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Tag: Birthdays

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #120: My simple birthday cake solution

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #120: My simple birthday cake solution

    Thursday was Holly’s third birthday, which meant much of this week was spent scrolling through Pinterest to come up with a cake idea.

    She REALLY wanted Peppa Pig, but I REALLY wanted to keep things simple this year. Not like last year’s Cinderella Dolly Varden birthday cake.

    So, this is what I came up with:

    Peppa Pig birthday cake

    Not much to it!

    I have to admit, I didn’t really know what cake I was going to create until the cake itself was cooked. Living on the edge, I know!

    I’ll do a tutorial for the blog during the week, just with some little tricks I picked up along the way. Plus there’s a few things I’d probably include if I’d had the time (like lollypops or cake pops for birthday balloons).

    What do you think?

    Now, onto this week’s Aussie Giveaway Linkup…

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     


    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #119: The birthday season is approaching

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #119: The birthday season is approaching

    Princess Castle Birthday Cake

    October sees the beginning of Birthday Season in our house. It’s Holly in October, Ella in November and mine in December. So I’m full on into Pinterest birthday cake mode. (What on earth did we do before Pinterest? Oh, that’s right, we looked at our Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake books.)

    Holly has decided she wants Peppa Pig.

    Ella has decided she wants Strawberry Shortcake. (Wasn’t that something Nan used to cook?)

    I’m not sure why I feel the need to have to cook a cake each year, but I do. If I’m honest with myself, I quite enjoy the challenge. Maybe in a past life I was a birthday cake maker. Maybe.

    These are the cakes we’ve made over the last couple of years:

    I refuse to put up Ella’s Wizard of Oz cake from last year. It was the biggest failure. And, as is always the case, the first cake anyone outside our family had witnessed. This year it’s family only!

    Do you go through a birthday season each year? What cakes have you made before?

    Now, onto this week’s Aussie Giveaway Linkup…

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup instructions:

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:

    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     


    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • {TUTORIAL}: How to make Wizard of Oz birthday boxes

    {TUTORIAL}: How to make Wizard of Oz birthday boxes

    When Ella had her Wizard of Oz birthday party last year, one of the things that got the most comments – other than the rainbow house cake and that stellar *cough* homemade number five piñata, was the take home boxes (or party favour boxes, as the Americans would call them).

    Originally, I was just going to get a copy of the Wizard of Oz book for every child, knowing most of them have probably never read the book or watched the movie. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to order copies and went for the tried and true take-home party box.

    After getting over the shock of how expensive party boxes are – ridiculous, I tell you – I decided that, being the super crafty mum that I am *cough*, I should just make my own.

    Here’s the end result:

    Wizard of oz birthday boxes 1
    What do you think?

    They were so super easy to make. Here’s how we did it.

    STEP 1:

    Buy some noodle boxes from a $2 shop. You should be able to buy about a 10 or 20-pack of boxes for $2.

    STEP 2:

    Wizard of oz birthday boxes 2

    Create a yellow brick pattern in Word or Powerpoint. Then print out. To save you the hassle of having to create all those bricks, you can download our bricks here. Prepare to use a bit of yellow ink.

    STEP 3:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?b6pcs6m71ctmmyy

     

    Cut the brick pattern into a long strip, following the brick lines to keep it straight.

    STEP 4:

    Fill the noodle box full of treats. We had a combination of small toys and lollies. We were a bit light on with the lollies, just because I don’t think kids need a lot.

    STEP 5:

    Wizard of oz birthday boxes 4

    Close the lid of the noodle boxes. Wrap the brick strip around each box, taping it at the bottom.
    Ta da! That’s it. Too easy. You could adapt this for plenty of different themed parties.
    What do you usually do for birthday party take-home gifts?

  • Do your children love playing dress ups?

    Do your children love playing dress ups?

    Sponsored post

    play dress up 1

    When I was a kid, I had one dress up outfit. It was a horrible-fitting clown costume. I’m sure I have a photo of it here somewhere. My sister had a beautiful nurse’s outfit with matching medical bag. I think I got duped on that one.

    Basically though, that was all we had.

    Girls dress up ideas

    play dress up 3

    Now, inside the girls’ playroom, is a giant dress up box full of every occupation, animal and fairytale character you could imagine. They’re obsessed with dressing up and putting on shows.

    Those outfits can range from The Bloke In The Shed’s trackies with my high heel shoes (always a great look!) to a full blown Cinderella outfit with matching handbag, tiara and slippers.

    Even for her 5th birthday, Ella chose a blue and white checkered dress and red ruby shoes like Dorothy for her Wizard of Oz party. She just had to dress up.

    Why I’m a supporter of kids dressing up

    Play Dress up 2

    I’m a big supporter of kids playing dress ups, because it helps:

    •  Foster their imagination.
    •  With empathy – apparently!
    • Role playing and gaining skills for their future
    • Working through different emotions and relationships they may be experiencing.

    As a parent, I always think it’s an interesting insight into what’s going on inside those little heads. And probably throws back a little of how I act as a parent too. I really do cringe when they play mums and dads.

    Dress up inspiration

    Play Dress up 5

    Last week, online store Fairytale Treasures sent the girls two outfits – Ella a Little Red Riding Outfit and Holly a bumblebee outfit.

