Cookin' up some birthday fun

If you haven't noticed from other posts, I LOVE to do birthday parties.  But as they get older, it seems to get tougher.  They're not into cute-sie stuff anymore and while they do have longer attention spans, they're not quite as easily entertained.  So after perusing the internet (no, not pinterest), I came up with the coolest 9 yr old party ever, suitable for both boys and girls and with plenty of things to pass the time without mutiny.

 

Since I can't seem to figure out how to upload the invitation, it was a black/white/red recipe card that said...

Recipe for:  Cooking Birthday Party

From the Kitchen of:  Chef Corbin

Ingredients: 1 cup friendship, 2 cups happiness, 3 cups fun, a pinch of laughter and 9 birthday candles.

Directions:  Mix ingredients together at Corbin’s Café, located at 1087 West 400 South, on Saturday, April 21.  Put in oven at 11am.  Should be cooked by 1pm. 

Call manager Mindy Jensen for reservations (801-380-9973)

When they arrived, they decorated their aprons and got their chef hats.

 

 

Then we played a game called "Oh, Waiter!".  It's a relay.  Boys vs girls, of course.

 

Step 1: Pour water from pitcher into glass (which is plastic).

Step 2: Carry it carefully on your tray all the way around the chair and back.

  

Step 3: With whatever water is left, fill the hurricane glass (which IS glass).  First team with theirs full, wins.

 

 Now it's time to cook!  Each chef got to prepare their own mini lasagna however they wanted...

 

Choice of Ingredients:  Rigatoni or lasagna noodles, italian sausage or gr. beef, mozzarella, parmesan and sauce, of course.  Most of the kids just piled a little bit of everything and most of them actually ate it!

 

While that was cooking . . .  it was time for our Super Chef Cookie Bake-Off. 

Two teams, recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and all the ingredients you need.  Ready, Set, Go!

 

 

I'm not sure if we were going for the fastest or the best tasting, but it turned out to be a good little baking experiment since one team followed the recipe exactly and one team decided just to throw all the ingredients in and mix.  Either way, it was fun and they all loved sampling the cookie dough and taking some home.

 

Then, while we waited for the lasagnas to cool, we made fruit kabobs to round out our meal...

 

And finally . . . Bon Appetite!

 

 

 

But it's not over yet!  Time for presents, to the tune of . . .

 Yep, that's right.  It may sound silly, but it is the tactic I use at every kids b-day party - no matter the age.  They pass the potato (or ball or whatever) and when the music stops and it lands on them, they get to sit by Corbin and give him their present.  It keeps it from becoming mass chaos where no one can see what he got, he doesn't know who its from and Mom can't see a thing.  Works like a charm.

 

But wait!  Before everyone leaves - don't forget cake and ice cream! As chefs, they had to decorate their own, of course, and what's better than leftover Easter candy?!

 

 

Best Little Chefs Ever!

Thanks to everyone who came and participated! It was so much fun!