were included in the loot bags.

2. I found these little packages of white elastics and thought they would be perfect for our “snow” theme. The girls are really into making those little looped elastic bracelets, so my thinking was they could go into the loot bags or if they wish, the girls could make a bracelet at the party! Last night, I stopped at the dollar store (AGAIN!!) and they were just putting out these little loom/elastic sets. I couldn’t resist and bought the looms to go with the white elastic set.

3. In addition to the loom and snowman soup, I added soft white fluffy gloves, blue nail polish, Mentos and a chap stick.

I am planning to make cake pops for the loot bags as well, but they will be a last minute addition ~ if they turn out!  I have never made them before, but thought I would try a few for the girls to take home. We’ll have to wait and see how they turn out!

Creating a Loot Bag:

I try to tie the loot bag into the theme as well. Sometimes I am able to purchase something that works, but most often the purchased “theme” bags are a bit “too busy” for me. I will often purchase “loot” that serves as the container for holding the goodies (eg pail for a beach party, cowboy hat for a western party, etc.) Otherwise, I purchase plain bags that follow the colour scheme. For these bags, I bought plain “butcher paper brown” gift bags at a cost of 3 for $1 and then upcycled them a bit to fit with my theme. I used the same snowflake prints that I had used for the birthday banner, added a button, some glitter and a little homemade “thank you” tag.

Homemade loot bags.

Well, that’s one more thing off my list of things to accomplish today. I had better get baking!

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Homemade “Snowflake” Themed Birthday Card

I consider myself to be one of those people who is more of a “Jack of all (many) trades” than a master of any one thing. I like the fact that I will attempt almost anything at least once, learn from my mistakes and sometimes try it again so I can do a better job the second time around. If I achieve some degree of success and find the experience enjoyable and rewarding, I will continue to perfect that particular skill. The problem with this is that I love to try new things and therefore don’t really have a specific area of expertise. So, I do many things well, but few with the level of excellence I have grown to expect of myself. Such is the case with card making. My experience with “paper crafts” stems from a scrapbooking background. Although many of the techniques are the same, I can’t say that I spend much time making cards. Basically, I haven’t dabbled in card making enough for the task to be quick and easy for me.  I make a card when I need one and will often just give purchased cards or make a little gift tag in lieu of a homemade card. It is for this reason that I have a set of steps that I subconsciously follow when planning the layout for a card ~ this just helps to give me some direction when starting a project.

Card Making Tips

  1. I  start by picking the paper I want to use. I usually include a solid colour along with one or two coordinating printed papers.
  2. I then go through my “stock” to see what kind of embellishments I have on hand that would work with the palette and papers I have chosen (brads, eyelets, beads, glitter, ribbon, buttons, stickers, etc.)
  3. I often include something linear like ribbon, washi tape or even long narrow strands of paper. Although I don’t always include an element like this, I find it is my “go to” card embellishment.
  4. I then consider what my focal point is going to be ~ a sticker, a layered paper image (made with my Cricut), buttons, flowers, felt shapes, etc. For the actual layout, you need to keep in mind where you want the eye to be drawn.
  5. Finally, I think about the greeting or message I want on the card and how I am going to achieve it ~ computer, stamps or letters cut from my Cricut.

Homemade Snowflake Card:

  1. I chose the paper colours based on the colours I was using for the theme of the party. I am mostly using “butcher paper brown” and white, but have also included a hint of blue to tie in the colours I used in her birthday invitations.
  2. I have many embellishments on hand, so I simply went through what I had. I obviously was looking for items that specifically fit into either the winter/snowflake theme or my colour scheme.  For this card, I chose a roller stamp that was kind of swirly and whimsical like falling snow. I also found a white snowflake brad, a few snowflake stamps, a foam “SNOW” word that I cut out from a border that was in the paper package I used for the invitations and some Cricut cut snowflakes and lettering.
  3. For this card, I used the same ribbon that I used on the invitations as well as some pre-cut white borders I had on hand.
  4. I wanted the focal point to be the words on the card, so I made sure that this stood out and that nothing else on the card competed with the message.
  5. Again, for this particular card, my greeting and the focal point were one and the same.  The other embellishments added a bit of dimension and appeal to the card, but were not meant to be the centre of attention.

