Cake idea - Yes or No and Lolly / Goody Bags

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Hello everyone i am making a cake for my DD's 1st birthday next week and thought i would try my hand at some decorating (not great at it... lol)

So i have an idea for a SECRET FAIRY GARDEN cake, basically a square cake, will do green icing for the grass and then was thinking i might buy chocolate to build BRICK wall around a portion or the cake, not sure if i should do a whole secret square or do half / half half?

Have bought fake flowers to use so not spending a fortune on pre-made deco's and will use them a tiny bit outside the fairy garden but then make it very LUSH inside the garden area, am buying the pre-made fairies though.

Have also bought the butterfly sprinkle things and will use icing to attach these to some of the leaves and the brick wall.

What do you think?

Also for Goody bags for her actual party on Sat i was thinking of doing lollies and mixed toys fro children from 2 - 10 for any kids under 2 i am thinking of bubbles, a little book and then maybe like a whistle and little bracelets etc.. do you think these are ok or any other CHEAP suggestions that could go in them?

TIA !

[Butterfly Child]

that sounds beautiful babe,
i love the cake idea
and thats a good idea fot the goodie bags too (mite steal that idea for dd bday if thats ok lol)
i too am thinking if doing a theme simiar to ur dd's
You'll have to post photos how exciting!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Am getting DD's birthday cake for her party professionally made as over 70 guests coming and really can't be bothered but for her b'day dinner with Dp's nanna am trying to make the cake myself... lol
Will take some pics but i can never seem to upload to BB... hmmm will add them on my FB.

Hehe which idea for the goody bags? the books?
I figure i really don't want DD eating snakes etc so i would prefer not to give them to the kids her age aswell, also leaving them til people go so the bigger kids aren't eating lollies in front of the little ones.
Am not sure what else to put in their goody bags though, bubbles are ok as DD lvoes bubbles and parents can do those, whistles she likes aswell, but not sure about what else, maybe for the boys i can put a toy car? and jewels for the girls?
Hmm i just don't know.

[*Ang*]

From places like K-mart you can usually buy a bag of dinosoars or farm animals for up to $4...I sometimes put a couple of those in each goodie bag and the kids love them. You can also get sticker books with themes like fairies, farm animals, dinosoars etc for around $2 from your cheapo shops - I buy a couple of books and then rip out a page each(which has around 10 stickers on it) and put that in the goodie bag.

Oh and the cake sounds really good too.

[briggsy's girl]

books are a great idea for bubba bags. lolly's for the bubbas mumma are good too (i like violet crumble ok! lol)

ummmm, i would avoid jewellery type stuff for the under twos unless you can get chunky bangles that will survive chewing and stuff kwim?

i'm not much help - just wanted to put in my order for choc hehehehe - and to let you know the cake sounds cute

[Patooties]

The idea for the cake sounds lovely.
For the lolly bag, you could always make some playdough and put it in a bag with a cookie cutter. Depends on the ages of the littlies though. Another idea would be some rubber ducks or other cheap bath toys.
Another idea would be to make a big cookie on a paddle pop stick - and have the childs initial on it - either in icing or lollies. You could wrap it in a bag and make it look pretty
Have fun!! ( I love doing the kids parties )

[Winter]

Cake sounds fantastic! Just wanted to know where my invite is..seems to have got lost in the mail!

[smiles4u]

... Kids always love * stickers * in their loot/lolly bag, can buy a book full of sheets of stickers & cut out a panel of them (stickers of smiley faces, animals, happy birthday cakes & presents, anything unisex ...)

(Jaz ... i love doing kids parties to !! I get so excited with the organising months ahead & on the actual party day i get kisses & cuddles everywhere i go BUT then the last party was a bunch of 2 & 3year olds, LOL )

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks everyone.. sorry but ALL your invites must have been eating by the mailbox bugs..

BG - hmm no choccies in the baby bags but i might find something small for you, E is getting a bag... not you!

I hope the cake turns out ok, it sounds good but icing and i don't agree and putting it together could be interesting, glad it's only about 6 of us going to see and eat it.. the big party i am getting a pro.. hehe my excuse is i am fat, pg and i wont have the patience to make it pretty enough for 70+ ppl.... .lol

Thanks so much for the ideas on the goody bags, have decided the under 1's will get a book, some stickers, bubbles and maybe a whistle and of course a balloon, any little girls i will buy the cheap bright bangles and the little boys get a toy car!

The older kids are getting lollies (party mix ???) , a chocolate (might slip one in E's for you BG), a balloon, bangles etc for girls, boys toy for the boys and then maybe some stickers etc aswell.

What lollies do you guys suggest, i was thinking party mix, a chocolate, used to love the candy bracelets???, don't want to spend a fortune.. got 15 lolly bags to make and 6 baby bags!

