Max’s Dinosaur Party

 

Max turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, which of course meant a birthday party. He loves dinosaurs so we went with that as this year’s theme. Max was really into the planning this year and spent ages trawling Pinterest with me looking for ideas. He decided on the green and orange colour scheme, the decorations and insisted on a pinata as one of the games (we also had a very cool pin the tail on the dino made by my talented little sister).

 

 

 

Max also chose chocolate cake for his birthday cake, asked for dino cookies (I used our shortbread recipe and then also covered some in sprinkles to make them more attractive to the kids), jelly, vanilla sprinkle cupcakes and popcorn (which I served in cute cupcake cases that I decorated with dinosaur stickers) along with the usual cheerios, sausage rolls and fruit platters. As has become tradition drinks were served in my gorgeous mini milk bottles from The Pretty Baker, it wouldn't be a party without them.

 

To thank all our guests for coming Max and I recycled some of his baby food jars by adding dinosaurs to the lids, spray painting them and adding jelly beans in cool or warm tones.

 

Max had a great day and is already talking about his next party, at present he thinks he'd like a superhero party! I can’t wait.

A Very Dr Seuss 1st Birthday Party

You might remember back in 2011 I blogged about our gorgeous friend Jess and her cake making venture 'Rosy Cakes', since then Jess has been very busy baking and decorating countless cakes, being Mum her nearly 3 year old Molly and Solomon who turned 1 this week - and was the reason for the amazing Dr Seuss themed party Max and I went to last Saturday!

As you can see Jess not only has a flair for making and decorating amazing cakes but for creating fabulous parties! I loved how balanced everything was, the different heights of everything on the table and how the colour scheme of red, white and blue ran through everything from the blue lemonade to the families co-ordinated outfits. The backdrop for the food table was simple but so effective!

Jess made delicious chocolate cupcakes with bright blue buttercream, cake pops and marshmallows (dipped in white chocolate and covered in blue sugar crystal) on gorgeous blue and white paper straws, there were also some healthy choices with popcorn and grapes served in paper cupcake cases with Dr Seuss stickers on the front. I also loved the mini milk bottles which were jazzed up with some bakers twine, paper and more Dr Seuss stickers!

My Max and Jess' Molly will be turning 3 in a few months time and this party has me feeling inspired to get on with planning Max's next party - which I have been informed will be dinosaur themed! What are your favourite kids party themes?

If you want to keep up with what Jess is working on check out her Facebook page, I am constantly blown away with what she comes up with!

If we didn’t have birthdays,
you wouldn’t be you.
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you do?
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you be?
You might be a fish!
Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob!
Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of
hard green tomatoes.

Or worse than all that…
Why, you might be a WASN’T!
A Wasn’t has no fun at all.
No, he doesn’t.

A Wasn’t just isn’t.
He just isn’t present.
But you… You ARE YOU!
And, now isn’t that pleasant!

- Dr Seuss

A huge thank you to Jess for sharing her photos with us and a big happy 1st birthday to wee Solomon xox

Meet The Pretty Baker!

We have been really lucky to have some wonderful sponsors supporting the work we do here with our blog.  To say thank you, show our appreciation and highlight to you how awesome they are, we are going to have a couple of posts sharing a little bit more about some of the business that have jumped on board to help with the Baking Makes Things Better journey. Last month we posted about The Vintage Table and today we want to let you know all about The Pretty Baker, if you haven’t checked out out all the amazing supplies available on Lisa’s too pretty website, you must!

Who runs (are the people behind) ‘The Pretty Baker’?

Me!  My name is Lisa Courtney. I’m a mum to three little monkey’s; 7, 5 and 2, so you’ll often hear yells of “Muuuuum” in the background when I’m fielding calls, posting orders and kid-wrangling at the same time.

 

Where did the idea for your business come from?

It really all began when I had my first daughter (how cliché is that?!).  After scouring the net for her parties I discovered there was a need for nostalgic party supplies and things that are...well pretty of course!  A friend and I started the search for products we knew other mums would love too and it has just grown from there.

You have an amazing range of products what would you say is your favourite product?

Oooh this one is a tricky one for me, I find it hard to choose just ONE thing.  I would have to say our Ice It Pretty! Icing Kit.  It gives the average home baker confidence to take their cakes and cupcakes to the next level.  I literally use it every few days.  The jumbo tips make icing a breeze and we include our favourite icing recipe so your creations will taste as good as they look.

What are your favourite things to bake?