    It was a hard decision for Ella, who also had her eye on the zebra, leopard and cowgirl outfits from the girls dress up range. The store is focused on fairytale-inspired outfits and dress ups and really appeals well to the different age groups. There is also full ranges for boys and girls.

    Along with being impressed with the quality, I love how the dress up clothing is versatile enough to be worn for everyday wear. Ella wore her black Red Riding Hood top with a pair of jeans and it looked fabulous. She’s now asking can she wear the skirt for dancing next week.

    Similarly, Holly was able to wear her bumblebee top with white trousers. She also wants to wear the skirt everywhere. Or rather, dance in it everywhere.

    If you’re looking for quality dress up clothing for your children’s dress up box, need something for Halloween coming up, ideas for birthday parties or need some Christmas gift inspiration, I’d highly encourage you to check out http://www.fairytaletreasures.com.au/

    Make sure to like the Fairytale Treasures Facebook page and sign up to their newsletter to keep up to date with new items. You can also follow Fairytale Treasures on Pinterest and Instagram.

    Do your children love dress ups? Do they have a favourite outfit?

    DISCLAIMER: I was paid to write this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

  • How to make a piñata – number five piñata

    How to make a piñata – number five piñata

    Over the next few weeks I thought I’d share some birthday inspiration from the girls’ birthday parties. Today is how to make a piñata using a cardboard box and a loose piñata pattern for a number five pinata.

    Step 1:

    pinata

    Find a decent-sized box. Ours was a sand and water table box, because it was a rectangle shape. There’s no exact measurements here, so choose the size you like. I found for number five, it works best to have a rectangle rather than a square-shaped box.

    Step 2:

    pinata

    Draw on the front of the box the shape you wish to make. So for us, it was number five. Make sure the sides of your number five drawing go directly to the edges. You’ll see why in a minute.

    Step 3:

    pinata

    Using a Stanley knife (or a kitchen knife in our case), start cutting the inside sections of the five – that is, the half circle at the bottom of the five and the straight and curved sections of the top. Do not cut along the length of the box at the sides, only across the width.

    Step 4:

    pinata

    I found it useful to then use the knife or a long pencil to trace through to the back of the box from the inside. Repeat the cutting steps.

    Step 5:

    pinata number 5

    On the half circle at the bottom, you should now have cut the front half circle, back half circle and across the width of the side of the box (as shown).

    Step 6:

    pinata number 5

    For the top, you should now have cut into the box from right to left, followed by a cut downward and then finally the curve shape. Do this for front and back, along with the right-hand length of the box (as shown – so much easier to see in pictures than to explain in words!)

    Step 7:

    pinata

    Go through and measure strips to cover the exposed outer edges to enclose the pinata. Then use tape to stick the strips to the pinata. You should have plenty of cardboard leftover to do this.

    Step 8:

    pinata decorating

    Now to decorate. Take some streamers and slice three quarters of the way up the width of the streamer, being careful not to cut all the way through. These cuts can be about 1-2 centimetres apart. TIP: To make it easier, put a few layers of screamers together and cut a few streamers at once.

    Step 9:

    number 5 pinata

    Wrap the streamers around the number five cardboard cut out. You can alternate between colours or use one colour. It’s completely up to you.

    Step 10:

    number 5 pinata

    You’ll notice we left a few holes to allow us to put in treats for the kids.

    Find yourself a decent stick, the end of a broom or, in our case, an umbrella to use to bash it open at the party. It’s fairly durable, so it takes a bit to crack open, but then, that’s half the fun!

    What are your favourite birthday party games?

    Want more birthday inspiration? Try…

  • Perfect gift ideas for a six-year-old girl’s birthday

    Perfect gift ideas for a six-year-old girl’s birthday

    Gifts for six year olds

    Those of you who follow this page on Facebook will know a couple of weeks ago I put a shout out on Facebook for decent gift ideas for a six-year-old girl’s birthday. One of Ella’s friends was having a party and I was completely stumped with what to buy her. I also didn’t fancy pacing the streets for two hours looking for something. I’m possibly the only woman in the world who isn’t good at shopping. I’m serious.

    Next week we’re into birthday party No. 2 for the year and the first thing I did was revisit that Facebook list. Which took forever to scroll through to find, I might add.

    My time management skills tell me it would be a heck of a lot easier to just put all those ideas into a post. Mainly because I’ll be calling on the list again come November and December when Ella’s birthday and Christmas arrive. See, that’s why I have a blog!

    So, here are the ideas graciously given by the Three Li’l Princesses Facebook community.

    Ideas for a six-year-old girl’s birthday

    My favourite:

    • Mixing bowl, spatula and cake mix wrapped in a tea towel or apron OR a baking set

    Best birthday idea for your own child:

    • Money and a date card for just the two of you for hot chocolates and a spot of shopping.

    6 year old girl birthday ideas

    Thank you so much to everyone who made suggestions. It means a lot – especially to my feet.

     

    What are your suggestions for gift ideas for a six-year-old girl?

    Other gift suggestion resources:

    Christmas gift ideas for kids – girls

    Fabulous gift ideas for a one-year-old girl’s birthday

    These are a few of Ella’s favourite things

    Please note: Some links are referral links. This means if you choose to do business with the company in the future, I may receive a commission.