Rainbow Jelly Cake!

October rolls around so fast every year. It's the month of the year which my step-daughter, Felicity, celebrates her birthday and being on a gluten and dairy free diet I spend most of September every year trying to think of a yummy, festive and diet friendly birthday cake to make. This year was no different but I scored (thanks to Pinterest yet again) when I found the idea of a jelly cake!

I needed a jelly mould (I have also seen these cakes done in a bundt tin) and found one at a local kitchenwares store for $15ish and of course jelly.... Areoplane Jelly is gluten free and is loved in our home for treats so I headed straight to the supermarket and grabbed 5 packs: red, yellow, green, blue and purple... yep, a rainbow!
You will need a day that you are at home for a while without too much distraction as it is a little time consuming but oh so worth it for the result.

With my jelly colours, in order of how I wanted the layers to be in the cake, I made up the jelly mixtures and used 150ml LESS water than the packet asks for - this will help the jelly set a little stiffer but still have a true jelly 'wobble'. It also then made up the perfect amount to have all the liquid fit into my size jelly mould.
Pour 1/2 of the first colour (red in my case) into a lightly greased jelly mould and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (you can use the fridge but it will take longer to set and with so many layers to go will make it a looooong process). You want each layer to be just set but still slightly 'tacky' to touch so the next layer will 'stick' to it.
While the first layer is setting mix a small amount - approx 1 tablespoon - of greek or natural yoghurt (I used a dairy free yoghurt) into the second half of the mixture until combined. Once the first red layer was set to the consistency I needed it I GENTLY poured the red yoghurt/jelly mixture onto the first and put it back in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.

Continue just like this for each colour until the whole rainbow is done and the jelly mould is full. Then put it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or overnight in my case to really set well.
15 mins before serving take it out of the fridge and leave at room temp. When you are ready to serve find a plate large enough to take the cake and place it onto of the mould then flip the whole thing (plate and jelly in the mould). You might need to give it a little gentle wriggle but it should slid straight out of the mould and onto your plate.

Pop in a few sparklers and wow your birthday girl and guests - This 'cake' was a HUGE hit here and I can see it being made many times over... maybe a different colour combo next time??

Rainbow of Ribbons Party Pics!!

What a fun day!! From the 5:00am wake up call by the excited birthday girl until the last guest left our home after the party we all had a fabulous day!


Decorations: Ribbon chandelier hung on our letter box and the rainbow ribbon wreath on our front door welcomed party guests. A rainbow selection of Giggleberry ribbon garlands hung on the front of the food table and clear baubles from HERE filled with ribbon sat in a rainbow on the table.




Mini Candy Buffet: I had never done a candy buffet before but had a ball with this and now I want to do more!! A selection of Skittles, Sour rainbow straps, Twizzlers and gold chocolate coins gave a fun and colourful sweet splash to the party. A HUGE thanks to Cake Ink for the awesome custom printables that matched perfectly with the Cake Ink designed party invites. One of the custom printables was a little sign I hung above the mini candy buffet that read:
Little Miss Milla is turning 3
where rainbows and ribbons meet.
So help us celebrate this special day,
and enjoy a sweet rainbow treat.
I also decided to be a bit different and took the circle printables that are usually used for cupcake toppers and sewed them into a garland to hang on the front of the buffet table and on the box stand the sour straps are on.





Food Table: We just had a nice and simple BBQ and salad lunch so the food was easy to think about. For the kids drinks I wrapped pop top juice bottles in more gorgeous prinatbles from Cake Ink. With a little bit of string I tied the matching printable thankyou tags onto the ribbon wands from Pinwheels and Pearls and had them in a vase on the table for decoration until the end of the party when each of the kids got to take a ribbon wand home. Behind the table I hung a ribbon curtain I made - simple but effective I thought.


