Baking · My other ramblings

The Non Avengers Party

MrsCraft

Things have been a little quiet lately for me on the craft and blogging front as I have been preparing for today’s 5th birthday party. For many it’s the stuff of nightmares, a hellish mix of active children, far too much processed sugar and a village hall. It was possibly one of my crazier crazy plans, but many of the children in my son’s class seem to have a large party in Reception so it felt appropriate to follow suit. We invited all of his class, our friends from Messy Church as well as family and close friends. A party for around 30 children felt like a pretty huge undertaking, from booking the hall to organising invitations, food, games, a cake and pulling it all together on the day.

The first hitch occurred a couple of days after the invites had gone out. I had not planned for a  ‘Pinterest’ party, it was just going to be a standard party with food, games and cake. Then, one day on the way home from school, one of the mums mentioned that her daughter wasn’t sure about having to dress up as an Avenger. This threw me slightly as the invites were fairly generic ones-you know, the type with pictures of balloons on bright primary colours, certainly not themed. It turned out that my darling boy had told all of his friends that he was having an Avengers party, an idea that I wasn’t privy to until this discussion. (Now the post title makes sense!)

Over the course of the next few days I had many similar conversations with his classmates parents, and he and I had a little chat about honesty. After all of this, though, we decided we could have some Avengers features. Naturally the pass the parcel prizes were Avengers themed, and we bought some napkins too. The cake was going to be the star of the show, so we did a bit of research via Pinterest. Daddy liked the look of the Hulk hands made of marshmallows and rice crispies. My 3D art skills are sadly lacking so I let him get on with it, the results were pretty impressive! I baked and iced the cakes whilst he created this, it was a real team effort.

The red icing had to be done twice, because somebody (aged 2 and a half, smaller than a metre tall and who looks like butter wouldn’t melt) decided to take a few pinches out of the first coat and test it out, like a pre party cake tasting. I had to remove it all and try again, much to my horror, as it was beyond repair. Anyway, it was completed in time for the party (just!) I had my first go at using edible shimmer spray on the stars, it works surprisingly well as long as you don’t touch it with wet (or even slightly damp) fingers. It was a good job I made spares!

This photo was taken in the calm before the storm, as I had arrived at the village hall on my own (with a car boot full of food) to set up. All was going to plan, my little list of timings and so on was spot on. Then I received a text, my sister in law’s car had broken down, with my nieces on board. They also had the CD player and the music. At this point a small amount of panic set in, as Mr C had to go and fetch them and they were around 20 minutes away and my timings planned for the games to start within 30 minutes. Oh dear. (I’d just like to point out that everybody was ok, otherwise I’d have been worrying about them!)

Luckily a friend who lived around the corner was able to fetch his CD player and we managed to start on time, with everything else running smoothly. My wonderful friends made cups of tea and organised things in the kitchen which  helped immensely! The cake tasted pretty good, my nieces got to the party eventually and still had a lovely time, and my little boy went to sleep tonight a very happy boy after being spoiled rotten and having the (kind of) Avengers party he’d been looking forward to so much. (The mum who alerted me to the ‘themed’ party bought him an Avengers book for his gift too-he went to sleep cuddling it!)

At least this cake wasn’t quite on a par with An Epic Fail! I hope you’re having a more relaxing weekend than I’ve had so far, my plans for tomorrow involve putting my feet up and drinking tea. Back to my normal crafty stuff again now, I’m so relieved that this party is over after all of the planning and preparation.

27 thoughts on “The Non Avengers Party”

  3. Wow! I would never attempt such an ambitious construction. Well done to you and Mr Craft for pulling it off so well. Home made cakes are the best. Sometimes as a kid we had shop bought, which were great and we always enjoyed the excitement of picking them up, but the ones my mum made are the ones I remember. I bet this will be the same for your little boy. Hope you have a well earned rest tomorrow!

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      3. Well when I saw the title I was thinking of Steed, Gambit and Purdey. I don’t suppose that be something you are familiar with, but they are the Avengers to me!

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  4. I’m with Paperpuff on the Avengers thing, and I have to say, it doesn’t seem right that a party for a five year old should be so stressful. However, it’s a long time since I had a five year old (and I never made a birthday cake in my life), so kudos to you for that alone. Enjoy your day today, you earned it.

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    1. Haha, you’re right, and we didn’t add any fancy bits to the party either. He’s never having a big party again, at least not in primary school anyway. Next year he can choose 3 friends to take to the giant soft play in town.

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  6. Happy birthday to your son 🎂 Sounds like he had the best time. I’ve got all this to look forward to in a few years. The cake looks amazing, well done to both of you. I admit I never really did big parties for my eldest son (now 17), maybe a few friends round to our house or a sleepover, I’m sure he didn’t mind though! Looking forward to seeing your crafting once you’ve got over the party that is! X

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    1. We never had big parties either as children, but it seems to be the done thing nowadays, at least once. No way would I do this every year, it cost a fortune and I didn’t book a bouncy castle, entertainer or anything like that! I’m looking forward to crafting again, once I’ve found somewhere to store all of these presents. X

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  9. A brilliant cake by TeamCraft! The 5 year old might not have another whole class party, but the 2.5 year old has expectations…Just saying;) Oh and Purdey is also Patsy in Ab Fab (if that helps!)

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  10. Wow! I think you did an amazing job! The best part is that your son will remember that YOU made that cake for him, which is priceless. Bravo!

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