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Fun with your Kids! Baking & Making 'Food' Ideas & Recipes - Kids Party Ideas - Goodies For Good-The Great American Bake Sale Baking & Making Food with Kids I loving playing & making messes with my kids...and what better way to do this than to bake together. And when I say bake, I'm talking loosely about anything done in the kitchen with food be it making cakes, cupcakes, candy or well...the kids will come up with something! Here are some of my favorite ideas created by my own 'in-house culinary staff'. Cakes & Cupcakes - The Mumble-Jumble - Marshmallow Mash - Pudding Parfaits | |
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Baking Cakes &
Cupcakes! As you know, almost all of the cakes on this site started from a boxed mix, and what better way to get kids baking than to bake an instant gratification & delicious cake form a mix! So... 1) Go to the different Photo Galleries (especially the 3-D Gallery and the Shaped Cakes Gallery) and have fun getting inspired! 2) Consider the following when baking with kids.. - Using a box cake mix! There are only 3 ingredients (all of which they can measure & pour themselves), and a bowl & simple hand-mixer is all you need (. Simply work together to collect the ingredients, preheating the oven and spray the pans, & work with your children to make the cake batter and pour them into the cake pans. Remember your safety rules though. Be careful to help kids use the hand-mixer & never, never allow them to put the beaters in...only an adult should do it, and only if the hand-mixer is unplugged. And adults should always check the cakes in the oven for doneness, and remove while hot. - Letting the kids call the shots on carving! Once cooled, let the kids shape the cakes as best they can. You can always help them draw templates (see Decorating FAQs for template how-to's) for cutting cakes into shapes. My daughter's idea to make Dad an Octopus cake for Father's Day gives me a chuckle ever time. - Letting the kids decorate! When decorating your cakes, try offering the kids tons of color options in different Ziploc bags, tons of tip types for all sorts of designs, tons of sprinkle options. Also, don't forget that candy is a great way to decorate cakes if drawing with frosting is not your child's thing. M&Ms are a great way to make all sorts of designs (rainbows, flowers, bugs, smiley faces etc), licorice strips from the Pull n'Peel brand make great lines & whiskers on cats, gummy worms make great bugs for digging in the dirt (chocolate), and more! I'll add more decorating ideas just for kids soon, but please see all the photo galleries for more ideas. The 3-D Gallery and the Shaped Sheet Cakes Gallery have the most kid-specific ideas! - Eating your masterpieces with your kids! The kids will love not only decorating the cakes, but seeing you enjoy their hard work as well. A few tips: -Full size cakes are good for big parties, but sometimes the kids really want to make something even for a non-occasion...which is awesome! Remember cakes only cost ~$5 to make & frost (see FAQs for more details), so it's cheaper than buying a dessert or going out for ice-cream, and is a fun activity that can last all night long! What a great way to kick-off the weekend. And if you don't want left-over cake in the house (assuming you cannot finish a whole cake in one night of course, and no judgment if you can as it's been done around here-hee-hee), what neighbor or teacher is going to mind a chunk of cake made by the kids with love. Everyone loves cake! -Cupcakes are great too when just goofing around with the kids as baked cupcakes can be frozen un-frosted for 3 months and then you can use or eat only what you want. I always freeze left-over cupcakes as the kids have a blast decorating them themselves on a random night, or having friends over & decorating them together! It's like a craft project & snack-time in one..too good! And the clean-up is super delicious. Ok, you get my drift that I think baking with kids is awesome, so I hope you all have fun with your kids too! Bake on! |
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The Mumble-Jumble! Mumble-Jumble is our name for any concoction you make by mixing together yummies from the pantry. It's such fun to send the kids to collect the ingredients, pull out some bowls and then add the goodies by the handful! My son is the master Mumble-Jumble maker in our house and his hands-down favorite is pretzels, chocolate chips & mini-marshmallows, but make your own family favorites! Here are some ideas...and no measuring necessary, let the kids pick the amounts: 1) The Original Mumble-Jumble: pretzels (sticks, mini-shapes or circles), semi-sweet chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows. 2) The Full-Pantry Mumble Jumble: Goldfish crackers, mini Honey Teddy Grahams, Cheerios, semi-sweet chocolate chips, M&Ms & mini-marshmallows. 3) The Trail Mix Mumble Jumble: Nuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips or M&Ms, and Cheerio's (or any other crunchy cereal). |
