Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

I saw a picture of this cake on Pinterest and I knew I had to make it.  It is really easy to make and the kids LOVED it.

Here's what you need to make this cake:

-cool whip (thawed)
-ice cream sandwiches
-chocolate sauce and/or caramel sauce

Depending on how big you want your cake to be is how many sandwiches you need to use .  I wanted a small square size so I only used 6.

First I took 3 ice cream sandwiches and layed them side by side .  I then spread a layer of cool whip and layered another 3 sandwiches on top.  Then I spread the cool whip over the entire cake .  I then drizzled chocolate sauce over the top of the cake .

Place cake in the freezer for a couple hours so the cool whip sets.

This is what the finished cake looks like .

This is something that the kids can help with.  I'm definitely going to making this for birthday parties.

Hope your family enjoys this as much as mine .

Jenn

Making Bird Feeders With The Kids

For our craft last week the kids and I made bird feeders.  This is an easy craft to do with kids of all ages.

All you need for this craft is peanut butter, bird seed, string and pine cones.  We collected a bunch in the summer to use for crafts throughout the year.

The kids just spread the peanut butter on the pine cones and rolled it in the bird seed.

When we were done we tied string on and hung them out in the backyard on the trees.  The kids loved watching the birds have their snack.

This is also a great craft to do at birthday parties.

Jenn

1st Birthday Party Theme

Last week was my daughters 1st Birthday.  I'm going to share some of the things I did to put her party together.  Hopefully these ideas will help when you plan your little ones party.

DECORATIONS

I went to Party Max and Dollarama to pick up the decorations.
This is what I picked up from each store.

Party Max
-pink plastic plates
-1st Birthday Banner
-invitations
-1st birthday hat
-1st birthday bib
-high chair decorating kit
-1st birthday cake plates
-1st birthday napkins
-I ordered helium balloons to be picked up on day of party
-sign me dog

Dollarama
-pink table cloth
-pink cutlery
-pink napkins
-pink and white streamers
-pink cupcake liners

FOOD/DRINKS

This is the food and drinks I served.

-meatballs
-meat and cheese tray
-buns
-chips
-goldfish
-cabbage rolls
-oreos dipped in icing
-spinach dip
-veggie straws
-watermelon
-grapes
-srtawberries
-cake / cupcakes
-ice cream
-pop
-juice
-water
-punch

 I saw on Pinterest oreos dipped in chocolate.  I hate melting chocolate .  Something always goes wrong no matter how I do it so I thought I'd save myself the hassle and use icing.  I bought a can of icing and used food colouring to tint it.  I put the icing in a bowl and melted it in the microwave . You should stir every 10 seconds until the icing drips off the spoon.  You don't need to melt the whole can of icing at once I did bits at a time .  Once the icing was melted I dipped half the oreo in and placed it on wax paper.  Then put some sprinkles on it before the icing set.  To save on time I made these a few days before and kept them in the freezer. 

 

For the cake I made a 6" fondant white cake .  I had it displayed on cake plates and pillars.  Under the cakes I also made cupcakes.  I served the cupcakes for the party and kept the 6" cake for my daughter to smash the next day which was her actual birthday.

I also picked up a sign me dog for everyone at the party to sign.  I was a bit upset since my other 2 kids had a bear but they only sell the dogs now.  Not that big of a deal lol but I was hoping they would all have the same one.

Jenn

Pre-Scoop Ice Cream For Parties

I found this amazing time saving tip for birthday parties.  Scooping ice cream for over 20 people and serving cake is chaos.  I picked up some cupcake liners and metal tins with lids.  The day before the party I scooped ice cream into the cupcake liners and put them in the tins.  I put them in the freezer until I was ready to serve .  This saved tons of time when serving cake and ice cream.

Jenn

Disney's Cars Theme Birthday Party

For my son's 2nd birthday I decided to do Cars theme since he was obsessed with McQueen. I'm going to be showing how I put his party together. I don't have pictures of everything because I didn't know I'd ever be writing about it but I will post links to explain everything.

                                                                The birthday boy

INVITATION

I wanted an invitation that looked like a ticket. I searched Etsy and found someone that would make it and send me a copy through my email. I ordered it from Kids Party Kreation. I printed out the tickets on card stock at home, but you could also go to a retail outlet like Staples etc.

DECOR

For the decor I used red and white streamers. I went to Party City and bought a checkered flag table cloth roll. It cost around $20. I did about 6 or 7 tables and there's still some left on the roll. I also bought a couple Cars table decorations . I printed out signs on card stock to put up at every game. If you would like the templates click here

.

I made pit passes for each kid to wear with their names on it. I printed them off on card stock and laminated them at home. If you would like the template click here. To protect them I bought a plastic "lamination kit" from the dollar store, which served its purpose perfectly.  I cut out the size I wanted and put a piece on both sides of the pit pass and trimmed the edges. I then hole punched the top and added string.

FOOD

For food I kept it simple and ordered pizza. I also had chips, and a fruit and veggie tray. I bought Cars plates for the kids and red plates for the adults to use. For the cake I made a 3D McQueen cake and cupcakes.

For this cake I used the Wilton 3D Cruiser pan. I looked up a McQueen picture and did my best to copy it.

The cupcakes are hard to see in this picture but I just used white buttercream icing and stuck flags in them. I bought the flags at Party City.


GAMES AND CRAFTS

I had different stations set up with activities for the kids.

Colouring Table - I had a table set up with boxes of crayons and pictures of some of the
                           characters of  Cars. I downloaded some pictures and took them to
                           Staples to make copies.

Sticker's McQueen - I bought a poster of McQueen and downloaded a picture of his smile and
                                 made a pin the mouth on McQueen game. I made copies of his smile at
                                 Staples and used tape to have the kids stick it on.

Ramone's House of Body Art - I bought Car's tattoos for the boys and princess tattoos for the girls.

Pinata - I bought a Cars pull string pinata from Party City and filled it with candy. His party
             was 2 weeks after Halloween so I went on the search for candy on sale the week
             after Halloween.

Bean Bag Toss - I hadn't put on my winter tires yet so I used them to toss the bean bags in.

GOODIE BAGS

To make the bags I downloaded the Cars logo and printed it on to paper lunch bags. I did this at home and it was not as easy as I thought. I had to do one at a time putting the paper bags into the printer. When I was done filling them I folded the top down and hole punched 2 holes and tied ribbon on it. Even though it was a little bit of work I was very happy with how they turned out.

I don't have a picture of what was in the goodie bags but I will post pictures of where I got the ideas from.

In the goodie bags I put some candy that was left over from filling the pinata. I also put Cars stickers in them.

I found a template for Cars bookmarks. So I printed them on card stock and laminated them.

If you would like this template click here.

I found a bag topper template which I also downloaded and took to Staples to print. I used snack size ziploc bags and filled one with Oreos and another with Bugles. I folded the topper on top and stapled it.

If you would like the template click here.


If you have any questions please comment below. I hope you found some ideas for making your little boys birthday special.

Jenn