Mustache, Dicky Bows and Ties Father's Day Party

The Party Padawans threw this awesome surprise party for their dad last night.

Daddy had made a TV date with Theo to watch England's first World Cup match when he got home from work so as it was nearly Father's Day we decided to mark the occasion with this little party.
I quickly designed some printables and the littlest padawan cut out the beer bottle labels and party circles.

We also made some doughnuts - Theo wanted Bannoffee with coffee! Recipe at the bottom of this post.

They had the perfect nibbles for watching footy - crisps, popcorn and a selection of sweets!

And here's the recipe for our bannoffe -coffee doughnuts.

Ingredients:
100g plain flour
50g soft brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
70g banana mashed (approximately 1 banana)
100g natural youghurt (you could also use toffee or banana flavoured youghurt)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp toffee sauce
1 tsp instant coffee

Topping:
100g Chocolate
2 tbsp toffee sauce

Directions:
1. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Leave to stand for 5 minutes to allow the coffee to dissolve.
2. Mix again to combine the coffee. Spoon into a doughnut maker or doughnut tin.
3. Bake in oven at 180C/350F for 10 to 12 minutes or if using a doughnut maker for about 5 minutes.
4. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. To make the topping, melt chocolate over a bain-marie. Add toffee sauce and mix well.
6. Spread over cooled doughnuts and sprinkle with chocolate vermicelli.
7. Eat and enjoy!

That's it from us. Wishing you all a happy Father's Day
From Suz and the Party Padawans x

Avengers (And Other Random Heroes) Assemble!!

Firstly, sorry I didn't get around to doing my Saturday party round up last weekend. It was quite hectic getting everything ready for Theo's party. So today I'll share some of the photos from his super celebrations and we'll get back on track with the round up this weekend!
My idea of a red, white and blue theme was overshadowed by Theo's ideas and all the different colours of the various heroes he wanted but I still like the look of everything and most importantly he liked it!

Theo insisted on having a candy buffet again this year and like last year it was extremely popular. We had lots of different types of sweets for the children (and my husband!) to choose from.

I made some buildings from different sized boxes covered with black paper which were used to decorate the table along with some of Theo's superhero action figures. Here's Spiderman keeping an eye on our yummy blue cupcakes with edible toppers. 

I also tried my hand at icing biscuits with hero logos. I actually printed out the logos and iced onto waxed paper over the top of them rather than directly onto the biscuit. They're not perfect (I still need to practice getting the right icing consistency) but I had fun doing them I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. I do like to try these things myself when I can!!

Theo also wanted an ice cream bar this year just in case we didn't have enough sugar!! I think they just enjoyed getting free reign to add lots of sauce and toppings to the ice cream!

The final dessert was Captain America Jelly shots! And we also had fruit skewers for a bit of healthy balance!

The main part of the party was spent at the amusement park, where the boys went on rides and played crazy golf. When we came home they played computer games and just hung out. I made a target shooting game with Nienna for them to play and the also had their photos taken in front of my painted backdrop.

All in all, a good time was had by everyone and Theo coped really well throughout the day - I got lots of hugs and cuddles and a huge thank you from him for making his day special which just melted my heart! 

He was especially pleased with the special glasses I made as party favours using transfer paper. 

So that's it for family parties until August when I'll be doing the annual garden party with my friend and Nienna's birthday party. Better get started!! 

Take care

Suz and the Party Padawans xx

Frozen has invaded our house!

A few days I decided to try out some blue pudding in preparation for Theo's Super Hero party in 2 weeks. This is what I made for the kids to try out!

It made me think of Disney's Frozen with the lovely blue colour. Then I had a major crisis as I couldn't find any more vanilla Angel Delight type pudding mix! The one I used had been in the cupboard for awhile! For those who have never heard of Angel Delight - it's a custard based flavoured pudding mix  - you just whisk it up with milk. I looked at Tesco and Home Bargains while I was out shopping to no avail. So when I got home, I visited the Angel Delight webpage and found out they no longer made vanilla flavour. I tried Asda online with no luck either! So I started to look for vanilla pudding recipes online - not as quick but hopefully they would taste good. Then I happened to be at a different supermarket today (Morrisons) and thought I would see if they had some own brand vanilla mix. And I'm very pleased to say they did - major happy dance from me as I pulled 5 packets off the shelf!! Only 5! Quite restrained I think!

So would you like to know how to make your very own Frozen Pudding? It's really simple - my daughter, now known as my Party Padawan made ours!

1. Mix the Pudding mix according to instructions.
2. Add blue food colouring until you get the desired colour.
3. Chill in fridge for 5 minutes.
4. Once set, add some sugar snowflakes (you can usually get these at Christmas in most supermarkets). We also added blue sugar crystals and some silver edible glitter. 
5. Grab a spoon and enjoy!

