30 November 2011

Boy vs Wild Party - How To's & Printables



Creepy Crawly Birthday Cake
This was so easy it's not funny. But when we brought it out all the boys went, "Ahhhhhh!" I think that was the Chocolate Flake Effect. Here's how to do it...



  1. Bake a double mixture of basic Chocolate Cake in an oblong cake pan. Then pop a chocolate swiss log cake from the supermarket on top. Mix up  a batch of thick buttercream icing. Separate into two bowls and add green food colouring to one, and cocoa powder to the other.
  2. Get your mama to help if you have a headache.
  3. Ice the bottom (oblong) level with green (grass) and the log with the brown. Apply it thick and rough so it resembles bark.
  4. Cut/break up Cadbury flake bars into lengths and stick all over the log. Mmmmm.



5. Add a little black food colouring to the leftover chocolate icing and apply at the base of the log with a piping bag, so it looks like mud. Cut snake sweets in half and have them emerging from the mud. Create a spider for the top of the log with a Ferrero Rocher RondNoir ball (body) and slivers of licorice for legs. Use leftover chocolate icing to glue legs into place.
6. Stick on some other "grub" sweets e.g. huhu grubs and flies from here
7. Have the huhu grubs emerging from the cream on the log
8. Attach some fly sweets to wire and poke them in, so they buzz around the log.
See what I mean? Easy.

Food
Boy Vs Wild food is simple and as wild as possible. Here's a few of the "wild" food ideas we used...



Jelly Worms
I don't know what happened to my worms. I think my straws were too narrow. I didn't add enough cream. Or green food colouring. I ended up with a squiggly mess and stained-red fingers from squeezing out the jelly from the straws. So I won't bother giving you my instructions, because my worms sucked. But this lady's worms turned out fab. So go visit her and find out how to do it properly. Good luck!






Damper
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
  • Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add the water slowly to form a soft dough
  • Knead the dough until it doesn’t stick to your fingers. You may need to add a little extra flour for this. The dough should be smooth and flexible
  • Separate the dough into golf ball-sized portions
  • Cover the dough and leave in a warm place for at least half an hour.
  • Roll each dough ball out into circles about 3mm high.
  • Heat a frying pan with a little oil and cook each side for about 20 seconds or until the first sign of bubbles. Sprinkle a little salt over the finished pile, for added flavour.
    {It would be even more fun cooking in a pan over a fire...}


Snake on a Stick
This was loads of fun to do as well as easy and extremely delicious.

WHAT YOU NEED
A brazier, firepit or charcoal BBQ (essential)
500g beef, cut into long thin strips
500g pork or other meat, cut into long thin strips 
Bamboo skewers




I displayed the meat in a foil dish, with signs jabbed into each type of meat: "Python" (beef) and "Rattle Snake" (pork)

Simply wind a strip of meat onto a skewer and place on the grill over a low flame. Allow several minutes to
cook on each side. Then bite into it and let the juice run down your chin. Mmmmm.



Hessian Pouches - Sweet Bags
These were so easy to make, and looked great with the printed "thank you" card attached.
I filled my pouches with sweets and chewing gum - but wrapped them in a serviette before placing them in the pouch, as the fabric tends to "shed".

YOU WILL NEED:
1 metre of hessian/sacking fabric
Brown shoelaces (e.g. from Emporium)
a dinner plate
a crayon
sharp scissors


  1. Trace around the dinner plate with a crayon onto the hessian. Cut out the circle.
  2. Thread the shoelace through the holes in the rough-woven fabric, about a centimetre from the edge
  3. Continue all the way around, threading the shoelace through the existing holes.
  4. Draw the pouch closed and Voila! A cute hessian sweet pouch.



Printables
These are all designed by me in Photoshop. You are welcome to download them and use them for your party. have fun :)


Thank You Labels
Printable "Thank You for Coming" labels... (click on the image to go to Skydrive and download it)




Water Bottle Labels
Print these labels to put on water bottles at your Boy vs Wild party. I bought a six-pack of budget water bottles, removed the sticky labels and replaced them with my own.
(click on the image to go to Skydrive and download it; it is set up on A4)






Survival Juice Labels
Print these labels to turn lemonade into Survival Juice at your Boy vs Wild party. I bought budget lemonade, removed the sticky labels and replaced them with my own.
(click on the image to go to Skydrive and download it; it is set up on A4)

Points Tally Sheet
A printable Points Tally sheet for the games we used at our Boy vs Wild Party is available to download here.
It is formatted in Excel, and is adaptable for your own party - just replace the details as needed.


Countries: For Word Hunt Game
Laminate letters and cut out. Staple a coloured feather to each letter - one colour for each word. Staple string to the back and then hide around the garden in tricky places for teams to find.
(click on the image to go to Skydrive and download it; it is set up on A4)




Party Invitation
Here is the invitation I designed for Dash and printed out on magnets. You can get it personalised on my Etsy Shop... (with your child's photo added in, your party details and party name e.g. Girl vs. Wild, Kids vs. Wild etc)


There is also a free ready-to-print version on my Kids Party invitation website, which you can simply print out and then fill in the details the old-fashioned way. With a pen.












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5 comments:

Jules said...

Wow, that cake is super easy but looks so cool. You have a great imagination!! Love the snake meat on a stick too, I could just imagine little boys would love that.

Forgot to comment on the birthday post but it looks like it was great fun! Glad the weather stayed fine for you. You're a super dooper cool Mum coming up with all those cool ideas for games, food & decorations!

Sophie said...

wow Simoney, how are you not doing this as a business????? I'm totally blown away by your creativity! Am going to forward your post link to my friend who's little boy is mad about Bear Grylls!!!

Lew said...

I stumbled across your site while doing a search for "Man vs. Wild birthday party ideas". I can't thank you enough for your wonderful description, pictures, printables, etc. I am basically going to copy your ideas and am so excited! Everything is so cute and my son is going to love it. Thank you for the time you spent putting this all together for other's benefit. I really appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

You are the world's best mum to busy mums! I am forever organising parties and searching the internet for ideas, thinkings "surely someone has done this before" so a great big THANK YOU for sharing your hard work!

Unknown said...

My son is Bear Grylls mad and his 9th birthday party simply had to be an adventurer party....imagine my relief when I came across your amazing blog and the Boy vs Wild theme! You saved me! I couldn't have improved on anything....the July weather gods were kind to us and the rain held off until the last boy had gone home. The obstacle course was a hit, the fear factor style gross food tasting went well (passion fruit pulp makes for great frog spawn!) and that cake was as easy as you said....thankyou for the wonderful ideas. We swapped out the ging making for Dutch Arrow making and the party was a hit.

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