“This was the best birthday party I’ve ever been to!” – 8 year old party guest.
This month saw my beautiful, clever and incredibly talented daughter turn eight years old. She doesn’t get a big birthday party celebration every year, but when she does I like to try and make it a little bit extra special for her and all her friends.
Two weeks before her birthday I was contacted by the fabulous Kate over at Feather Grey Parties asking if I would like to try out some of their party supplies. What a timely email! I’d been umming and hawing about having a swimming pool party, but wasn’t completely sold on that idea. I  asked what she would suggest for an eight-year-old girl, and she suggested a baking party.
A quick look through the Feather Grey Parties website sealed the deal. A baking party it would be!
HOW TO THROW A CHILDREN’S BAKING BIRTHDAY PARTY
Plan in advance exactly what you are going to need!
Feather Grey have a fab Baking Party Kit which includes enough party pieces for 12 children: invitations, baking cups for cupcakes, cupcake toppers, party plates, matching napkins, balloons, paper straws, sprinkles and party bags with baking sticker seals. I topped this up with a few other things picked up for relatively cheap on ebay: table covers, pink organza for decorating, and lots and lots of sprinkles!
Party games? We had pass the parcel (two of them) with the prizes being boxed cupcake kits from the supermarket. Alternatively, the Feather Grey Baking Kit Gift Set (pictured right) would make a fantastic pass the parcel gift for any keen baker. It includes an apron, rolling pin, wooden spoon, pastry brush and recipe cards all in a handy little tin.
Aprons, chef’s hats, party bag fillers? Recycled material can make fantastic, inexpensive aprons. My white cotton, enough to make 23 aprons (16 full aprons and 7 bistro aprons) cost a mere £2 from our local charity shop.
It turns out that the fabric was actually bedding sheets from a shipping company running in the 1940s or 50s! Vintage chic! I made my daughter’s apron with the Queenship Navigation Ltd. stamp in the corner, as it appeared on one of the bedsheets (the other was torn off). I picked up a couple of packs of colourful fabric markers too, so the kids could personalize their own aprons. Craft tutorial to follow.
Set up a Pinterest board to keep track of ideas. There is plenty of inspiration out there and I found Pinterest an invaluable tool. Follow my Baking Party Ideas board!
You will also need silicone cupcake moulds (or paper cases), disposable piping bags and party bag fillers.
Our party bags included:
- one temporary cupcake tattoo and one teaspoonful of sprinkles in a mini (6×8 cm) ziplock bag
- a silicone cupcake mould in the colour of each child’s choosing containing the cupcake that they made
- an 8″ wooden spoon tied with a paper raffia ribbon bow and a little gift tag with a note from my daughter thanking her guests for coming along on one side, and the recipes for chocolate and vanilla frosting for one cupcake on the other.
Organize a venue.
If you’re wanting a big party and you have a big kitchen that’s fine, otherwise (like me) you’re going to need to find a kitchen space! I hired the village hall for the afternoon, which included the use of their spacious kitchen.
Write up an itinerary.
This is more for your benefit than anyone else. A big party might seem daunting at first, but my itinerary really helped me.
- 2:30 Greet guests at the door. Have a gift table set up by the door where party bags will be given out afterwards.
- 2:45 Have children select an apron and chef’s hat, wash their hands and make their way to the kitchen. Preheat oven to 180 C
- 2:55 Have children get into pairs depending on if they want to make chocolate or vanilla cupcakes.
- 3:00 Commence cupcake baking!
- 3:30 Move everyone to the party table to decorate cupcakes.
- 3:45 Snacks and apron decorating when the kids are finished eating.
- 4:15 Pass the parcel & playtime.
- 4:30 Home time! Hand out party bags as guests leave.
Give yourself plenty of time to set up. I learned this the hard way. We only had half an hour to set up before the party guests arrived and there were points I was actually running to try to get everything done! I laid out disposable tablecloths on the table, placed a paper plate, napkin and little paper doily for each person along with a paper cup and straw. An uniced cupcake was laid on top of each doily. Disposable plastic piping bags were filled with ready-made frosting (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) and kept closed with a rubber band (you could decorate the closed end with ribbon or organza if you wanted). The ends were not snipped open until the kids were ready to decorate.
