Cars - 3 years

As my oldest son and my youngest son have their birthdays a week apart, I do cheat a little when it comes to décor! For my youngest son’s 3rd birthday, he wanted a Cars birthday. I rented basic party décor from a local party planning company and used it to “set the scene”. Using ice-cream cones, Marie biscuits and orange icing I was able to make “road cones”. We had Checkered flag biscuits on the table as well as chips, chomps and jelly “racing car” sweets to nibble. Using an upside down plastic 2 litre coke bottle, some foil and lots of imagination we were able to make two 'Piston Cups'. The invitations, colouring pages and covers for the party boxes were made using the trusty computer. After a few years of making invitations on the computer, I’ve got quite good and was able to put a picture of my son standing next to Lightening Mc Queen on the box. If you can’t do this yourself, there are companies that will do it for you. As a party favour, each child got some Cars play-dough. I bought small plastic containers from the Plastics-shop, and Cars stickers. I then made a bulk amount of red play-dough and filled the containers. I found a recipe for play dough a few years ago in the “Growing up with a Smile” book by Liz Senior & Karen Hopkins. To make your own play-dough you will need:
· 2 cups of flour
· 1 cup of salt
· 4 tablespoons cream of tartar
· 2 cups of water
· 2 tablespoons oil
· Food colouring
Mix dry ingredients, add water and oil. Mix to make a dough. Place in a saucepan on a low heat. Add two drops of food colouring. Stir until the dough pulls away from the pan. Knead to spread the colour. Store in an airtight container.

Bernadine - CAPE TOWN