The Cake: I know, I know you would of all liked me to have done one of the simply amazing rainbow layer cakes but I wanted to be different so I still went with the layers but made two of the layers a 'rainbow sprinkles layer'. I just mixed a pack of rainbow choc chip sprinkles into the batter before baking so when the cake was cut there were little rainbow specs all through 2 of the layers. I stuck to the ribbon theme by turning the cake into a maypole cake. And thanks to Janelle from Cake Ink I was able to track down the ribbon cake stand that I absolutley ADORE from Tracey Lau - I LOVE it!! I also made some little cupcakes which I decorated like mini rainbows on clouds but forgot to take a photo of them... you can just see them in the bottom corner of this pic:




After the cutting and eating the cake I thought it was the perfect time to slow the kids down a little so we all stood around my dining table and made a Ribbon Rainbow Artwork... most of the kids stayed with the craft and enjoyed themselves and were excited to be taking their craft home too!

All in all it was one rather fun and memorable day! And I think Miss Milla will be having a nice slow day tomorrow to recover from all the action.
Happy birthday my baby girl!! The last 3 yrs have been a giggle a minute and I've loved it all!!

Rainbow of Ribbons party this weekend

Finally the Rainbow of Ribbons party is this weekend!! So far so good for the weather predictions and looks like I'm still under control with my To Do List (even with Giggleberry Christmas orders, Mathilda's Market stock sewing and planning & my families Christmas get together at our place the following weekend - eep!)

I had one last minute thought to find some rainbow themed songs we can play while playing pass the parcel... and general party music... I came up with these two...
Climbing Up A Rainbow - Justine Clarke
Rainbow of Colours - Wiggles



Some time in the last fortnight my kiddies and I were watching good old Sesame Street and this clip came on... perfect for the Ribbon theme

In all my searching I also found THIS SONG. It's my new fav, such a lovely re-do of a classic!

Rainbow of Ribbons - what to wear?

What to wear? what to wear? - a girl needs a party outfit for her own party right?
A little searching online for anything 'ribbony' and rainbowy' and I found the perfect handmade top by the Crafty Nomad.


Personalised with Milla on it this shirt will not only be worn on party day with a skirt or shorts but any day Milla feels like a bit of colour - Yay!

Rainbow of Ribbons - birthday cake!

99% of you who know I am planning a Rainbow of Ribbons party would be forgiven for assuming that of course the cake will be one of those AMAZING rainbow layer cakes that are popping up everywhere.


Truly I think these are just stunning not to mention super clever!! (the above pic is from HERE with the how to for the cake too) One day I do want to make one just to say I had but for Milla's upcoming party I can't help but want to 'be different' from most other rainbow parties so I have gone another route with the cake.
Now, I don't want to promise anything as spectacular as the famous rainbow layer cakes but I will have fun making what I have planned and am going to keep it a surprise.... only 3 wks to wait, you'll be right ;)

In the mean time I thought I'd share with you some fabulous rainbow cakes I found while searching for Milla's cake inspiration - Enjoy.


1. The idea room
2. Wedding Cake Pictures
3. Snag Wire Media
4. Crumbs and Doilies Cupcake Blog
5. Cupcakes take the cake
6. Rainbow Cake
7. Rainbow Cake
8. Rainbow Cake






Oh and check out these fabulous candles I found for Milla to blow out - PERFECTO!! I bought them from HERE

Rainbow of Ribbons party favors

The main inspiration behind Milla's Rainbow of Ribbons party is also the very thing we will be handing out as the take home party favor to the guests - Ribbon Wands!
I think these are too adorable and so much fun for kids to run around with (especially with party excitement happening) they are great for boys or girls and what a great way to have something different to the lolly bag party favor!

So where do you go to get the most gorgeous handmade Ribbon Wands?? one place - Pinwheel and Pearls! Pinwheels and Pearls ribbon wand come in every colour you can imagine and they are just absolutely stunning! Check out the Madeit.com shop HERE. I contacted the driving force behind Pinwheels and Pearls, Kate, about Milla's party and asked if I could get a rainbow selection of wands... I am thrilled with them - what do you think?




With a personalised thank you card attached (thanks to the printables to match the party invites from Cake Ink) all put inside a vase, I think these could even be a rather fabulous table centre piece!

Rainbow of Ribbons - party food!