When pulling a card together, I am always trying to think in layers. When making a card I feel that the paper is my base and from that base I build the look of the card, one layer at a time. I often find that what takes a card from “blah” to “bling” is those little subtleties that are hardly noticeable and yet make a world of difference. For me, the three things I use that I believe pack the most punch are:

  • inked edges ~ I find that a bit of ink on the edges of the paper help distinguish one layer from an other and make an element stand-out and not get lost in the layout.
  • pop dots ~ 3D adhesive dots help to lift an image or letter off a page and thus give the project some dimension.
  • opalescence glitter glue ~ by this I mean glitter glue that is more clear than any specific colour, but just adds a bit of shimmer to the edge of an image, centre of a flower or tips of a snowflake. The glitter is not “tacky looking” or over powering, but more just a hint of shimmer when the light hits it just right.

Here is a look at how I used these principles to create Eden’s birthday card.

Choose your paper.
Create your first layer. This was done with a few stamps.
Add something linear (if you wish). This was created with ribbon and a white paper border.
Decide on your focal point. In this case, I wanted the message to be the highlight of the card.
Add additional embellishments to create a completed look.

In addition to decorating the outside, I was looking for something for the inside as well. In this case, I found a poem that works perfectly. I will mount the poem inside the card and then write her a personal message. My kids love these homemade cards and often keep them by their bed and read the personal messages we write inside. A birthday is the perfect opportunity to tell your loved ones how special they are and how much they are truly loved. Shay has even been known to keep special cards under his pillow and sleep with them. It really is worth the extra effort to let them know how important they are.

Here is the poem that I found. Credit for this lovely poem goes to Mandy Wilams.

homemade snowflake card

 

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Winter Party Decorations: 3D Snowflakes

As I try to find a few minutes here and there in the midst of a very busy weekend, I recruited the birthday girl to make some 3 dimensional snowflakes. They are quite stunning and will really help to create the wintry look I am going for.  Eden’s birthday is now just a few days away and as the weekend draws to an end, I know I will be busy baking cakes and pulling together the final plans for her “Snowflake” theme every evening this week. I decided to go with the “winter” theme not so much because it is a “theme” party, but more so because we were taking the girls “snow tubing” at a local park. As it turns out, I am not sure if we will be able to spend the evening outdoors or not, as the forecast does not look great for the coming weekend. If not, I know the girls will be fine hanging-out at home. Regardless, we will continue to decorate around a winter theme.

Eden did an awesome job of making this 3D snowflake for the party. Although these snowflakes take more time than a typical one, they are not difficult to make and it is fun to include the birthday girl in the party preparations. Here is a complete step by step picture tutorial, but for a complete video tutorial check-out this link.

Take 6 sheets of regular 8 1/2″ X 11″ paper.
Fold over one corner to create a triangle.
Cut off the extra paper at the end.
Fold the triangle in half.
Make slits across the triangle.
Open up the triangle.
Open up to reveal the cut square.
Roll the centre by taking the edges and overlapping them. Tape in place.
Flip the square over and pull the corners of the next biggest square towards the centre, roll them and tape them.
Flip the square over. Pick-up the corners of the next square, roll towards the centre and secure.
Continue to flip, roll and secure until the entire section is complete.
Completed section.
Repeat the process with all six sheets of paper and then join all six sections together.
Completed 3D snowflake.

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Pom-Pom Snowflakes

Well, the Winter Birthday Party plans continue. I got the invitations out and finished her snowflake birthday banner and it turned out great.  Eden is going to be 12 and is pretty much over having birthday parties with activities and games. I still have to make a few decorations, as well as the cake and cupcakes for both her family party and her girlfriend party.

I have wanted to make these oversized pom-poms/paper flowers for like….forever, but have never had a reason to do so. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I thought why not go for it using white tissue and call them snowflakes instead of flowers. I followed Martha Stewart’s tutorial and this is what I came up with. I have only made one so far, but will probably make a few to hang from our chandelier over the table in the dining room. It was super easy to make, but takes a bit of patience and a soft touch to carefully pull the layers of tissue apart.

