A Last Minute Minecraft Birthday

***The pictures in this post are not out of focus.  Our life just happens to be a little fuzzy at the moment.***

We paused from our Thanksgiving preparations to celebrate E's birthday, this weekend.  I have to admit, between just getting back from a trip, a late-running youth group event on Friday night, a Sunday school lesson to study, and a community Thanksgiving dinner which the Man of the House had volunteered to help set-up, I had pictures E's birthday as a very simple, cake-and-presents-after-a-light-Sunday-lunch affair.

Then, I overheard E (now age 11) discussing with her sister how she was hoping for a Minecraft birthday.  And, I'm not sure if it was the guilt over being away from the children so much at the beginning of the month, or the assurance that Pinterest contains an unfathomable number of ideas and printables for a Minecraft themed party, but from that moment on, there was no turning back.

I raided our Christmas present stash for the Minecraft Mystery Mini-figure boxes and Minecraft magnets I'd picked up earlier, on clearance, for stocking stuffers.

I placed a mini-figure box by each plate (in place of a pinata), and gleaned enough ideas and printables from Google images to help transform a lunch...

...of sodas, pigs-in-a-blanket, strawberries, pineapple, grapes, pretzels, licorice, Swedish fish, and carrots into Creeper juice with Minecraft bread, redstones, gold, slime balls, sticks, TNT, fish and...well...carrots.


Since we've made the standard Minecraft cake before...

...I opted to make a block of grass (or is it dirt?) for E (another idea found in Google images), which in our case was just a couple of layered square cakes with chocolate frosting spread on the sides, and green colored vanilla buttercream piped on top.

The magnets, I mentioned earlier...

...stood in, as a make-your-own-scene type party game...

...which when combined with a creeper shooting gallery - with construction paper covered, cereal box creeper head targets (an idea from Housing a Forest) in front of...

...pyramids of creeper cups (green cups with sharpie drawn faces)...

...a quick game of Minecraft bingo (with a free printable from Life with Squeaker), and a Lego Minecraft present (thanks Grandma!)...

...made for a very pleased (and not at all neglected) birthday girl...

...and still left plenty of time to make it to the community Thanksgiving dinner - pot of the Man of the House's famous cream cheese and sour cream laden mashed potatoes, in hand.

Adding Touches of 12 to a 12th Birthday.

D's birthday was this week.

This year, for the first time, he didn't come to me weeks in advance with a picture from a magazine, or website, of the cake he wanted - the cake that usually sets the theme for his party.

Instead, he decided, turning a very grown-up twelve, he might just like a "normal" cake, with ice cream, and presents, but no party.

I was okay with that.  Given the number of birthday parties we have in a year, I was more than okay with that.  But still, I wanted to find ways to add little special reminders of his birthday, throughout the day, especially since we had to wait until T, and the the Man of the House were off work, for the presents and cake.

To begin with, I woke D up early (he's an early riser anyway, and didn't mind), so he could make a quick run to the store with me to pick out a dozen donuts for breakfast.  Donuts for breakfast are rare in our house, and  he was pretty pleased to be able to choose all 12 himself.  While we were at the store too, I picked up 12 quarters in change, for later in the day.

D is not a huge lover of party games, but I managed to disguise one, as a quick, time killing challenge, by giving my youngest three 12 balloons, and asking them how many they could keep in the air at once.

At lunch, to go with D's requested, grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, I added one apple, cut into 12 slices.

We picked T up shortly after lunch, and with the rest of the siblings in tow, set off on a quest to visit all of our local grocery stores, to see what treasure D could reap from the quarter machines, with the 12 quarters of change form the donuts.  The contents of the machines were lackluster, but the racing from store to store, and the tromping in out was a good bit of entertainment.

Then, it was time for the Man of the House to come home.  I really wanted to order a pizza with 12 toppings, but the pizza place website informed me that was too many toppings to allow for proper baking, and refused to take the order. Instead, the Man of the House volunteered to cook another of D's favorite dinners, before cake (decorated simply, with sequences of 12 M&Ms) and ice cream (with 12 different flavors to choose from).

While we were picking up the donuts in the morning, I noticed the pints of ice cream were on sale for a dollar each, and ask D if he'd like an ice cream shop style ice cream tasting, before the cake.  He was pretty thrilled with the idea.

When the time came, before we added the candles, and sang, I lined up the open cartons, in a single row, on the table.  Then, I gave each child 12 plastic spoons, and let them move, single file, past the cartons, taking a small sample from each, before choosing the one they wanted with their slice of cake.  It was a surprising lot of fun, and a wonderful way to end off a very special day.

Small Castle Cake

C's birthday turned out to be another gloomy, stuck inside, rainy day.  I packed away the bubbles, and outdoor games for another time, and made a run with the birthday girl to the video store, where it just so happened, all the Disney movies were on a free-for-the-day rental deal.  C picked out Sleeping Beauty and Little Mermaid, both new to her, and while the girls snuggled down to watch the movies I decided to see what could be done about a cake.

I had a sheet cake stuck overnight in the freezer, ready to be pulled out and frosted.  We weren't really planning a party - just cake, ice cream, and a few presents with the siblings.  My original plan was to slap a layer of frosting across the top, pipe on a birthday wish, stick in a few candles, and call it good.

Instead, I cut and removed a third of the cake, reserving it for later...

...and cut the remaining cake in half lengthwise...

...to layer together, and frost on a cookie sheet.

The results were a little lopsided, but my plan was to fix the effect with corner towers...

...cut form the reserved third of the cake.  Unfortunately, I forgot to stick that piece back into the freezer while I was frosting, so by the time I was ready to cut out the squares, the cake had thawed enough to make frosting the cut edges next to impossible.

