Making of the Pinata

As you know, especially if you read my last blog post, Monkey Girl recently had a birthday, which meant she also had a birthday party. And around this house, birthday parties also mean piñatas. But not one of those pre-fangled store bought piñatas. Oh no. The girls will settle for nothing less than a custom piñata from their father.

Usually the process starts out about a month before the big day, with the selection of a party theme and the desired piñata object chosen. Mr. Incredible then spends some time thinking over ideas of how to proceed. Since MG wanted to have a party centered around the Munchkin Card Game, by Steve Jackson Games, the actual Pinata card was chosen. (The Pinata card is great, because once you defeat it, everyone gets to draw a treasure!)

Our friends in Columbus came down to visit one weekend and brought the original Munchkin deck with them, so we could draw on it for inspiration. The Munchkin piñata looks a bit like a slug with itty-bitty wings, so Mr. I went for something a little rough and haphazard looking for the final product. But I digress...

After figuring out how he wants to do the construction, he gets started. Usually this involves balloons in some fashion, but not always. For MG's piñata, he decided to go a bit nuts with the balloons and filled a long plastic bag with them for the shape of the body. (Note, this was a BIG piñata.)

 

 

Did I mention it was a big piñata?

 

 

 

And then he starts on the layers and layers of paper mache. Mr. I. uses a flour and water mixture for the adhesive bit and the paper this time was old computer paper. Often, though, we get the end rolls of paper from the Athens Messenger to use. (And I really need to stop there and stock up for Drama Queen's upcoming pinata making.)

 

 

The next two are a couple of process shots. Did I mention that this guy was BIG?

 



 

The body and neck from the front...

 

 

And the side. Please note my lovely indoor plants there.

 

And here's the head. More balloons and I think a trash bag.

 

Mr. I. decided to leave the balloons intact in order to make the body sturdier. It actually took them about 4 1/2 minutes and several whacks to get the candy loose and on the ground. At one point it became a game of "how many balloons can we break in one hit", which was pretty amusing to watch.

 

My only complaint about the whole process involved the difficulty of finding any work surfaces in the kitchen for food prep and cooking. We kept having to shuffle Casper the Friendly Maggot from the freezer top to the dining table and the head from the counter top to my desk.

 

And finally our poor, hapless piñata awaiting his fate...

 

 

And there ya go! As I said, he deliberately made this one rough looking because that made it seem more Munckin-y. Drama Queen's will be another matter entirely. And it might even be bigger...

 

Happy Birthday, Monkey Girl!

So, Thursday, my baby turned 14. Yeah, not so much of a baby anymore. And I still wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

However, since it's apparently my job to try and embarrass her now that she's a teenager, I thought I'd share the following wonderful photos with you.

(Cassie and Little Kitty, the best cat a girl could ever have)

 

This would from one afternoon after kindergarten. LK really was one of the best cats ever.

 



 

And this would be from late spring, I think. As you can see, she still needs the occasional nap!

 

Seriously, I am very proud of the caring, kind-hearted young woman my youngest daughter is growing into. And her hugs are still the bomb!

Happy birthday, Baby Girl. Love you!

S'more Birthday Cakes

So, the Monkey Girl turned 13 a week and a half ago. Yep, we've TWO teenage girls in the house now. For her party, she wanted a s'more theme - you know, those melted marshmellow, chocolaty goodness treats. Where she gets her ideas, I don't know, but it was fun. Mr. Incredible made a giant s'more for the pinata. But those pics will have to wait for another post, since my camera batteries died and my sister took pics on her camera instead. I need to get her SD card downloaded to my computer.

Instead, I want to share the cakes we made with you. This is the first time MG's wanted sometime homemade instead of one ordered from the store. Of course, stumbling across these cupcakes from Martha Stewart probably helped with the decision making process. (Yes, I love Martha.)

 

I thought they were so cute and was really, really happy when MG wanted them for her party's cakes. Of course, that then means I had to MAKE them. Checking out the recipe through me for a loop. It uses what germ! What they heck? I've never seen a recipe like this, but it looked healthier than your regular cake. I just wasn't sure how it would taste. So guess what cake Mr. I got for his birthday the weekend before? Sometimes he can be a really great sport. So is our gaming gang, thank goodness. And they were rewared wonderfully. Drama Queen said the cake tasted like snickerdoodles in a pie. I suspect they were going for the graham cracker crust effect and hoped I'd like it better once we got the chocolate sauce and marshmellows on. (I did!)

 

Since we needed A LOT of cakes, I made regular sized and mini-upcakes the day before. They didn't go together quite like Martha's, but that's okay. We used her recipes and the pic as inspiration and made our own thing. Take a look:

 

 

 

Cute, right? Saturday morning, MG and I sat down to assemble them and quickly realized that putting them together like the originals just wouldn't work. The mini cupcakes were too big, so we stacked the minis on the big cupcakes and then added the big marshmellows. After we'd filled one of the cake plates with finished cupcakes, MG decided to add the mini marshmellows around the sides so we got to use them as well. I've got to tell you, sitting at the table putting those together with MG was my best memory of the day. We weren't in a hurry and got to have some fun with it. It was great. She kept looking for ways get the chocolate sauce all over her fingers so she could lick them clean. Yeah, it was that good.

 

If you want the recipe, just click on the image of Martha's mini cakes above and it'll take it to her webpage. I'd post the recipe where, but I honestly didn't change anything in it and so don't feel right copying it verbatim. I'm going to try making it again in a couple of weeks for gaming night, only I think I'll just make it as a regular cake, slather on the chocolate sauce, and toss on some mini marshmellows. One of DQ's friends, who has joined our gaming group, keeps requesting them.

 

For the display, we used my old cake plates and arranged them on our new-to-us teak cabinet in the dining room. They looked lovely and we could sit the rest of the food around them. However, it didn't look nearly as lovely in photographs, so here's a shot of them sitting on the deep freeze, which is our main workspace in the kitchen right now. (New counter/cabinets should be in in the next week or two!)

I love how Pinterest lets me post ideas so I can attempt them later. It was nice to be able to go through web pages and blog posts finding ideas for her party and then have them all nicely organized, with pictures, in one spot to go back over them together.