Celebrating 40–’70′s Style

The summer of 2010 was a milestone for my husband and me; we both turned 40 years old.  Rather than wear ourselves out blowing up black balloons we decided to hold a fun-filled, nostalgic celebration with friends and family.  We asked everyone to dress in a costume reminiscent of the 1970’s, 80’s or 90’s, and we were thrilled when most of our guests complied with hilarious get-ups and hairdo’s.

Our menu was inspired by our own childhood favorites from the 70’s:  cheese fondue, Ritz crackers with Easy Cheese and a Budding ham cheese ball, Ruffles potato chips with Lipton sour cream and onion dip, pigs in a blanket, mini pizzas on English muffins, deviled eggs, cocktail meatballs, and vegetables with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.  We served Tang and RC Cola to wash it down, and dessert was a large sheet cake adorned  with peace signs and yellow happy face symbols.

For entertainment we divided men and women into two teams and played a simplified version of 1980s Trivial Pursuit, using questions my husband had carefully chosen ahead of time for a humorous blast-from-the-past.  We also “roasted” ourselves by interspersing several little-known questions about our past with funny multiple-choice answers among the other questions.  Everyone had a great time and learned more about us through questions relating to our childhood, teenage years, dating relationship, family lore and little known weird trivia.

Whenever someone answered a question correctly they won a  prize reminiscent of the era, such as a carton of Jiffy Pop, a Chef Boy R Dee Pizza mix, a Whatchamacallit candy bar, or a package of Pop Rocks.  Favorite prizes included a Richard Simmons VHS tape, old record albums, and favorite childhood books such as Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries.

Ice Cream Bombe

I love making ice cream cakes in the summer.  My family loves eating them so much that they now ask for them all year long, as it has become their preferred birthday cake.  And it couldn’t be easier to put one together!  Don’t be alarmed by the fact that there are several steps; each step takes just a minute or two and the results are well worth it!

Ingredients and supplies:

3 flavors of ice cream

Prepared cake (optional)

Saran wrap

Prep Time:  Hands On: 20 minutes  Freeze Time: 3 hours

• Start by setting one carton of ice cream out to soften for about 20 minutes.  You will want to choose either the flavor you want the most of, or the color of ice cream which will be visible on the outside of the cake.
• While the ice cream softens, place a large rounded mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.  A glass or ceramic bowl will work much better than a plastic one.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the freezer and line the bowl with saran wrap.  You may need more than one sheet if it is a large bowl; it is fine to overlap the sheets.
• Scoop out the ice cream into a stand mixer with the paddle blade attached and beat until the ice cream is smooth and spreadable, about 2 minutes.

• Using a rubber spatula, spread the ice cream into the prepared bowl, leaving an indentation in the middle and spreading the ice cream up the sides of the bowl.

• Put the bowl in the freezer for an hour or until the ice cream is firm.
• Repeat the steps with the second flavor of ice cream; unless your bowl is extremely large, you won’t need an entire carton for flavor # 2.
• Once the second layer has become firm, repeat once more with flavor #3.  You’ll use the least amount of this ice cream.  Make sure to completely fill the indentation in the middle of the ice cream bombe, taking care to smooth off the bottom so that it will sit flat.  Return it to the freezer once more for the final freeze.

• Some members of my family prefer to have a cake layer on the bottom of the ice cream bombe.  I usually bake up 1/3 of a cake mix in an 8” round pan (using the rest of the mix for cupcakes) and press the cooled layer onto the bottom of the bombe.  Freeze again to bond the cake layer to the ice cream.  Another option is to purchase angel food or sponge cake and press pieces of that onto the bottom layer.  Other times we don’t add a cake layer at all, and just enjoy the full flavor of the ice cream.

• To unmold the cake, tip it upside down onto a platter.  Wet a dish towel under hot water and wring it out; then place it on top of the bowl.  Repeat until the cake begins to loosen enough to slide out of the bowl.  Remove the saran wrap and serve as is, or embellish with cool whip.

Flavor options:

When the ice cream bombe is tipped out of the bowl it looks like a half circle.  One of our favorite summer ice cream bombes calls for lime sherbet for the outer layer, a thin layer of vanilla ice cream in the middle, and strawberry sorbet for the inner layer.  We crush up chocolate wafer cookies and mix them into the strawberry sorbet layer before putting it in the mold.  When this bombe is cut, it looks like sliced watermelon!

Another fun bombe uses any red ice cream or sorbet for the outside layer; decorate with chocolate wafer cookies to simulate a lady bug.  Use a cupcake for the head and thin black licorice for antennae.

My most requested ice cream bombe is Black Forest Cherry Bombe.  We use chocolate chip cherry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream, and a layer of German chocolate cake for the base.  Once the finished cake is tipped out onto a platter I cover it with cool whip and dot the cake with canned sour cherries which have been drained and patted dry.

