Cracker Jack Birthday Party
So those of you who are a bit more experienced with birthday parties have to tell me, are they always as crazy as the day leading up to Jackson’s party was?!
I had planned on keeping things relatively laid back and simple. I made the pennant flags I was going to use as decoration (visit my craft blog for a full low-down on the creative part of Jack’s party) the day before and the little secret prizes we were going to include with the homemade Cracker Jack were printed and glued earlier that week. The only things that had to be completed the day of the party were cleaning the house, baking the Cracker Jack, frosting the cupcakes and whipping up the black bean dip/chile con queso. Easy, right? Sure, no problem at all when you consider that my mom and sister were also here to help. It all would have gone by so easily if only we didn’t lose power from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon, one hour before the party was suppose to start.
That’s right. We lost power for four hours. Perfect timing, huh? Couldn’t vacuum, couldn’t pop the popcorn, couldn’t melt the cheese, couldn’t whip up the frosting. I tried to just mix the cream cheese frosting by hand and when I broke the second spatula decided to power the hand mixer with the cigarette lighter adapter in the car. Just in case you were wondering…No, a small car battery does not have enough power to run a hand mixer and yes, pictures were taken of me trying to mix cream cheese frosting in the car.
Luckily elbow grease doesn’t need power and we were able to focus on the cleaning for the majority of the blackout time. I was also able to run to the store to get more ingredients for the Cracker Jack since I oh-so conveniently burned the first two batches before the power went out that morning. Seriously, could the day get any better?
Actually, we weren’t worried too much. If the power didn’t come back on before our party, we still had the black bean dip (which is served cold) to offer our guests and it was a beautiful day out so the house wasn’t too cold. Plus, we were having a ton of babies over. I was pretty sure they would be content enough just hanging out in the playroom!
Luckily, though, the power came on one hour before guest were going to arrive. Just enough time to whip the frosting, frost the cupcakes, pop the popcorn, cook the caramel mixture, bake the homemade Cracker Jack and jump in the shower. What an absolutely crazy day! I don’t know if my nerves can take years more of this! :D
Originally published at Indie Shopper. You can comment here or there.