Use 8 full sheets of tissue paper.
Fold the sheets accordion style. My folds are about 11/2″ wide.
Continue to fold until you reach the end.
I tied the centre with fishing line, leaving enough length to hang it when I am done.
Carefully begin to pull the layers of tissue apart. The first layer or two is the most difficult.
Keep pulling…
and pulling…
and pulling until all the layers are pulled apart and you have a nice full pom pom.

I think it will look fine when I have everything put up. Sometimes you just have to wait until all of the decorations are set-up for a theme to really come together.

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Snowflake Prints

My daughter’s birthday is on Friday and I still have lots to do, so this weekend I will mostly be consumed with party planning and preparations. I always make the kids a birthday banner for their party and it is usually somewhat theme related. Although we hadn’t really planned a theme for this year, she did want to take the girls sledding, so I opted for a “snow” theme ~ not exclusively, but just to give me some directions in pulling things together. I got my inspiration for the little bit of decorating I will do, from this awesome purchase I made on Thursday evening. I found some Christmas clearance items at Sears for 90% off. This snowflake garland was just too adorable to pass up. The original price was $59.99, but I picked up two strands for $6 each. I absolutely love a great deal and this was one of my best! Don’t you just love the look of the snowflakes made from twigs!snowflake garland

So, I decided to go with a bit of a rustic look. I picked up a roll of the brown parcel wrap paper used for packaging up mail and this will be used for her birthday banner. I plan to stick with a primarily brown and white look. Although I am just beginning to pull this together, I am planning to incorporate several snowflakes of different kinds. I was trying to think of a way to create a large snowflake stamp, so that I wouldn’t have to hand paint them all. I have a small stash of paper towel/toilet paper rolls and I figured I might be able to rig something up for my snowflake theme. Here is what I initially came up with.

Paper towel tube
Cut in about 1″ strips
Slit the ring on one side
Fold the cardboard in the opposite direction to its natural curl and then staple it along the centre fold, to a cork.
Staple the cardboard on a cork.
Fold the ring with the outsides together and staple it about a quarter 1/2″ from the open end, so that the ends curl out. (Obviously there is no cork in the picture here, as I took this picture before I came up with the cork idea and then had to undo the staple and re-staple after attaching it to the cork. Just imagine that this has already been attached to the cork.)
I repeated this process 6 times, and this is what I came up with.
Dip in paint to evenly cover the surface. Make prints.

The concept was great and it worked okay, but I knew that it would be way too finicky for making lots of snowflakes. The problem was that despite my efforts to create an even base for printing, you had to play around a bit and ensure that each little arm of the snowflake made contact with the paper. This would be totally fine if you were making a few, but I planned to make quite a few and don’t have the patience for that. So, I decided to take it back a few steps and this is what I ended up with.

snowflake prints

I made two different sized “arms” exactly as I had in the original snowflake, but didn’t attach them to anything.

I simply used a cork to make a circle for the centre of the snowflake and then was able to quickly add 6 “arms” around the circle to create my snowflake. I did the exact same thing with the smaller one and used the eraser end of the pencil to make the circle print in the middle. Although it means actually doing 6 prints plus the circle for every snowflake, it seems to be much easier to get a nice even print and faster to do. I have only played around a bit and haven’t yet done the banner, but I am thinking I could easily take a brush or even the eraser tip of the pencil to add other little lines and dots to add some variety to the basic snowflake print.

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Homemade Cards: Snowflake Birthday Invitation

Eden’s 12th birthday is in just a few weeks and I haven’t even got the invitations out! I set aside today to get the job done.  I really didn’t have a plan, but thought I would do a winter/snowflake invitation because she wants to go sledding. She is only inviting 4 girls, so the job isn’t as overwhelming as some years. I had lots of paper on hand and decided to have her pick colours from what I had. I picked up this package at Target for $1.30 on Christmas clearance. It is wintry, but not really very festive. Eden loved the colours and picked out the paper she wanted and then I just created the invitation by using the paper she picked as my starting point.

homemade birthday invitation

This package contained 8 sheets of 12″ X 12″ paper, a sheet of stickers and a foam “Let it Snow” border. Not bad for under $2.

