Daniels 3rd Birthday - Racing Car Party

Daniel requested months ago that he would like a racing car party, he loves Rory The Racing Car & Disney Cars. He also loves just playing with cars in general.

I found lots of great ideas on Pintrest for Daniels birthday party & wish that I could have used them all, however as well as wanting to spend a fortune, time was also limited. So in the end we made:

• a large road / track from masking tape
• road signs from wrapping paper tubes
• traffic light jelly
• car shaped biscuits
• colouring station

(click on links for more details)

We were very lucky that we were able to set up in the hall the night before. So after getting the boys to bed & making sandwiches with help from my husband & mum, I set to work on creating the masking tape road. I made sure that all the tables & chairs were in place then went as big as I could. The zebra crossing  went down well, with kids using it to cross. I think the dashed line in the middle really adds to the effect, however when it came to packing up time my husband really wished I hadn't gone to the effort!

We were able to use the toys belonging to the toddler group at the hall, so used all of their ride-ons & cars, with a couple of ours as well. We also borrowed their car play mats & garage, to set up a quieter corner.

Colouring station (later turned in to the eating table)

The boys stayed at our house with Nanny while I was setting up & were so excited & surprised when they came in! I think they would have been happy with the party had it just been them!

When Daniels friends arrived they all joined in. For the most part they all played on the road, with a few breaking off to colour or play with the garage. We had to tear them away to play pass the parcel.

We had a morning party 11-1 so the boys wouldn't be too tired, but it also meant that by 12 everyone was ready for the food. After eating the kids all went back to the cars & I got our bubble maker out for the last 5 minutes (only because i had packed it, not because they were bored).

Daniel & his best friend enjoying the food

I cheated & bought the cake from Asda

I think home time came around too soon for everyone, especially Joseph & Daniel. Tho the party bags did help to soften the blow.

I enjoyed Daniels party, only having 12 kids helped keep it quite calm & having a theme made planing easier. I also really liked that it was early in the day meaning we had the whole afternoon to enjoy & leftover party food for tea!

Now to start planning Joseph's 5th birthday, he has requested a Halloween party...

x Jo x

P.s. I'm happy to answer any questions, please leave a comment & I will get back to you ASAP

Road Signs - For Daniels Party

For Daniels racing car birthday party I spent ages scouring pintrest for ideas, I loved these road signs so saved up my wrapping paper tubes from Christmas. I attached them to some boxes by cutting approx 1" up the tube all the way around then used duct tape to secure. It this point I painted them using the boys ready mix paint. My husband then took one look at my slightly wonky sign posts and said that they would fall over (I secretly agreed) & that I should have cut a whole in the box to push the tube through before taping! Along with some cursing, this is what I did along with some hot glue for good measure. 

For the crossing sign I tried using white paint on the stripes however it didn't cover very well even after 2 coats, so I ended up using double sided tape to attach white paper. I really wish that I had made my stripes thinner so I could have fitted a couple more on. 

To make the signs I used goggle images to look for the signs I wanted then used word to stretch them as big as I could fit on a4 paper. I then printed them out twice so that they would end up double sided. I then used prit-stick to glue them on to some cereal box card & once cut out some double sided tape to attach to the post. For the traffic light I used a large orange juice carton, again painted black & stuck on circles of coloured paper. To attach it I used my original method of cutting the tube & duct tape, this time with some added hot glue for good measure!

For Daniels Easter bonnet we had used craft foam to look like grass & tissue flowers. As I was looking to re-home the bonnet from the shelf in the kitchen, I took this opportunity to re-use it as grass at the bottom of a couple of the signs. On the party day I added a yellow balloon to the top of the crossing sign, to look like a light on top. I used double sided & normal tape, it only lasted about 20 mins before it kept falling off, so I wouldn't bother again!

I'm really glad I made the effort to make the signs as they really added to the overall effect. We left the signs at the hall for the toddler group to enjoy & they are still going strong a couple of weeks later!

x Jo x

Car Shaped Biscuits

So to go with the traffic light jelly, I made these yummy car shaped biscuits. As I cheated & bought a Lightning McQueen cake from asda, I felt something home made was required! I bought the cookie cutter from e-bay a while ago, it came from china so was really cheap but did take a while to arrive. I was originally hoping to use the cutter for sandwiches at the party, like the ones I made for the boys letter C lunch, however it would have been to waste full as I could only get 1 car from each slice of bread.

