Shirley's party advice part 5 - Here to Help - come and say Hi

[Blatherskite]

Didn't notice we'd gotten to the end of the thread!

Tomorrow i'm off to get bits and pieces for the easter egg hunt in the garden. On my list i have knickers and baby socks! And a playmobil person. Im doing blathers lamb. I usually do dauphinoise with lamb so im not sure whether to do it or change. For pudding im gonna make the ultimate chocolate cake here as ive done it loads and its fab with cream as a dessert. But i'm gonna make it look like this

DSis is coming to visit on Saturday and I was considering doing that lamb too :)

You must include that house!!!

I saw your nieces today with two older women. I said "ahh i know this child". The lady then looked at me quizzically so i said "i know h well no actually i know her sister." Then she said how? And i thought oh no how do i explain this? I just said baby group in the end!

It is rather perfect isn't it :)

Hmmm, I wonder who's been babysitting nieces then. DSis is back at work now so you might see a lot of them with DSis's MIL.

There were two of them. L was fractious so one said you take her and i'll take the other cos she's happier!! Ha ha!

Did i dream this or is Dsis a teacher did you tell me? You have to remember when i met her she was about to start mat leave!

Yes she is.

Still not one RSVP from nursery. I'm beginning to wonder if they have actually given them out!! I will check on Friday when my DD next there.
With regard to party bags I was thinking maybe plant pot, some seeds, little make your own windmill...was going to experiment to see if I could personalise the plant pots. Not sure what with as yet.
Any ideas as to anything else I could add or if you think idea any good.
There will also be a 2yr old, and four others aged between 12-18months so I will probably need to think of alternative for them do you think?
Also do you think plant pot idea is ok for 4yr old boys?
Thanks again

DS is 4 and he'd love a plant pot and seeds!

I am going easter tat shopping on Friday afternoon . Can't wait (and I haven't forgotten about popcorn butter)

Plant pots and seeds are perfect for 4yos, BTW.

Great, will pursue that idea some more then.
Any ideas for 2yr old and 12-18month olds?
Sorry for all the questions but really appreciate your responses.

My dd at 2 loved seeds etc but cress as it came up faster and i'd happily grow them for my dd who's 1yr so i think its a winner for all the kids!

Stealth i got my whirleypop. And about 13 types of corn. I popped these mini blue kernels but the actual corn was too small too. Dd1 actually ate it all- a first! So i'm ready to pop a bigger kernal next. I put melted flora on the last batch. It was rubbish!

I'd go for seeds for all. You could give them all stickers and let them decorate their own pots or maybe paint them with blackboard paint and give them a pack of chalks to go with the pot?

DW - it has to be proper butter on popcorn!

I know but i didnt have any and if you use proper butter it makes popcorn wet you have to clarify it. Thats why i neeeeed stealth to find sone butter flavoured grease!

The secret is to eat it quickly so that it doesn't have time to go soggy

I need to build an itinerary of shops for my lovely free time afternoon.

Oh stealth if theres an itinerary feel free to treat me to goodies from Sephora.

Right, it's baking day! Supermarket should be delivering all of my lovely ingredients just after lunch and then I can get going. I'm planning on making 3 sheet cakes/tray bakes then layering them with chocolate fudge frosting. Then - and this is where it will likely go wrong - cutting diagonally down from the top edge of the top cake to the centre of the bottom of the middle cake and placing the wedge I get off on top of the whole lot to create a cake that is 5 cakes high at one side and 1 cake high at the other. Easy right

Then I'll cover the lot in cling film and put it in the cold garage to firm up before cutting it into a 6 shaped mountain tomorrow. Again, easy

I've been and bought and board and box for transporting it to the venue and I have all of the Lego bits, I just need to make some flags.

I used to work for Sephora. You know it's the same stuff as Max factor right?

Yep i did know that( but its their cheap brushes i like) i could tell you some more doubled up brands cos this is my aunt and uncles company here they make the packaging for most big names, and small.

Im so excited to see this cake by the way.

I used to work for a company that made point of sale stuff for a lot of the big brands. I designed stuff for them all and had drawers full of the samples they sent us for working with as it was quite usual for us to get a box of a dozen lipsticks or whatever because it was less hassle to send us one 'unit' than one out of a box.

Generally, you never want to buy a display bottle of perfume as they tend to be full of dye and formaldehyde as perfume discolours and goes clear if left out in the sun.

Never mind being excited about this cake - tell me if my cutting and stacking plan sounds insane first!

Cake 1 is cooked

Cake 2 is almost there

Cake 3 will have to wait until after I've picked up DS and possibly taken him to a taster session at the tennis club if he still fancies going.

Attempted to cover cake board but fondant was dry and the bit that was workable was too small to fit on the board. I don't have any more and am fast running out of time to get some more. Can I cover the board in frosting do you think?

Just realised that if DS does go to tennis, I'm going to miss running too. Might try to talk him out of it, it's not as if we can afford for him to join if he loves it anyway

Cover it with frosting once the cake is on the board. I cant visualise what your trying to do with the cake stacks?

I just tried to make a pirate pillowcase dress but its not wide enough and my sewing machine just died. My bobbin case wont stay in the race cover. It wont lock in, just keeps flying out. What can i do stealth??

I've been and bought extra fondant now. Good old DS decided he wasn't bothered about tennis after all.