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Marshmallow Mash! Marshmallow Mash was created by my daughter and it is sweet, delicious, sweet and did I mention sweet? Just what kids love and grown-ups crave. She came up with the recipe all by herself, and can make it with little to no help, so here goes... 1) Gather your ingredients & supplies: 1 bag Wilton candy melts (any color you desire), 1 bag mini-marshmallows, and 2 cups Vanilla Wafers, with 1 large mixing bowl, 1 large Ziploc bag, 1 medium microwave safe bowl, 1 plastic try or saran wrapped cookie sheet and 1 spatula or spoon. 2) Crumble your Vanilla Wafers by placing them in a large Ziploc bag and breaking them either by hand or by gently pounding them with a meat tenderizer or something heavy (don't pulverize them though...you want small pieces not crushed dust). 3) Melt your Wilton chocolates according to directions on the bag in your microwave safe bowl. 4) When chocolate is melted, pour cookie pieces, marshmallows & melted chocolates into a large bowl and mix until combined. 5) Now spoon onto tray in tablespoon sized pieces (or whatever size you desire). Be sure your spoonfuls are as tightly packed as possible so that they will harden into actual candy clumps. Place your in refrigerator until candy hardened. My daughter has made these in white, purple, yellow and we have a pack of red chocolates in the pantry as we speak just waiting for Valentine's Day treats! They are too much fun! |
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Pudding Parfaits! My niece came up with this great idea and gave us quite a treat at our last sleep-over! Her recipe is super-simple and loads of fun... 1) Gather your ingredients and supplies: 2-cups Vanilla Wafers (crushed), 2-cups chocolate pudding (homemade or store bought), 1-box strawberries (diced) and 1-tub whipped cream, with a cutting board & knife, large spoons and tall glasses 2) Prep the food if you need to including crushing the wafers (see Marshmallow Mash above for how-to), dice the strawberries (my niece did this at 6 years old just great, but please always be careful as kids & knives make me nervous) and make or open the pudding (if making, use the instant pudding so the kids do not have to wait too long!). 4) Now assemble the treat by layering the ingredients as follows: a layer of cookie, them pudding, then strawberries, then whipped cream, then repeat until your tall glass is filled and top with extra whipped cream! Viola! A delicious and decadent treat that the kids love to make, and you will love to eat! Awesome! |
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More Coming Soon! Back to Top Kids Party Ideas I love kids parties, so I'll be coming back soon with some really detailed ideas of my favorites we've done at our house (so read: simple, inexpensive, fun...and of course, filled with cake!). Here are some starting thoughts, but please come back soon! (April 2009). Splash & Spa Party - Water Park Splash Pad party - Star Wars party - Luau party - Bionicle party - Lightning McQueen or Sport Car party - Science Party Splash & Spa Party: For your summer birthday kids, turn your backyard into a spash pad spa....great for the girls who love to pamper themselves & then splash bomb their firends with water balloons! Activities: Sprinkler turned on for running around water fun, Slip n'Slide turned on for awesome wipe-outs in the water, fill a blow-up or baby pool with water & tons of bubbles for a bubble bath spa the girls can soak & relax in (or splash all over & make beards out of!), water baloon toss, nail painting station (using crazy colors & the nail polish remeover that you stick your finger into...still not a neat project, so defintely use a tablecloth, or do it on a carft table) and jewelry kit making station (we simple braided pipe-cleaners and made into necklaces, braclets, anklets, and even crowns...the girls could do it all, & it was a hit!). Food: We jus had cupcakes at this one, with water & juice...so it was super simple! Decorations: We had stations set-up around the bakcyard, including a tented area for the bubble bath (in the shade for that cool relaxing affect), and used pink, purple & light blue balloons and stremers everywhere we could! Goody Bags: Nail polish, bubble bath, candy, jewelry, or other spa related items (little soaps, lotions, lip