Having never made biscuits from scratch before, I made a couple of test batches to make sure they would turn out ok. Firstly I used this sugar cookie recipe, even though I let it chill in the fridge the mix didn't firm up. I either made a mistake when measuring or my American measuring cups that I found on e-bay ain't very accurate. The mix was so soft it as impossible to transfer a cut shape, so in the end I just used my fingers to make round biscuits. These actually tasted amazing, the boys couldn't get enough of them, so I will defiantly make them again.

Then I tried this no egg sugar cookie recipe. As its a UK blog I was more confidant about getting the measurements right. I was a bit worried at first as the mix was very firm & crumbly however after some kneading it formed a ball It was so firm after the recommended 30mins chilling time, I had to let it get back to room temp before I could roll it out. With plenty of flour (from my new flour shaker, its the little things!) the car shapes were easy to cut & transfer to a baking sheet. These biscuits also tasted amazing & the boys loved them even more due to the shape. They were very pleased to find them in their pre-school lunch box.

So this was the recipe I baked a couple of days before the party. I decorated them the next day half dipping them in melted chocolate & using chocolate buttons & smarties to make the wheels. I saved the greaseproof paper from baking them to put them on whilst the chocolate was setting (a few minutes in the fridge). I needed quite a bit of chocolate so that it was deep enough to dip the biscuits in. I had enough left over to make 8 chocolate cheerio cakes!

x Jo x

Traffic Light Jelly

After seeing traffic light jelly on pintrest, I knew it would be perfect for Daniel's party. I found these clear plastic ups at Stax, as lots of places I tried only had white in a small size, so i snapped these up when I saw them! My Mum wasn't convinced that I would have any success in layering my jelly & I was a little worried after several trifle fails in the past. So here are my top tips for layering jelly:

• Make Jelly slightly stronger than normal (approx 7/8ths of a pint)
• Let it set for at least 3 hours before adding another flavour
• Let the Jelly get to room temp before pouring it on to a set layer
  
  
  
  

  

  Joseph enjoying his jelly

I made this jelly the day before the party & was really pleased with the effect. If I was to make these again I would add a little green food colouring  to the lime jelly as the green was a bit pale. Also while looking for the original idea on pintrestto give credit (which i cant find!) I saw that someone used custard for the middle layer!

It went down well at the party, but the boys were pleased that there was a couple left over for them to enjoy at home. I will be posting more details from Daniels 3rd Birthday party soon.

x Jo x

P.s. Don't forget to enter our giveaway.

Shape Bath

After our other fun baths & especially when the boys managed to make a robot during our Christmas bath, I decided to use up all the offcuts of craft foam, so that the boys could make their own pictures/creations. We used the offcuts from other baths, our Easter bonnets & from a couple of foam  baskets the boys made at an Easter craft event.

The boys ended up making a row of houses with grass, but also enjoyed collecting & pouring the shapes from jugs.

They also used the shapes for some body art!

We will save these for another bath or 2 then might use for some cut & stick!

We are now back form our holiday & my baby is now 3. So keep a look out for some posts on his party & our holiday.

x Jo x

 

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Outside Fun

 We have really been enjoying the spring weather & have been taking the opportunity to get out and about to our local parks, feed the duck's & even had the chance to play in a school playground. Its been great for them to get the chance to work on their gross motor skills especially balance. 

It was actually the first time that i have taken them to feed the ducks on my own, I'm normally too scared that they will fall in, so make sure that Daddy is with us to perform rescues!

 x Jo x

P.S. don't forget our giveaway is still active.

F is for...

This week fortnight we have been looking at the letter F. We had so much Fun with Fish in our Small World Aquarium. We also had a go at painting magic fish which wasn't so successful!

 We pulled out our FP Little People Farm, which hadn't been out in a while so got lots of attention, it was even left out for a few days so they could revisit it. It worked well having our Ikea car mat out as well to add to the play. 

I really love seeing the boys play together. Its happening more & more these days and it really makes me realise that a small age gap was a good idea, its only taken 3 years to see that!

We did a few colouring sheets, however as the weather has been nice we have been outside more.

 

We also got our frog figures out - I came downstairs in to the lounge to find that Joseph (4.5) had lined them all up on Daddy's desk. These frogs might make an appearance in a sensory box soon...

x Jo x

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