Eyrleigh's Fall Nature Party

A few days ago, I blogged about Rylynn's birthday party...in July!  In keeping with the catching up theme, I'm blogging today about Eyrleigh's birthday...in November....in, you guessed it, February.  Oh, well!

This past August, our family traveled to Glacier National Park in Montana and during that trip I decided Eyrleigh's party was going to incorporate hiking somehow!  I wanted a party idea that was fun for both boys and girls as many of Eyrleigh's good friends are little boys.  We have been super lucky with great weather for her birthday every year and I was counting on that this year.  One of the county parks near us has a mixed paved and dirt wooded trail system and I knew it would be perfect for a hiking themed party.  I sprang the $100+ to reserve the pavilion to guarantee I had the space to myself and in the event of rain. 

I love tinyprints.com and changed out the words in this Thanksgiving dinner invitation to fit what we needed.  link to invitation  I had done a similar thing for Eyrleigh's second birthday (turkey themed) and plan to use a 4th of July invitation for Rylynn's second birthday. 

 As kids arrived we had them decorate their prepared bags for the scavenger hunt.  I bought large brown paper bags with handles at Hobby Lobby,  tied a pencil to them with ribbon, and glued this awesome nature scavenger hunt page I found online.  printable link here

 After the kids had their bags, they moved on the other stations around the pavilion.  One station was "Make your Own Trail Mix".  In the picture you can see I used large roasting pans to hold trail mix options.  Each child was given a small bag and could scoop in their own choices for their mix.  I had pretzels, mini-marshmallows, raisins, dried bananas and pineapple, M & M's, and Cinnamon Chex.  I left out any nuts as we had 3 kids with severe peanut allergies.

The other station was the bird feeder station.  I had seriously considered having the kids paint birdhouses but this was cheaper and had less clean-up.  I saved toilet paper tubes for a few weeks and had enough for each child.  I purchased soynut butter (see the above note on peanut allergies) to spread on the toilet paper tubes.  Then the kids rolled their covered tube in bird seed.  They sell butcher's string at the grocery store but I couldn't find it.  I asked the butcher where it was and he just gave me some for free.  I used about a foot and a half per kid.  They simply put the string through the tube and when they got home, tied the whole thing to a tree branch.  Any mess could be swept into the grass as birdseed and nut butter are highly biodegradable!

All the things we needed!

I included a few pictures of Eyrleigh and I making a few more at home to show how totally doable and surprisingly mess free it was.  I used cookie sheets to contain the birdseed and other than a little nut butter on kid's hands, it was really clean.  I had each kid put their feeder in a baggie right away to take home.  Probably the most notable thing from these instruction pictures is that when I go back to work, I need to buy jeans that fit!

Spread the nut butter all over the tube with a knife

Roll the tube covered with nut butter in birdseed

Put a piece of string in the tube and tie to a nearby tree.

After the kids had time to decorate their bags and make their trail mix and a bird feeder, it was off on the scavenger hunt.  We had walked the trail beforehand and since these kids were mostly 4 and 5, their parents came along.  The trail was about a mile and we took about 30-45 minutes to walk it while looking for our items.  The trail passed a pond, passed through a field, and went up through pretty heavy woods.  Richard led the group and I played sweeper.  Considering the kid's ages and the distance, everybody did great!  Honestly, I heard more comments from the adults about getting tired!  The kids loved it!  The hunt kept them distracted and there was plenty to look at.

The best part about doing a party at the park is the playground.  You don't have to worry about kids who finish the activities sitting around and getting bored.  There is entertainment right there.  We saved the "cake" for the end!  I had no interest in worrying about a large cake and the trash of plates, forks, and napkins.  I considered cupcakes but with close to 30 kids, I did not want to be up all night making them.  Initially, I thought about making s'mores but the whole fire and kids thing made me nervous.  I finally settled on mock s'mores.  I sandwiched marshmallow Fluff and chocolate frosting between two graham crackers and wrapped it in tinfoil.  It was perfect!  My one suggestion would be to make these treats right before the party.  We did and I was very glad!  I tried a leftover one the next day and the graham cracker was mushy.  These treats were easy to transport and perfect for kids who wanted to run off to the playground anyway.  We put a candle in a  jumbo marshmallow on a graham cracker smeared with chocolate frosting for Eyrleigh to blow out when we sang.  This party was relatively inexpensive compared to last year's pj extravaganza and just as much fun.  I was much less stressed since 75 people did not descend on my house!  The kids loved it and several friends told me they were copying the ideas in their own parties or with their children's classes.  That makes it a huge success in my book!