I definitely bake a LOT of cupcakes but I actually really enjoy making pies.  There’s something therapeutic about making pastry I’m sure!My ‘go to’ cake would be a white chocolate mud cake with Italian meringue frosting.  I like to add freeze dried fruit powders to my icings too.  They look good, are natural and taste amazing.

 

What do you most enjoy about your business?

Gosh there are many things I love about The Pretty Baker.  It never feels like work for a start so that’s a bonus.  I find it exciting to watch it grow, I love interacting with my lovely customers – especially when they’re showing me what they created with our products.
It works around my family so I get the best of both worlds really.  I can play ‘Mum’ but have my own ‘work time’ when no one needs peanut butter removed from their hair.

Where do you go for baking inspiration and ideas?

Occasionally I’ll search the web but I’m pretty old school and love a great baking book.  Some of my favourites would be Hummingbird, Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery, Sprinkle Bakes, The Caker, and Home Baked by the trusty Women’s Weekly of course.  I also love to try out new cafes and bakeries, there are so many talented and crafty people putting their own spin on old favourites.

You have thrown your fair share of parties , what is your favourite?

Well this is even harder to choose just one!!  I honestly LOVE kids parties, it’s one of my favourite things to do.  Even when I’m stressing about it, the cake is failing and the cookies haven’t been started (we all have those days) I still love it.  Seeing them come together and watching all the kids get really into the theme is just awesome.  It helps too that I have some super talented friends, one of which is a party planner that could create a fabulous theme out of chicken wire and feathers.  It’s a good trade – I bake cakes for her parties and she helps make mine look great!
I think my favourite would be our most recent.  The theme was “School Days” to celebrate our daughter Meg’s fifth birthday.  Lots of The Pretty Baker products came to the party (so to speak) including cute apple picks for the cupcakes.  A bookworm cake, pencil place settings, individual lunch boxes filled with delicious treats and paper planes for the kiddies to throw made it a really fun celebration.  The little guests were thrilled to take home school stationery supplies in our gorgeous treat bags.  (You can check out even more parties here on The Pretty Baker’s blog!)

Your products add the special touch to events, what are your 3 must have decorations?

Jumbo balloons always make a great visual impact with little effort required.  Tissue fans in matching or clashing colours.  Mini milk bottles for drinks, flowers or straw holders - so versatile!

Do you have a recipe you’d like to share?

Easy Peasy Rhubarb, Strawberry and Apple Pie

Ingredients:

8 stalks of rhubarb

1 orange

300g of frozen or fresh strawberries

2 Granny Smith apples

¼ cup of sugar

Freeze dried strawberry powder

Sweet short crust pastry (make your own, or store bought is fine!)

Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C on fan bake. 

Chop rhubarb into 3 cm chunks.  Peel and chop apples into chunks.  Add all your fruit, sugar and juice of one orange to a small pot and simmer till slightly soft.  Set aside to cool slightly. 

Roll your pastry out between two sheets of baking paper (about 1 cm thick) and place in a 22 cm tart tin.  Blind bake for 10 minutes. 

Fill your pastry case with fruit filling.  Top with second sheet of pastry (or get fancy and create a lattice effect).  Brush the top of your pie with a little melted butter or egg wash and sprinkle sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder on top. 

 

Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Serve with vanilla ice cream, or a dash of cream drizzled on top.

For more information and to keep up to date with The Pretty Baker, check out The Pretty Baker on facebook or their website. 

Thanks Lisa for answering our questions and all the support you have given us!

Meet The Vintage Table…

We have been really lucky to have some wonderful sponsor supporting the work we do here with our blog.  To say thank you, show our appreciation and highlight to you awesome they are, we are going to have a couple of posts sharing a little bit more about some of the business that have jumped on board to help with the Baking Makes Things Better journey.

First up, we have The Vintage Table.  The Vintage Table was actually our very first sponsor.  They  are an Auckland based business and is a boutique hire company specialising in vintage china and tableware perfect for a high tea, party, wedding or corporate event with a vintage twist.  Their collection includes vintage china trios, tiered cake stands, hollow-stem champagne saucers, glass candy jars, silverware and cutlery, vintage vases, tea lights, candelabra and embroidered linen.  We’ve been lucky enough to borrow items from their gorgeous range from time to time too!

Who is behind the business ‘The Vintage Table’?

Me (Amanda Fergus), plus a few helpers here and there!  I've been really lucky to have friends and family help out as the business has grown.  I have 3 young daughters (who are great at matching china patterns), and my background is in marketing and natural health.

 

Where did the idea for your business come from?

I collected china and glassware for a few years, and my collection kept growing.  When my eldest daughter started school my husband told me I needed to stop buying china or do something with it! That was the start of The Vintage Table...

