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Tag: Birthdays

WIN: Aussie Giveaway Linkup #24
ANOTHER month, another birthday. It is seriously like that in this house. Yesterday we marked Princess Ella’s fourth birthday. Writing that down just blows me away. It seems like only yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Totally dependent. Oh, so tiny. And covered in gunk.

Now, she’s a super confident young girl. A social butterfly, who can ease the toughest of social situations. Incredibly bright and a big thinker not bound by limits. And she also happens to be the funniest person I know.

We marked her birthday today with a small family barbecue at the Bells Parade park, at Latrobe,

a princess tiara cake (again) made hours before the party (tutorial to come)

and the traditional O’Brien candle race (it’s seriously like watching grass grow, but they love it). Note there are only two candles. We forgot to pack more.

She was also spoilt with some beautiful gifts, including a 300-piece bead set. We ended up with the 300-piece bead set on the floor, at which point I was tempted to get the Dyson out.

I might add the majority of her presents are still on Christmas layby. Well, seriously, what store creates Christmas laybys that can’t be picked up until Christmas!

Before you go clicking to try and score yourself a bit of Christmas cheer, here’s a video of Ella’s first year of life, put together for her first birthday. Please, feel free to fast forward to about the 50-second mark. The first part is her family members and obviously rather boring for most readers. Every time I watch this video I end up in tears. The music is by my Twitter friend Martina McBride. Although, at this point, she’s unaware we’re friends.

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.
3. Grab the button 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!
Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

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Do all your birthdays seem to fall at the same time of year? Or is that just our family?
November 13, 2011
Fabulous gift ideas for a one-year-old girl’s birthday

The Birthday Girl.

AFTER finally figuring out what to buy a girl for her first birthday, I thought I would share a small sample of the gifts Holly ended up with. Thanks for all the suggestions. They meant I didn’t have to think – always a bonus. With Christmas coming, hopefully they’ll inspire you. In the meantime, I’ve now got to come up with another list of presents.

Bracelet

The bracelet. Still to be engraved.

A keepsake for her. We’ll engrave her name and date of birth. You know, just incase she forgets it. In all honesty, I still have the bracelet I received about the same age. In fact, I even have photos of me wearing it. This is one to treasure.

Guess How Much I Love You Pop-Up book

So in love with this book – as is someone else!

Keeping fingers away is the big challenge.

More fingers…

The last page in the book, where the whole page is part of the pop-up.

And then as you pull down the bottom flap, Big Nutbrown Hare bends down and kisses Little Nutbrown Hare.

This is seriously the most gorgeous book. And that last page is too cute. I got this one out of the library when Ella was small and she had no real interest in it. Which was a shame, because I loved it. However, add some pop ups and interactive elements and this is now among the girls’ favourites. As long as I can keep their little hands away.

Add it to your shopping cart.

Fisher Price zoo

Lots of noises with this one. Thankfully, not irritating.

There are lots of noises with this one. Open the gate and it plays a song or a lion roars. Let the monkey swing across the branch and when he hits the bananas a monkey noise is made. Holly can now roar like a lion, brrr like an elephant and moo like a cow. I know, there are no cows at the zoo. Just thought you’d like to know though.

Finger Puppet Nursery Rhymes, illustrated by Annie Kubler

Nursery rhymes just got even more fun!

The Baa Baa Black Sheep puppet

Nursery rhymes have also been a big thing in this house. We sing. We sing a lot. Just call us the von Trapp family. In fact, I’m in the process of uploading some singing for your listening pleasure in the next month. I know, brace yourselves. We have more nursery rhyme books than I care to count. But we’ve never had one with finger puppets until now. Too much fun really. It also has a puzzle at the back. Bonus.

Does your family love to sing? What are your favourite songs?

NB: Please note, some links are affiliates. This means if you click the link and choose to become a customer of the business, I may receive a commission in the future. This doesn’t affect what you pay.

October 20, 2011
How to make a Princess Castle Birthday Cake – just hours before the party

It’s fair to say she was pretty impressed!

