Science mad - not mad science

OK so my son turned 8 and he asked for a science party {not that he has ever shown any interest in science before.} Sounded easy. Except I was severely let down by my ever trusty best friend Google. Not many people have had the kind of party I was searching for. Lots of people have had mad science parties, which would be really fun for halloween, unfortunately not what my son wanted. Fussy for someone who doesn't do any of the work!

So I decorated the best I could with the theme, which after research I decided was tricky and incredibly BORING! No offence to any scientists, I'm sure your smarter than me. I could barely work out the websites that sold laboratory supplies. So what to do? 

Science food? No such thing. In the end I went with the {sort of} obvious volcano cake that erupts and spews out lava. A spider station so the kids could concoct there own colourful drinks. Cake pops that looked like rocks {the ugliest and most boring kind of cake pops you'll ever see} exploding cookies {covered in pop rocks} and official looking labels and warning signs. 

Science decorations? A black board, a white sheet and lots of aluminium foil. 

Science games? Well that was definitely not boring. 

Rocket Blasters {mentos and soft drink}

Lab work {we made flubber}

Sink and destroy {dropped things into the bath, if it sinks your team gets a point} 

Magnitude {pick things up with a magnet, if it sticks your team gets a point} 

And for the finale we basically just blew a range of things up in the microwave. Huge hit. Soap, CD, empty chip packet, marshmallow, steel wool etc.

There are actually companies that will come and conduct science experiments for kids parties for around $300. Not in my area and at that price I wouldn't bother because the kids were impressed with my lame experiments anyway.

OK one of my biggest problems was the size of my outdoor table. It's HUGE. 2.5mtrs long and 1.10mtrs wide. I struggled to fill it with stuff. Boxes covered in foil made it look less 'too big' and gave the cake a bit of a boost. It was the smallest volcano ever. 

One box was covered in specimen jars that Fyn had fun making. The jars are from my mum, for some unknown reason she keeps empty jars? Weird but handy. Fyn choose some of his toys covered them in water and added a couple of drops of yellow food colouring. I got a fish for the large jar and some noodles for another.  Again you can get some spooky ideas and labels online for halloween specimen jars which would be awesome for a mad science party. My labels were very boring official looking though. 

The other box had some science looking vinegar jars. And a vase I owned that looked like a beaker {ikea} filled with water, food colouring and dry ice from here. Dry ice is cheap but there's not much choice in my area so I payed a high price, $9 for a kilo of pellets. Although he gave me about 3 kilos to keep it solid for longer. It was the most awesome thing about the party and perfect for 8 year old boys.

To make the huge blackboard I got a big sheet of MDF from bunnings cut to size, that is a total cost of $10. Blackboard paint is $12 but I got the big tub for $15 just in case. In true procrastination style I only painted it the night before the party, which is when I found out you need a primer for MDF, at least 2 coats and a total of 3 days to paint. With no choice Fyn and I just did one coat with no primer, it worked out fine and I had lots of paint left over. Phew.

Ready for paint.

Cake pops: Cake and icing in a food processor blitzed into one big cake ball. {I used a chocolate cake roll that comes with icing inside it} shape into {in my case} various ugly rock shapes. Dip in white chocolate coloured with black food colouring. I used a couple of different shades to get that realistic marbled rock look. Place on a bed of dirt {Oreos blitzed in the food processor} and serve in a foil tray. You can buy candy chocolate rocks that are completely realistic, I only thought of that the day before the party though. Not a genius. 

Spider station: A couple of sauce containers. Blue is ice-cream topping, green is very diluted jelly. Those cheap vases again full of sprite and a bit of ice-cream in the cups just before serving. 

Jelly bugs: You can buy these jars online 20 for $9 but these were free from my doctor. Worm lollies in clear jelly. To make clear jelly you buy the 'make your own flavour' jelly. I added sprite to mine, they tasted good and were a big hit. Probably because the kids do not know what these jars are used for! 

Cookies: I found this cutter in my play dough supplies dipped the bottom in red icing and covered in pop rocks. 

Cake: Lots of cool volcano cakes online, basically you place a cup in the centre of the cake and fill with dry ice pellets. Pour some water coloured with red jelly crystals into the cup and then watch it erupt and bubble over with lava. Awesome. 

As a twist of lazy fate my lights are still purple
from the last party, looked extra cool.

We erupted this volcano so many times the jelly set in the cup.

Take home containers.