You could coat the rim of the glass with sugar or blue sugar before for an extra special touch!

I think we may have a Frozen themed Christmas this year!!

Do you have any Frozen food ideas? I'd love to hear from you if you do.

Take care

Suz and the Party Padawan Nienna x

P.S. Here's Nienna showing off her blue tongue!!

xx

Banana Dolphins!!

Hello, I hope you're all well.
I spotted these adorable banana dolphins on Facebook yesterday and just had to try them out for myself!!
They are so easy to make - I made them while waiting for the bacon to grill - and they were a big hit with Theo!!
The original idea is from Luz's Unique Creations - check out their Facebook page here.
So, how to make them? This is what I did - cut a banana in half (the top half looks much better but I didn't want to waste the bottom bit so I used that too). Cut a slit in the end to create a mouth. Put a grape, raspberry or something into the mouth to keep it open slightly. Put the banana in a small bowl or tub and fill with small fruits - whatever you have or are your favourites! I used a felt pen to make the eyes but you could use edible markers or raisins. I was doing it very quickly and as you don't eat the skin from a banana felt it would be OK to use a normal felt tip.

In other news!! I am officially relaunching the website this weekend! To help celebrate, I have a great competition on my Facebook page - please pop over and check it out here for a chance to win a £5 voucher!

Well, that's it from me for today - I'm taking Theo to the Daffodil Tea at school this afternoon so better go and get ready.
Take care
Suz x

Hello!! I'm Back!

Hello - I can't believe how it's been since I last posted! And so much has happened since then! The kids went back to school, we had Nienna's postponed birthday party, my eldest daughter turned 18 and moved into her own flat, my mum went into hospital for an op and my sister and her son came up to help me out with her and my Grandma!!! Phew!!
OK, so tonight I'll just share some of the photos from Nienna's very girly pink Cotton Candy party. I must say that this party turned out exactly how I imagined it in my head and I was so pleased with everything. I really went to town on the small details and they paid off - although I discovered that the piping bags I had were of very little use what-so-ever! I'll be looking for some tips in that department if you have any to share.
First up - I decided to get really creative in the kitchen and make my own chocolate cupcake toppers in the shape of the cotton candy and lollipops I designed for the printables.

Piping with candy melts really isn't easy as they set so quickly and the oil from the chocolate was just being squeezed through the material of the piping bag!! I was a bit disappointed with these until I turned them over and this was the result I got!!

 Not bad for an amateur! I also attempted cookie pops and macarons for the first time too!! I like to live dangerously! My macarons were something of a disaster, albeit a rather yummy tasting disaster!

The photo below shows the table setting with a cake pop, cookie pop and name pop alongside a little vase with pink gerbera and a mini milk bottle with pink paper straw (and flag).

Each girl had a doily place mat and Nienna helped me to add half a small doily to each of the vases and the milk bottles too.

I think the different shades of pink flowers worked really well on the tables and instantly added a professional touch with the need for any fancy flower arranging skills which is something I don't have!

The mini Pick and Mix table was a huge success as usual. I honestly suggest having something like this at the next party you throw for your kids. It doesn't have to cost the earth as you can pick up good offers on sweets in the supermarkets and the discount stores are fantastic for sweets too. I used a couple of small fishbowl vases, one tall candle holder type glass, some plastic cocktails glasses from Poundland and little sandwich paste jars with party circle tags on. All the sweets were pink and the little pots in the middle are ice cream pots from Home Bargains.

As it was a very girly party, I provided some make up from my rather pathetic stash for them to play with!! They also had nail varnish which had a little pen applicator and a stash of gems built in to the bottle!! They each got to take one of these home along with a hairbrush and these fabulous handbag gift bags which had lots of goodies inside.

Now, no self respecting Cotton Candy party would be complete with some candy floss!! Thanks to my best friend who lent me her candy floss machine.

And here we have the birthday girl with her candy floss and her birthday cupcake as I didn't make a big cake - far too many sweet things to eat already!

Here's a lovely photo of the girls getting stuck into their cake pops after their lunch.

I'll leave you with other photos of the day and next time I'll share some photos from Lorien's 18th Birthday Horrible Histories party.

Night all, take care
Suz xx

A Night At The Movies

We had a lovely trip to the Living Room Cinema last night. The food was fantastic and included hot dogs, nachos and cheese, popcorn, pick and mix, cupcakes and sodas.

 I used a stash of old 3D glasses to decorate the table. Large tin buckets from Poundland were used for popcorn. I added depth using boxes wrapped with white wallpaper and a few paper doilies added a nice touch.

We watched Oz, The Great & Powerful and everyone had a great night.
If you want to download any of the printable products click here. And I'd love to see any photos of your movie nights.
Suz x