IF YOU’RE friends with me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know I’m not half proud of my last-minute Princess Castle Birthday Cake whipped up for Baby Holly’s first birthday on Saturday.

It started badly when I ran out of eggs to cook the cakes on Friday. Thankfully, it was The Bloke in The Shed to the rescue that night and before bedtime I’d managed three cakes. The next morning, again with a little help from The Bloke in The Shed’s rolling pin skills, we’d finally assembled and decorated the castle well before the afternoon party.

I must give credit to the Donna Hay Kids’ Magazine for the inspiration for the castle

and my trusty Women’s Weekly Kids’ Perfect Party Book for the cake recipe (although, I’ve made just a few tweaks).

Here’s how to make it:

NEED:

CAKE:

2 2/3 cups self raising flour

1 cup cocoa powder

250g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup water

CASTLE:

1 cake board

3 x cakes (as per above)

4 large ice cream cones

4 small ice cream cones

100g white chocolate, melted

5 x 500 g packets store-bought ready-to-roll icing

2 x 300g jam rolls

Pink food colouring

Large white and pink marshmallows, to decorate

METHOD:

CAKE:

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Grease and line 2 x 21cm round by 3cm deep tin + 26 x 21 cm rectangle tin.

Place flour and cocoa into medium bowl, add remaining ingredients. Beat on low with electric mixer until combined, then increase to medium and beat for 3 minutes.

Spread evenly into three pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked.

CASTLE:

Place rectangle cake onto a cake board.

Knead 2 packets of icing on a clean surface until soft, then roll out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to 3mm thick.

Use the baking paper to lift the icing over the rectangle cake. Trim excess and smooth out any corners, creases etc.

Place two circle cakes onto top of the iced rectangle cake. Knead another packet of icing and roll. Cover the two round cakes with the icing.

Cut the 2 jam rolls into halves. Repeat with another 2 packets of icing and cover all 4 pieces of jam roll. Place the rolls at the corners of the rectangle cake, on the board.

Make sugar syrup to brush over the cake for a glossy effect. We used one part sugar to two parts water and boiled for five minutes. Then brushed on with a cooking brush.

Add pink colouring to leftover pieces of icing and knead in until the colour is even. Roll and then cut into various shapes. We used a large heart cutter for the top of the cake and smaller hearts for the top. Medium-sized hearts were used for the windows in the tower and front of the castle. One section of the large heart cutter was used to create the shape for a door and indents were made with a knife to create door handles and “two doors’’. Each should stick onto the sugar syrup coating. If not, stick with melted white chocolate.

Melt the white chocolate, dip the 4 large ice cream cones into the chocolate and then press into the tops of the 4 jam rolls. Place 4 small ice cream cones on top of the large cones.

Decorate with fairies (or princesses) and marshmallows around the edge of the board.

Do you have a favourite birthday cookbook?

For more birthday inspiration, try…

How to make a Princess tiara birthday cake in two hours

How to keep guests happy at a one-year-old’s birthday party – birthday party food ideas

Free downloadable birthday party invitation

Fabulous gifts for a one-year-old girl’s birthday

Gift ideas for kids – girls

Please note: Some links are affiliate links. This means if you choose to buy from the company in the future, I may receive a commission. This doesn’t impact how much you’re charged.

October 17, 2011
WIN: Aussie Giveaway Linkup #20
THE Bloke in The Shed will today be tackling his first Skilled Burnie Ten – an event dubbed Australia’s premier 10km road race. Yes, it’s no easy feat. He wants we three princesses to be there in case something happens. I assume the “something’’ refers to needing an ambulance. We’ll also likely be doing some huffing and puffing from the sidelines to help create a bit of a tail wind for him. Whatever works.

The race (or walk, in his case) starts at 11.15am if you happen to be in Tasmania’s North West and are looking for something to do. There are also activities throughout Burnie, which I’m hoping will occupy the girls while they endure the long wait for their Dad to cross the finish line. In all seriousness, we do wish him all the best.