Foil pie tins for plates.

Flubber station.

This was a really cheap party and the kids had a great time. Fyn had a great time planning it all with me too. So proud to have a party planning son!

Best dirt ever!

Big Fan Friday

If you've ever used paper napkins, decorated with fake flowers or sent an e-vite {guilty on all counts} then prepare to feel ashamed. This is Colin Cowie.

Mere mortals can only aspire to his level of insane organisation and polished etiquette. He does the most perfectly chic celebrations weddings, events and dinner parties and even though I will never do an event close to his level of gorgeousness he is the ultimate inspiration. I have been a big fan for years.

Though he makes all your party attempts feel really lame, for me it's still so much fun to plan a party. I have four kids so the parties I plan usually involve balloons and coloured popcorn {which I totally love} but as a nice change I did do a surprise birthday for my husband. So fun for me {not for him as he hates surprises!} He was a good sport though and luckily he loved it. 

Things I've learnt from Colin.

Lighting is everything (colours, patterns, mood) and can make your event look really fancy.

You can never have too many candles put them absolutely everywhere.

Organise your bar first so as soon as people arrive they can help themselves to a drink.

Choose a colour theme and carry it through.

You don't have to have lots of money to decorate and entertain. 

The first thing I really wanted to do was some coloured lighting. I hired a roulette table and it was purple so from the beginning I really wanted to have that as colour theme and I knew from all of Colins photos that purple is a great party colour! After a bit of research I decided that I could change my outdoor lights with some professional lighting gel. 

It looks exactly like cellophane but it's resistant to heat and unlike cellophane the colour saturation is strong when you put it against a light. I payed $15 for a huge roll from here. I cut it into small circles and used sticky dots to put it inside some of my light fixtures. It made a HUGE difference. I also put candles everywhere and I was really happy with how pretty it all looked. {Looks more like red in the photos}

{This is the part where I confess to living in a stunning home}

Next I used a bunch of material that I bought for only $4 a meter to make a table cloth and cover my outdoor cushions. My mum is a sewer, I am not. But I know enough to overlock a cushion cover in an envelope style so that you don't need buttons or zips. I was very generous with my pattern size just incase I made a mistake and they still worked out to only $2 each. I also covered some boxes (free from Bunnings) in material to lay some of my food platters on. Just stapled it on.  And in homage to Colin I really wanted feathers. I literally found the ONLY place on the Gold Coast that rents them and guess how many feather centrepieces they have. One. And it looked great. 

 

       

Another confession, I have the worlds best pantry {it's a blog post waiting to happen} and thats my dad in it about to decorate the pavlovas. Above that is the 'bar' my kitchen windows open all the way up and I put fairy lights along the tracks so people could serve themselves from the outside. Although at this stage it was still raining! I wanted to have all my husbands favourite food which was a little tricky as he isn't exactly a foodie. I found a really good catering company Savoir Fare and the chef did all the food on my BBQ. Chicken quesadillas, chilli con carne boats, chicken sausages, lamb cutlets and lamb skewers. Yes it is all meat! So I did caesar salads as well. For dessert I did mini lemon cupcakes, pavlovas, birthday cake and all his favourite lollies.

Mini cupcakes and cookies for a glorified boys night? Absolutely. Final confessions, I absolutely love planning a party ... more than I love going to it! Colin, what a fun job you have.

Let Kids Be Kids

This blog is not a platform for my political or religious views. It is not a place where I pass judgment on others or talk about my views on family and motherhood. It is a record {mostly for my own self indulgence} of all the creative projects that I like to try.

However, I do have one long term project that I am struggling to get just right.

Is it just me or is raising girls getting harder. I sometimes forget what it was like to be a little girl, I'm too busy trying to be a wife and mother, let alone a woman. In this world where at times I have felt I should be curvier; skinnier; shorter; taller; perkier; sexier; stronger; softer; smoother; browner; fuller; bouncier and prettier, it's natural that I am often drowning in a sea of inadequate. By some miracle {despite fashion magazines, peer pressure and advertising} I made it relatively unscathed through puberty, but now I am a mother. I have babies that are targeted with completely inappropriate products and messages. That is why I am going on the record.






I vote for more of

I am not against pageants, modelling, performing, competition, dancing, dressing up or anything else some girls adore, in fact I've done all those things. But for little girls string bikinis with padding is not ok. Sneakers that tone your legs and bottom are not ok. Spray tanning, teeth whitening and waxing is not ok and lingerie (even when it's called loungerie) is wrong. Absolutely wrong. Let them feel perfectly adequet for a while longer. That's what I say.