Normally, I would have just placed the cut squares back into the freezer for an hour or two, until they were solid enough to frost.  I didn't have time for that today, so I switched to a plan B, and went with marshmallows instead.

The marshmallows were easy to frost, but not quite the squared off, castle wall shape, I was thinking of.  Still, with Little Mermaid playing in the background, I decided the coral-like shapes might be okay.

I loaded a Ziploc baggie with the purple frosting, and piped on a few details.  It looked a little like a Flinstone's house to me...

...so I added a blue sugar moat, and four quickly made tissue paper, and toothpick flags for good measure.

It was still lopsided, but better than sheet cake on a rainy day.

Minecraft Cake with Canned Frosting

You've got to love Minecraft for working a simple, square cake right into the game.  It makes things so much easier for parents planning Minecraft parties.  I noticed most of the folks posting pictures of their cakes online, favor fondant over butter cream frosting.  While fondant does lend itself nicely to crisp lines, and a smooth finish - canned frosting (or homemade) is much simpler to work with, and a good deal less expensive - as well as being quite tasty.  And, as far as the Minecraft cake goes, it's totally doable.

Simple start with a square cake - bake one or two cake mixes worth of batter in two square pans, allow to cool slightly, and then put them together with a layer of frosting.  Freeze the cake, covered, overnight...

...to eliminate the need for a crumb coating of frosting.  You might also want to slip strips of tinfoil under the bottom edges of the cake, to keep the plate clean, while you're frosting (both of those are old Martha Stewart tips).

Then, you can begin by piping the square pattern onto the sides of the cake, with vanilla frosting.  You don't have to get too fancy.  I used a resealable baggie with the corner snipped off for the piping pictured.

Continue piping to fill in the outline on the sides.  Blop a good dollop of frosting out on top, and smooth it out with a butter knife.

If you are making a yellow cake, then that might be all the frosting you need.  But, if your birthday child prefers chocolate cake, or you just really like frosting...

...fill in the bottom of the cake with a second piping bag of butter cream frosting.

Use kitchen shears to snip out a few fruit roll-up squares for the top of the cake.  Remove the tinfoil strips, allow a few hours of cake thawing time...

...and serve up with ice cream cut into quick cubes, and maybe...

...a candy filled Creeper, or two (a free paper craft found here).

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 23 - Ice Cream Cone Piñata

I made this piñata for a summer birthday, but it would also work nicely for National Ice Cream Month in July, or National Ice Cream Day, which according to the International Dairy Foods Association, will be on July 21st, this year.

For a small "individual" piñata, start with an empty toilet paper tube, a 9 oz. paper cup, a small, elongated balloon only partially blown up (to allow some room for shaping), masking tape, and scissors (you will also end up needing white paper, a brown paper lunch bag, white school glue, water, and a bowl).

Note:  For a bigger sized piñata, use 9 and 12 oz cups to form the cone, instead of the cup and toilet paper tube, and a larger balloon for the ice cream.

Cut all but about 2 inches away from the bottom of the cup.

Tape the balloon just above the the middle, to draw it in, and give it more of the swirled, soft served look.  It's a good time too, to make sure the balloon will fit into the rim of what is left of the cup (you can cover the cut edge of the cup with masking tape, if you are afraid it will pop the balloon).

Stab into the bottom of the cup with the scissors, and cut out a hole big enough...

...to squeeze the toilet paper tube into.

Shorten the tube, to make a wafer-type, ice cream cone shape with the cup.

Tear a sheet, or two, of white paper, and a lunch bag into strips.  Prepare a bowl of glue mixed 1:2 with water.

Dip the strips into the glue, squeezing off the excess.  Use the brown paper to cover the "cone", and the white paper to cover the balloon (see below for balloon instructions).

The cone can be left upside down on top of another cup, to dry. It will only need one coat of paper, but be sure the bottom of the tube has been covered well, with long strips, secured with strips wrapped around the base.  One final strip draped over, and wrapped around the lip of the cup, will give the cone a nice finished look, too.

The balloon will need two coats of paper.  With the first, leave the tied end of the balloon exposed, and form a short cone around the tip, as pictured.

Allow, the glue to dry over night.  You can place the balloon into the top of a small cup to dry, but turn it over at least once, so it will dry evenly.

When you apply the second coat of glue soaked paper to the balloon, extend the cone, until it is long enough to twist into...

...a twirl on top of the ice cream.

Once the cone, and the second white coat of paper are completely dry, punch or poke holes into the sides of the cone, just below the lip, and run a hanging string through.

Remove the balloon from the "ice cream", by grasping the knot between two fingers, making a cut into the balloon between your fingers, and slowly letting the air out of the balloon, while you hold on to it.  Don't stress if you leave bits of the balloon behind, just use an unsharpened pencil, or knitting needle to scrape the pieces loose from the sides of the interior, and dump them out.

Fill both parts of the piñata with candy, toys, and /or stickers (in this case they need to be small candies and toys).  The base will need to be loaded heaver than the top, if you want the ice cream to hang right side up.  Otherwise, if you want to fill the top heavier, poke the holes closer to the top of the "ice cream", and use a long needle to help you thread the string through.

Squeeze a line of glue onto the bottom of the "ice cream", where it will meet up with the cone, and place the two together, being careful not to get glue on any of the candies or toys (the cup sticks out beyond the tube, making this easier than it sounds).

Add an extra line of glue around the outside of the seam where the "ice cream" and "cone" meet.  Allow the glue to dry, and your done.

It's great to be a homeschooler.