Printing the Invitations:

I began by making the actual invitation on the computer. I downloaded a free font called Gingersnaps from www.dafont.com. I love this site and often search for specialized fonts for my projects. I changed the address for the screen shot, but otherwise this is what it looks like. homemade birthday invitation
I added a text box in the background, printed her age and then changed the opacity of the teal to 70%.  I created the invitation as a full-page document. I then displayed the “page thumbnails” of the page I had created and duplicated the page 3 times, so that I had a total of 4 copies of the invitation. homemade birthday invitation

When I went to print the document, I found “Layout” in the drop down menu on the printing page. I then select “4” under pages per sheet. It takes all four of my pages and scales them all down to fit perfectly on one page of card stock. I then cut the page into 1/4’s and proceed to make my invitations, postcard style, by decorating the opposite side of the card. homemade birthday invitation

Decorating the Birthday Invitation:

I started by covering the backs of the printed invitations with the paper Eden had chosen. I then gently sanded the edges to reveal some of the white below the dyed surface. I then used a turquoise/teal ink on all of the edges. This is nothing more than dabbing the ink pad along the edges. I used a make-up style brush to get into the grooves that the pad wouldn’t reach. I then cut a strip of coordinating paper (one side with a scalloped edge) and adhered it to the right side of the card with double-sided tape. I also happened to have ribbon on hand that I ran down the straight edge of the paper strip. This became my base card. From here, I began to play with embellishments to see what I could come up with for a finished look.  I ended up using a combination of a few items I had on hand. First, I took a handful of these cheap dollar store snowflakes and tried to kick them up a notch.

homemade birthday invitation

Cheap white snowflakes approximately 1″ in size.

On some, I added blue gel pen topped the blue with a clear glitter glue. (Those on the envelopes only have glitter glue.) I also added a little silver dot to the center of the snowflakes I mounted on the card. These are the smallest snowflakes on the invitations, located closest to the bottom of the card. The second snowflake is a made of plain white felt. I found these snowflakes at Target in the same bin as the paper package. The snowflake at the top was made by mounting a snowflake sticker onto teal circles and hand cutting around the outside edge.

Clear snowflake stickers.
Left over circles from another project.

I simply staggered the snowflakes when I mounted them and used 3D foam mounting dots to add extra dimension when mounting the smallest snowflake at the bottom. Finally, I stamped “Save the Date!” on that adorable polka dot paper and then stuck it on a white “tag” that I had cut out on my Cricut. I added a little line/dot pattern around the outside edge with a black Sharpie and used red ink on edges of the tag. I curled blue wire around the shaft of pen and then twisted it to create a bit of a whimsical look. Finally, I added a bit of embellishment to the envelopes so they would coordinate with the invitation and then added the girl’s names.

Here is the finished invitation.
Here you can see the decorated invitation as well as the printing on the other side.
The invitation and envelope.
Here are all four, ready to be stuffed and delivered.

I am so glad to have the invitations done. We will let them dry over night and then deliver them tomorrow. Hopefully all of the girls can make it!

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Dirty Laundry ~ The Job that Never Ends

dirty laundryI got this great idea from a fellow hockey mom. She has 3 boys and her strategy for staying on top of laundry is simple and yet brilliant.  She designates a day of the week for each of her boys and does their laundry on that specific day. She said her boys really don’t have anything white and if there is the odd article, she saves it for the one load of whites she does each week. Otherwise, she throws all of their laundry in the washer in one load. No sorting of colors or separating one kid’s clothes from the other. Everything goes in all at once. Wash. Dry. Fold. Put away. Done. Having a daughter, I know that you would probably have at least two loads with all those pinks and a variety of other pastel colours, but still a great idea.

Typically, we have done all of the laundry on the weekends and this was often up to 8 loads. It seemed like the whole weekend was spent doing laundry. What drove me the most crazy was that Eden would “try-on” a medley of outfits during the week, trying to decide on the perfect look for any given day and then toss all the rejects into her laundry basket without having ever worn them. This was an on-going battle at our house and so we came to an agreement ~ I wouldn’t hassle her about her laundry, if she took over the task of doing it. So, she now does her own laundry and it dropped from about 8 loads a week to 4 (for me to do).  It is amazing how much less laundry there is without her entire wardrobe in the mix!

