Partymakers on TV Land's Best Night In

If you missed the Ultimate Children's Birthday Party on Best Night in, look no further! We have a clip to share with you with Linda Kaye and Pastry Chef Sara Pereira on how to decorate and bake some of the delicious treats on Linda Kaye's Bake-a-Cake Party Book.

A Hawaiian Birthday

This was a very special week-end, I attended the 9^th birthday celebration of my granddaughter Chloe. It was a Hawaiian party theme, and her love for party planning came out with so many of the special touches and details she added to the evening.  And what a bold undertaking that was! She invited 12 of her girlfriends for dinner and a sleep over complete with  Hawaiian entertainment.  She planned many activities to keep her guests busy all night long.

The Hawaiian  party  started with a mocktail hour at the Tiki Bar. Smoothies and delicious fruity drinks  greeted the girls as they arrived.  There were all these little Hawaiian touches that Chloe didn’t overlook, the coconut statues on top of the dinner table, the Hawaiian skirts that rimmed the tiki bar, the festive music. I felt like I was in a little Hawaiian paradise.

Shortly after all the girls arrived, a hula dancer taught them all the right moves to kick off this Hawaiian Luau. They learned all these interesting facts about Hawaii, and learned a dance choreography that was then turned into a Hawaiian travel commercial.

The girls had a great time shaking their Hawaiian skirts, even my grandson Jack took part in the act! But  after all that practicing and performing the guests were exausted, so dinner was their next stop. Chloe had this fantastic idea of having guests create their own fruit skewers.  There was a large platter of diced up fruit and skewers that guests could customize however they wished. This is a great idea if you have picky eaters who might not like certain items, you can try this with vegetables too.

And of course no birthday dinner is complete without birthday cake! The girls topped off their meal with a Tiki hut inspired cake.

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

Is it a boy? Is it a girl? This is a highly anticipated answer by the parents and the entire family and friends, but when you are in the doctor's office, it doesn't seem as ceremonious as it was when my daughter and son-in-law first found out about their expected baby girl.

A few weeks ago I heard from my manicurist DiDi the most creative way of presenting this information to the parents to be. Her son asked the technician to not tell them the answer in the office.  He gave the technician the name of a baker to call to order a cake with  the inside layers of the cake to be either pink or blue depending on the sex of the baby.

The big event just happened this past weekend and we are thrilled to share it with you! Read on to find out the answer!

Friends and family were invited to this big event, all restlessly awaiting  the moment when the question mark  cake was cut!  The family sat down for dinner before indulging in the surprise cake. Old wives tales and guesses about the sex of the baby were exchanged. "The mother looks radiantly beautiful so it must be a boy" said a family member referring to the Romanian Tale that says that girls take away the mother's beauty. After an hour or so of guessing, the cake was brought into the room. The family gathered around the table all just as excited as the parents-to-be.

You can see in this photo of the parents-to-be how excited they were!

The whole family was gathered around and just as excited as the parents.

And the baby is....

a boy!

What a fun way to share the news and a great excuse to have a party! A fun beginning to parenthood.

If you have any exciting party ideas that you would like to share with us, please email us at partymakers@partymakers.com

A Colorful Spring Celebration

As we tire of the snow and wish for warmer weather, we all want to welcome Spring. March 20th is officially the first day of spring so why not welcome it with a Spring party? Here is a great idea that one of our partymakers Sara, Owner of Stardust Cakes, came up with for a sweet and colorful Spring celebration.

She started with  brightest tablecloth she had. She bought a couple of colorful chinese food boxes and colorful pails from the dollar store. She pulled out all her glassware- you don't need fancy items to make great decor.

She grabbed colorful twizzlers and drooped them from the glasses and pails. For the glassware, she bought some fake grass and filled them with it. She also used paper butterflies to give the spring feel that we all look for in Easter.

No guest went home empty handed either. She bought extra pails and filled them with a variety of candy.

She also found some egg shaped candles and arranged them with pastel colored jelly beans.

It's very easy to create a party ambiance with what you have at home. Don't take for granted all the miss matched porcelain or glassware you may have lurking in the back of your cupboard, it just may help you pull together the most creative party!