(photos: jours-apres-lunes.com; vogue; )

Big Fan Friday

So I think I am one of the last people to find out about this wonder women called Amy Atlas. She took her love of deserts and decorating and styling and put them all together to create custom desert tables, um genius! Why didn't I think of that. She does stunning work and I could drool through her website all day long.  You will be a HUGE fan when you check out the eye candy on her website.

I used her work for inspiration this week for my daughters second birthday. She had a dolly and me tea party, she adores babies, dolls, prams, teddies .... you get it. So I was really impressed with how this table turned out for the amount of work that I put in.

So I have been using this buffet for drinks and other things since I got it and I've used table runners but I have never put material all the way over to cover it completely, in true Amy style.  Makes such a big difference this was $6 a meter and I didn't hem it or anything I just wrapped it around the buffet and stuck it at the back with sticky tape. It hung all the way to the ground and having two girls I know ill use it again. Amy covers each of her tables with linen and always has a custom designed backdrop which I didn't have but I stuck those balloons to the back with sticky tape, another simple idea I got from her.

On the buffet I had these meringue kisses straight from the box and stuck them together with icing straight from a can.  I did that classic doll cake with a $5 doll and I made sure I got one with her hair up. I knew I couldn't do fondant icing though in a moment of insanity I did research it on You Tube before realising it would be so much easier to stick a bit of pretty netting over some buttercream frosting. This netting had silver sparkles all over it so I stuck some conchos on the exposed part of the dress. It was supposed to be pink but because I bought the cheapo butter it wouldn't budge from apricot. Or as I decided to call it, vintage peach. 

How cute are these cupcake wrappers you bake the cake right in there. Chocolate with strawberry creme cheese frosting.  Think I got these from Wheel and Barrow. 

Paige loves marshmallows as demonstrated by her trying to get them every five seconds. That glass jar is from an Op Shop it was $2, the blue bowl in the background is full of milk bottle lollies, also had cherry coconut slice and chocolate covered strawberries. The kids had sandwiches and pink tea with their babies for lunch. So much fun having a girl. 

Not even close to Amy Atlas level but luckily my two year old has never heard of her. This is another attempt but it was a night time dinner for my brother in laws birthday so I also had tea lights everywhere. 

These mini chocolate pots always taste great and look fancy, so easy. You buy the chocolate cups (Coles) and you buy some sort of tub desert like aeros mint chocolate mouse and then fill them up. Sprinkle some chopped up mint slice biscuits on top.  Those 3 glass vases in the background were also from an Op Shop half price sale they were .70 each, bargain. 

Oh Amy what a lovely job you have.

Bookcase for Mia

It took a long time and almost did my head in but this cheap {as in piece of crap, not inexpensive} bookcase was just the right height that I wanted for my daughters room and took me months to find. It was the best one I had seen; slightly pretty, not too tall and ready for a makeover. Of course after I found it, it took me months to decide on a colour. I'm a serious colour procrastinator ... will it be right, will it be wrong? For heavens sake woman make a decision it's a five dollar tub of paint! {It always comes down to a mental telling off}

So first, two coats of serious primer since the bookcase was already covered in stain. This was the stage I discovered that the back of the bookcase wasn't even made of wood but cheap painted plywood. Cue another mental telling off. For heavens sake woman check these things before you hand over the money! Once it was all primed and white I got out the colour I had finally decided on. Taubmans Warbling. I rolled the inside of the bookcase first and stood back to admire. Initially I was going to do the whole thing green but I liked the combination of white and green so much I decided to keep it that way. So back to Bunnings for more plain white paint to cover the primer.

If you want to keep a used paint roller for another coat later cover it completely in a plastic bag, squash all the air out and seal it the best you can. I left this one for a week before I used it again and it was still perfectly wet and ready to go. You don't waste any paint that's left in the roller this way. This was just a small $2 sponge roller but when your doing walls there can be a serious amount of paint in the roller itself. I also use plastic plates and bowls for the paint because there is nothing worse than cleaning paint. I try to avoid it all together.

Two coats of white and green and you could still see the stain through the white. Luckily I decided {was so sick of painting} that I liked it that way. A couple of cute knobs and finally after living in the garage for months it made it to the room. Hear the hallelujahs!