kids Archives - Page 28 of 31

Luau birthday party – Grass skirts, pineapples, and rock hula, oh my!

birthday parties, birthdays, cake decorating, kids, parties | October 14, 2010 | By Jessi

This picture mostly sums up the luau party we threw for L.

Actually, I suppose this picture of the pool and them dancing the hula *really* sums it up but that’s not food. After moving into a house with a pool, everyone was excited to have a swimming party. What better way than to have a luau theme? We even considered getting a pig for pig roast but were a little too late in our planning. Maybe next year!

Anyway, for what we did do, we focused on “summer barbecue” food, and themed music, grass skirts, punch, etc. Food included barbecue pork sandwiches, potato salad, chips, and other foods I’ve long since forgotten, oops. Oh right, and fresh pineapple, mostly for use in the punch.

Hawaiian punch, Sprite, chunks of frozen orange juice, fresh pineapple chunks, and ice. No measurements…just throw it all in.

The gifts weren’t wrapped in wrapping paper, but instead, split up as much as possible and distributed among lots of little plastic bags with surf boards on them.

And those grass skirts? Those were actually from a second table runner that we cut to fit each kid. They loved it.

There were other little things that really pulled the party together that you can’t necessarily see. I caught a package of 100 plastic stir sticks for $.75 there were also a huge hit. Simple, but the kids got creative and used multiple ones as chopsticks to get out the pineapple chunks in the punch.

Playing hula music seems pretty basic, but then they got crazy with it. They started shouting out variations, starting with “rock n roll style hula.” Can you tell which is the camera hound?

Tip – Don’t be afraid to serve food outside of just pizza, chips, cake, and ice cream. Even with picky eaters, so long as there’s a bit of variety, they’ll usually eat something. And parents expect kids to be loading up on cake and ice cream, so even if there’s a kid or two who doesn’t really like what’s served, it’s all good. We usually know most of the kids at the parties so can plan accordingly anyway, and usually have a few backups, just in case. Fortunately, the kids usually get excited to have different foods than what their parents cook. In this case, many had never had fresh pineapple at all and thought it was “so cool!”

Tip – If you’re going to do homemade food, choose things you can make in advance so you’re not scrambling right before or during the party.

Tip – For summer parties, having icy pops/freezies/small popsicles on hand can be a nice snacky item to have without costing a fortune or adding too much sugar.

Extra large pocky wands (chocolate covered pretzel rods or sesame sticks)

birthday parties, birthdays, chocolate, decorating, kids, parties, pretzels, quirky creations, snacks, tips | October 10, 2010 | By Jessi

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That’s what the kids described them as anyway. The teen loves pocky but it’s not easily accessible where we live. Basically, she used to be able to get it at the bowling alley, but it’s not exactly cheap, she and her friends aren’t exactly rich, and they aren’t huge bowlers either.

She’d been begging me to try to make pocky myself, but I got really lucky and this turned out tasting like it instead. I was expecting them to taste like chocolate covered pretzels, but turns out, those are large sesame sticks….and are much softer than hard pretzel rods. I broke several just while trying to dip them in chocolate.

I had made these as a last minute appetizer to hold the kids over at a birthday party. The food wasn’t going to be ready for a little while longer, but I knew everyone was hungry. I don’t even buy sprinkles, but a friend of the family had passed a box of stuff she’d never use on to us, and there was a tiny container of those lovely pink, red, and white sprinkles up there. Perfect!

Ultimately, they were a *huge* hit, especially for such a last minute idea. I scored a million extra bonus points for them tasting like pocky and the begging for more has increase 10x. Unfortunately, sesame sticks were a random purchase at a store that had them as a feature item, and I haven’t seen them since. Maybe I could find them online?

Tip – Turn these into a themed item. Have a Harry Potter fan? Skip the sprinkles. Got a magician on board? Dip the whole thing in dark chocolate and just the tip into white chocolate. Get creative!

Tip – Whether you’re using fragile sticks like this or normal pretzel rods, lay them across a 9×13 pan (or an appropriate size depending on the size of yours). Avoid letting the chocolate end touch the pan as much as possible to avoid sticking. Toss them in the freezer for a quick set so your treat will be ready in a matter of minutes.

Canned fish doesn’t have to be boring

fish, kids, lookalikes, quirky creations, recipes | October 6, 2010 | By Jessi

2 comments

Just make it extra fishy!

This is a great example of something that doesn’t take any extra time at all to make fun. Take canned salmon, some crackers, and an egg….mix it up….and instead of forming into plain ol’ circle patties like the one on the right, shape it into fish instead.

Easy peasy! Or….fishy wishy? Fishy delish-y!

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