glosses, etc.). Water Park Splash Pad Party: Using a Finding Nemo or fish theme, make your backyard into a Water Park Splash Pad for summertime fun! Activities: Set-up water park stations, including running on a slip & slide, fishing at a baby pool, running through a sprinkler, spraying the hose to play limbo, doing a water balloon toss, craft (coloring pages, deco a foam fish, make foam visor or flip-flops). Food: Fishy crackers, fruit salad, submarine sandwiches (if you need them, but I firmly believe less is more with kid parties), water bottles & cake! See the Shaped Sheet Cakes gallery for pictures and directions). Decorations: Go fully into Disney Nemo, or blend fish deco's from a party store with bright colored plates, tablecloths & balloons! Goody Bags: Here are some ideas, but don't break the bank...and consider finding items that the kids can really use v. the cheap stuff that just breaks, including: a beach ball ($1.99 at Target), bubbles, candy, goggles, crayons & Nemo coloring pages, local ice-cream store coupon, sand pail & shovel, mini-squirty fish for bath-tub play. Star Wars Party: When your little (or big) one wants to live in a galaxy far, far away...why not at least give them a party that will make them feel like their house is filled with the Force! Here goes.... Activities: Read one Star Wars book (we read the What is a Wookie? which reviewed tons of the characters, and then used those character ideas for the rest of our games), play freeze dance (but instead of just dancing, we pretended to be a character & made noises and stomps & other actions) using Star Wars music (get it from iTunes), play balloon balance (seeing how long you can keep the balloon in the air) but pretend you are using the Force to keep it afloat, light saber freeze dance (use those long tube balloons as your sabers), pin the computer on Darth Vader (used a large poster of Darth Vader & made a 'computer' looking sticker they had to pin on his chest), star wars coloring pages, books for those kids who needed some down time. Food: Pretzels, fruit, water bottles and cake! See the Ball Shaped gallery for the Death Star cake (a death laser on a cake...who is not going to love that one!) Goody Bags: Glow sticks, bouncy balls, candy, crayons & coloring pages, stickers, tattoos & of course they kept their light saber balloons! Luau Party: Have a summer birthday? Live in Chicago and need any excuse in the winter to pretend it's sunny? Have a Luau! Activities: Limbo game, Hula freeze dance using Luau party music (download from iTunes), Simon says using Hula dance moves, water ballon toss, crafts (deco foam visors, embellish flip flops, deco foam cup holder, make summer themed necklaces...there are a tons of summer/luau based crafts at Hobby stores), and if outside, set-up sprinkler, slip & slide. Food: Fruit, crackers, fruit smoothy bar (use the drinkable yogurt smoothie drinks and let the kids add their 'toppings' such as fruit, chocolate syrup, cookie pieces, etc.)...warning...saty away from the drink umbrellas with kids (we thought it would be cute, until we realized how sharp they were when we found them strewn across the yard...that was quick mid-party clean up for sure!) and cake! See the Doll Gallery for the Luau girl cake, the Ball Gallery for the Beach Ball cake and the Shaped Sheet Gallery for the Parrot cake! Goody Bags: Leis, bubbles, stickers, candy, summer-themed water bottle filled with luau themed mints (again, luau stuff is easy to find at party stores...and it's so fun!). Bionicle Party: My son is Bionicle nuts, so while it was not something all of his friends knew before the party...they certainly know about them now! Activities: As not everyone knows Bionicles (a Lego toy), start by reading a Bionicle book that reviews what they are (love the Earth, Wind, Water, Ice, Lava, Air element nature of the Bionicles), Bionicle freeze dance using a different character each time starting the 'dance', balloon balance using the element power to keep it afloat, 'Bozo' bucket using toy Bionicles thrown into bowls, coloring pages (couldn't fin Bionicle ones so used Transformer ones...only a few kids noticed), if the kids are old enough, have team Bionicle building contest, Bionicle poster scavenger hunt (You can print out tons of Bionicle posters from Lego.com and tape them up all over the house. Then the teams have to run around and find each of the posters per the description on the page and write down were they were found!). Food: Crackers, lego fruit chews, water bottles, and cake or cupcakes. See the Cupcake gallery for the toy topped Bionicle cupcakes, and the 3-D Gallery for my son's Bionicle cake...as designed by him! Goody Bags: Glow