The race will also be a chance for him to work off yesterday’s birthday cake. Holly’s postponed birthday party finally happened after all the sickness we’ve endured. After running out of eggs on Friday, I had to bake the three cakes late Friday night and then spend yesterday madly assembling and decorating them to create a Princess Castle cake. Here’s the end result:

It's fair to say she was pretty impressed!

Especially when she got to eat it!

The full details of how on earth I created this (with a little help from hubby and his rolling pin) will come tomorrow.

By the way, if you’re wondering whether or not to start clicking on the links below in a bid to win something, here’s what I won from Crash Test Mummy last week and used at the party yesterday.

How cute are they? OK then, off you go. Start clicking.

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.
2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents.
3. Grab the NEW button 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!
What’s been your favourite birthday cake creation thus far as a mum?

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

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October 16, 2011
Grateful for birthday wishes… even if it’s for a unicorn
ALTHOUGH I posted about having a faeces of a week, I actually do have a few things to be grateful for:
- Unicorn birthday wishes: Yet another inspiring conversation with Princess Ella this week: Ella: “Mum, can I have a unicorn for my birthday?’’ Me: “And where would we buy one of those?’’ Ella: “From a unicorn shop, silly. They have lots of different sorts of unicorns there.’’ Me: “ Thanks. That’s good to know.’’ I am now on the hunt for the unicorn shop. If you have directions, please pass them on.
- 111 people are talking about my Facebook page: I’ll admit, I had no idea what “111 people are talking about this’’ meant when I saw it tucked under my Facebook profile banner. Exactly what is the “this’’ they’re talking about? I thought I should ask someone. That “someone’’ was Facebook people. And they had an answer. Apparently they’re not ALL talking about me, some are just clicking the “share’’ or “like’’ button – lazy, I say, darn lazy – but none-the-less, I’m in 111 people’s minds this week. Scary.
- Birthday presents: Holly doesn’t fully understand that while it was her first birthday on Monday, it was Ella who opened all her presents. I’m sure this will be a different scenario in 12 months time. But let’s not go there just yet. For now, let her bask in the glory of her li’l mountain of wrapping paper. Which was actually Christmas paper, but let’s not go there either.
I’m joining with Maxabella Loves to share what I’m grateful for.
October 7, 2011
How to keep guests happy at a one-year-old’s princess party – birthday food ideas

NOW I’ve started this princess party planning thing for Baby Holly’s first birthday, I’ve become just a tad hooked. And because I still need to keep the blog up, I’m combining my two current obsessions. Aren’t you lucky. No need to thank me.

Now that the invitation is done, I’ve gone for the most important element next – the food. These are the things I know about keeping adults and children happy at an afternoon birthday party (recipes to come in a later post):

Heart Hamwiches (and Princess Ella has requested some with dots on them – ie a fairy bread version)

Baby BLTs (these are too cute. Enough said, really)

Chewy Chocolate Slice (no party is complete without white dresses covered in chocolate)

Pink cupcakes (yes, of course they’ll be pink)

Homemade sausage rolls (it wouldn’t be a party without sausage meat in pastry)

Dips, cheese, chips and biscuits (ah, did I mention it’s a party) Photo credit.

Fruit platter (just to balance out the sugar and salt. And Baby Holly’s got to eat something) Photo credit.

I also usually include baby rice cakes, dried apple and other finger food for those low on teeth (yes, that’s counting grandparents).

And, as per usual, I’ll cook too much and we’ll be eating it for the next fortnight.

I’m still undecided on the cake at this stage. Princess Ella chose this one for her baby sister. Of course.

And then this one:

Hmmm, talk about testing me.

What are your favourite party foods? Am I missing anything?

Images from Donna Hay Kids’ Magazine Annual 8, The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbooks Kids’ Birthday Cakes and The Australian Women’s Weekly Kids’ Perfect Party Book.

September 16, 2011