Wizard of Oz Birthday

 

 As promised, here is the first of three birthday posts I have been meaning to write for nearly a year!  Last year Moira had recently discovered the Wizard of Oz, which has a special link for Kansas girls, right?  :)  Anyway, due to this, she requested an Oz themed birthday celebration.  

Ever since Finn's hobbit themed birthday, the younger kids look forward to an "adventure," or treasure hunt, on their birthdays.  The older boys are great about helping me plan these, even acting out different characters from whatever theme has been selected.  It is always fun to watch their creativity!  Unfortunately I did not keep the clues to the Wizard of Oz treasure hunt, but I do have some of the activities included in the adventure, in case you might want to use them.  I will try to remember as best as I can.

• To begin the adventure, I created a rainbow from paper that I placed on the floor.  Upon entering the house, the kids (Erin, Moira, and Finn) had to step over the rainbow, where they received a small bag of skittles, and thus entered Oz.  Immediately they were greeted by the the Lollipop Guild (my three older boys) who sang the Lollipop Guild song to them and awarded them with suckers.  It was great---one of those moments I wish I had recorded.  I love watching the older boys make the younger kids' day.
• Next the trio followed some (paper) yellow bricks until they stumbled upon the scarecrow.  To solve the clue related to the scarecrow, the kids had to solve a small jigsaw puzzle together.  Once completed, they were awarded with a treat ( I think pretzels, representing straw). 
• They continued following the clues  until they reached the tin man.  The activity for this stop was to tape a heart to the tin man picture while blindfolded.  They each took a turn doing this.  I simply found a picture of the tin man without his heart, cut out hearts, and attached a piece of tape.  They also had to complete a kind deed for one another.  Once this activity was completed, the group received a small piece of chocolate.  (Heart shaped chocolates would work perfectly).
• Next the clues led to an activity for the cowardly lion.  The kids had to show bravery by reaching into a bag without looking to find what was inside.  Finn completed this task for the girls, who warned him not to do it.  He pulled out a small stuffed animal, much to their delight.

• Finally the group arrived at Oz and met the Wizard, who was played by Riley.  He told them in a booming voice that he could not help them until they returned with the witch's broom.  Of course this meant they ended up throwing a cup of water on the witch, kindly played by another brother, "melting the witch" and retrieving the broom.
• When they returned to the Wizard, he awarded them each with a diploma for a job well done in Wizard of Oz clue solving, a plastic medal for bravery during the adventure, and a (paper) heart medal for kindness.  He also awarded them each with a hot air balloon, which was created using a paper cup for the basket and attaching a balloon to it with string or pipe cleaners. ( I forget which I used).  The cup held their final treats and represented Dorothy's ride home.  Since we all know Dorothy missed her balloon ride, the trio had to repeat her famous words of "There's no place like home," while being led by their brothers to the front door once again.  The front door was now labeled Kansas, so they returned home.  Hopefully that all makes sense.  :)

For Moira's cake I found this idea online and imitated some of the ideas.  It was simple, but fun to make!  I especially loved the melting witch effect under her hat and the ruby slippers.  Moira loved the whole thing!  The extras (hat, broom, wand, and slippers) were made from colored fondant, and the rainbow I made from M&M's.  It turned out to be a fun day for the birthday girl!  The work is always worth it when I see their expressions at the details.  :)

                  

God bless!

+JMJ+

Party Business

                                    

This year Finn turned ten.  He, like his brothers, still loves all things Tolkien, so for his birthday he asked me to surprise him with a Hobbit party theme.  I had so much fun!  Finn loved it too.  :)

His main present idea came from here.  This site gives excellent directions on how to make a cloak just like the ones the elves gave the hobbits.  It took me some time to find the perfect fabric, but I decided on a grayish-green wool fabric.  It was heavy, which helped the cloak hang right.  Finn was excited to receive it and wore it throughout most of his birthday.  To add to his excitement, his uncle surprised him with an elven brooch like the picture below.  I am not sure where he purchased it, but I have seen them on Amazon.

Finn's brothers helped me plan an adventure for him and his sisters.  Dressed in cloaks (I "creatively" made quick cloaks for Moira and Erin) the fellowship of three siblings experienced various parts of The Hobbit, including meeting the trolls, solving Gollum's riddles, and defeating Smaug at the Lonely Mountain.  The fellowship began their adventure at Bag End where they were given a bag of trail mix to munch during their journey.  Each new destination awarded the travellers with a treat upon their triumph, such as a few of Gollum's fish (gummy fish) or gold nuggets from the Lonely Mountain (Hershey chocolate and almond nuggets, wrapped in gold).  The kids had great fun!

  

For Finn's cake I decided upon a Bag End theme and used ideas from here, here, and here for my inspiration.  It was quite fun to create, and Finn was very please with the results.

For his ten candles, I found sparkler candles to represent fireworks which the Hobbits always enjoy!  The initial spark surprised him, and they were a little tougher to blow out.  The first time he tried the flames actually grew bigger.  He loved the added touch, though.

We had a wonderful day celebrating this spirited young man.  He is growing so quickly!  Happy Birthday, Finn!

God bless!