Doing Shay’s separately, makes this job even easier. I would never normally do laundry on a work day, but one load is super manageable and prevents that big pile up at the end of the week. Although Shay is only 9, I can see how this can easily progress into him washing and drying his own clothes. He already puts his basket of clean clothes away, but has not yet been washer/dryer trained. However, if the task is as easy as removing the few pairs of white socks from the pile and then tossing everything else into the washer, I know he could easily manage that. I guess that will be next on the “training” list.

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Snowman Birthday Party

Well, it’s January and with it brings Eden’s 12th birthday. I can’t believe it….she is already booked for her first babysitting job. Now that the kids are getting older, they aren’t very interested in the “over-the-top” theme parties that I used to do. I still like to make a nice invitation and cake, but the theme related games, decorations and activities seem like they are becoming nothing more than a distant memory. How sad! I used to love pulling those parties together ~ maybe I’ll be a Party Planner in my next stage of life? We hope to finalize some plans and pull things together for finalizing her plans for this year, but I know that my role is progressively becoming less significant as the girls are quite happy just to hang-out and amuse themselves, but in honour of her January birthday I thought I would share some ideas from one of her past parties.

Snowman Birthday Party

I need to begin by saying that this was early on in my birthday party planning craze and I was not yet adept at making sure every single detail was taken care of. She didn’t have a birthday party with friends until she started pre-school. Because the party was primarily adults,  there weren’t any games, activities or loot bags.  I have included some of the ideas I used for Eden’s party, but have also included several others that I either thought of or found on the web. This party was back in the “olden days”, pre-digital camera and I couldn’t find the negatives anywhere. I am embarrassed to say that the pictures I am sharing are photos of photos. How tacky!  Anyway, no other choice. I was also quite surprised to learn that I don’t even have a full picture of the birthday banner. I think I got better at taking photos of everything, as I did more parties.

As shared in my previous post on the basics of planning a birthday party, I always consider 6 main areas when pulling a party together:

  • invitations
  • decorations
  • activities/games
  • food/snacks
  • cake(s) ~ plan, design and bake a cake/cupcakes (or save the hassle and order one)
  • loot bags

Snowman Party Invitations:

snowman birthday invitationThere really is nothing fabulous about the invitations I did for Eden’s party. I was not yet into card making and thought I was brilliant because I scanned the napkin so that the invitations matched the napkins. They were fine, but nothing special. I would do something totally different now that I am into scrapbooking and card making. If you simply google “snowman birthday invitations” under images, you will see hundreds of great ideas. You can also refine your search to “homemade snowman birthday invitations” for even more ideas. I often search the web for ideas before coming up with my own.

Snowman Party Decorations:

Again, I don’t seem to have great pictures from the party, but below are a few of my favourite party ideas from her snowman themed party. I always make a huge hand-painted birthday banner that is theme related. This might have been the first year I started this tradition! I don’t have a picture of the whole banner, but I remember it was on black with both light blue and white paint. My favourite part was the snowman family in the bottom left corner. Each member of our family made a footprint and then I added the details to make them into snowmen for the banner. Of course, there were snowflakes painted on the banner as well. After the party, I cut-out Eden’s footprint and included it in the scrapbook layout from her 3rd birthday party. The foot print is a great memory in itself. I did something similar for Shay’s pirate birthday with a hand print parrot on his banner.

For this party, I wanted to have an indoor snowman for photo opps. I purchased a large white Christmas tree bag over the holidays and then we stuffed it with shredded paper. It worked fine, but it was quite a bit of work collecting enough paper and you really had to have white or it showed through. If I were doing it again, I would use some of the other great ideas I found on Pinterest for making indoor snowmen. When I think back to the planning of her party 9 years ago, I realize how much has changed in terms of technology. I did find some ideas on line back then, but the ideas (especially the images) were quite limited. Social media sites like Pinterest have made it so much easier to share great ideas.

