22493

Little House On The Prairie -8yr- Quilt Cake

February 2011

Janelle in Richland, WA, USA

Runner Up

This party was so much fun to plan and probably my most favorite I've participated in. 

For Invitations, I started off with my 8 year old daughter drawing a side profile of a bonnet.  We made a cardboard version of it and then traced  it on red and white checkered paper to tie along with the old-fashioned theme.  I folded the paper in half, blank side on the outside.  We traced it along the fold so we could leave a one inch section still connected on the top left of the bonnet so so it could open like a card. I drew one single curved line with a Sharpie and some dots on both side for the stiches" The showed the break between the head-part and the visor part.

On the inside the words were pasted: Little House on Nottingham Prairie Come have an Old-Fashioned good time At Ellie's 8th birthday party!(Nottingham is our street address)The party was from 2-5. (I used every minute.) I wrote all the facts and also included was "Wear: Your favorite twirling skirt or dress" (see explanation) On the left of the card I had another pasted paper that explained a few things. Here's what I said  1. One of our activities will be a Twirling Fest.  Please wear your favorite twirling skirt or dress with bloomers under since we will take twirl photos and we will go outside for other activities (weather permitting).  2. Along with your skirt please come  lookin like prairie girls. 

Some ideas are:  hair in braids a bun or in ringlets (Nellie's hair) an apron a cowboy  hat or bonnet a shawl anything plaid or  flowered and/or boots.(Let me know  if you need to borrow a skirt.) 3.At around 4:00 PM we will watch one of Ellie's favorite Little House episodes with a yummy treat.   At the end of it all I wrote "Hope you can giddy-up on over!" Then I hole-punched the bottom papers where a bonnet ties and tied some ribbon in a knot or a bow.

Decorations: I found red and white checkered material at Joanns and used a great coupon for extra discount.  I got at least 8 yards. I used the material for a table cloth push-pinned swags on the walls with a tie in the middle. I got out all the baskets in my house that I could find. All the snacks were in some sort of a basket. I got red streamers and used poster putty to connect it to the wall.  I connected one end to our ceiling fan and swaged it out to give the affect of a canopy tent.  I printed off "Wanted Posters." For example: Wanted!!(Then her name in big letters) You may find her on the soccer field or at a desk drawing. Crime: Grew up too fast. Someone needs to stop her! Holler at the sheriff if you come across her. Reward! Then I found photos of her as a little girl and taped them on each one. Each poster told something different about her. If the kids read them there's a prize at the end of the party if they could answer one question about her that was on the poster.

Outside I borrowed a bale of hay and I had an old rocking horse with a balloon.  I also had an old-fashioned baby buggy on display with doll wrapped up in a knitted blanket. I went to the library and checked out all the "Little House" hard-cover books I could and placed them around the house and on the table as center pieces. I also checked out a fiddle CD for the twirling. I made sure the fire place was on  during the party too. Costumes: I wore a bonnet a brown long-sleeved shirt a knitted shawl (old-fashioned colors) a twirling long skirt an flowered apron and boots. My husband wore his western wear. We both had bandannas that said "Caroline" and "Charles".

Activites: When the first arrived they were to tie on a bandanna around their neck (appropriate for boys too) or around their head. Each bandanna had their name puffy painted (the night before)for their name tag. At the bottom of their name there was a small number. Two girls had the same number for a later game. We didn't need to do this but if there is down time waiting for the kids to arrive you could have games of jacks going on the floor or jump rope outside. 

Our first game was "Western Wear relay": each team had the same items of adult-sized clothes to put on. I had: boots western shirt shawl bonnet/cowboy hat and a broom (that was their horse). One person had to put it all on (kids could help) and hold their horse and run to a certain point and back and take it all off for the next girl. ( I never laughed so hard!)

Game 2: Three-legged race. I used duct tape to wrap the ankles. The girls had pants or tites on for our party but you could also use strips of material or long socks. Their partners were whoever had the same number on their bandanna.

Game 3: Gunnysack Race

Activity 4: was insidethe "Twirling Fest." We did it infront of our fireplace and under the "canopy." Idea we did not get to: Cut the streamers about 3 feet down from the ceiling fan and allow the streamers to twirl with the fan on   If you don't have one just keep the canopy affect. The twirling was a hit! We had parents and kids stand in a circle. I called out numbers and using the same numbers on their bandannas those kids would step inside the circle and twirl.(If you have boys which we did have one he twirled a handkerchief or his cowboy hat around in circles.) Our song was a medly of three songs which was enough. Sometimes we called out two numbers and at the end we called out all numbers. During this whole activity whoever was not twirling was clapping and stomping to the beat of the music esp. the parent helpers.

Activity 5: Homemade vanilla ice cream: Perfect activity because they were tired and for this they got to just sit and hold their ice cream baggy open for the ingredients. Recipe: 6T (full fat) halfnhalf 2T whole milk 1T sugar 1t vanilla all in a sandwich ziploc seal it well. Fill a half of gallon zip loc with ice and about 1/4 cup rock salt. The kids shake the bag continuously for 5 minutes. An adult rinses the small bag from the salt and the kids eat from the bag.

Right after we did the cake. I made a "quilt" cake. 9x13 cake and with a gel frosting pen I made a grid and each square had different colored sprinkles like a quilt. I used the brown long sprinkles for the little stitches. I used my needle nose plyers to place each one on. (I had the time.)Their plates and spoons were silver paper ware to look like pewter of that time. After we ate we opened presents. Then we watched a "Little House" episode called "Town party Country party" season 1. Laura was about 8 years old the same age as my daughter and it was about a birthday party. During the show I served carmel corn in baskets which is true to the time period. (Karo syrup is very old.) At the end we asked a few thoughtful questions about the show and asked the "Wanted Poster" question for a prize.

Favors: History of these candies lemon drops  mid-1800s Juicy Fruit:  1893 Peppermint Chiclets: 1906  Candy Corn:  1898 Jelly Beans: 1898 Lollipop:  1785 Taffy: 1840s Licorice: Licorice Root is one of those herbs that has been around since ancient times. I got all this info from the internet. I copied and pasted and printed out a paper telling them of the history with all these candies sampled in their bag. I found everything at Walmart or the Dollar store. I also went to Michaels and found mini woven baskets in their dollar section. I had a coupon for 20% off entire purchase so they were .80 each. I bagged the candies and the info paper and put it all in the basket. Prizes for the Western wear relay team were jump ropes (Dollar store) I also found 2 little porcelain old-time bears (Dollar store) for the 3-legged race winners. And bag of lemon drops for the Wanted poster winner. All the kids really had fun.  The parents especially enjoyed watching and participating. I think it will be a fun memory we will have.      "

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