Links for 01.21.10

Birthday Freebies and Deals…now who in their right mind would pass up free ice cream?

Project Girl pretty menu planning forms to print–for free!

SpellingCity is a free site that allows kids to enter their spelling list and it will test, teach, or play games using the list. Great for daily practice leading up to a test!

Make Your Own Gift Card Holders

Is the teen on your list requesting more than one gift card? Create a gift card holder. Creative Memories offers a product called the Photo Sharing Card that is perfect with a few embellishments. Or create your own custom design with card stock, some plastic photo sleeves, colored paper, and stickers.

Crazy Dinner-by-the-Numbers Party

Loi Palmer
Here’s a fun way to host a dinner party for teens

or adults. First choose your menu and number each item to be served. Keep this list in the kitchen to use later–do not show guests this list or tell them what is on the menu.

You will be serving three courses with four items each time. At the dinner table have a dinner order form (see below for printable forms) and pen waiting for each guest. Ask them to write their names on the paper. Have guests to write in number 1-12 on each blank line, any order they would prefer.

Now the fun, take their number list and prepare their plates of  food accordingly. Serve courses on paper plates and at the end of each course completely clear the table. This includes the silverware. Do have plenty of napkins on the table because at some point in the meal they will be eating with their hands.

Guests will have a blast. It is fun to bring out all the plates at once, everyone enjoys seeing what combination each person has selected. You will need at least two helpers int he kitchen to pull this off.

Happy Birthday, Jesus Party

Carolyn Mayo

Since the boys were little, we have had a Happy Birthday, Jesus party with neighborhood children. The party and games change as the kids get older. This party can also be taken to schools–even public school–because it is our family tradition. It is a great way to share your faith in a light-hearted and fun way.

Just like any birthday party, the main attractions are games and food. For the food, I make baby Jesus cupcakes. To create, make a batch of white cupcakes with white icing. To make the baby Jesus in the manger, use graham crackers, white tub icing, Kix cereal, and shredded wheat. Cut a quarter of a graham cracker with a point so that you can easily insert it into the cupcake. Two of these quarters make the manger. Crumble some shredded wheat for the hay. Squirt a long baby-shaped blob of white icing for the baby. Use a Kix cereal for the head. The baby should look swaddled. That’s it.  Baby Jesus cupcakes!

For a game, play Put Baby Jesus in the Manger–fashioned after Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

For a craft project , make construction paper crowns and decorate them like crowns the wise men would have worn.

Tell the Christmas story using a kid-friendly nativity scene. As the kids get older, let them act out the story. Use robes and towels for costumes. The skit can be written on index cards for the kids to read aloud. Kids love skits. Remember to video their performance.

Send the kids off with an age-appropriate reminder that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Include an invitation to the Christmas Eve service at your church.

Celebrating Jesus’ Birthday

Kari Decker

For our Happy Birthday, Jesus party each of my kids invited three friends. The invitation explained everything we would be doing. I said in the invitation this would be a party for Jesus and mentioned what we can do for Jesus:

We can give Him our time. We all helped a handicapped woman decorate her home for Christmas. She is very laid-back and did not care that the kids’ decorations were not perfect.

We can give Him our money. I asked that everyone bring a gift that matched their age and gender. I took a picture of each child holding his or her wrapped gift and attached it to the present. The gifts were shipped to South Africa to a friend there who gave the gifts to needy children. She told the children they were from Jesus. She said the kids were amazed that Jesus cared about them so much!

We can give Jesus our love. We delivered plates of goodies to people who had lost loved ones over the past year. We made cards up previously that said we were thinking of them during their first holiday season without their loved one and were praying for them. All the kids signed the cards. I also asked the children for suggestions of people who needed the cards. Many of the recipients were non-Christians. It was a wonderful witnessing tool. One neighbor called in tears to thank me for such a thoughtful gift.

We ended the party with pizza, birthday cake, and a movie. The kids all had a ball. And, I think it made an impression on my children about what Christmas means.

Mall Scavenger Hunt

Loi Palmer
A fun party for teens is a mall scavenger hunt. To avoid any problems, contact mall security one week in advance to clear your activity. Some malls will not allow pictures to be taken inside the mall unless it has been put on the security schedule. Plan for the scavenger hunt to take about an hour.

When we did this party, we mixed the groups of boys and girls with approximately six in each group. Each group was given a digital camera and a cell phone along with a scavenger hunt list. We stressed to them that there was to be absolutely no running in the mall. Teens were also instructed to explain to a clerk upon entering each store what they were doing. Most clerks loved the scavenger hunt and were more than willing to assist in taking pictures and participating.

Before heading to the mall, everyone enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at our home. This kept cost low as feeding twelve teenagers at the mall could become costly. When we returned home, while eating cake and opening presents, everyone enjoyed viewing the pictures. Prizes were given out to the team with the most points.