You have an amazing range of gorgeous collection of vintage china, what would you say is your favourite product/piece?
My favourites change as stock changes, but at the moment it would be Royal Albert Lady Carlyle trios, and a set of Crown Lynn swans.

What are your favourite things to bake?

If I'm honest, I do the cooking and Scott bakes!  His mum wrote and illustrated children's cookbooks, so he grew up surrounded by it.  I do love to bake, but the clean up puts me off.

 

What do you most enjoy about your business?

The amazing people I've met and worked with over the last few years - chefs, event planners, stylists, bakers, photographers, and loads of lovely brides and customers.

 

Where do you go for baking inspiration and ideas?

Blogs, Pinterest, beautifully styled and photographed cookbooks.

Your pieces add the special touch to events, what are your 3 must have decorations?

Vintage china is great for events - it's there to be used and enjoyed, but also adds colour and interest. I also love flowers and bunting.

You have been involved in so many gorgeous events, what has been your favourite?

There have been lots!  A gorgeous wedding in April 2012 at Highwic would be one of my favourites.  We worked with Little Wolf Catering, Raj Tent Club, and Claudia from Style Etc.  It looked amazing and was so much fun.

Do you have a favourite recipe you’d like to share?
Here’s a recipe for Chocolate Pudding.  This is a quick and easy family favourite.

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
½ milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sauce:
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 ¼ cups water

Method:
Put the butter in a small bowl.  Microwave on high for 40 seconds.
Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and cocoa into a mixing bowl.  Whisk in the milk, vanilla essence and melted butter.  Mix well.
Spread the mixture into a 20cm square baking dish.
Make the sauce by mixing the brown sugar, cocoa and water in a bowl.  Pour it over the pudding.  Don’t stir it!
Cover the dish loosely with wax paper.  Cook in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Stand for 10 minutes then serve.
*This recipe comes from the book ‘Jumbo Junior Cook’ by Mary-Pat Fergus (Amanda’s Mother in Law!)

For more information and to keep up to date with The Vintage Table, check out The Vintage Table on facebook, twitter or their website.  Alternatively, you can contact Amanda on 021 705 822 or via email: amanda@thevintagetable.co.nz

Thanks Amanda for answering our questions and all the support you have given us!

 

It’s A Party Y’all!

If you have been following our blog for a while you will know that I am big on parties, I love birthdays (Christmas, Easter – anything that calls for gatherings, decorations and food!) and having Max makes birthdays so much cooler. It wasn’t long after last year’s ‘Robots and Rockets’ party that we decided on a cowboy party for Max’s second birthday, I pinned up lots of cute ideas which helped me put the party together.

I decided on a red, blue and bright green colour scheme – these colours come out of the tee-pee we got Max for Christmas which was at the centre of our ‘campsite’ area and was surrounded by hay bales which helped to set the tone/look of the party. Other decorations included some balloons in our colour scheme with the addition of a cow print balloon with each bunch. I made two buntings, one to go along the railing of our deck out of red and blue bandanas and one made from an old coffee sack which I painted Max’s name onto and placed on the food table. I also made some cacti and directional signs made from old moving boxes and painted with test pots from our local paint shop.

In terms of food I made cowboy cookies, red velvet cupcakes (the cute gingham cupcake cases are from The Pretty Baker, which is also what was used to make the bunting on the cake – they have an amazing selection of things that will make your party that much more special) and smores pops, we put together fruit platters, made fairy bread shaped like cacti and Marmite sandwiches in the shape of cows. We served savouries in the form of cheerios, sausage rolls, chicken nuggets and wedges with sour cream and bacon. I served popcorn in cute recycled wood cones, they are from PopRoc Parties as are the crates. Drinks were all served out of mini milk bottles with stripped paper straws and wrapped with bakers twine.

The cake was a four layer easy peasy chocolate cake sandwiched together and covered with vanilla butter cream. I used black fondant to cut out splotches so it created a cow pattern and placed M&M’s around the base.

We decided on a pick n mix your own loot bag station it was fun for the adults and the kids and much more cost effective than buying little toys to thank each of the kids for coming.

For fun we set up a photo booth using a cheap white sheet and our clothes line, there was a shooting range where the kids used a water gun to shoot tin cans, a watering hole for paddling in and some home made hobby horses using this template.

Max seemed to have a great day which is the most important thing and I as happy with how everything turned out. Now I’m thinking about next year! What are your favourite themes for kids parties? Leave us a comment here or on facebook to let us know.