Minnie Mouse Party & DIY Pinata

Time to break my hiatus from blogging.  Would you believe life has gotten busier with 4 kids?!?  Who would've thought...  I spend so many hours a day toting around a heavier-than-she-looks 5-month-old and anytime my arms are free I find myself frantically catching up on housework or half-asleep on the couch watching reruns of Duck Dynasty...  

But now I'm ready for an update.  And I'm going to rewind a couple of months back to Keziah's 7th birthday party.  Every year the party theme is a subject of great debate.  My daughter has some over-the-top ideas about what she would like and she also has a stubborn streak.  But, if I'm strategic, I can convince her (every once in awhile) to go with one of my ideas.  This year, in light of our upcoming trip to Disney, I convinced her to go with a Minnie Mouse theme, which turned out to be one of our simplest themes yet.  

One nice thing about this theme is that you can find tons of Minnie Mouse birthday paraphernalia in all kinds of stores.  We did buy some Minnie Mouse plates and balloons, but we also did a few crafty things to add our own personal touch.  

We wanted all the party guests to have Minnie Mouse ears for the party so that was our first project.  I traced circles on black cardstock (I think I used a plastic kids cup for this size circle) and drew a tab on one side before cutting it out.  My dollar store glue gun came in very handy and these were done in no time.  I just folded the tabs on the ears and glued them to the underside of the hair band.  I used the ribbon to make small bows and glued them to the top of the headband.  

Minnie Mouse ears complete!

I used more black and pink cardstock to create simple goody bags.

The cupcakes were the easiest ever!  With regular size oreos and mini oreos we were able to create the mouse shape.  Some of the ideas on Pinterest showed the addition of a pink bow using fondant, but that just sounded like waaaay too much work.  I think with the pink icing they looked "feminine" enough to pass for Minnie cupcakes (as opposed to Mickey ones).

One thing that Keziah had her heart set on this year was having a pinata at her party.  I really didn't want to buy one so I decided to see if we could create our own.  It was actually pretty simple and I think it turned out really great!

I started off with some large cereal-type boxes rescued from my recycling bin and traced the mouse shape on them using a large dinner plate for the head and a smaller plate for the ears.

Then I cut strips of cardboard to make my head 3-dimensional and started creating my shape with lots of painters tape.

Half-finished and ready to tape the other side on.

My 3D pinata shape is finished.  I left a flap at the top where I could add the candy in later.

Keziah was pretty pleased with the Minnie Mouse shape and next it was time for the fun part - paper mache!

We made a mixture of some white glue and water to make a sort of runny paste and then dipped in our ripped up newspaper - tons of fun for the whole family :)

After we felt it was sufficiently covered in glue and paper, we left our soggy shape to dry and harden.  If you plan to attempt this, give yourself a few days.  It took a day or so to dry and then I did about 3 coats of black paint (crayola craft paint) to get good coverage - leaving it to dry in between coats.

When it was finished I packed that baby full of leftover Halloween candy.  (Side note: I decided to divvy up the candy into snack-sized ziploc bags - one for each guest - to avoid a crazy free-for-all where some kids might end up with a ton of candy while others got none.)

Lastly I taped the top flap closed with packing tape and added a pink bow, which I made by adapting the instructions I found here.

And after we were finished, it was time to destroy our hard work! Erik drilled a couple of holes in the top and hung the pinata from our plum tree in the backyard.  I wasn't sure how it would stand up to the baseball bat test - I didn't want it to come apart with the first hit but I also didn't want it to be an indestructible fortress either.  In the end it worked out perfectly - each of the kids got a couple good whacks and then we let Keziah go to town on it until it broke open completely.

Overall, pinata-making was a pretty simple process and could work with all kinds of shapes - like a number for the birthday boy/girl's age or the first letter of their name...  I think I may have inadvertently started a new birthday tradition... :)

Keziah's Rainbow Party

I'm pretty sure Keziah's been planning her 5th birthday party ever since her 4th one was over last year. And she's changed her birthday theme several times over the past 12 months. As November crept nearer, she was really leaning towards a princess fairy theme. But since we've done either princesses or fairies for the last 2 years, I hoped to convince her to change her mind. After she saw a few of the rainbow party ideas I had pinned on Pinterest, she started to see my vision and get excited!

There were so many great ideas, but I decided to pick just a few ones that were do-able. The first being this rainbow pennant banner. I used scrapbook paper that I already had on hand (thanks to the big Costco pack of paper I bought several years ago) and used this free printable template to trace them. I bought some ribbon at the dollar store and then stapled the paper on in a rainbow pattern. Very easy and super cute. I think I'll hang it in the kids' room now that the birthday party is over.

With the extra paper from the pennant banner, I had an idea for the invitations. (This was an idea I came up with on my own - no Pinterest needed, thank you very much!)


I cut up the coloured paper into strips and glued them onto a piece of folded card stock. Then I free-handed a cloud shape on a piece of white card stock, glued it on the paper and cut any overhanging edges. It was a bit time-consuming since I had to make about 10 for all the little girls Keziah had on her list of party guests.

But I think they turned out pretty cute! I purposely didn't worry about cutting the strips all the same width or lining them up evenly (which was also nice since Keziah wanted to help with the gluing and she didn't have to be too careful). I think it turned out better that they were intentionally a bit crooked.


I also let Keziah address all the envelopes. I suggested writing all the names in rainbow colours and Keziah decided to draw a rainbow on each one.


