Party Prizes and Decoration

It was fun scouting for Ben10 merchandise for the party. Especially, you never know what you can find right under your doorstep. I was searching online stores, party shops etc and yet in my own neighbourhood stall in Teck Whye, found Ben10 figurines which we used for cake decoration, goodies in pinata, Ben10 yo-yos....

Making the decorations was also fun and put my drawing skills and kids' painting skills to good use. All in all, it was a team effort by the family with mummy coming up with the ideas and daddy with the money.

Activities for Josh's Ben10 Party

Thanks to technology which makes planning a kid's party so much easier. Josh wanted it to be a boys only party since the theme is Ben10 which is all the craze. He wanted his friends to come dressed-up (he got idea from recently concluded Halloween party) as Ben10's characters. But the mummies are so tired out after Halloween to make new costumes, so we compromised by getting kids to wear T-shirts with Ben10 designs. As one of the activities before party started, we decided on face mask painting. I had to single-handedly draw every face masks. To get kids involved, I had Jordan and Josh to paint some of the face masks as samples. As the party boy, Josh gets to chose a design that only he would have and he settled on SWAMPFIRE. Similarly, had to plan an activity for the girls: making princesses necklaces and bracelets using cut-out foam, stickers, glitter nail polish and coloured yarns.

Another activity was cookie decoration. Baked green coloured round cookies to be decorated as OMNITRIX using icing sugar.

Other party games: Pin the Omnitix (similar to Pin the tail to donkey) onto Ben10, Guess the Aliens and Pinata.

Making Pinata for Josh's 6th Birthday

I have always like the idea of a pinata for a kid's party. Putting lots of candies, goodies... inside and getting kids to whack it until it breaks.... shower of surprise! Most of the party shops did not have any Ben10 pinata for sale. Again, went on internet to serach for ideas. Due to time constraint, can only do the simplest possible design: using a balloon to mould the shape. First, blow up balloon. Soak strips of newspaper in cornstarch solution. Cover entire surface of balloon with newspaper strips. Wait for layer to dry. Repeat until abt 2-3 layers. Finally, use coloured paper, in this case, we use green and yellow (Ben10's colours) for final layer. Decorate surface with stickers and cut-outs of Ben10 characters.

Note: Do not make pinata too thick, kids actually have hard time breaking it. We had to resort to cutting it open in the end and it took a strong size father (in this case, it was Gary's and Reuben's fathers to the rescue!)

Baking Josh's Birthday Cake - November 2008

Josh wanted a Ben10 theme party with Ben10 cake, games, costumes etc. Instead of paying $200 to some pro to make him the cake, the gung-ho mummy with equally game friend, Jane decided to bake our own and decorate it. We chose to make a chocolate sponge cake since the kids loved chocolate. This was to be made 1 week in advance of party and kept in freezer so as to save the hassle of doing it on actual day. We would then iced it using Ben10's theme colour - green and placed figurines on top of cake. Not too bad for first effort though must thank Jane for doing most of the work.

Making chocolate ice cream at Jane's place - November 2008

Jane had this ice cream maker which she uses to make her own ice-cream and she wanted to show us how to use it. Since kids love chocolate ice cream, that was what we decided to make. Using recipe and with Jane's guidance, we set off on an exciting journey. Actually, just need to measure ingredients correctly and using mixer to beat it up, then the ice cream maker did all the churning. Once it was all churned up, we transferred it into a box for freezing in the fridge.

Making Jiaozi - November 2008

Both Jordan and I love eating jiaozi- chinese dumplings with meat fillings and chopped vegetables. (can use wong pok or chives) Used to make them very often when Jordan was in K1 but stopped after birth of Josh. Guess was too busy. Josh loves them too and asking for them whenever we are at restaurant. After Jordan came back from Suzhou, she was raving about the jiaozi she had there for breakfast and lunch. In fact, they spent one afternoon in the school making jiaozi. So decided to make some using a recipe from Jane's cookbook. (lost my favourite recipe when moving house. think a neighbour borrowed and forgot to return.) The skin was not as soft as the one made from my old recipe. (sigh!) Anyway, it served its purpose. The kids have acquired the taste for chives and also it's easier to chop chives than wong pok which involves scalding each leaf in boiling water, chopping them up when cooled and squeezing away the water before adding to meat mixture. (way too much trouble!) Jordan said in Suzhou, they used the ricecooker to steam the jiaozi. So I decided to try it rather than use my multi-tier steamer.

Making Sombrero - as part of Jordan's Mexican outfit

Needed a sombero for Jordan's dressup as a Mexican but can't find one at any of the stores. Gave up and search internet on how to make one. Design given used old newspapers to wrap around kid's head and then covered with crepe paper. I modified design by using cardboard to make it hardier. Since Jordan was not in Singapore, had to use Josh's head for measurements instead. Covering the cardboard with cloth was the hardest, lots of nips and tucks here and there. Finally, it was done. Now, the decorations part. Fun begins! Used green, yellow and orange yarns to make twisted cord. I used a red ribbon to make design on top of hat and more green yarn. Very pleased with myself. Quite creative, huh?