Herald Online, March 21, 2011
Party planner to the stars offers 'bake-a-cake party' tips
ANDREA PYROS - http://www.retailmenot.com/
When Linda Kaye's two children were young, she was like any other mother: busy, sometimes harried, and always short on time. One day she looked at the calendar and realized her daughter was turning six in a few weeks, and she hadn't planned anything for the party: no location, no invites, no entertainer. Nothing. "I'd been doing a lot of volunteering at my son's school and didn't realize my daughter's birthday was two weeks away. I thought, 'What am I going to do?' Then I thought, 'What about baking a cake with the kids?'"
Kaye's first-ever Bake-A-Cake Party was held: Her daughter and her friends made a cake from scratch, and the experience was such a hit that Kaye launched a successful business from the idea. Kaye and her staff would go to clients' homes, bringing everything necessary (save for a few eggs) to help them have a simple, successful, hands-on party. Ultimately, the New York-based party planner, who's thrown major events at FAO Schwartz and the Central Park Zoo and claimed Madonna, Kelly Ripa, and Chris Rock as clients, decided to write the "Bake-A-Cake Party Book," so any parent could plan and host their own baking bash on their own. "I think that the simplicity of this is a fantastic thing. People worry it might be a mess, but it's not. It's a great bonding experience for the children, and a bonding experience for the mother with the child." It's also a unique way to entertain your guests - without having to spend a small fortune.
Want to make baking a cake the party itself? Kaye says keep the following in mind:
Kaye's first-ever Bake-A-Cake Party was held: Her daughter and her friends made a cake from scratch, and the experience was such a hit that Kaye launched a successful business from the idea. Kaye and her staff would go to clients' homes, bringing everything necessary (save for a few eggs) to help them have a simple, successful, hands-on party. Ultimately, the New York-based party planner, who's thrown major events at FAO Schwartz and the Central Park Zoo and claimed Madonna, Kelly Ripa, and Chris Rock as clients, decided to write the "Bake-A-Cake Party Book," so any parent could plan and host their own baking bash on their own. "I think that the simplicity of this is a fantastic thing. People worry it might be a mess, but it's not. It's a great bonding experience for the children, and a bonding experience for the mother with the child." It's also a unique way to entertain your guests - without having to spend a small fortune.
Want to make baking a cake the party itself? Kaye says keep the following in mind:
- Guests should be a minimum of 4 years old. For this age group, pre-measure all ingredients before the kids arrive.
- Shop ahead of time so you don't realize you're missing an ingredient the morning of, and make the frosting ahead of time, too. Let guests add food coloring to it at the party.
- Set up the workspace with your birthday child the morning of their event as a nice way to spend time together one-on-one.
- A total of eight children works best. Break the groups into two so that each group is charged with making one layer of a two-layer cake. If your child wants more guests, think about having another adult or two on hand to help, and making a second cake.
- Where there's one job to do, make it for two! Have one child hold a bowl while the other whisks, and then switch roles so each kid gets a turn.
- No toothpick? Use a raw strand of spaghetti to test doneness.
- Give your pint-sized bakers pastry bags (or freezer-weight zippered plastic bags) to make decorative flowers and other pretty designs. They can do their creations on parchment rounds while the cake is baking (Kaye suggests cooling it in the freezer for faster results). Once the cake is frosted and ready, help the kids slide their edible artwork onto the cake with a small spatula.
- All oven activities are strictly for adults.
For more tips, yummy recipes, and 12 adorable, easy-to-do design ideas (like a Fourth of July pinwheel cake to a rainy day cake), pick up Kaye's book or visit her website, partymakers.com. Andrea Pyros lives in New York's Hudson Valley, where she raises her two kids and writes for http://www.retailmenot.com/, the No. 1 coupon site in the world.
- Shop ahead of time so you don't realize you're missing an ingredient the morning of, and make the frosting ahead of time, too. Let guests add food coloring to it at the party.
- Set up the workspace with your birthday child the morning of their event as a nice way to spend time together one-on-one.
- A total of eight children works best. Break the groups into two so that each group is charged with making one layer of a two-layer cake. If your child wants more guests, think about having another adult or two on hand to help, and making a second cake.
- Where there's one job to do, make it for two! Have one child hold a bowl while the other whisks, and then switch roles so each kid gets a turn.
- No toothpick? Use a raw strand of spaghetti to test doneness.
- Give your pint-sized bakers pastry bags (or freezer-weight zippered plastic bags) to make decorative flowers and other pretty designs. They can do their creations on parchment rounds while the cake is baking (Kaye suggests cooling it in the freezer for faster results). Once the cake is frosted and ready, help the kids slide their edible artwork onto the cake with a small spatula.
- All oven activities are strictly for adults.
For more tips, yummy recipes, and 12 adorable, easy-to-do design ideas (like a Fourth of July pinwheel cake to a rainy day cake), pick up Kaye's book or visit her website, partymakers.com. Andrea Pyros lives in New York's Hudson Valley, where she raises her two kids and writes for http://www.retailmenot.com/, the No. 1 coupon site in the world.
Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/03/21/2924780/party-planner-to-the-stars-offers.html##ixzz1HGBfpMie
No comments:
Post a Comment