For the centrepiece on the table, I made a snowman ice sculpture. I froze water in balloons (with varying amounts of water in each) and then melted the flat side slightly so that the balls would adhere to one another. This worked perfectly. I added the embellishments the same way…..I slightly melted the area I wanted to adhere the eyes and then attached them. I did prepare the snowman ahead and re-froze him on my steps. Very cute!

I really don’t have a picture of them, but I had also used plain white balloons that I decorated with a face and hat so that they all looked like snowmen. They also turned out well.

Here are a few pictures from Eden’s Snowman Party.

You can see Eden’s birthday banner in the background of this picture.
Footprint snowman
Snowman Ice Sculpture
Stuffed snowman
This “handprint” parrot was on a Pirate Party Birthday Banner that I made for Shay. Click the image to see the Pirate Party post.

When preparing for this post, I found so many other great ideas. If I were doing another Snowman party, I might consider including some of these great ideas.

For more creative indoor snowman ideas, visit Amazing Interior Design.

Snowman Party Activities and Games:

As mentioned earlier in the post, I didn’t plan anything for our party as Eden was only 3 and it consisted primarily of adults and older kids. However, being a teacher, I can tell you that there are many great ideas based on a winter/snow/snowman theme. Pinterest is always a great source, but here are a few that I came up with quite quickly. Of course, you would need to pick activities that are age appropriate.

  • pin the carrot on the snowman (you could even use the refrigerator for this as shown in the pictures above)
  • make your own snowman using cornstarch and shaving cream
  • snowman bowling
  • Snowman Game using toilet paper and accessories to dress each other up like snowmen. Check this and other great snowmen ideas out at Fun on a Dime!
  • make snow globes
  • go sledding
  • in a perfect world you could actually go outside and build a snowman with the freshly fallen sticky snow (Ha! Ha!)
  • marshmallow snowman (lick and stick the marshmallows on paper to make a snowman picture)
Snowman Bowling
Make your own snowman.
Snow globes.

There are so many fabulous ideas for this theme, I could go on forever, but I am becoming deeply saddened that I will probably never get to plan another snowman party again. Rats! I would do it SOOOO much better if I had another chance.

Snowman Party Foods:

Snowman Marshmallow Pops
Snowman Milk Bottles
Snowman Popcorn Cups
Snowman Cheese Strings

Snowman Cake and Cupcakes:

For Eden’s party, I opted for a 3D snowman cake. I wanted a really bright white icing and so I used my mom’s recipe for 7-Minute Frosting. I find it a bit sweet now, but it was my favourite when I was a kid. Again, you can search for all kinds of great cake and cupcake ideas, but here is a picture of Eden’s cake. I actually can’t totally remember what I made the hat out of, but I want to say a “wagon wheel”  with chocolate cookies stacked on top??  The hat is very dark in all of the pictures and I made this cake 9 years ago, so I don’t exactly remember. I still have the print out of the recipe and directions, but I know I did a bit of my own thing as well. I tried to find the link, but the page is no longer there. Sorry! Again, this is certainly not one of my better cakes, but I guess it illustrates my growth and development….let’s celebrate that! What drives me the most crazy is that I actually left the finished snowman displayed on a messy plate. I can’t believe I wouldn’t have cleaned-up the icing drips and crumbs ~ what was I thinking?

Eden’s Snowman Cake
Eden’s Snowman Cake

Loot Bags:

I didn’t hand-out any loot bags at the family party we had, but here are a few ideas:

  • a snowman cookie in a cellophane bag (I have made those melted snowman cookies before and they are so cute!)
  • snowman kit (I’ve included the link to mine, but you could make a much simpler version if you had lots to make.)
  • crazy carpet
  • snowman or winter book
  • snowman soup (hot chocolate, marshmallows, candy stick (candy cane), chocolate kisses). There is a little poem to go with this, but it is a bit more geared to Christmas. I am sure it could be modified. I have sometimes made these as little Christmas gifts.
  • the crafts the kids make at the party will be taken home as well (example – a snow globe)
  • you could even put all of the loot in a “snowman’s” hat in lieu of a bag

This is theme is so much fun and the ideas are literally endless. So, if you have a winter birthday party to plan why not plan your own snowman party?

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