Surviving At Home

Eventually older kids will tire of having parties with princess or cartoon themes and your easy days of shopping online to pick a party theme and then having all the paper items arrive in a nice little box will be over. Time to resort to your own imagination!

If you’re posed with this challenge, be sure to allow at least 4-6 weeks for planning so you can find all the supplies you need and have your child get involved in making lists for supplies and decorating ideas.

One year my niece wanted her party theme to be France and it stumped my SIL until she started thinking about all the things France was known for. She decorated their basement with small tables and chairs, just like a bistro, and served finger sandwiches made on croissants along with fondue. The kids also had a taste of different French pastries and her cake was decorated like the French flag. Each child was given a beret when they arrived, pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre hung on the walls, and they even set up an easel so kids could take turns painting a masterpiece.

A very similar setting could be made if your theme is Italy. The kids can make their own pizzas, your craft could be decorate your own apron, and pictures can include the leaning tower of Pisa and the Roman ruins. Ask your local pizza place if they have extra placemats to spare (the ones with the map of Italy would be perfect) and/or small pizza boxes for leftovers. Add a red and white checked table cloth to complete the look of your piazza.

I’d love to hear some other ideas for a foreign party theme!

Kids just love to do things themselves. Well, mine don’t like to clean their rooms or do chores generally, but they love to make things without parental guidance or help. That’s tough for me because it means giving up control and my perfectionistic ideas of how things should look but it makes my girls feel like they’re growing up.

A great party idea for the summertime is Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundaes. Combine your favorite ice creams with your favorite toppings and voila — easy entertainment and delicious dessert all rolled into one.

Of course, if you’re “giving up control”, be prepared for spills and messes. I always like to put my girls under the sprinkler for a quick rinse when they’re done creating!

Have you ever tried making your own ice cream sandwiches? Williams Sonoma.com has a great recipe for Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches as well as fun molds to make your sandwiches into different shapes.

How’s this for a “cool” gift idea — Ice Cream Source.com ships your favorite ice cream flavors directly to you! They have a variety of survival kit gift packages as well as Ice Cream of the Month clubs. Very original!

I made this Banana Split Pie 10 years ago for my daughter’s birthday and it was a hit! It’s from Woman’s Day magazine and a tip I heard about softening ice cream so that it’s not melty: when softened, put into a stand mixer and whip for just a minute. Makes it easier to spread in the pie crust. Enjoy!

Banana Split Pie

3 T sugar
4 large ripe bananas
5 c (2 1/2 pints) vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1 6-oz ready to fill chocolate pie crust
1/2 c cocktail peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 c strawberry preserves
Garnish: whipped cream topping
bottled chocolate sauce

Sprinkle sugar in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. As sugar starts to melt, peel bananas and quickly slice into skillet. As slices sizzle and brown lightly, stir gently to turn and coat. When browned and slightly mushy, pour bananas onto a metal pie plate or pixxa pan and refigerate so they cool quickly, about 10 minutes.

Spoon about 3/4 c of the ice cream into crust, pressing down lightly. Top with about half the bananans and sprinkle with 1/4 c of peanuts. continue layering: 3/4 c ice cream, all the strawberry preserves, another 3/4 c ice cream, remaining bananas and remaining ice cream. Sprinkle with remaining peanuts. Cover and freeze at least 6 hours.

30 minutes before serving, transfer pie to refigerator.

To serve, pipe whipped topping around edge of pan. Cut in wedges and drizzle each wedge with chocolate sauce.

For a low-fat version, use fat-free ice cream or frozen yogurt, light strawberry preserves and reduce calorie chocoalte sauce. Omit peanuts in the pie and just scatter 1 T peanuts on top.

In keeping with our mystery theme this week, here are some end-of-school party ideas with a mystery or detective theme.

For the preschoolers, Blue’s Clues is the easiest to plan. Have your child pick a question to ask Blue, such as “What does Blue want to do on this sunny day?” then mom or dad can cut out 3 blue pawprint clues and tape them to various items that relate to the answer. Give each guest a small notebook and crayon and then have them search for clues and draw each one in their notebooks. Once all 3 clues are discovered, the kids can sit on their thinking chairs and take turns guessing.

How about a game of Mystery Food? Usually done at Halloween to gross everyone out, this game can be adapted for the little ones to feel different textures of food and take a guess at what it is. This is a perfect outdoor game so when they get messy the kids can just rinse off in the sprinkler. Don’t want the kids making a mess with food? Then find any safe object from around the house that is textured or has an irregular shape, put inside a box, blindfold the kids and let them examine it with their hands.

The elementary aged kids might have fun being spies on a mission in search of a missing jewel (or anything else your kids think up) or you could be inspectors jetting across the globe on the trail of Carmen Sandiego. Different parts of your house or yard could be different countries, all containing different clues to solve the mystery. You could even add a pirate theme to your mystery party with all the kids searching for hidden treasure. You’re only limited by your own imagination.

If you’re “creatively challenged” or too busy to think up a mystery, you can buy a mystery party kit. I love the website Dramatic Fanatic because their kits are suitable for ages 8-13 and don’t necessarily have a “murder” as part of the mystery. You can customize the script for a boy or girl party and everything is downloadable, which makes for very easy shopping!

Years ago I had gotten one of the classic How To Host A Murder Mystery Party kits and held on to it for years, thinking it was a silly thing to do. After college I lived with 2 roommates and we decided to do it, complete with vintage costumes. Luckily we had a huge group of friends who thought this was a cool idea and we had an absolute blast. We rented costumes from a local vintage costume shop and made lots of appetizers so we munched and played the whole night.

The possibilities are endless for mystery party fun!