sticks, bouncy balls, candy, pencils Lightning McQueen or Sports Car Party: My daughter totally went nuts over Lightning McQueen when Cars came out (I think she had a crush on Lightning McQueen who just happens to be voiced by Owen Wilson, one of my favorite guys...like mother like daughter, hmmm? Call me Owen!) Activities: We played freeze dance (where the dances were really car moves, like fast driving, pit stops, roll-overs, etc.), Red Light/Green Light, made foam license plates (just cut foam 'paper' into rectangles and get foam sticks with letters, number and car shapes for them to make their own license plate), and then the best part was that my wonderful husband let the kids wash his little red sports car (we decorated it with large cardboard eyes, mouth & lightning bolts so that it looked like McQueen)...the kids had so much fun washing a car that we will do this one again (it was so simple as I just got tons of huge sponges, buckets, and used dish soap so no car chemicals, and then gave them turns with the hose). Food: Crackers, fruit chews, water bottles, and cake! See the 3-D Gallery for the Lightning McQueen cake or Monster Truck cake. Goody Bags: The License plates from the craft, Matchbox cars, candy, fruit chews Science Party: My kids love doing science experiments, so over Spring Break (which is always cold where we are) we invite anyone still in town from their class over for a Spring Break Science party...it is such fun (I think I like it more than they do!). Activities: Use your science experiment book, or borrow one from the library, or look on-line for experiments that are age appropriate. We have made Blue goo (each child can make their own colloid by giving each child a bowl with 1/2 cup of corn-starch and a cup with 1/2 cup blue-dyed water...when they combine & mix the tow with their hands it forms this awesomely gross mixture!), played with magnets, did the slime cake (see below) and then the piece de résistance...the exploding Coke 2-liters (add a few mentos to a Coke filled 2-liter bottle and the Coke will explode out the top of the bottle....this is to be done outside and with supervision but it is funny!). Food: We only had water and Slime cake! See 3-D cake gallery for the Slime cake...it is so much fun. Basically, you make a basic round cake frosted green, or left plain with just filling. Then make either green frosting or green pudding and put it a big freezer baggie. When you are ready, snip a corner off the baggie and give each child a chance to 'slime' the cake (squirting the green 'slime' from the baggie onto the cake). Accompany the sliming with the appropriate "ew's, ahh's, gross's, and yuck's" and the kids will think it's hysterical! This idea came from a Nickelodeon kids cookbooks...Thanks Nick Jr. for all of your great ideas! Goody Bags: We only gave the kids directions for the science experiments we did (so they could do them at home) and a roll of Mentos! There are more ideas to come, so please come back soon (I'm just too tired, but have info for a Spa party, Around the World party, Lego party, PJ Movie Breakfast party, PJ Christmas Movie party (my kids love any combination of parties & PJ's), Ceramic Painting party, and more! Back to Top More wonderful child-focused sites made by fabulous women! www.Blooming-Babies.com www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/birthday Goodies for Good-The Great American Bake Sale Details!  I am so excited to be having a bake sale on June 27 & June 28 at my local Church to help fight childhood hunger! This sale is part of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale, which is a nationwide effort to raise money to support feeding hungry children. Here are the details... Donating Goodies? - Helping at the Sale? - Donating Money? - Buying Goodies at the Sale? - Details on Share Our Strength Donating Goodies! Thank you for offering to donate goodies to our Bake Sale! We welcome items you have baked, or if you prefer, items you have bought (local grocery stores, bakeries & Costco's have wonderful baked goods). As our sale is the weekend before July 4th, we want both individual items, and family-size portions to sell. I am hoping to collect a variety of goodies for our table. Here are ideas for what to bake and/or buy for your donation, and ideas on how to wrap your donations if so inclined (although you do not need to as I can see to all of that): Ideas on what to bake or buy for donation (click for recipes...and more coming soon!): Cookies: Chocolate-chip, Sugar, Peanut-Butter, Snickerdoodle, Oatmeal, Monster, Lemon Drops, Cookie Lollipops...or any of your favorites! Brownies: Plain, with Nuts, Turtle, Candy Bar, Oreo Cookie...or your favorites! Cakes: