A 'DIY' Ice Cream Party

My children are growing up. Exciting, sad, scary, but mainly exciting. Also a little exhausting! Now that they are getting older, their vocabularies are expanding, and requests for parties and party paraphernalia are becoming terribly grandiose! I guess I should be thankful that they have such vivid imaginations.

No Melt Ice Creams! (or chocolate crackles in cones)

Handmade Ice Cream Piñata

I think I got off pretty easy with Arthur's request for an Ice Cream Party. Previous party ideas had included a cake with pretty much the entire cast of Thomas the Tank Engine.

I had planned to make it easier on myself and just buy most of the food, decorations, games etc. However it was terribly difficult to find a simple ice cream piñata or ice-cream themed decorations and other such items (at a price that was appropriate to a 3rd birthday celebration!)

And so, paper mache, painting, cutting, baking, glueing and sticking ensued. The Handmade Challenge List, and mummy getting sleep went out the window. Reinforcements were called in, in the form of Nannie and Papa (and don't forget Pinterest!)


The morning of the party was overcast and threatening rain. The inside? or outside? questions began. With about 30 minutes to go before party time, we decided to take a chance on outside. Good decision! The afternoon was just perfect and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely (I believe).

Perfect Spring afternoon

Thanks to Handy Hubby, we had some pretty awesome party games. Pin the ice cream in the donkey's mouth. We also set up a little ice cream stand where the kids were able to serve 'ice creams' using scoops, ping pong balls and recycled industrial cotton reels! (which we procured from a local jean manufacturer). The ice cream stand was a huge hit with all the kids.

Fluorescent ice cream anyone?

No blindfolds! The concept wasn't quite grasped by 1-4 year olds!

Can't forget the party bags

The ice cream sprinkle party bags were made using goodies from The Make Good Co and contained handmade play dough and another cotton reel cone for more ice cream fun.






The cake, oh the cake! This was actually easy and fun! A simple chocolate cake layered together with buttercream icing. An upturned cone (filled with a couple of chocolate crackles) then chocolate ganache poured over the top. Add sprinkles and you have yourself an 'ice cream cake'! Which was served with actual ice cream and your choice of topping!

Arthur attempting to extinguish the candles via head-butt

Felix has been putting in requests for his 5th Birthday (February) for the past three months...

What has been your favourite party to make for?

Handmade Challenge - October Update

Okay, nobody freak out, but I have actually sewn something, and it is actually on the challenge list! Hooray! 

Apron Sewn by Me!

I finally made the child's apron for Sophie from The Haby Goddess Kit. It's not the best sewing job I will confess, however I'm pretty certain it's not going to fall apart, so gold star to me!

I was nearly able to say that I managed to sew the entire thing and not swear at the sewing machine once. However, with less than 10cm to sew on one of the straps, the bobbin ran out. Then the troubles began...

Close-up

Anxious to get sewing again, I then spent 10 minutes swearing at the sewing machine for stuffing everything up. It was in fact I, in my haste, who had failed to re-thread the machine properly. Sorry sewing machine, I hope you will forgive me.

Now that I have the sewing machine out and going, I am pretty keen to sew things, the only issue being time...

A little Birthday Make

Time to blog, time to make for birthdays and Christmas, time to run my little business, I should also probably cook, clean and look after the children in there somewhere too!

I still have 4 things remaining on my Handmade Challenge List, which feels as though it may as well be 400. As I write, there are apparently only 71 sleeps until Christmas... I have a feeling I'll be sleeping less!

What have you been making? Share so we can all see!