Cake decorating party at home. Am I mad?

[TickledOnion]

I enjoy baking and decorating cakes (and watch a lot of cake decorating youtube videos). DD1, soon to be 7yo, has obviously caught the bug and wants a cake decorating party.

I was thinking of hosting it at home on my own! There'll be between 6 and 9 girls including 2 DDs.

My plan is decorating aprons with fabric pens. Then each child gets a 4 inch round cake already covered in white buttercream. There will be piping bags filled with coloured buttercream with different tips and lots of sprinkles and sweets.

I'll do some sandwiches or pizza. Play pin the candle on the cake and some other vaguely cake related games. Not sure whether they should eat their own cakes at the party and take home some of the birthday cake with them or vice versa.

Do you think I am crazy to attempt this on my own? Is there anything else I need to consider?

[TickledOnion]

Bump

[ImYourMama]

I think it sounds fantastic although make sure it's girls that will listen and respect your house, no tearaways. This would have been my idea of heaven at her age!

[plimsolls]

I think it's a great idea. Just make sure there's lots of space, even if that means moving s table into the lounge or something.

I think you should provide cake boxes to take their own creations home. They could decorate these too!

[OhMrDarcy]

I've tried similar with only a couple of girls - I was a bit taken aback that some girls take 30 seconds to decorate a cake, and then they're done, and just eating the sweets. Other things - they will all want the same colour icing, so I would just make sure that they all have exactly the same icing colour, no having to share or using different colours. Same with sweets - same for each child if possible.

When I do this now - like at Christmas time with gingerbread houses and 3 or 4 children - every child has exactly the same house, icing and sweets set out in front of them. This minimises tears and grabbing. I also make use of the icing pen sets from supermarkets - smaller quantities when things go wrong, everyone can have the same and I'm not left with bags and bags of icing.

I've also been to a mixed-age party where there was a cake icing activity set up - it was the parents helping small children who were using this, the older children just dived in, iced a cake using too much icing, icing flowing out over the top/nozzle of the bags everywhere etc, left a mess, ate the sweets and rushed to the next thing with sticky hands.

Ive just read this back and it sounds really negative, sorry!

[TickledOnion]

Thanks for replying. That's what I'm worried about OhMrDarcy. I think all the girls like doing crafty stuff but maybe I should plan so games in case it's all over in 10 minutes.
Good idea about giving each girl the same icing and sprinkles.
I might also rope in my babysitter as an extra pair of hands.

[purpleshortcake]

Sounds like a brilliant party OP. Would a butterfly and flowers theme work if they want something a bit more challenging? (and extend the concentration span!) Edible butterfly toppers and some coloured rolled icing with little petal shaped cutters to fashion some simple (flat) flowers? Ooo post pictures of the finished products! It would be nice for each to take their creation home. Why not make a bigger cake too that they can all help decorate (maybe with their names) to cut on the day?

[TickledOnion]

I've got lots of cutters and leftover fondant but when I've let my DDs play with it in the past it was a bit of a disaster because of the cornflour. It all turned into a bit of an inedible mess.

[Ningnang2000]

Great idea. I did something similar with cupcakes and they took them home as part of their party bags. Some girls were so chuffed others a bit non plussed! You could also do that game where you have to look a t a tray of items and guest what has been taken away but use baking utensils as the items.

[TickledOnion]

Thanks all.
Do you think it would be ok to not serve a meal if the party was 2-4pm?

[Gizlotsmum]

Yeah, for a 2-4 party I would assume no food. If you make your own piping bags you can ensure they each have the same colours and in small amounts ( having spare if needed) small individual pots of sweets/ decorations a fab idea. Plenty of space required tho and at a height that is comfortable for them ( may need chairs for smaller children)

[Eastpoint]

I've done this with older children and was amazed by how some, who aren't normally allowed to cook, just rushed & put as much icing as possible on the cakes & then wanted to eat the icing. The more impulsive children are harder work at this sort of party. Could you buy/make some plain biscuits for them to decorate as well to keep them busy? I think digestives/rich tea work.

[TheOriginalAngel]

Have a look on Pinterest. Search for cupcake wars. I plan to do one for my DDs next year and have started getting things in already. If the finished results are judged they will take more time. The little paint palette plates are cheap and have space for 10 different toppings. An apron and chef hat adds a lovely touch. They keep these as part of the party bag, with the finished cakes.

[TellMeItsNotTrue]

I think someone found fabric aprons for £1 each on amazon recently on another thread, so have a look on there

I would judge them, it will reduce the rushing. You could have baking themed prizes for all of them, with something extra for the winner. Or you could have enough categories for them all to win one (creative, professional, colourful, interesting, most decorations etc) I'm not normally one to say everyone wins, but it is a party