Tobias' 7th Birthday...
Well, we celebrated Tobias' 7th Birthday 6 days ago... i still can not believe that my baby - ok no more a baby - my little guy is a full 7 years old!
So here's the lowdown on this year's birthday...
He asked a Space theme this year & a Rocket cake!! The space theme came through the invites we hand delivered to each of his little friends - 10 in all.
There are 2 cards each cos we had the party @ Migros (for my friends outside of Switzerland - this is one of 2 huge supermarket chains - it has everything) this year & they give invitation cards too - but these invitation cards could be dropped off @ Migros for entry into a lucky draw for tickets to Europa Park! So we did 2 invites for each kid :)
i was really scratching my head to figure out how to do a rocket cake. i was not going to attempt an actual stand-up rocket cake - don't think i can pull that off. In the end, i was planning on icing a round cake to make it look like the moon & build a rocket from Lego & stick it on the moon cake. Then my friend, Michaela, came to the rescue. We visited them during the time i was cracking my brains about the rocket cake. She presented me with the perfect solution - Puzzle Cake! Thanks Michaela!
So i wanted to be sure that i could pull this off as i have never used this system before & here's how the trial cake turned out:
Not bad if i do say so myself.
Here's the process:
The instructions actually say to bake the cupcakes already lined up in the shape you want - but Swiss ovens are not that big & the pattern just won't fit onto my baking tray, as you can see from the trial cake. So i just baked them as i would normal cupcakes.
Then you assemble. i had to assemble it with 2 parts short as the cake board i made was too short, even though i followed the length it said in the recipe:
Then we ice & there you have it - Rocket Cake!
Now we are ready for the party.
BUT... before that, i have to tell you about the cute tradition they have @ our Kindergarten here in our village. When a child turns 6 or 7 (depending on when your birthday is, that determines how old you are when you get to Kindi), meaning the next school year he/she goes to 1st class (1st grade), the entire Kindi class comes & picks you up from your home on your birthday. They come with the birthday wagon!!
Here's the birthday wagon arriving:
Here's Tobias in the wagon & ready to be taken to Kindi:
He gets to wear the green birthday cape & a ring of flowers on his head (this year's theme for Kindi was flowers & nature).
Walter went with them back to Kindi, carrying the sandwiches & chocolate ladybugs for their birthday snack time. He took quite a few videos of what happens @ Kindi for the birthday boy. i hope to be able to edit that into a short video soon - will post that as soon as i have it ready. Apparently there are a few more "ceremonies" which happen, such as, showers of blessings (i think) with a song...
Oh there is another thing the birthday kid gets from the Kindi - the birthday boy/girl gets to take the Birthday Hedgehog home for the night. & cos Tobias' birthday was a Friday, he got to keep it over the weekend - he was soooo thrilled. That Hedgehog went everywhere in the house with him for those 2.5 days. i would not let him take it outside cos i was afraid he would lose it as he has lost toys when he was out & about before.
Here's over-excited him & his Birthday Hedgehog:
i simply love how special the Kindi made this day for him!
Now off to the party @ Migros. It was great - they took care of everything from the deco to the games to letting the kids make their own pizza & even had a little goodie bag for each of the kids. i like making up my own goodie bag so the kids went home with loads :)
& it was very reasonably priced!!
Wanna have a go at guessing how much such a party for 11 kids cost?
Here's the table, ready & waiting for guests to come:
They also wrote his name on a little birthday signboard they have in the restaurant.
Here are the ingredients for the pizza:
The guests arrive & off they go, decorating their own little chef's hat:
Here are the 11 little chefs:
Now it's pizza making time:
Then some time outside to get the wiggles out & burn off that energy ;)
Here's Musical Chairs - the party lady used her smartphone to play the music - talk about technology becoming such an integrated part of our lives:
Then it was back to eat the pizza they made & then came the fav time of any birthday boy - Pressies!! (Presents to the non-aussie initiated)
They had cake & that was pretty much it!
i did bake one more time - i made cupcakes (this time just normal round ones) for the Sunday School so that he could celebrate it with them too.
