Child's Cake Decorating Party

My daughter is turning 12 and wants to do a cake decorating party. I have a plan to bake 2 layer 6" cakes for each girl (there will be 6-9 girls there) and on the evite, I have asked favorite flavor of cake (chocolate, vanilla or half/half) so that I can have cakes of the appropriate flavors on hand. My plan is to frost each cake with white buttercream and have it on an 8" cake round ready for them to decorate. I bought some pre-made/pre-colored fondant (Wilton) and plan to put a few pre-measured balls of fondant in a cup for each girl to work with. I have 2 small fondant rollers and a few small shaped cutters for them to use. I will also have assorted colors of buttercream in piping bags with assorted tips for the girls to share. And of course some sprinkles and other do-dads.

 

I plan to get aprons for each girl to be their party favor and I was also thinking of getting them bandanas to keep their hair back (and out of the cake). Ikea has some cute cupcake aprons for like $8, but I was hoping to find less expensive (but still cute) aprons elsewhere. Any suggestions?

 

The plan is to send the girls home with their cakes but I have not had luck finding 8" cake boxes. ACMoore does have a "treat box" that is 4x8x8, but I am worried that 4" won't be high enough for a 2 layer cake. Where can I get a standard 8" cake box? I plan to get 10 of them. I figure the girls can decorate the boxes when they arrive at the party.

 

In addition, we will have a station set up in the kitchen for the girls to also make their own pizzas...so a very hands on sort of party.

 

In looking up other "cake decorating party" threads I did see the suggestion of putting rubber bands on the tops of the piping bags to keep the frosting from getting squeezed out the top. I also saw the suggestion of printing out a Wilton practice card (covered with wax paper) for them to practice their piping. Not sure if I can find this on-line or not, but hoping that I can. Any other suggestions for helping a group of 11/12 year olds? Oh, and I am trying to pull this off for next week...

So I think that my daughter has her heart set on the 6" cake. There is a new craft party place near us that has as one of their experiences cake decorating for a really high cost and she would like to recreate that sort of experience. We had done cupcake decorating (mostly with sprinkles and candies) at a previous party of hers and the kids just piled on the sugar and didn't use any artistry. We just discussed giving the girls a theme to use as they decorate their cakes. We did allow extra time by making it a 4 hour party and they can take the cake home to their families (not being eaten at party). I can look into making only single level 6" cakes, but that doesn't give them much space on the sides to add decorations. It does solve my box dilemma since it would fit in a 4x8x8 box that is available. How tall is a 2 layer cake? I guess I could make thin layers.

I did find a source online, Global Sugar Art, but for $5 worth of boxes, there is a $12 shipping charge which seems a bit steep. Our local supermarkets us plastic cake shells and they all source from a main baking facility and then decorate in store so I don't think they would have any spare boxes. I could try actual bakeries I guess.

I ended up just using the 8x8x4 window treat boxes that came in packs of 3 at ACMoore. I made the cakes a bit shorter and the boxes worked perfectly. When the girls arrived they had a box with an apron and bandana on top. I bought tie dye bandanas for the girls to use to cover their heds and keep their hair out of what they were doing. The aprons I bought at a restaurant supply company for $4 and we personalized them with a designs that we made on the computer "Life is Sweeter with Friends" and printed on iron on transfer paper.

They got very into decorating their cake boxes. After the boxes were all set, we moved the over to make pizza. While my hubby managed the pizza baking, I got the girls started on cake decorating. They each had their own supplies of sprinkles, mini m&ms, and small balls of 6 different colored fondant. I introduced the theme of "fame" and told them to make their cake by using song or movie titles or other elements to express something having to do with fame. I used my cake that I made for the party with a rainbow on it so show that I used the song "rainbow connection" as my inspiration. I showed them propped way to hold a piping bag, but no mater what these girls liked to grab the bag and squeeze from the middle - thank goodness for the rubber band bag ties that I bought to keep frosting from pouring out. The girls did some practice work on wax paper at each place. I was surprised how few of them used fondant, or if they did use it, they used very little. Most of the cakes did have some tie to the theme, but alot were just canvases for lots of frosting. I had the girls present their cakes and explain the connection afterwards while taking a picture and then as they started to pick at their cakes we put them into the boxes to go home.

I allowed 4 hours for the party, but we could have done the party in 3 hours. We let the girls just hang out and work on a talent show (tied in with fame theme) after eating the birthday cake.

Thanks for your suggestions. Not sure I will be doing this sort of party again...it was a ton of work!