Princes & Princesses Birthday Party

My boy had his 5th birthday. Well, actually not yet, but the celebrations have already started a month and a half before the official date, I guess that's what happens when you're born on summer vacation... Here's the cake I made for the party at his preschool

So he wanted to invite his friends to a party at our house and then added: but mommy, if we want the boys and the girls to have fun, why don't we make the boys princes and the girls princesses?

Short pause. Mom tries to quickly find an excuse to get away with it, then understands it impossible. Mom agrees and even says: "What a great idea!"

And that's how it all started. Before we begin, I'd like to apologize for the quality of the pictures - most of them were taken during the party, which was crazy, so they're either blurred or out of focus. Sorry about that (even the only picture I took of the cake came out blurred...)

So let's begin with the invitations. They were designed together with the birthday boy as a scroll with burned edges, tied with a red ribbon. But for some reason I don't have a picture of them...

We decorated our backyard with balloons, ribbons, tissue paper pom poms and 'royal' banners.

When they arrived, each child got a red cape (although most of them didn't want to put them on...).

The main attraction was a castle I made from 3 cardboard boxes. The kids just loved it! Every single free second they had, they ran to play there.

While we waited for all the kids to arrive, we prepared a table with crayons and coloring pages. The table was actually empty most of the time, because the kids prefered the castle, but some did sit and color. Btw, the faces of some of the kids are hidden in order to protect their privacy.

Then we divided the kids into 5 groups. Each participated in a different activity, and we switched between the groups every 10 minutes or so. One activity was making a dragon out of an empty toilet paper roll. Here's the birthday boy working on his:

And the dragons

In another activity they decorated cookies in different shapes like crowns and dresses, that I made beforehand. We put icing, ganache and lots of colorful candies on the table.

Then we had a Kiss the Frog game.

Another activity was to decortate crowns. They were supposed to make wands as well, but the crowns took a while to make, so the wands will wait for next year.

But the most popular activity by far was a game that the swedish cousins had tought us - the kids got a fishing rod and tried to fish. They throw the rod over a wall, where my husband hid and connected different objects, like a shoe or a sock, to the rod. They kept on trying until they fished their prize. It was so hard to make them leave this activity - long live Sweden!

After that we all played together Pass the Package. The prize was a treasure chest full with chocolate coins.

And of course we had a snacks table, with the traditional snacks, vegetables with Hummus, Tahini and cheese dip and flower shaped melon and watermelon (again no picture, but the I got the idea at Edible Crafts, a great website, btw!)

The birthday boy asked for a castle cake.

I also made cake pops, but it was a disaster - it was very hard to keep them on the stick... I made some cupcakes as well. Btw, the cupcake stand is a DIY one, I'll post about it later.

Oh, and Marshmallow dipped in chocolate and covered with candies

Dinner included pizza and corn. At the end we also gave them little home-made mini popsicles, that I made in ice trays.

Each child got a favor bag with all the things they made plus a few small prizes.

That's it! The birthday boy was excited and happy, which is obviously the most important thing, and we can rest at least till the litlle one's birthday.

We woudn't be able to arrange this party without the great help that we got from family and friends - so thank you all!

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

The most surprising thing about the fact that I love chocolate, is that I didn't like chocolate until a few years ago. I'm hereby honored to add chocolate to the long list of Pregnancy and Kids' Side Affects. Until I was pregnant with my boy, I used to eat chocolate once a year or so. Somehow during the pregnancy, something in my body went wrong, and it's the same ever since.

So yes - I'm officially addicted to chocolate.

Lately, after 5 years or so of sweet addiction, I decided to finally take the next step and make pralines. Oh, well, not real pralines - I have no intention to check the chocolate's temperature every 5 minutes or so, but let's call them semi-pralines.

Before we begin, a warning: do not try to make them when your kids are around (or my husband, for that matter...)!!! Until you get to the filling, you'll find out you have nothing to fill. And I'm talking from experience.

So basically it's all very simple. All you need is simple ice trays, dark chocolate (I used 52%) and anything else that you want for the filling. I tried 4 different fillings - chili, pistachio creme, mint and coffee.

To begin, you need to melt the dark chocolate in a double saucepan (one pot with water on the stove, and inside it a saucepan with the chocolate). 100 g will get you around 10 semi-pralines. Btw, this is a very difficult part for the addicted chocolatier - the smell can drive you nuts!

Now wait a little bit, to let it cool, but not completely, and then pour the melted chocolate into the ice tray (I used a teaspoon). When you're done, you have to turn the ice tray over the saucepan and let the chocolate drip back. This way you get little bowls of chocolate in the ice tray. Put it in the freezer for 5 minutes and then scrub the leftovers on top.

Now for the fun part - the filling. You can fill the chocolate with whatever you like, any way you like it. I can't really give an accurate recipe for the fillings I made, because I just added whatever felt yummy. I mean, come on, IT IS chocolate. How bad can it be (a note for myself: have to try it with cabbage next time, just to prove my last sentence)?

So this is what I did, more or less:

Chili filling (careful not to make it too spicy. Add just a tiny bit at the beginning, taste, and only then add if you think it's not enough)
50 g dark chocolate
Chili (a little)
Butter
Cream
Heat it all together in your double saucepan until melted.

Coffee Filling
Some white chocolate
Some milk chocolate
Some cream
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
Some butter

Mint Filling
Some dark chocolate
Some milk chocolate
Mint leaves
Some cream
Some butter
After you melt it all in the double saucepan, use a blender to grind it all.

Pistachio Creme Filling
Peeled pistachios
50 g white chocolate
Some cream
After you melt it all in the double saucepan, use a blender to grind it all.



That's it. Now just fill it all, but not all the way.

Then let it cool a few minutes and cover with some more dark chocolate. After 15 minutes in the refrigerator, it's ready!