Hosting a Craft Party with Baker Ross

We received a brilliant delivery from Baker Ross this week and so we organised a crafting party for Freddy and his cousins to try their hand at some fabulously arty activities.  I love Baker Ross's craft kits. They are excellent quality products that create great end results that the kids can be proud of.

I covered the dining room table in an old plastic tablecloth and laid out the craft sets along with some extra paints, glue, paint brushes and scissors. The kids tried their hand at decorating their own rainbow fish, making mermaid bookmarks, painting garden gnomes, making scratch art monster fridge magnets and decorating little Superhero themed gift bags that we filled with chocolate coins for them to take home along with all the other things they made.

Crafting is great for children. Not only does it fire their creativity, it also helps develop their concentration, their dexterity, their hand eye co-ordination and their ability to follow instructions. The children have lots of fun as they involve themselves in some constructive activities, which teach them lots of new skills.

We received the following sets:

Ceramic Gnomes
£4.96 for 4

Decorate with acrylic paints or ceramic paint pens and personalise with a name. These gnomes are suitable for inside and outdoors and look really cute with their pointed hats and big boots.

The children really went freestyle on their colourful designs and enjoyed getting messy with paint. Freddy used googly eyes on his gnome, and later when it was dry, he wrote his name on the plaque with a Sharpie Marker.

Polystyrene Fish
£2.49 for 6

Decorate your own colourful fish with Deco Pens, sequins and glitter. This activity goes perfectly with a reading of the story of the Rainbow Fish. Children will love to re-enact the story of the Rainbow Fish with their own multi-coloured fish.

Their is some lovely detail on the fish with its scales, fins, tail, mouth and eyes. The polystyrene is very solid with a close weave so it didn't have that cringey feeling that you get with the polystyrene used for packaging. The fish could be suspended on strings to make a lovely mobile or underwater diorama.

Mermaid Weaving Bookmarks
£3.49 for 4

Foam shapes, self-adhesive foam decorations, coloured ribbon and googly eyes are included in each individual kit, to create a colourful mermaid with a woven tail. This is a lovely activity and the finished bookmarks look really pretty.

I really appreciated the fact that the things needed for each mermaid came in its own individual, sealed bag.  This means you don't need to sort through lots of stuff beforehand. You get spare eyes in each pack too, so you don't need to panic if you lose one! Weaving with ribbons is a bit fiddly, but with a little help, everyone did a great job.

Tropical Fish Cushion Sewing Kit
£2.99 for 2

With pre-punched felt pieces, self-adhesive felt shapes, yarn, plastic needle and stuffing, children can create their very own Blue Tang and Clown Fish (aka Dory and Nemo!)  It's a great introduction to sewing for children aged 5+.

Monster Scratch Art Fridge Magnets
£2.99 for 10

This is a fantastic activity comprising of 2 each of five designs of scratch art monster shapes along with scratch tools and adhesive magnets. As the top surface is scratched away it reveals rainbow colours, creating some cool designs. Once the design is completed, the magnet can be stuck on the back.

This was a lovely activity that gave some great results. Everybody enjoyed scraping away the top surface to reveal the colours underneath.  It was very easy and very satisfying to do, using the tools provided.

Super Hero Foam Stickers
£2.99 for 120

With 30 assorted designs including girl and boy superheroes, city skylines and 'Wham' and 'Pow' emblems, these self adhesive foam stickers are great fun.  We used them to decorate gift bags, but they are perfect for all kinds of activities.

It was lovely to see both male and female superheroes in the designs. It kept everyone happy!  The foam stickers really are great value and would be really useful for hosting a Superhero birthday party, for decorating party bags, invites, decorations etc.

Coloured Sequins
£2.99 per jar

These colourful sequins can be stuck or pinned to add colour and sparkle to lots of different crafts, such as collages or card making. We used them on our Rainbow Fish, sticking them with a dab of Baker Ross PVA glue.

You get a lot of multi-colured sequins in this 90g jar, each colour bagged up individually. It's a great value product for keeping in the craft box.

Hosting a craft party is a great alternative to a traditional birthday party. Children are kept entertained and engaged as they take part in the set activities and get to take home all the goodies that they create. The Baker Ross products are ideal for this. They are super value and the quality and designs are excellent. There are so many different themes available you could easily base a party around a single theme such as animals, flowers, sports or under the sea, or just pick a selection of products from the range.

I like that they are so well thought out, without being overly ambitious or too complicated. The sets give the children an activity that they can add their own creative spin to, whilst still being structured enough to give a good, consistent end result.

Freddy loved doing all the different crafts and was very proud of the things he had made!

www.bakerross.co.uk

A Superhero Birthday Party

Freddy is four years old tomorrow.  My baby boy is growing up fast!  To celebrate, we had a family party yesterday with a Superhero theme. Superheroes are one of Freddy's favourite things and he can regularly be seen wearing his Superman cape and zapping baddies with his powers. We were blessed with glorious sunshine that made a most welcome appearance and Andy Murray was kind enough to add to our entertainment by winning Wimbledon, but my own little superhero Freddy was the star of the show!

We had a lovely day with a veggie barbecue cooked up by Superdad Ian, served with an assortment of salads and plenty of cakes including my Captain America birthday cake.  I had been torturing myself by looking at the most amazing birthday cakes on Pinterest featuring the Avengers, but I put my feelings of inadequacy aside and designed something that was within my capabilities.  I created a three tiered cake with red, yellow and blue layers and decorated it using frosting and ready made coloured sugar paste. Seeing Freddy's face as he saw his cake (finished off with an impressive giant sparkler) made all my hard work worthwhile!

Ian and his sister made a pinata using a lidded box which had been filled with goodies, taped up,  then decorated using tissue paper and some printed Superman logos.  It was a big "hit"!!  Freddy and his cousin Addy took turns in beating it with sticks until they managed to get to the sweets inside.

We had photo booth props that were a lot of fun and provided a lot of photo opportunities!

The little ones had loads of fun and particularly loved all the bubble making toys that we had. Freddy received a giant bubble making set from his Auntie Paula and the kids made some huge bubbles!  They also made their own superhero eye masks and tested out their super skills bouncing on the trampoline.

We really had a great day which Freddy absolutely loved.  We rounded off the day with a 3D viewing of Wreck It Ralph which was a present from his Nanny Margaret and he played with his new garage and cars that he received from his Auntie Debbie and his Nanny and Grandad from the Isle of Man.

Freddy had a superb day and the Superhero theme worked really well.  It was fun to make bowls of Kryponite (lime jelly), Superhero Swords (grape kebabs), Power Up Pills (M & M's) and jugs of Superhero Juice.  I decorated the gazebo with balloons, an inflatable bat, an Iron Man mask (Freddy's present from Ella's friend Jake) and other themed accessories to make our own Superhero Hide Out.  We did some pavement art on the patio to make some Super Freddy symbols and strung bunting on the fence.

I may not be able to make the world's most amazing seven tier avengers cake...but I know how to throw my little lad a party that he absolutely loved!!!