Only 4 weeks to go now until Milla's 3rd birthday party. So sticking with the Rainbow of Ribbons theme I have started thinking about the food.
The party is just a casual BBQ at home with immediate family so the good old meat and salad is a 'no brainer' but how can serve a few things to tie into the colourful theme??
No panic - once again Google has come to my rescue! Check out these ideas:




PERFECT! I can do a veggie and dip platter and a fruit and yogurt platter in rainbow!! Yay!

RED: Strawberries, Apple, Watermelon / Capsicum, Cherry Tomatoes, Cabanossi
ORANGE: Orange, Rock melon, Mango, Mandarin / Carrot, Pretzels, Rice Crackers
YELLOW: Banana, Pineapple / Cheese, Rice Crackers
GREEN: Grapes, Honeydew Melon, Pear, Apple, Kiwi fruit / Snow peas, Celery
BLUE: Blueberries (this one is a little tricky)
PURPLE: Cherries, Grapes / Purple Cabbage

Any other suggestions?

Then of course no kids party is complete with out a bit of sweet stuff but I am going to be 'that' mum and limit the amount. So I have plans for a small candy buffet - Nothing spectacular just a small table with some rainbow coloured goodies to nibble on. These are some of the fun sweets I have found for it:


Twizzlers


Rainbow Sour Straps


Skittles - NOTE: The regular Skittles have red, orange, yellow, green and purple ones in the pack. If you want blue ones to complete the rainbow you need to source the Wild Berry Skittles. I found them at an international candy store.

Cute hey? I will have just as much fun setting up all the rainbows of food as I will eating them on the party day... speaking of eating, check out the fabulous plates and napkins I found from HERE

LOVE them!!

Next is the cake.... and no I am NOT doing a rainbow layer cake ;) Stay tuned!!

Rainbow of Ribbon party games and crafts

So we've got a date set for the party. The invites have gone out. Decorations are starting to take shape. Now what to do with the little party guests to keep them interested and entertained for the duration of the party???
I did a little google searching and found this GREAT idea that will fit in just perfect with both the rainbow and the ribbons idea of Milla's upcoming party - A ribbon scrap rainbow artwork!


Thanks so much to Mama Jenn blog for this idea.
Just like Jenn I have so many ribbon bits and pieces that I just can't bring myself to throw away, the old "Just in case" sticks with me for crafty bits and in this situation it has paid off. I have cut all the ribbons into small pieces and sorted them into the 5 separate containers, one for each colour of a rainbow. I will draw 5 lines on an A4 piece of paper and copy it so each child at the party will have one.
With a couple of pots of glue, some paint brushes the containers of ribbon scraps and rainbow outlined pages all set up on a little child sized table I'm sure this will be a fun activity and also something the kids can take home too!

The other game I just can't go past for a kids party is good old Pass the Parcel. To make it a little different and to tie it into the ribbon theme a bit I decided to wrap the rainbow ribbon themed little gift (more on it in a post later this week) in white paper then wrap it in a brightly coloured ribbon, next is more white paper then another ribbon - until the whole rainbow of colours are used. How cute is that?!?


As a little extra bonus each layer also has a gold foil chocolate coin or 2 in it.

Rainbow Ribbon Birthday Wreath

I spotted this balloon birthday wreath ages ago on How Does She? and LOVED the idea. (check out the How To HERE)


What fun to have this on your front door to greet party guests or start a tradition of a birthday wreath that comes out of the cupboard each birthday and lives on the birthday boy or girl's bedroom door each year?? CUTE!
So as soon as I decided on a Rainbow of Ribbons theme for Milla's upcoming 3rd birthday I just knew I wanted to do my spin on it.... TaDah:


With just an old wire coat hanger bent into a circle wreath shape (you could bend it into any shape... heart, balloon, wings etc) and a whole lot of ribbon scraps in a rainbow of colours I sat in-front of the TV on night and just tied, tied, tied ribbons until I had the look I wanted.


How fun, effective and SUPER easy is that?


This outside the square - you wouldn't need to do rainbow colours just the colour theme of your party. With Christmas around the corner why not make a red and green one - try using fabric scraps cut into strips for a different look again.
This is also a fun and easy craft for kids!