Angel Food cakes, Bundt cakes, Cookie Surprise cakes...or your favorites! Cupcakes or Muffins: Chocolate chip, Cinnamon, Banana, Carrot, Blueberry...or any of your favorites! Dessert Bars: 7-layer bars, no-bake bars...or your favorite! Breads: Chocolate Chip, Banana, Blueberry, wheat, white, French...or your favorites! Chocolate-Dipped Desserts: Dipped Pretzels, Nut Clusters, Dried Fruit, Raisin Clusters, Truffles...or your most creative ideas! Fruit: My daughter will be making little fruit baskets to sell at the table because she thinks we need more healthy food! Popcorn: Popcorn balls, or little bags! Ideas on how to present your donations: I will take any & all donations however you wish to give them to me! You can drop them off at my house starting on Thursday June 25, and I would love to have them all by Saturday June 27 at 10am. Or you can bring them directly to the Church by 3:30pm on Saturday June 27. As we want the Bake Sale to look super cool, here are some ideas on how to present your baked goods: 1) You can simply bring them to me as-is in your pan or however, and I will take care of any wrapping if needed (we will wrap some items, and keep some items open on a tray for mix & match bags). Net, I want this to be easy for you, so bring your goods as-is unless you'd like to have fun wrapping yourself! 2) If you would like to wrap your goodies, here are some ideas (we want our goodies to look like fun presents!) - You can bag cookies or brownies in sets or individually in little plastic baggies & tie close with festive ribbon. Consider using red, white & blue ties for the Fourth of July! - For Cookie Lollipops, you can wrap each cookie individually in plastic & ribbon, and place them sticking up in a flower pot filled with foam! - You can bring cakes in boxes, or wrapped in plastic decorated with ribbon in festive colors (again, maybe red, white & blue?) - You can package your items in bulk (by the dozen maybe?) by placing them on a firm paper plate and wrapping the plate in a plastic and tying it off with festive ribbon. - Chocolate Dipped desserts can be put in a paper or plastic cup, wrapped in plastic tied off by ribbon. -Muffins can be sold by the half dozen or wrapped individually with ribbon & plastic! - Bring your goodies individually but tiered on a 3-tier dessert tray for fu mix & match options. -Candy desserts can be put in little dessert boxes (found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels)! I'd even be happy to host a wrapping party if everyone wants to just bring their goodies and we can wrap them together over some lemonade! You let me know if that sounds like fun! Helping at the Goodies for Good Bake Sale! If you would like to help set-up the sale, or work the tables during the sale, or have your kids make posters or hang fliers prior to the sale, please let me know at jennifer@jenny-cakes.com. I would love any & all help! Thank you! Donating Money Directly to Fighting Childhood Hunger! If you would like to make a monetary donation, where 100% of your funds go directly to Share Our Strength, please go directly to http://join.strength.org/goto/Goodies-for-Good. All donations go 100% to Share Our Strength. Thank you so much for your support. Please know you are really helping hungry children. Buying Goodies at the Sale! Cookies, cake, brownies, muffins, fruit, chocolate...breakfast foods, kid-bags, family-sized trays....chocolate chips, vanilla, cinnamon & sugar....salivating yet? Please come out from 4p-6p on Saturday June 27 and 7a-1p on Sunday June 28 to buy goodies. Buy them to eat that day, or buy them & freeze for the week until your Fourth of July party...just come and buy! All proceeds go directly to Share Our Strength. What is Share Our Strength? Share Our Strength is an awesome non-profit that helps feed hungry kids by raising money to support local groups who fight hunger around the U.S. Since 1984, they have raised over $245 million and supported more than 1000 groups. With 12 million children in the U.S. wondering where their next meal is coming from, we need to support Share Our Strength more than ever. These hungry kids are our neighbors, our children's friends, or maybe even us. Please help. We all know good nutrition leads to healthy minds, bodies & souls, and smiles every day. All this information was found on Share Our Strengths web-site www.strength.org. The Great American Bake Sale is Share Our Strength's effort to get people all over the U.S. to host bake sales with all proceeds going to after-school and summer feeding programs. Find more information or details on hosting your bake sale at www.strength.org. Back to Top |
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