Ooh you guys have me thinking now! My oldest turns 8 in December and that would be so much fun! I'm thinking the wondermold doll cakes would be awesome! I could get a doll to resemble each child invited. Thanks so much for posting this, I'll be watching this post eagerly

wedding cakes for girls and ball cakes for buys they can make it any ball they want

I know mine has a toddler bed and he will get up and sit down and watch tv then I come out to the living room and I am like "what? go to bed now!!!!" I have gotten so many ideas with this party I can't wait!!!

My daughter just had her b-day in July. I want to do this , it would have been so adorable.

Oh well, maybe I can hold out till next July.

Maybe I can do it for my son in Kindergarten.

The baby shower cake I was making last sat I swore was going to become that a decorate your own cake party.
Dana

I live in NC and we're supposed to be affected by the hurricane this weekend....well....my son's 2nd birthday party is on Saturday at 3:00pm which is supposed to be a POOL PARTY!! So...I didn't have ANY indoor plans at all. The theme is "Elmo" and I'm decorating the Elmo charachter pan where he's holding the present & ice cream cone and he's wearing a Bday hat. I'm also making ice cream cone cupcakes to go with the cake so that there's more cake for the adults. The only game that I have is Pin-the-nose-on-Elmo. The kids are 1.5/2/2/3/5/7/8.5/11.5 in age, and they're boys & girls, so I was REALLY stumped on how to entertain them indoors w/out using the tv.

So....I decided earlier today to have a cupcake decorating party with the ice cream cone cupcakes. I'm hoping that all of the kids will enjoy this. I'm just going to use decorating bags/tips, spreading knives, and sprinkles. I figure that this is better than just playing the game and then going home.

That is a great idea for an indoor party I have that problem in January too nothing can be done outside and for every game there is a prize to give $$$$$$ Oklahoma can be cold in January most of the time so no pinatas either hope this works for you. One question I wonder should I ici the cakes for the leave them alone for them to ice them or crumb coat them only?

Sorry guys, just found this thread.

I do kid's cake decorating BD parties. I charge $20.00 per child. Each child gets a 6" cake to decorate with a take-home box. I supply the frosting, tips, spatulas, and bags. I also show them how to make tootsie roll roses. This is very popular here and I usually have 2 a month.

I do limit the class to 15 children.

For boys--we make a hamburger cake with cookie for the hamburger pattie. Girls--anything neon and with roses.

cakedecor---With both of the parties I did, I iced the cakes first and just let the girls do the borders, decorating,ect. The girls that these parties were for were 8 & 6, so it was easier for them to just decorate.[/quote]

I thought of that because I did not want their cakes to look crappy kids can decorate but they are not very good at icing that's a good idea about the hamburguer

Yah, I would say definitely have them iced... otherwise you've got a big old mess on your hands! At least with the frosting bags it's a little bit contained. But give them a bowl and a knife and you MAY end up sorry!

That's another reason mini cakes and cupcakes are a good choice, too. they can cover them with decorations like stars or whatever and not have to worry about icing it. And you can find all sorts of mini cake shaped pans now.

I plan on having my cakes base iced, so all the kids have to do is decorate. I think this will be the easiest and least stressful for me and the kids! My daughter loves to decorate, but gets very frustrated icing the cake!

Mac: ...thanks for the tootsie roll roses tip! What a great idea. Do you make them just like a modeling chocolate or fondant rose? A few details, please! I have not seen a rose done like this, sounds very interesting, my daughter would love to try this!!!!

Yes--you just squish the tootsie roll to get it more pliable and do it just like fondant roses. Make the center (like a birthday party hat-Itel the kids).Then pinch off smaller pieces and flatten/ Press bottom of piece to center piece. Nothing else needed, it's sticky enough. Repeat until it looks like a rose. Or you could just roll it for the ribbon-type rose.

I wish someone had a link for the famous tootsie roll roses that is a good idea it would really make the party seem like they are at a cake decorating class!!!!! that's what I plan to do but only let them use the easy tips of course like #16 but are they easy enough for 7 year olds or will they get frustrated if they can't make them??
I have been searching fun and easy tips I found one that pipes a whole heart at once the tree tip and the hair tip will be so good for this party!!!! What do you all think would be the limit on how many kids to invite without it becoming chaos!!!!! Icing the cake it's such a better idea that way they can just get to the fun part!!! I know that's what I wish was the case for me!!!! Also I thought of fondant shapes made in advance kept airtight for the party they can add those for their cakes

I have a cookie press thing that does like numbers and abc's and elmo big bird ,cookie monster if it was a younger croud I would say to find one of them but since they are older I am thinking what about cake glitters and just doing an easy easy flower one you dont have to work real hard to make.
I am thinking the tootsie roll thing sounds so cool.
Dana

I have a kit to make gumpaste flowers it has different cutter for flowers and leaves I also have stars and oval shape fondant cutters and they can also mold their own shapes like play- do. MMF is very inexpensive poor boys they are very limited to just sport balls but hey you never know how will think of something else to do with a round cake!!!

cakedecor--

We limit the party classes to 12 (esp. younger than . The reason is that usually one parent and even a grand-parent will stay and the space is small. The starting age is 4 yrs old--parents and grand-parents are on hand for this age.

