I'd like to put together a decorating party for my daughter's birthday.She will be turning eleven in a few months.
Has anyone done this? I've googled and searched here on CC and could not find much.
I would love to have any suggestions. I'd thought about making each girl their own little cake, possibly some cupcakes and cookies.
What kind of things could I teach them? I've been doing this for about 15 years as a hobby, so my skills are decent.
I would suggest letting them mold some type of animal from fondant for the top of the cake. My step-daughter likes to do this and she is about the same age. They could make fondant circles, hearts, etc. to decorate the rest of the cake. They could even pipe a border.
I recently had an group of friends over for the evening and invited them to bring their children. I baked giant cupcakes for each child. I made a double batch of buttercream in several colors; did the same with some fondant. Had a bizillion different cookie cutters, as well as sprinkles and such. Left them at it - they had a ball. I had fondant on the wall, but it sure did entertain them!
What about doing the zebra print in fondant for cupcake toppers? You could use different colors like lime green/black, hot pink/black? I'd do something like 6-12 cupcakes each. Their 11 they can handle instruction. Besides you can back them all at once and get it out of the way. That might be the easiest way to go.
I did a cake decorating party for a friends daughter who was turning 12. I made each girl two 6" rounds and also made all of the buttercream and fondant ahead of time. Each girl filled and iced their cakes and while they where setting they kneaded color into their fondant. I gave them all my cutters and tools to play with and they came up with great designs....lots of fun
I did cupcake decorating for my daughter's party a few years ago. I made two cupcakes a piece. One to eat there instead of cake and one to take home.
I made 4-5 different colored icing and put each into two different bags with different tips (got the disposable bags). Also chip clips are great to hold the bags closed at the end because they don't always know how to keep it twisted to keep the pressure up.
I got a bunch of sprinkles and candies (gummy works, super mini marshmallows, fruit slices) and put them in bowls for them to add.
This year we're doing decorate your own cookies and I'm going to give them pre-colored fondant with cookie cutters.
They really enjoyed it!
HTH!
I did this for my daughter's 9th birthday and they had a blast. We had 13 girls so I made 13 6" single layer cakes (no filling) and covered them in fondant before hand. Then I put out 4-5 colors of fondant with my big board on the dining room table with all the cutters and tools and let them decorate. They pretty much did the cookie cutter thing put flowers and shapes all over the place. I ended up rolling it out for the most part because that was a challenge for them. When they did it, it was uneven and really thick. The cake ended up being their "party favor".
Here's the link to a photo:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=765193&l=e1fc91c6b1&id=1455865816
I also had a couple of bags with white buttercream that they used for securing and a little piping work. I give them tips and tricks along the way. I tried to do it in groups of 3 but before I knew it all 13 were around the table. It turned out to be more of a free-for-all than a teaching experience but they LOVED it.
I have a friend who does actual teaching parties and she shows them more basic piping techniques. Stars, dots, borders, tricks like flattening the dots.
I tried just this weekend to show two 10-yr olds who to make a gumpaste rose. It was challenging but they did well. The more girls you have, the more simple you need to make it. 10 girls making roses will be tough because they'll need too much assistance each.
Good luck and have fun!
Here are some blogs of baking parties to give you some ideas.
http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/search/label/baking%20party
http://pastrypassionmanila.blogspot.com/2010/04/teenas-cake-decorating-party.html
http://firecrackerbakery.blogspot.com/2010/07/cake-decorating-birthday-party-package.html
http://lynettesnewhobby.blogspot.com/2009/03/cake-and-cookie-decorating-birthday.html
This one looks like she had the kids practice on the back of a paper plate first.
http://www.freewebs.com/icing-on-thecake/cakedecoratingparties.htm
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=173720505987174
http://kabutchka.blogspot.com/2010/02/ellas-birthday-party-cake-decorating.html
http://poshpartycakes.blogspot.com/2009/10/baking-birthday-party.html
I did it for my friend's 9 year old. Each girl had a 6" and 4" layer stacked on a cardboard round. Bought lots of betty crocker icing on sale gave each girl a can to spread all over the cake - used plastic knives and spoons. Then we had a fondant station with various colors of fondant, lots of shaped cutters, alphabet cutters, rolling pins etc. Then made up half a dozen disposable bags with colored butter cream and various tips, elastic bands on the ends. Then various bowls of candies - m&ms, skittles, twizzlers, mike & ikes, some various sprinkles as well. They had a blast and were very creative, some really got into the piping others spent ages cutting up fondant!! Bought cake boxes from party supply store and took the cake home in that!
I did one for a friends daughter who turned 9 in Dec. There were 10 kids, including 3 boys. Mom baked lots of cupcakes and I taught them the how to's for a couple designs, and then they took off on their own. I put down a vinyl mat for each of them, then a piece of waxed paper for them to practice piping on. First we did a cupcake of spaghetti and meatballs with sauce. Then we did a snowman. The snowman was frosting, they were given black to make the eyes and mouth, then they got to mix their own orange into the fondant to make the carrot. One of the boys turned his snowman into a pirate..... lol Then we piped grass and colored more fondant and used cookie cutters to do butterflies, dogs, cats..... Surprisingly, from there some asked to color some of the bc, which I let them do, and they used the grass tip to make their version of cookie monster; all their own idea. After that, they just kept on. Funny thing was, halfway through their first cupcake they were asking if they could eat it when they were done. I said yes. As it turned out, they didn't eat a single one, even after singing happy birthday to the birthday girl. They all wanted to keep their cupcakes and bring them home to show their moms.
The main thing I would change would be to have icing bullets (I think that might be what they're called) where you wrap icing in saran and freeze it and as the kids bags become empty you just cut the end off the bullet and insert it into the bag instead of having to refill the bag. When gone, just pull out the rest of the saran and insert another one. That would be a HUGE timesave with the kids.
I did one for my daughter's bday pary a couple of years ago.
Started with the invites, where the girls could "order" either a small round, heart or oval I think in either vanilla or chocolate. I then baked, filled and covered them in fondant, ready for the girls.
I got plain white aprons and chef's hats and made iron ons with funny sayings for each girl. When they got to the party, they all had to wash their hands and "get dressed"
They each had a space at the table, with their cakes in front of the, Some coloured bags of icing, fondant, cutters, sprinkles, ready made small flowers (gumpaste, which I made beforehand)
I showed them how to hold the bags and pipe borders, how to roll fondant and cut and stick them on
The bday cake for eating was my daughter's apron and hat made into a cake.
The take home gift were the aprons and the cake each girl had decorated. They are still using the aprons today
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