Artist paint palettes make great sprinkle holders.
So, on the day after everyone has arrived, have the children choose an apron (if using) wash their hands and head to the kitchen.
Make sure your kitchen area has all the ingredients laid out in small bowls, and plenty of tablespoon measures. Borrow some from friends if you need (as they can be a bit expensive to buy brand new).
For your convenience, I’ve provided the recipe with the instructions I gave below. This will suit any size group. You could always instruct the children as a Simon Says game to make it more interesting.
“Simon says: Let’s bake cupcakes!!”
Baking Party Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 bag self-raising flour
- 1 bag caster sugar
- 1 container cocoa powder
- 1 bottle vanilla extract
- Shetland sea salt
- 1 bottle sunflower oil
- 1 carton full fat milk
- medium free-range eggs
- cupcake moulds (silicone or paper cases)
- black permanent marker
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Instructions
- Dish out small bowls of flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Set up silicone cupcake moulds in the centre of the table. Set up enough mixing bowls, forks, spoons and measuring spoons for each group.
- "Pair up! Find a friend who wants to make the same kind of cupcake as you and stand in front of a mixing bowl."
- Ask each child to select a silicone cupcake mould and to put their initials on the bottom of the mould.
- "Each group, put four tablespoons of flour into your mixing bowl." (get parent helpers, if you have any, to make sure these are level tablespoons, not heaped)
- "Hands up who is making vanilla cupcakes? Put one more tablespoon of flour in your bowl!"
- "Hands up who is making chocolate cupcakes? Put one tablespoon of cocoa powder in your bowl!"
- "Every group, put three tablespoons of sugar into your bowl!"
- "Each group, put a pinch of salt in your bowl, just a pinch!"
- "Every group, put one tablespoon of sunflower oil into your bowl" They might need help with this, especially the younger ones.
- "Every group, put one tablespoon of milk into your bowl!"
- "Hands up who is making vanilla cupcakes? Put one half of a teaspoonful of vanilla into your bowl!"
- "Can every group grab an egg? Be careful not to drop it!"
- "Crack your egg into your bowl!" Parent helpers might have to help with this as well as fishing out egg shell from the bowls.
- "Are you all ready everyone? Grab your forks and stir, stir, stir!!" While the children are stirring, keep an eye on the texture of their mixtures. It should be of soft dropping consistency, so add a little bit more milk or flour, depending on what is needed.
- "Alright everybody, this is looking great! Now, spoon your cupcake batter into your cupcake cases." There is enough batter to make two large cupcakes, but you might find you need a third case, depending on how much batter they've made, or just throw out the extra.
- Bake in a preheated 190 C oven for 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely while the children are decorating pre-made cupcakes in another room. Move the cooled cupcakes to the party bag table for when everyone leaves.
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I was really impressed at how smoothly everything went in the kitchen, but I had a few fantastic parent helpers. The kids were really enjoying what they were doing, and the looks of concentration on some of their faces were so amusing!
Afterwards, while the cupcakes are baking (under adult supervision – set a timer if you’re forgetful like me!) have the children wash their hands and head to the party table where the undecorated cupcakes have already been laid out.
Let them have at and admire their creations!
Then, after they are done decorating, it’s snack time.
I had two separate tables, one set up with the cake and all the sweets, the other laid out with savoury snacks and drinks. Pink lemonade comes into its own here!
The children loved decorating their aprons, boys and girls alike.
If I am, to be honest, I would have liked to have doubled the time we had for this party. Two hours just flew by and the kids (and adults) had so much fun; it would have been easy to fill another couple of hours.
When it came to home time, each of the children was given the cupcake they made in their polka dot Feather Grey Baking Party bag sealed with a sticker. I hoped that giving them each a wooden spoon with a recipe, an apron and a silicone cupcake mould of their own might encourage them to bake themselves, and it says! DD has said her classmates have been asking for the cupcake recipe, so I think when it comes time to send out the thank you notes for the birthday gifts I will include a cupcake recipe too.