[briggsy's girl]

i feel spesh now!

and keep in mind i'm BF - so E WILL get it later lol

[smiles4u]

The last couple of birthdays for my DD i have purchased from The Reject Shop a big bag of about 10 little sealed bags of soft lollies inside (that way they ain't handled if there are fussy parents) ... I think it might be called Party Mix or something like that, no more than $4 - $5 for the entire pkt

Pop a couple of Chocolate Coins and one Lolly Pop (also from The R J shop) !!

I'm pretty sure i have seen in BigW the Candy Bracelets

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks for that, will check out the cheap shops and BIG W, was thinking will wrap the mixed lollies etc anyway so they don't touch the books/toys etc.

I'm getting excited now, my little girl is 1 in like 5 days, her cous is 1 tomorrow so she gets to go and have cake with him and give him a pressie...

[Gigi]

i saw organic lollies that look like pastel smarties on teh Twinkle Lily website, they would be nice to decorate a cake with.

Crocodile Creek is a toy brand that makes little puzzles in a box the size of a matchbox, for about $3 each. i thought they would make a good party bag present.

i bought a big box of fat chalks too, and parcelled them up, say five per child with a ribbon around them. expensive if you buy individaul little packs, but not if you buy a bulk pack.

and the plastic animal idea, used that too, everyone got a different ocean animal.

i'm investigating how to get coloured icing without artificial colours this year, wish me luck. Last year, didn't use icing at all. bilby loves banana cake with no icing. but she's better at brushing her teeth now, might use some icing this year.

as your age group is 2 and above, i would be careful with whistles for under threes, and anything with small breakable bits e.g some jewerelly for the under threes.

Some parents use "failsafe diet" and other food methods to help with behaviour management and health issues. We all respect the "no nuts" policies, there can be very legitimate reasons why some parents restrict their child's diets. Some families go thru hell, when the child is exposed to foods/additives that "set them off".

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Some great ideas, thanks everyone... hmmm 1 week til the party, better get myself sorted!
The jewellery etc will be one piece things with no beads or breakable bits, the whistles i am doing as a thing the MUM can do for the kids, DD has already learnt to blow a whistle as my MIL gave her one in a toy bag for her 60th birthday, DD loved them so thought might be something cute.. wont be too little though.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Ok So DP and i went and bought some stuff for the lolly/goody bags today, let me know what you think, has pretty much worked out about $5 a bag which wasn't too bad for what we have, we also had some stuff DP's aunty gave my SIL for the kids and she left here for us to use so that took a bit off.

Toy Cars x 10 - for the older boys and big enough for the goody bags too
Thick Chalk - for all the older kids
Bouncy Balls - 1 each for the older kids and then 2 big ones left for DD to play with
Stickers - 1700 stickers, will divide them b/w ALL the kids even the littlies
Farm Animals / Dinsoaurs - for ALL the kids, bigger animals for the juniors and dinosaurs for the boys
Books - each of the junior bags, i will be writing in the cover to say thanks for coming to ava's party, the boys got the same series and little E the only junior girl gets her own special book! (shhh BG pretend you didn't know)
Necklaces - 2 each for the older girls
Ben 10 bubbles and toys - for the odler boys (from DP's aunty)
Bubbles - for the girls and the juniors (mummy' can use these)
Rattle - for E as the junior boys got a car (shhhh BG)

Lollies - party mix, sherbert bombs, jelly beans, racing cars, fruit sticks, milkyway, twix or something similar and freddos (each junior getting a freddo for their mum or them), i think there is more but not 100% sure.

For the older girls going to get the little plastic rings as the boys have a bigger present in there with the ben10 stuff and then i think thats it.. i think we have done well to get ALL of that for $5 per child.
Now to find loot bags big enough, any ideas?

So what do you think... tooooo much or just enough?

[Patooties]

I think the kids will be thrilled when they open their Loot bags

I have used white paper bags with handles. ( i got the kids to decorate their own bags with stickers when they arrived). I've also used large cardboard noodle boxes. Do you have a Discount shop anywhere near you? They often sell plastic containers cheap enough for you to put the loot in.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Yeah looked at the plastic containers but nothing was really big enough.. oops
Oh well we will figure something out, getting DD's balloons from lombards on Tuesday night so might just look in there for something!

[briggsy's girl]

can you just grab small gift bag type things from one of the cheapy shops? they'll do the trick - you can get the recycled paper looking ones and put Ava to work painting them like she did for DPs fathers day present - then you can name them so you know who's is what

can you PM me details on the easiest way to get to your place. mum has it stuck in her head you have to go a certain way to get there cos she has taken dad to a doctors down that way - but i'm sure she's making it more difficult than it needs to be!

can't believe it's this weekend. DH will have to stay home and mow the lawns while we go out partying!