At the end of the birthday weekend, we realised that we did not have one photo as a family - so we set up the little tripod on our dining table, set a candle on a cupcake & took our family picture ;)
Another year has come & gone & my little boy is getting to be a big boy now...
syc
So here's the lowdown on this year's birthday...
He asked a Space theme this year & a Rocket cake!! The space theme came through the invites we hand delivered to each of his little friends - 10 in all.
There are 2 cards each cos we had the party @ Migros (for my friends outside of Switzerland - this is one of 2 huge supermarket chains - it has everything) this year & they give invitation cards too - but these invitation cards could be dropped off @ Migros for entry into a lucky draw for tickets to Europa Park! So we did 2 invites for each kid :)
i was really scratching my head to figure out how to do a rocket cake. i was not going to attempt an actual stand-up rocket cake - don't think i can pull that off. In the end, i was planning on icing a round cake to make it look like the moon & build a rocket from Lego & stick it on the moon cake. Then my friend, Michaela, came to the rescue. We visited them during the time i was cracking my brains about the rocket cake. She presented me with the perfect solution - Puzzle Cake! Thanks Michaela!
So i wanted to be sure that i could pull this off as i have never used this system before & here's how the trial cake turned out:
Not bad if i do say so myself.
Here's the process:
The instructions actually say to bake the cupcakes already lined up in the shape you want - but Swiss ovens are not that big & the pattern just won't fit onto my baking tray, as you can see from the trial cake. So i just baked them as i would normal cupcakes.
Then you assemble. i had to assemble it with 2 parts short as the cake board i made was too short, even though i followed the length it said in the recipe:
Then we ice & there you have it - Rocket Cake!
Now we are ready for the party.
BUT... before that, i have to tell you about the cute tradition they have @ our Kindergarten here in our village. When a child turns 6 or 7 (depending on when your birthday is, that determines how old you are when you get to Kindi), meaning the next school year he/she goes to 1st class (1st grade), the entire Kindi class comes & picks you up from your home on your birthday. They come with the birthday wagon!!
Here's the birthday wagon arriving:
Here's Tobias in the wagon & ready to be taken to Kindi:
He gets to wear the green birthday cape & a ring of flowers on his head (this year's theme for Kindi was flowers & nature).
Walter went with them back to Kindi, carrying the sandwiches & chocolate ladybugs for their birthday snack time. He took quite a few videos of what happens @ Kindi for the birthday boy. i hope to be able to edit that into a short video soon - will post that as soon as i have it ready. Apparently there are a few more "ceremonies" which happen, such as, showers of blessings (i think) with a song...
Oh there is another thing the birthday kid gets from the Kindi - the birthday boy/girl gets to take the Birthday Hedgehog home for the night. & cos Tobias' birthday was a Friday, he got to keep it over the weekend - he was soooo thrilled. That Hedgehog went everywhere in the house with him for those 2.5 days. i would not let him take it outside cos i was afraid he would lose it as he has lost toys when he was out & about before.
Here's over-excited him & his Birthday Hedgehog:
i simply love how special the Kindi made this day for him!
Now off to the party @ Migros. It was great - they took care of everything from the deco to the games to letting the kids make their own pizza & even had a little goodie bag for each of the kids. i like making up my own goodie bag so the kids went home with loads :)
& it was very reasonably priced!!
Wanna have a go at guessing how much such a party for 11 kids cost?
Here's the table, ready & waiting for guests to come:
They also wrote his name on a little birthday signboard they have in the restaurant.
Here are the ingredients for the pizza:
The guests arrive & off they go, decorating their own little chef's hat:
Here are the 11 little chefs:
Now it's pizza making time:
Then some time outside to get the wiggles out & burn off that energy ;)
Here's Musical Chairs - the party lady used her smartphone to play the music - talk about technology becoming such an integrated part of our lives:
Then it was back to eat the pizza they made & then came the fav time of any birthday boy - Pressies!! (Presents to the non-aussie initiated)
They had cake & that was pretty much it!
i did bake one more time - i made cupcakes (this time just normal round ones) for the Sunday School so that he could celebrate it with them too.
At the end of the birthday weekend, we realised that we did not have one photo as a family - so we set up the little tripod on our dining table, set a candle on a cupcake & took our family picture ;)
Another year has come & gone & my little boy is getting to be a big boy now...
syc