Little Chef's Party -6yr- Pancake Relay

Little Chef’s Party - 6 yr old 

Here is an easy, fun, relatively inexpensive party that I received rave reviews from both kids and their parents.  The invitation was from NickJr.com and designed like a recipe card that read "Recipe for Fun!  Take one birthday kid:____________, Add a special friend:_____________, Mix together at: ______________, Cook till done:__________________, RSVP:_______________".

I ordered real adult aprons from kingmenus.com for only $2.49 and adjustable hats for $1.76 (must by in quantities of 6).  Even after shipping costs it still was only $5.00 a child.  Since they are chef aprons they look much better than the ones you find in the craft stores.  Plus unless you get an awesome sale it isn't worth the cost of the gas to pick them up.  You may want to hem the aprons if you have small guest.  You could easily just pull up the waist when you tie it on them though.  I bought iron-on transfer computer paper to print the kid’s names like "Chef ----" on them.  It is sooo easy.  I bought fabric markers (get on the JoAnn’s mailing list to get 50% coupons or use ACMoore and Michaels 40% fliers) and stencils (princess, angel, ice cream cones). 

The kids put on their hats when they arrived and designed their own aprons.  Since Easter was the next day, I decided to have them decorate their own bunny cake that they could take home.  Each child had their own 9" round cake. (I was going to bake them but my local bakery gave me an awesome deal for the cake, pink frosting, cake boards with doilies and cake boxes.)  I cut them in half and frosted the bottoms together and stood it on its side.  Similar to what you see on the Betty Crocker website. 

The kids frosted with pink icing and decorated with jellybeans, licorice, marshmallows (for the tail) and coconut.  I even tinted coconut green for the grass to put around the bunny.  The cakes were then put in the cake boxes.  Before the party I made cake box covers on my computer that said "Chef ---'s Bakery" with a cute clipart I found of a baker. I printed them on color paper and then glued them to the top of the cake boxes.  

Then the kids went outside and had a pancake relay with two small frying pans and round plastic container covers as pancakes.  We had more games planned that we never got to.  I think one was using a baking spoon to grab marshmallows and fill up a pan. 

We went back inside and had cake (my demo cake) and ice cream.  

When the parents arrived, their kids were in their chef hats and newly designed aprons.  They carried out their cakes with their personalized cake boxes and a spatula with a small bag of jelly beans and the recipe of what we made tied to it.  The recipe had the picture of what the bunny should like and how to bake it. 

For the thank you cards, I designed a recipe card on the computer that read "Ingredients:  15 friends and 1 very excited birthday girl, Directions:  Mix together a sweet friend named ----, an excited birthday girl, a lot of pink frosting and create a very special day.  Thanks for making my birthday special.  I really enjoy the _________ you gave me. 

The parents were thrilled the kids were not going home with the usual party favors and they even had a cake for the next day.  I heard from many parents that the kids wore their apron and hat to serve the cake on Easter.  I printed the Thank you recipe cards; a small photo of their child with their finished cake was printed in the upper left hand corner (as if it was the picture of the recipe).  The cakes really came out cute too!