+JMJ+

Vacation and a Chess Cake

 Recently we went to Wisconsin for a family vacation, and we had a great time!  Besides visiting a waterpark, we also went hiking.  Wisconsin has beautiful scenery and much more pleasant weather than Kansas, and I love being outdoors hiking.  We also went to the Rick Wilcox magic show.  It was fantastic--definitely 5 stars!  *****  I highly recommend attending this show if ever you are in Wisconsin Dells.

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Chess Board Game Cake

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I wanted to share another cake idea I made.  This is a chess cake, and it was inspired by these candy molds I found on Amazon.  I had a lot of fun making this cake, although it was time-consuming, and I need more practice to make the squares and lines more exact.  Using the candy molds and chocolate and vanilla candy melts, I molded each chess piece.  This was the time-consuming part since the mold only had spaces for four pawns, and I needed eight pawns of each color.  Thus I had to make four at a time, wait for them to dry, and begin again.

I ended up using two chocolate cakes to create a large enough "board" to fit all of the pieces.  I then drew the game grid on the cake with a fine tip and black icing.  I filled in each square with either chocolate or cream cheese (just because that is what my family prefers, but any white icing would work) icing.  To fill in the squares, I began with a fine tip and spread the icing evenly with a knife.  After all of the chess pieces were dry, I placed them on the "board."  It was quite fun to make!

Lord of the Rings Celebration

 J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series is a favorite among my boys.  I believe we have this older set:  Lord of the Rings 4 Book Set: The Hobbit, the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, the Return of the King.  The older three have read all of them, and the youngest, Finn has finished The Hobbit.  I am thinking about giving one of the boys The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook for a gift sometime.  The previewed artwork looks very nice.  Does anyone have this book?  What do you think?

Because of the interest in Tolkien, it was no surprise when Riley turned 13 and requested a Lord of the Rings themed birthday cake.  Since Gandalf is his favorite Tolkien character, I opted to decorate his cake with an image of the wizard.

I saw this cake decorating technique on the internet in various places, and it is fairly straightforward.

• The first step was to draw or print an image to put on the top of the cake.  Remember to print it in reverse from the desired finished product.  Otherwise your picture will end up in reverse on the cake.  For some pictures this may not matter, but other designs could be ruined, especially if words are included.  
• After I printed my image, I laid a piece of wax paper over the top of it.  To keep both layers from moving around, I simply clipped them to a clipboard.  This also gave me a hard, smooth service on which to work.  
• The idea to this design is that I am tracing the image onto the wax paper, only I am tracing with icing.  First I used a small round decorating tip ( the smaller the easier, I think) to outline everything in black icing.  To color my icing, I use this set of gels: Wilton 601-5580 1/2-Ounce Certified-Kosher Icing Colors, Set of 12.  A tiny dot of color is all that is needed for bright results.  I have also found that regular store-bought icing works fine.  I used store-bought cream cheese icing, since that is a family favorite.  While we generally try to eat real food, birthdays are special occasions, so I don't stress about the ingredients on these days.  Maybe one day I will be able to duplicate these desserts with only real ingredients, but not yet.

• Once the outline was complete, I filled in between the black lines with the colors I thought looked most realistic.  I always stay with the same small round decorating tip since I sometimes have to fill in small details, but if you are working with a larger area, you could switch to larger tips.  Remember it will be the bottom layer of icing that will show on top of your cake, so don't worry if you cover over something already completed with another color.  Just try to ensure you completely fill in the picture.  

• The next step, and perhaps the most important, is to freeze the image.  I simply placed the entire clipboard bundle into the freezer, and let it freeze for at least five hours.  You want to give the icing enough time to harden completely.  Otherwise your picture will not come off the wax paper, and it will be ruined.  (Trust me on this.  I know from experience.)  
• Once my icing was hardened, I removed the wax paper from the clipboard, laid the image icing side down on the top of my cake, and slowly peeled off the wax paper until all that remained was Gandalf the Grey!

Riley was a very happy, surprised 13 year old that day!  Happy Birthday, Riley!

A Kansas Tornado Birthday

 My son Finn is fascinated with tornadoes, while at the same time being absolutely terrified of them.  Living in Kansas, he has numerous experiences with severe weather, including tornadoes.  We have been very blessed, however, to never have actually experienced a tornado at our home.  Because of his fascination with tornadoes, he of course requested that I make him a tornado cake for his 9th birthday.  It turned out to be a lot of fun!  As you can see in the photo, it did not have to be a neat, tidy cake; in fact, the messier the better to make the "tornado damage" look more realistic.

The tornado is simply a waffle cone covered with grey icing, which I then stuck inside the cake.  The grass is green icing.  Where the tornado had already left its path, I merely scraped the icing away to reveal the "dirt" (chocolate) cake beneath.  For the fence posts I used pretzel  sticks, which I kept together by dipping the ends in melted chocolate.  I found the idea for the trees here; the only difference was I did not hang them to dry.  I just laid them on wax paper to dry, and they worked fine.  The trees are washed grape stems (with the grapes removed), dipped in chocolate and rolled in green-colored rice krispies for the leaves.  I sprinkled some extra leaves around, made some of the trees fall over, and added a partially destroyed road to finish the tornado destruction.  My son was very excited when he saw his tornado cake!

Happy Birthday, Finn!