All in all, it was a resounding success and I’m glad I put the effort in. The Feather Grey Baking Party supplies really helped make this party something special. I love their whole range – everything you need for a themed birthday party all in one place. All their party stationery is their own design, and the pastel colours and cute baking party images were a real hit. As the children left they were bursting with energy (ok, that might have been a sugar high!) and filled with compliments about the day. A week later and they are still talking about it!
OTHER BIRTHDAY POSTSÂ YOU MIGHT LIKE
Google Rainbow Birthday Cake by Sarah
Transformers Birthday Cake by Elizabeth
Coraline Birthday Cake by Elizabeth
Halo Reach Birthday Cake by Elizabeth
A Postman Pat Party by Sarah
OTHER KIDS’ BAKING IDEAS
Cadbury Pebbles Rockin’ Drop Cookies by Judith
Follow Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary’s board Baking Party Ideas on Pinterest.
Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was sent a selection of Feather Grey Birthday Baking Party supplies for review. All opinions expressed are our own and this is not a paid post. All parents of children at the party gave their consent for photographs to be taken and used in this blog post.
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Baking Party Cupcake Recipe is great! To be honest, I’m not good at cooking but I like them, they give me joy and excitement every time I finish the dishes, which is a great thing. With your recipe, I just need to follow the instructions and the rest is simple, Thanks for sharing.
That are memorable moments for kids. Clever ideas.
You reminded me of my childhood, I was so hungry to organize a birthday party like this when I was young, now I think I will make up for it for my child.
Love these. I’d like to do a themed party for my son. Lots of wet wipes on hand at a baking party.
no tips as ive never though about this before what a great idea my kids love baking too
I added some ‘do you wanna build a snowman’ bags to my daughters bday party favours this year.
Not really a tip as I love to bake but for the kids only, I’m no very confident but when I was little my mum used to buy Bourbons and ice them and use those silver sugar balls to make them look like dominoes – I used to love that!!!
Make sure you have aprons for the Children, it is guaranteed to get messy.
Like many have said, keep things nice and simple
I think kids still love the traditional party games like pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey etc
KEEP IT SIMPLE
I have never done a baking birthday party but it looks like great fun. My tip would be plan, plan plan then go with the flow.
Keep it simple and do something they enjoy.
let the kids help – they love getting involved
make sure you know if anyone does not eaten certain foods
Get all the decorations prepared the day/night before so on the day you only have to concentrate on the food.
Wow, this is a fab idea. I think the only ‘tip’ I could add would be accept offers of help and have loads of wet wipes!!
Dont worry about perfection! The kids wont notice and it will help your stress levels too 🙂
Don’t make too much food
make sure that it will be eaten
ive never thought to do one nor been to one x
We had one in the summer for one of the kids. Disposable gloves for mixing/baking is one think I’m glad we did. The kids loved rolling out balls of colored royal icing and cutting out shapes using cookie cutters and decorated the birthday cake 🙂
I’ve never been to one or thrown one!
We have cupcake making parties from time to time and they always go down a storm. Lovely pics, lovely recipe and a lovely prize. Thanks for joining in with #recipeoftheweek
Make sure they wash their hands if you want to eat the end result 😉
Really love this idea, love baking for my daughters birthday 🙂
I love this idea! & I’m definitely doing something similar for my little brother’s birthday… 🙂
My Sister will love all the cup cakes.
Nice share
Such a cute idea! I guess, be organised – and take plenty of photos 🙂
Get as much help as possible!
Always time to try something new. This prize looks great.
Whatever can be made a day or two before really helps save time and stress!
i have never done this but it sounds like a lot of fun 🙂
This is a great idea for a party and the kids look very engaged. Love the idea of the labels with thanks and recipe on them.
My biggest tip would be to make lists on everything!
Yes! Bake your own cake if you have time to do it. That’s how you can control the sugar amount and make sure you get quality ingredients. Let your little one get involved, it would be messy, but fun! Plus, it would be tastier x
This looks great!
