Pizza Boats!

We had a very busy day yesterday at LHPC HQ!!
After the lovely banana dolphins at lunchtime we went to the school's Daffodil Tea and Theo had lots of fun operating a digger and getting his face painted!
I decided to make mini baguette pizzas for tea as it was just the two of us but had a brainwave as the rolls I got reminded me of little boats!! So, after I had quickly drawn a template and cut out these little sails, we spent an hour decorating them.

Theo wanted to make a classic skull and crossbones sail first, and then he wanted to do the British Flag. I went for flowers and butterflies for my first sail and then thought I'd honour my Viking heritage with a Viking long ship sail!! I used a sticker on this one too!

We then used kebab skewers as masts (I cut about 2 inches of the top so they wouldn't be too long). Theo got his Lego figures out to sail our ships for us!!
Below is a template you can use if you would like to have a go at making sails yourself. Try them on different food - hotdogs, sausages, cakes!

I hope you have lots of fun making food interesting and do please share any photos of your creations!

Take care

Suz (and Theo)

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

Pirate Tea as easy as 1, 2, 3!!

Avast me Hearties! Come join me in an adventure on the highs seas!
I do love a pirate theme so we had lots of fun last night when the kids had a couple of friends round for tea. I have some tips for the most easy party ever and even a recipe to share with you today!

At the beginning of the week, I decided to add a pirate them to tea for the kids, so I sat down and thought of  what food I could do and some piratey names! I didn't want party type food so decided on baked potatoes with beans (Treasure chests filled with rubies!), carrot sticks (peg legs!), sweetcorn (pirate teeth!) and chicken dippers (Golden nuggets!). I also included potato waffles (pirate rafts) and spaghetti hoops (pirate hoop ear-rings) as my son doesn't like baked potatoes! So , really easy and nothing I wouldn't normally make but livened up with cool names!

 I used the circle tags from my kit to make little picks for the treasure chests.

 Food trays are great for serving and labelling food so the golden nuggets, peg legs, rafts and treasure chests  were served up in these.

 The gold teeth and pirate ear-rings were served in some plastic serving bowls and I used some menu cards to label these.

 My trusty mini milk bottles were brought out and labelled with each child's name (no more wondering who's cup is whose) and of course a pirate straw flag was added to each! I also re-labelled some water bottles with Salty Brine labels. A popcorn treat box was filled with some large chocolate jazzies and sweetie necklaces as treasure for after the main food.

As an activity to keep the kids busy, they made and decorated their own cupcakes. These were then popped into cupcake wrappers and a cupcake topper was added.

Everything was served up on the table with a treasure chest and jewels (this was from a treasure hunt game my son has which we played before eating). The kids really enjoyed it and it was pretty easy to prepare and clean up afterwards.

The Golden Nuggets were home made and you can get a free recipe sheet here.

So, I hope this has helped to give you some inspiration for any pirate themed party you have and also show you that entertaining can be easy! And don't forget that once you have your printable package you can use them over and over again!
Take care
Suz x

Easter Lunch

Well, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and enjoying the Chocolate!! Apologies to any of you on diets who are managing to be good (a big well done to you as well!!).

I organised a little last minute Easter lunch and treasure hunt for my two youngest and their friend who stayed for a sleepover last night. Luckily I had a few bits and pieces left over from last year - cups, plates and napkins but most of it was designed, printed cut and assembled this morning!!

First up, and idea I've been waiting to show you for a couple of weeks now! A few weeks back I posted about my new mini milk bottles. Now these are really cute and I love them but at about £12 for 6 they're not cheap and being glass there is always a risk that one or more will get broken at some point. So one day as I was washing out jars for recycling an idea struck me that the right sized jar would make lovely little bottle glasses for parties. The jars I've used are sandwich paste jars (luckily Theo has an obsession with sandwich paste at the moment so I've got quite a few!!). These jars are only slightly smaller than the milk bottles and the kids thought they were the milk bottles so an excellent result there!

I tied circle tags onto the necks of the jars using green and yellow curling ribbon (from Hobbycraft's Easter range) and popped in a green straw with a straw flag on. 

Next up, I made up some popcorn boxes and emptied a packet of crisps into each.

These little boxes have now been secreted away to the den in the wardrobe where things are just a little too quiet!!

I simply added a sandwich pick (circle tag taped to a cocktail stick) to a plate of sandwiches and added some tomatoes and cucumber at the side. Very easy but effective.

And to finish off, some cupcakes with toppers. These are shop bought cakes which I had in (99p from Home Bargains and great for lunch boxes too!). 

So a lovely little lunch and very easy to do. I'll be completing some more items in this kit for a more substantial and better planned party and they will available from the website in time for next year. 

I hope this post has given you more ideas for planning parties or even just special lunches and teas for when the kids have friends round! With this in mind, I think I'll design some mini tea party kits in a few different themes that can be used any time of the year. 

So for now, it's a goodbye from me and I hope you enjoy the rest of the Easter weekend.

Hugs, Suz x

Mouth Watering Melon Lollies!

Make these really simple and healthy lollies to bring a touch of summer to your parties!! They're really easy to make and might even entice fussy eaters to try some fruit.

Step 1. Slice the melon into strips. For the larger slices in the middle, cut in half down the middle.
Step 2. make a slit in the bottom of each melon slice with a sharp knife.
Step 3. Insert a lolly stick into the slit and hey presto, fabulously mouthwatering lollies!

Why not try it with different types of melon, bananas and large strawberries. You could even drizzle some chocolate over them (especially the banana and strawberry ones!).

Remember to keep checking back for more inspiring party ideas!
Suz x

After School Milk And Cookies!

My party printables don't have to be just for parties! I really wanted to try out the mini milk bottles I ordered so decided to make the kids a special snack for when they got home from school!
I tied a mini tag round each of the bottles with green ribbon. Spruced up a plain old green plastic straw with a straw flag and put some chocolate cookies in one of the food trays.

And here are my two dollops of cuteness enjoying their snack!

Pop over to my Facebook page here, to see more photos of my special after school snack. 

Hugs Suz x