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!

a) I'd say you need an activity to do at the very beginning of the party while everyone arrives. At 6, you might get away with just putting some music on and letting them chat/chase each other round for a bit.

b) Extra parents can be useful, especially for things like bear stuffing where some kids might need a lot of help. I should think at 6 you won't get many though.

c) By 6, most parties seem to go for current pop music IME. The last one we went to (DS is about to turn 6) had lots of Moves Like Jagger and Katy Perry. Gangnam style is very popular. If you wanted to theme it a bit more, you could go for The Jungle Book soundtrack and have Bear Necessities etc. They might be a bit big for Winnie the Pooh by 6 but that went down very well at DD's 2nd birthday party.

Pom bears are a must :)

Bear music is indeed tough. I spent hours searching and we ended up with Winnie the Pooh, The Jungle Book and some random Elvis song

I've got a question - sheet cakes - do I need a special recipe or will most things work as a sheet cake?

I'm thinking some sort of marbled vanilla/choc chip cake with chocolate fudge layers would be very mountain-like.

I've never tried a sheet cake but I would be cautious.

this recipe looks OK though?

It's going to have to be a sheet cake to cut a 6 out of I think. That recipe looks good. Traybakes would be a similar sort of thing right?

True, yes - Mary Berry has some good traybake recipes. Or you could hire a '6' shaped tin if you have anywhere to get one from (less "spare cake", which may or may not be a good thing - my DS will always opt for the maximum "spare cake" option because that's his favourite bit (he hates icing ))

It looks like the local cake shop might hire tins. I've got a fairly specific 6 shape in mind though...

Good thinking about Now 359 - I have paid good money for sodding Gangnam style so I may as well throw good money after bad. :o

I have Pom bears! And am making bear shaped sarnies. I wanted to give them mini packs of haribo gummi bears but I couldn't find then anywhere except in bulk. Corner shop maybe?

Definitely corner shop, or pick and mix type thing. Gummi bears are a must - I love them

Blathers - LOL at the image of that conversation

"can I look at your '6' tin please - I need to see if it is the right shape"

" "

I found gummi bears surprisingly hard to buy too! In retrospect, the easiest thing to do might have been to buy some little cellophane cones from ebay and a huge bag of bears.

"Oh no no no, that 6 is totally the wrong shape to make a ski slope from!"

Thanks for your help, party gurus :) I will report back

I got a tub of mini bags of Haribo from Costco for party bags, and ~1/4 of them were Gummi Bears which I kept for me

Thanks stealth. I don't have a costco near me and the booker only does big packs. I might put out a bowl of gummi bears as a compromise.

I haven't done party bags on the basis that they get to take their bears home and they come with a special bag to put them in. Will the children be disappointed?

No, I think a bear in a bag will make a lovely party bag. You could maybe add a little pack of sweeties if you wanted.

Phew, thanks. I am going to try and calm down today :o

Kiri. Great tips you've had for the party. If you find a traditional sweet shop you can buy bears in "quarters" in individual paperbags. If you dont want the hassle of bagging them up yourself.

Blathers that lake looks brilliant. When is the party cos i'm now anxious to see this cake!!

Stealth a whirleypop is here

I adore popcorn. I used to live behind a massive cinema complex and i'd often call in for salted popcorn and butter to take home for my tea!!! So now try all ways to get the best popcorn. Air popping/microwave is crap so apparently this "kettle" agitates the corn on the heat. Rumour has it i may get a gourmet mix of varied kernals to pop like a conniseur.

I swear there are some posts here this morning further up the thread that weren't there last night! How odd!

Glad everyone likes the 'ice lake' My plan is to put it in the hole in the 6 and to potentially have it raised up with some foil underneath it to make it sparkle so I need to work out a way of making it separately in the right shape. I was wondering if I cut the top and bottom off an empty bean can, I could melt the mints inside it to make a perfect circle. Would it work do you think or will it set like concrete? If it worked, I could use the can to cut the hole out of the sheet cake too assuming I don't hire a shaped tin.

I also need to make a hole in it for the Eskimo to fish through. Do I use something to make the hole as it forms or make the most of the fact that it is highly unlikely to get eaten and just break out the drill?

Calming down is easier said than done .

Bear in bag is a fabulous party bag. Either one of my DC would love to go to the party you have planned.

DW - I googled . Do you want me to look for gourmet popcorn, or would DH sulk?

Blathers you would need to line your baked bean tin, I think.

Yes, it'll definitely need to be lined with something that will take the heat of molten sweets. I was thinking a top and bottomless bean can might also be flexible enough to wriggle the 'lake' out of when it's set?

Dh might have a bit of copper plumbing pipe I could use for the fishing hole. Might be a bit big though. Maybe the drill is the way to go?

Oh, and the party is on the 24th DW. A week late but we're going to Legoland again on the actual weekend

I think it would shatter if you drilled it.

Wooden dowel of some sort?

Would a wooden dowel not soak up the mix and become part of the solid? I could wrap it in foil maybe?

Stealth.. Apparently im sorted for corn but if i flutter my eyelashes ever so nicely..do you think you could scour the shops for "popcorn butter"Looking online i'm certain its just hydrogenated shit with butter flavour in it but i'm willing to risk it!

Boiled sweet lake, could you not use a bolt or a screw dropped in once it cooled down it may retract enough to wiggle it out. So long as it wasnt deeper than the bolt head.