The older children, I can do 15 but they ARE louder. Try the hamburger cakes with the boys--they love them. I also let them mold animals with the tootsie rolls. I find that the boys are more creative once you show them they can do anything with tootsie rolls. We have "Just A $1.00" stores here and they carry the different colored/flavored tootsie rolls. You can even use Starburst candies but they are a bit harder to soften up and get stickier than TR.

Thanks for the info Mac!

I may practice on them this weekend. I know that you can get the flavored Tootsie Rolls in the bulk candy section. I may just go pick up a bunch of them...that way the kids have different colors, not just the chocolate!

(Edited to say: PS! Just noticed your birthdate... ...Happy Belated Birthday!!!

Same to you, gmcakes.

I was on vacation when yours rolled around...on vacation from work , on vacation from cakes , on vacation from the telephone , on vacation from the internet , on vacation from.. cake central

http://www.turnto10.com/food/6716796/detail.html

Here's a link for a tootsie roll rose tutorial. They say you can also do these with Starburst for more of a color/flavor variety.

Also, when I let the kids use pastry bags to decorate...I either use rubberbands or instead use ziplock bags to prevent the mess.

Terrisa thank you for the link!!!

You're most welcome, cakedecor .

BTW, please post your pictures from the upcomming parties everyone... My SIL really wants to see how all of these wonderful ideas turn out so she can plan a party for her little one. TIA!

My DD's party won't be until January but I have so many ideas now just from this thread!! I will PM you to email you pics of my party I would like to see anyone's pictures if they have a cake decorating party before me pm me for my email,

I have one or two pics that I can email you guys...of course, it is the end product. Send me your email addy and I will send them to you.

[email protected]

Here are a couple of things that I use at the decorating parties:

I went to the dollar store and purchased plastic ice trays and cut them in half. I use these to put each child's cake decorating candy in (M & M's, tootsie rolls, gummie turtles or frogs, red hots, sprinkles, etc.). Sprinkles or sugars come out too fast from the shaker containers.

Bought mini-rolling pins from Oriental Trading Company for rolllng out MMF, candy clay, tootsie rolls.

Cut vinyl plastic into 10 X 10 squares for chold to roll the candy on.

Stickers and markers for children to decorate their cake box.

Each party runs about 2 hrs.

OK...the party is OVER at my house.

Lessons learned:
1) 3 hours is too much time, they finished decorating /eating/opening presents early, and ended up just playing and dancing and singing for the last scheduled hour of the party.
2) Even 8-9 y/o's have little patience, just let them do it their way and they will be much less frustrated. They had a great time and were very "free-spirited" decorators!

What we did:

For the first 20 mins or so we decorated cake boxes. (Used lots of stickers, markers and crayons!)

Then we started decorating the cakes. I had big plans to make fondant flowers of the tootsie roll roses, but it has been a very long week and that plan went right out the window!! I had plenty of sprinkles, icing /sugar flower decorations, picks and M&M's. The girls, and even my son!, had a great time, and remarkably little icing and sprinkles ended up in my carpet! Each child then had an individual picture made with their cake (these will be sent out in Thank You notes!)

After that, they had about 10 mins of "free time" to clean up while my Mom and I decided on decorating "award certificates". Of course everyone won an award! We had awards for: Most Creative, Most Decorated, Best Use of Color, Best Use of Sprinkles, Best Overall Design, and Best "Cars" Cake Ever, for my 6 y/o old son's cake!

After the Awards were passed out we took a group photo, and boxed the cakes while the girls had a snack, then we served cake and opened presents!

(PHOTOS IN MY PHOTOS, FILE SIZE WAS TOO LARGE TO ATTACH HERE!)

Good job gmcakes--

Yes, 3 hours is too long. I did forget to tell that we schedule a party for 2 hours. I really liked the idea of decorating the cake boxes. That way each child can readily tell which cake is theirs when it's time to go.

I had the foresight to write each child's name and the cake flavor onto the cake boards before I covered them. That way when I had them iced, I would not mistakenly give a child the wrong flavor!
(I use freezer paper to cover my boards, you can see the writing on the boards faintly through the paper. It was very subtle, no one even noticed until I started boxing the cakes. This also works when I am working on multiple cakes at the same time for orders!)

You had said previously that your parties were scheduled for 2 hours, but I already had the invitations made out. Also, I figured you were a pro at this kind of thing and are probably more organized than I am! LOL!

All worked out well, the girls had a great time. I stay so busy, I rarely have time or patience for my children to have their friends over. So my daughter particularly cherished the fact that she had a whole hour with not 1, but 4 friends over to play! We took lots of pictures, and it is a day we will not soon forget!

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions provided!

cakedecor: I can only hope you have as much fun with this as we did! Your daughter will love it!

Mac: I don't know if I could do this on a regular basis! So much time and planning went into this, I don't know how you do it for other children. Only for my child could I put this much time and patience into a party! You must be an amazing person!