Always have a few precooked items incase of errors (saves tears in the event of accidents)
lots of extra spoons just incase they lick them haha
plan in advance and don’t worry about mess. make it fun
Keep calm & carry on baking!
Strategically placed packs of wipes all around the house for sticky fingers!
I’d say don’t be afraid to accept help from other parents, and have plenty of antibacterial hand gel to hand! x
No tips but I so hope my daughter gets invited to one shed love it. I’m not brave enough tortry it lol
I have some colourful plastic sheeting that i lay on the floor so that when the inevitable happens and food gets spilled it can just be cleaned up with wet wipes or a mop.
My daughter had a cupcake and pizza party for her birthday last year! it was awesome the kids loved makng ther own tea, and ther home going home present xxxx
Planning everything in advance and baking/preparing everything beforehand!
No tips – but please will someone invite me to one of these
Buy spares of everything, in case you run out
just enjoy baking it
What an absolutely brilliant idea Elizabeth. I bet those children remember that party for a long time!
Instead of pass the parcel have pass the apron …whoever is holding the apron or instead say a wooden spoon gets to be head chef…this might mean deciding what colour or icing goes on the next cupcake .
Enjoy baking as much as possible, worry about the mess later! 🙂
yes, let your husband do it all, he’s so much better at it than me – lol
Never leave things until the last minute!
I don’t but I’ll be stealing tips from yours!
Enjoy yourselfs and try not to stress!
A picnic in the park baking day with portable gas stoves.
What a fantastic idea!
My tip would probably be time, children will take forever doing the decorating and it’ll keep them amused for hours so make sure you’ve left enough time
Dont Limit their creativity, even if you wouldnt eat their creation they might and will love making it.
fantastic party elizabeth – love the set up and the little cupcake at the end. I am sure it will be talked about for a long time – sounds like you really did an amazing organisation job here. I think I could do the decorating the cupcakes but baking too would be too much
Have fun and enjoy the moment x
I’ve never had or done a baking party, but it sounds really fun. If I did this, I’d make sure I was really organized. And I’d have extra ingredients in case of mishaps.
Just to have lots of fun and forge the tidying til the end lol! x
always make more than you really need, so you can eat the leftovers!
Hvae fun and worry about the mess later!
makink a hedgehog with an orange and chese and cocktail sticks
make sure you have all the ingredients
I love this! What a brilliant idea for a party.
I always bake and decorate my children’s birthday cakes myself so I can make the cake just how they like it and decorate it with a theme that I know they love – my cakes may not turn out looking like professionally or shop bought cakes but I enjoy baking and decorating them and I want them to know that I made the effort especially for them. So my tip is – to all the parents out there, why not have a go at baking your child a cake to celebrate their next birthday – it doesn’t matter if you are not arty or a fantastic baker – your children will appreciate your efforts I’m sure and you will have photos to look back on and smile!
Always use plastic or paper cups and plates
treat every child the same and try to have enough presents in the pass th eparcels for every child
We made sure we did that – little puzzles, rubbers and toys. They went down a real treat 🙂
Plan everything, make lists, it may seem a bit OTT but it really works!
I agree!!
Have plenty of wetwipes on hand for spills and mucky faces/paws.
I hosted a cupcake party when my daughter turned 7. Top tips – accept offers of help from other mums! and leave longer than you think you will need for decorating cakes.
This is super sweet! I think it’s a fab and fun idea to throw a birthday party. Will bookmark this post up for sure.
Thanks for sharing.
xx Donah
WOW! Thanks for entering your recipe and this FAB post to Tea Tea Treats already! It’s a bit spooky that you had this already posted, great minds think alike eh? LOVE this post too! Karen xxx
Thanks Karen – it is spooky isn’t it! It’s been ages since I’ve entered Tea Time Treats – I just don’t seem to have the time for baking that I used to, but this post fit in nicely 🙂
What an absolutely awesome idea for a party, I would have loved something like this when I was younger. They all look like they are having so much fun.
I would have loved something like this too when I was a kid. I’m totally compensating for the fact I never had a birthday party as a child! 😀