I found a really cute idea from here for rainbow cupcakes. I made the cupcakes (using rainbow bit cake mix of course!) a few days ahead of time and then froze them. On party day, I died my white icing sky blue, warmed it up a bit in the microwave and let the kids help me with the cupcake dipping. This technique is SO easy that they were able to do all my cupcakes and they all turned out great!


Then came the decorations. I found these sour rainbow belts at my new favourite Dollarama in Aldergrove. I decided to try to make the clouds out of marshmallow cream because it seemed like it would make the clouds extra fluffy and creamy. But it turns out that marshmallow cream = a BAD idea. I should've just stuck with white icing (and I would've had plenty leftover from the icing that I already had, except that I had died it all blue), but you live and you learn, right?


After making a few cupcakes I quickly realized 2 things.

1. Marshmallow cream is really sticky. And I had about 5 different spoons and knives going to try to get the goopy stuff where I wanted it on the cupcake.

2. My rainbow belts were too long. I ended up cutting about an inch off of each one so they wouldn't droop. (But that was OK, because the kids and I were happy to eat those extra inches :)

The finished product:


Another downside to the marshmallow cream was that by the time we got around to actually eating the cupcakes, it had all sort of melted down the sides. Of course the kids didn't notice one bit - and I was just happy I'd thought to take some pictures before they got all melty and drippy.


Rainbow goody bags.


Party snacks.

Another idea I found was a rainbow drink. The week before the party, I made different colours of ice cubes from Kool-aid packs (omitting the sugar that it calls for).


Then you just serve them in a clear cup with clear pop and let the ice cubes melt and make the drink all rainbow-y. It's also nicer than just food-colouring because each ice cube had a different flavour as well.


I also decided to make rainbow fruit skewers. The kids LOVED these. I forgot to take a picture of the ones that I made. (Honestly, they got gobbled up so fast I didn't really have a chance!) But this was my inspiration picture (from here).

Erik totally thinks I went overboard with the party. Like, how much do 5 -year-olds really care about whether their drink and their fruit and their invitation look like a rainbow?

I know, I know.

But I just couldn't really help myself :)

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Last Monday night we had a little celebration for our big boy Silas...

Happy Birthday-ing to Silas:

(Kristi, I sincerely apologize on behalf of your brother for the way this video ended...)

The cake might not look spectacular but it was DEE-licious!

(If I do say so myself.)

I used a banana cake recipe has been a Harder family favourite for a long time. It is so moist and cream-cheesy and delicious! I usually make it in a baking sheet, but this time I just did it in a 9 x 13 pan, then cut it in half and made a layered cake.

I can't remember if I've shared the recipe before, but it's worth sharing again...

BANANA BARS
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 ripe bananas

Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in bananas. Spread into greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

FROSTING
Beat together:
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
2 tsp. vanilla
approx. 3-4 cups of icing sugar

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On Sunday, after a particularly stressful week, we decided we needed to take the kids and get out somewhere. Even though the weather has been miserable (seriously, is it still January??), we decided to brave the outdoors. We've always wanted to venture to the Othello Tunnels just outside of Hope and so that's where we headed. It definitely exceeded our expectations!

We hiked through the old train tunnels - so dark in the middle of some of them that it was a little frightening! And then we came out over top of a bridge with rushing water winding beneath us and towering walls of rock above us. Beautiful! We'll be going back there for sure.

Pausing for a little rock-toss before reaching the tunnels.

The mossy trees reminded me of something out of a Dr. Suess book.

The view as we came out of the first tunnel, looking towards tunnels 2 and 3.

Silas felt a little tentative here. I don't blame him. This narrow bridge was suspended over a 50 foot drop down into a raging river. Silas kept saying, "I see dat big-big water!!"

The things that make a mother's heart pound...

Othello tunnels get a "must-see in BC" from the Toews family!

Now we're looking for the light at the end of the tunnel with the sale of our house. The subject removal has been a little bit stressful and we are hoping and praying that the sale does not fall through! Hopefully I'll have a good update on that in my next post...

All Aboard!

When Micah first told me that he wanted a Polar Express birthday party, I tried to talk him out of it. It seemed like a really random party theme. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how great it would be. I printed out some golden tickets, invited the kids to come in their pyjamas, and served hot chocolate. And having everything decorated all Christmas-y fit in perfectly with the theme. I just might see if I can convince Micah to have a Christmas-related theme every year...

Tickets, please! Tickets!

We started off the party with a foam sticker Christmas craft - a la Target.

I put all the "goody bags" (mini-stockings filled with treats) in a box and wrapped it up at least 15 times. We passed it around, hot-potato-style, and I loved the boys' reactions every time they unwrapped a layer to find even more layers of paper :)

Micah and I created this snowy light-fixture for the party...

Simple cupcakes... but cute :)

"Cheers"-ing their hot chocolate...

For the last bit of the party, we put the Polar Express on and served popcorn twists and juice boxes.

6 boys out of the 9 that we invited were able to come. All of these boys are in Kindergarten together. This was my first time hosting a full-on drop-off-your-kids-and-pick-them-up-later kind of birthday party, and it went pretty smoothly. Not having the other moms around actually made it less stressful (I wasn't so worried about the little details maybe). It did get a little bit wild and crazy by the end, but Erik and I were able to keep everything under control until the parents came back. I call that a success!