Tardy Peter Rabbit Party

 Blogging about your child's birthday party is much like giving wedding gifts.  You have a year to get it done!  Rylynn's birthday is in July and it is only February so I am well within the time frame:)
Both of my children's first birthday themes have been based on their nursery theme.  Eyrleigh had butterflies, hence a butterfly birthday.  Rylynn had Peter Rabbit and so I knew that had to be the theme of her first birthday party. 
I could not have chosen a better theme for a simple party on the road.  This year we were up at my parent's home in New Hampshire for Rylynn's birthday so I had to have simple decoration and food ideas.  My parents live in a pretty rural area so any party supplies had to be brought with us or purchased from the very limited selection at the small grocery store near them.
*While I'm mentioning it, you may notice the pictures for this blog entry are much better than any other post on this blog....there is a reason for that.  My incredible friend, Devi Knapp, travelled with us to New Hampshire and took these and hundreds of other incredible pictures.  If you live in the Atlanta area, check her out at www.facebook.com/DeviKnappPhotography.  She would be an incredible photographer for any event!*
I brought along just a few things for decoration, hoping to find some great additions at my mom's house.  I really hit the jackpot.  I know my mom keeps a lot of stuff but I arrived to see a  tablecloth she was putting away with vegetables on it.  It was perfect with a green table runner down the middle.  Mom had an old red metal watering can that we filled with flowers and the Peter Rabbit stuffed animal and book I'd brought completed the centerpiece.
   The best thing I found that tied this party together and cost me all of $5 on Amazon was a Peter Rabbit Party Book.
 http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Rabbits-Party-Beatrix-Potter/dp/0723243670
It's a delightful book with everything you would need for a simple small party.  It has invitations, place cards, puppets, and masks, as well as creative thematic suggestions for food and games.  I bought it used and nothing had been removed or damaged at all.  I included two close up shots of the masks cut out and an invitation and place card.  Just adorable!

I decided to do a brunch as the party crowd was pretty small, that's all of us minus our amazing photographer in the photo above!  I kept the brunch menu simple.   I made two fruit salads, one berry and one melon.  I had yogurt and granola in separate bowls and a frittata.   We had a selection of juices and coffee for those of us who had been up a little late cutting out masks and lettering cards!

 Every birthday party needs a cake, even at ten o'clock in the morning so we stayed thematic with carrot cake.  I seriously debated making a cake.  Devi has actually made and decorated cakes for a bakery.  In the end, we decided the cakes at Hannaford's looked really good and would take a whole lot less time!  We bought some icing to decorate them and called it a day!    They were really good too.  The smaller one made for a good size smash cake just for Rylynn.  I love the picture of her and her daddy enjoying it together.   Happy Birthday, my baby girl!

Super Bowl XLVII- The Desserts Win!

A small sampling of the Super Bowl desserts...complete with napkins I bought on clearance years ago

 The problem with posting your ideas for themed Super Bowl desserts after the big game is this...Will these two teams ever play each other again in the Super Bowl so I can duplicate this idea?   Chances are slim but I suppose it's possible. 
Last night's game didn't hold a lot of intrigue for me.  I'm a sports fan but two weeks before I was entertained by the possibility that my home team (the New England Patriots) and the team of my home (the Atlanta Falcons) would play tonight.  After the disappointment of neither team making it, I was a bit underwhelmed by the thought of watching two teams I've never had a particular affinity to.

Lord Baltimore "Whoopie" pies

 My solution?  Have fun with the desserts if you don't care about the game!  My dear friend had invited me to her dad and brother's home theatre store (think t.v. in the restroom kind of place) to watch the game and told me to bring dessert for about 25.   I always over bake/overcook so I couldn't just make 50 of one thing.   I decided to go with football shaped brownies as a shoe-in.  Everybody likes brownies and it's easy enough to pipe white laces on top.


Pardon the awful pun:  San Francisco Rice Krispie Treats

I wanted a little more creativity for the other options so I went to the hometowns of both teams.  I googled "classic Baltimore/San Francisco desserts" and immediately found Lord and Lady Baltimore cakes on the All recipes wevsite.  Both were large and intricate cakes, not exactly appropriate for a football buffet so I modified the recipe and got the cake sandwiches you see in the picture.  I made the cake as directed but instead of putting the batter in traditional cake pans, I spread it out on foil lined cookie sheets like a jelly roll cake.  I modified the bake time and cut out football shapes once the cake had completely cooled.  I then mixed the traditional filling ingredients, maraschino cherries, slivered almonds, crushed macaroons, lemon juice, and orange peel with a store bought can of frosting and sandwiched it between to pieces of the cake.  Voila!http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lord-baltimore-cake/



And the ace in the hole...Football Brownies!

 For San Francisco, I never found a "classic" recipe that made me think of San Francisco, though someone mentioned Ghirardelli chocolate being from the Bay area at the party.  I'll admit I went a little cheesy and am in no way claiming Rice-a-Roni as San Francisco's contribution to culinary greatness but you have to admit you get it....San Francisco Rice Krispie Treats with laces piped in red and gold.  They made great finger food for a party too. 
So Baltimore may never beat San Francisco in the Super Bowl again but they sure were fun desserts to create!