birthday parties

[carang]

so, both of my kids are having their birthdays tomorrow. money has been really tight over the past few months, so we're doing it at home.... in the past 24 hours, we've:
1) made about 6lbs of chili con carne
2) baked 5 cakes (see finished product attachments)
3) cleaned house top to bottom (no helper any more)
4) taken both kids to the doctor (finally, they're starting to feel better!)
5) touched up the paint in the living/dining rooms
6) ... slept.... but just a little

anyway... with everything that's been going on, i wasn't sure how the cakes would turn out. i had an image and a plan in my head, but didn't know how/if they would all come together. my girl's cake totally crumbled when i tried to take it out of the pan... then when i tried to add a layer to the top to make a "centre tower" THAT crumbled onto the cake! anyway, i think i saved it ok....

my son's cake was much easier. it was my first time making black icing/frosting and it turned out pretty well (thank you complete deelite for the tips!). my son is a big BEN 10 fan, so we went for the OMNITRIX watch as a cake. he stood over my shoulder to make sure i did it correctly.

all told, i spent about $200 TOTAL for the cakes.

we went to sham shui po to buy the stuff for the loot bags. the total i spent came to $15/child. in each bag: set of colouring pencils, bag of fancy rubbers/erasers, flashing lights bouncy ball, blow "horn" & stamp.

for food we've decided on:
chili con carne, caesar salad, rice, veg plate (home made)
paisano's pizza (2-24" pizzas)

total spent on the party so far ~ $1000..... about 1/3 of the cheapest price i could find anywhere else....

i hope everyone enjoys it and doesn't compare it to the fancy shindigs so many people in hk have for their kids...

 

[taysty]

Well done Cara! I can't see how your girl's cake crumbled. It looks good. Are they twins? Your boy and girl share the same birthday?

Do upload pics of the food and how did the party go.
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[carang]

thanks! my kids are 2 years apart (4 & 6). they were supposed to be born March 3 & March 4. they ended up being born Feb 6 & 12....so, i always have their parties as shared parties. they like it as they share so many friends anyway.

my daughter's cake was a nightmare... the cake DID crumble and i had to use the cupcakes i was planning on using for the towers to fill in all of the cracks. then there was supposed to be another circular cake where the "4" is on the rectangular one... but when i tried to put it on, it literally, disintegrated before my eyes. i had to scoop it off of the base cake in handfuls (it was VERY messy!)... i was able to "save" the base cake by putting it into the fridge to harden up the icing a little, then i did another coat of icing on top to even it out....i also had to get hubby to phone all of the supermarkets in the area to see if they had any ice cream cones. i got the last box at the only one that had some! talk about luck...

 

[ctrbabe1]

I think the cakes look great. We do home parties, too. It boggles my mind that people would spend thousands of dollars on parties. Last year we fit 11 kids plus about five extra parents/helpers who stayed in our tiny flat. It was fine. We had to move some of the furniture out of the living room, lol, but it was fine. Helped that it was a nice day and we spent part of the time out at the playground. Have fun with your party!

 

[carang]

well, i'm hoping the kids will play upstairs in the playroom and the parents can chat in the living room.... we'll see how that goes.

i've been so busy with "life" that i didn't even bother planning any games or crafts, which is what i would normally have done...oh well...c'est la vie!