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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

Shirley's party advice thread part 2

999 replies

stealthsquiggle · 14/12/2011 09:16

...can I take the liberty of starting another thread, since the other one filled up?

OP posts:
ShirleyKnottage · 06/01/2012 16:20
sitsyou · 06/01/2012 18:23

thanks doctorswife - I have no idea how to do it but will ask DH when he gets home

Blatherskite · 06/01/2012 18:56

I think you'll possibly have to zip a .pdf. I think maybe changing it to a .jpg would be easier

Tinkerisdead · 06/01/2012 19:47

Right leave it with me and i'll try again tomorrow!

Blatherskite · 07/01/2012 21:24

Stop marking your place and come back and share your exciting news with us Shirley!

You said you'd tell us after Christmas.

Is it bad that I've been trying to think up party bags for DS's birthday in March already? Blush

EndoplasmicReticulum · 08/01/2012 19:07

Hello - I was on a thread in Chat talking about parties, mentioned I'm doing a science party soon, and Stealthsquiggle suggested I came over for ideas.

Boy will be seven. We're having the party at home, 7 invitees plus birthday boy and his five year old brother. I have quite a few ideas already, the experiments are not a problem (I'm a science teacher, and used to work in a hands-on-science museum doing demos to hundreds of children!).

Any ideas for food? We're doing glow-in-the-dark jelly for pudding, with ice cream, but I could do with some suggestions for savoury bits. That don't require too much faff, as I am teaching the day of the party until about 2 hours before.....

stealthsquiggle · 08/01/2012 20:33

welcome, Endoplasmic!

I am sure you have more than enough party ideas - since we are a mix of chemists and engineers as a family, we did a mix of "experiments" (we had 25 DC there!) ranging from building structures from coffee stirrers, marshmallows and wotsits, through making shadow lanterns with LED tea lights in (which was cool because it was dark by the time the party finished so they could all admire their work), to making silly putty (glue and borax required) and the cola and mentos thing (we turned it into an "experiment" by testing which sort of dirt cheap fizzy drink went highest Grin) but the unquestioned star of the party was dry ice - we did bubble blowing with it (came from an american party website - fabulous fun) and I used it in the cake - which was a flask, with a glass sunk into the top, into which we put water & dry ice, so that the flask overflowed with "smoke" as it was brought out (needs tall candles so that they don't suffocate, though)

As for food, I did a fairly standard issue birthday tea in the end, but one idea I contemplated and which would work well if you are working on party day was "brown bag lunches" - because everybody knows Wink that all scientists eat lunch at the lab bench from a brown bag - so you could "dress" the table as a lab bench by borrowing lots of stuff from school and have the bags packed before you go to work?

Glow in the dark jelly sounds fab, BTW - how are you doing that?!

OP posts:
Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 20:47

It sounds more like you should be giving us ideas than the other way round Endo! A science teachers science party! It'll be amazing. How on earth do you make Jelly glow in the dark? Tonic water and black lights maybe?

If you've only got 2 hours, I'd be tempted to theme the party bags but not the food and just do standard issue party food like Stealth says or maybe even just order in pizzas which would go down very well with 7 year olds. Maybe hot dogs if you want to cook at home? You don't want to get yourself too stressed out. Science is quite a tough theme for food too.

I'll have a look and see if I can find anything.

Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 21:03

OK, found these bits.. Lots of the suggestions are gross stuff for a "Mad Scientist" type party. Is that what you'd like to go for or is it more straight science?

Have your party guests make colored celery sticks by soaking cut celery in food-coloured water. You can explain capillary action! Serve the celery with cream cheese or peanut butter.

Apparently hot dogs can be soaked in food colouring to make them odd colours too.

Serve drinks in graduated beakers instead of party cups.

Turn grapes, strawberries, blueberries, melon balls etc into molecules using tooth picks.

Put the jelly in petri dishes

I'll keep looking....

Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 21:08

Some party bags ideas too... Popping candy, those little pots of slime, magnifying glass, one of those crystal growing tree kits, mini bath bombs that turn the water coloured or those flannels that are packed up into a hard block and turn soft when immersed in water...?

Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 21:12

Do you have one of those lightening balls you could pop on the table? A test tube rack? You could fill the test tubes with fizzy drink and they'd bubble for a while through the party...

Tinkerisdead · 08/01/2012 21:45

Didnt one of you have colour change drinks idea? Im sure i didnt dream it.

Sits i havent forgotten you, dh took me out for surprise meal with friends as its my b'day this week. But they chose a restaurant half hour for them, hour for us and so i had a 2hr round trip for a chinese buffet. Im in agony from a small head rocking around my pelvis so came to bed. I'll try your cake thing again when dd is at preschool tomorrow.

Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 21:53

Don't you just wipe the inside of the cup with food colouring for the colour changing drinks? Not enough to colour the cup but enough that the clear drink goes coloured when it's poured in? Would work brilliantly in the beakers. If you can't get plastic ones maybe clear plastic cups made up to look like beakers?

sitsyou · 08/01/2012 22:07

it's my birthday this week too doctorswife Grin - happy birthday to us!
don't worry anyway no mad rush, and have been otherwise occupied by poorly DD Sad.
love the science party stuff - I was rubbish at it but still sounds like fun

EndoplasmicReticulum · 08/01/2012 22:24

Yup, glow in the dark jelly is tonic water and UV light. I was thinking of the coloured celery as well - trouble is that natural food colouring really doesn't do the job (I've tried) and not sure I want to tartrazine-up the guests! We're going to blow the candles out by making carbon dioxide (baking soda and vinegar).

Am a bit wary about drinking out of beakers - would need to buy a fresh set! Although did get some plastic "test tubes" in the supermarket, I think they sell them for people to have shots. I did buy some plastic beakers and am going to mark lines on them to look like beakers.

Sounds like I've got lots of the same plans as stealthsquiggle - am planning on diet coke and mentos, fizzy tablets in film canisters, fake snow, slime, elephant's toothpaste etc. We're going to build structures with marshmallows and (uncooked) spaghetti. I've made some "labcoats" by drawing on white t-shirts with Sharpies, am going to borrow some safety goggles from school and offer hair gel to achieve the "mad scientist" look.

I think standard party tea will be the way forward.

Party bags - I got some brown bags, have printed out hazard signs and stuck them on, and was really lucky in our local ASDA just after Christmas as they were selling off the Science Museum science putty for 50p a tin, have also bought them a glowstick each on ebay.

Blatherskite · 08/01/2012 22:32

Hoorah, my GCSE science hasn't failed me after all :) I did Biology to A level but there weren't so many mad experiments in that - am all set for the gross with the disections though! Yuk

EndoplasmicReticulum · 08/01/2012 22:34

I teach A level biology, but thought a dissection at a birthday party might be a bit much. Although my son would probably enjoy it.....

stealthsquiggle · 09/01/2012 09:43

when I saw that post endoplasmic I started contemplating a "dissected frog" cake - how much would 7yo boys love that Grin? FWIW, here is my science party cake (and here with less "smoke")

OP posts:
sitsyou · 09/01/2012 10:19

oh my GOD stealth I have just been looking at all your cakes - I am in awe!

stealthsquiggle · 09/01/2012 10:30

Grin, sitsyou - I have had 9 years practice now and they look better in photos

OP posts:
ShirleyKnottage · 09/01/2012 10:32

Colour change drinks are 2 drops of food colouring in the bottom of the cups, leave to dry and then pour in the lemonade or whatever.

stealthsquiggle · 09/01/2012 10:35

dissected frog cake - I knew someone must have done it Grin

OP posts:
EndoplasmicReticulum · 09/01/2012 20:01

That cake is brilliant. I've seen "how to do a flask cake" online, but have no time, so I'm just going to do an ordinary choccy one.

Blatherskite · 09/01/2012 20:39

You could always get something like this done Endo

Get the text done with the traditional "Happy 7th Birthday DS" but have a picture of something scientific instead? Maybe an explosion or a molecule diagram or the periodic table or even a frog disection :) You'd just need to find a reasonably sized, copyright free image online somewhere.

They're really easy to use, you basically just lay them over the top of the finished cake. They're less than £3 including the postage too.

Blatherskite · 09/01/2012 20:41

This one is nicer but a bit more expensive. About £4

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