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

Pirates In The Jungle??

Well I have been busy over the last week designing two new kits! We have pirates and a jungle theme - two things I love!!
I've made up a few samples of some of the products to show you.

I've also been adding some new items to my usual kit - large and small bottle wraps, popcorn boxes, my ever favourite circle tags, straw flags and a small food tray.
First, some photos of my circle tags! If you only get one product for your party then this is the one to get! My kids came in the kitchen while I was taking photos and immediately asked if they could have a drink in the mini milk bottles with their own name tags on!! They just love them!

You can use these tags to tie around bottles and jars for drinking from, as little picks for sandwiches with the fillings written on, tied onto a party bag or as a cupcake topper. I invested in a 2" circle punch (about £10 from Hobbycraft). It's so much easier and quicker than cutting by hand so if you plan on using them a lot then it's well worth it.

Many of these products can be used for any occasion - make tea a bit more fun when the kids have a friend over!, during the school holidays have a fab teddy bear picnic out in the garden. The downloadable products on my website can be printed off as many times as you want so have fun and create some fantastic memories!

I'll leave you with last photo (but check out my facebook page for many more, here). I'm really quite proud of this little mini envelope as I wrote the piratey poem on the back myself! It comes with a mini map to help your budding captains find the hidden treasure! They are really easy to make and filled with small sweets or a golden chocolate coin would make great party bag fillers or special prizes at the end of a treasure hunt.
Have fun and take care
Suz x

Red Nose Day Fundraising Set

I had a little idea yesterday afternoon of making a party set for anyone who is planning a Red Nose Day Party and donating the proceeds to Comic Relief. I set to work straight away and designed a set with some party basics in it.
I wanted to get some photos of the set in action so Theo and I spent the day baking, cutting and glueing to create a yummy dinner for the family! I'm afraid the photos are not that brilliant as I have quite low lighting in the living room and it gets dark pretty early at this time of year up in the frozen North!!

Above you can see the full spread of goodies!

We made two sizes of cupcakes. The larger ones were decorated with butter cream and half a strawberry (see they are healthy!) and the smaller ones with a circle of red icing (to look a bit like a red nose) and then topped with a mini tag on a cocktail stick. Theo wanted something to take into school on Monday so there are lots of little ones!
I taped a mini tag onto soufflé pots to serve ketchup and mayonnaise and the food trays from the set were filled with crisps and homemade jam donuts!! Oh, and they taste so yummy!! You can find the recipe we used here.

I used my mini milk bottles to serve juice and water. They look great with a mini tag tied on with red ribbon and the straw flags on black straws. This was a very last minute idea and so I made do with what I had in - you could obviously use red straws, plates, napkins etc but I hope this shows you that you can make your party great without spending a fortune!

As a main savoury dish I made homemade popcorn chicken and popped them into the popcorn boxes!

I must say I had lots of fun and the hubby said the donuts tasted like they were from a bakery!! The kids were over the moon and Theo is looking forward to taking some cakes into school.

So.... want to help raise some money for Comic Relief and have a fantastic party at the same time? Maybe you help with Guides, Brownies, Cubs, youth club or school? This set is really easy to use so you can get the kids involved and don't need to be an experienced crafter.
You can download the set for £3 from here, by contacting me on my Facebook page here or email me at sales@ardacards.com. All except the paypal fees (20p) will go to Comic Relief and for every 10 sets sold I will donate an extra £1.
Oh, please do share any photos of your parties and fundraising with us!
Hugs 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

Mini Lunch Tag Freebies

I really loved how the sandwich wrapping idea turned out and thought they would be great for kids lunch boxes especially if you have a fussy eater or a child who is a little anxious at school. So I've put together these free lunch tags for you to have a play with.

Simply right click on the pictures and save to your computer.
If you get the chance, how about sharing a photo of your wrapped sandwiches with us.
Hugs Suz x