My eldest doesn’t quite have the full grasp of holidays; I’m not sure I did at his age, either, but it’s fun listening to him work it out.

Today he was wandering through our evening muttering about holidays to himself (we’d just stopped and loaded up on candy for Hallo’ween at Super Target). “Some people celebrate Hanukkah, some people celebrate Christmas.” Trying to figure out what he remembered and was sorting with the information he’s getting at school, I asked him, “What do we celebrate?”

“Birthdays!” he cried.

So as the season of birth days and birthing days has slowed, we’re rumbling into the happy holiday season of Hallow’een (keep watching that apostrophe - it will be moving all night) through various seasonal religious and calendar holidays, I’ve got a wee bit of a break to list out some of what we’ve done and what we will be doing to celebrate and share with friends.

This year, I scored a free Melissa and Doug kitchen for the kids around birthday time. They were thrilled, and it gets a lot of use. This turned into our “school” birthday party idea - pizza party. A local pizza joint had a simple package - flat rate per kid, buy some adult pizzas and sodas, and have fun. Each child was given an apron, chef hat, and pizza kit: pre-cooked dough, sauce, and cheese. The parents helped the kids make the pizzas, and as the pizzas cooked they watched TV and made cookies (mashed balls of sugar dough and added sprinkles).

Everyone does goody bags, but like a number of my peers, I’m not a big fan of the bag full of stuff. Usually not toddler-friendly; a lot of what I could put in the recycle bin did go in there once they reached their inevitable state of pernicious destruction Other items were sent to school to go into their “treasure box”. But I came up with “Desserts by Chef You” as the theme for our take-home bag.

A simple brown kraft bag (10 cents on clearance at a craft store) with “Dessert by Chef [name]” written on each bag in marker. (Messed up bags were turned into “shopping bags” for the mini kitchen at home.) A plastic mixing spoon (1.00), a jumbo silicone baking cup (1.00), a small box of cake mix (50 cents), and a baby-food-cup of apple sauce (50 cents on sale). I also included the recipe for making mini cakes by Chef You on a small bit of craft foam (another 10 cents). Total cost: $3.25 if you include a nickel for ribbon (not including the plastic hand thing my kiddo insisted the bag include) per bag. Coincidentally, another party was held at the pizza place the same day, and each attendee got a bowl from Dollar Tree, a wooden spoon, and a dry cookie mix - also all under $5 if you include the cost of the clear basket wrapping that encased it all.

The recipe* I worked out by trial and error, based on this one:

http://www.budget101.com/Mixes/rec59.htm

Make a mini cake
Mix until smooth:

  • 1/2 cup cake mix
  • 1 heaping tablespoon apple sauce
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 egg white

    • Microwave in silicone cup (on a plate) two minutes on high. Serve when cool.

    I’ll be posting this and other recipes in a searchable archive soon. If you have any variations, suggest them, please!

    *h/t my geeky sister for the idea

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