Anyways, Bielet really wanted a Frozen-themed cake for her advanced birthday celebration in school so I tried to get in touch with a couple of independent bakers. Two cited copyrights (I didn't know it applied here) and another went MIA just after I confirmed my order (she later replied that she had to attend to a family member's wake but I already ordered my cake elsewhere). In desperation, I settled for Bengawan Solo and to our surprise, her classmates loved it! I don't think it was so much the Frozen picture atop, but the chocolate crunchies lining the side of the cake - Winner, with that capital W. The additional three bucks was well worth it.
The birthday girl chose a blueberry flavoured cake because it's her favourite fruit of the moment!
The girls keep fighting over the Bengawan Solo Frozen-themed cake designs pamphlet.
This was my third one, and the most intact one, I might add.
To match the cake (and dresses that the birthday girl and her sister donned, although it's not visible above), I planned Frozen-themed goodie bags. Duh, seeing that's the title of this post. (Note: This loot bag is exclusively for her classmates. So, friends, if you're seeing this after I give you goodie bags for your kids, you'll understand why I couldn't replicate the below again. Don't think my heart can take the 'stress'.)
How cute are these Olaf backpacks I got at just $1.80 each (excluding postage) from this seller on Qoo10.
Here are the contents of the loot bag!
'DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN' SNACK PACK
There are plenty of creative minds for you to pick on Etsy (just search for 'do you want to build a snowman') but to save on moolah, I went for a free printable bag topper instead. (I heart free printables!)
Testing out if a 'snowman' could be replicated before packing the snack packs. I adore the bag topper!
Mass production packs
Filled the ziploc bag ($2 for a box of 30 bags from Daiso) with marshmallows, cigar biscuits, raisins and a lemon mint. All ingredients from Daiso except the marshmallows (from Cold Storage).
I know the snowman doesn't look like Olaf, but frankly, the kids would probably just gobble the tidbits instead of building it! So I swapped the usual pretzel sticks and chocolate chips for cigar biscuits and raisins instead :)) While not the most healthy-diet person around, I try to reduce the junk that the girls consume.
MINI ACTIVITY BOOKLET
For Bieny's first birthday, I put together a circus/carnival-themed activity booklet. The noob in me pored through their books and scanned and re-printed the pages, then put a booklet together. This time, I googled for free printable activity sheets.
A sampling of what I included!
For the extra test sheets I printed, but that didn't make the cut, Bielet busied herself completing the activities anyway! (Pardon the photobombing hand of a sister and butt+tail of a dog.)
BLOWER
You know those pretty, cartoon-themed blowers? The economical alternative is, of course, to get normal blowers and decorate with your own pictures.
I got ours from Mtrade (website) but frankly, the ones I ordered were in rather derelict state. They were grubby so I wet wiped them several times, but still a few odd, black marks remained. Also had to toss one which was broken at the tip.
Got another - guess what - YES free printable. These are actually garland decos, which I downsized by printing four sheets on one A4 page.
Then taped them on each blower.
>> Get the free printable garland decos here (part of an entire kit with bag toppers, cupcake toppers/wrappers, invites, fry boxes and straw flags!) <<
SNOW GLOBE
Probably the most difficult part of the loot bag. I wanted something unique for Bielet and her friends, and I finally settled on a snow globe. There were ready made Frozen-themed snow globes online (at $7 a pop!) or blank slot-your-own-picture snow globes at Paper Mart (at the promo price of $4 each). This mama doesn't have that kid of money to splurge.
So I decided to DIY them since my friend Dy taught Bielet how to make her own last year!
Pic taken off KL's insta! This was using an IKEA glass jar.
Using that as a guide, I put together my kid-friendly snow globes. Materials I used:
1. Plastic containers (these from Daiso)
2. Confetti (stars from a stationery shop at Loyang Point, snowflakes from The Party Stuff)
The snowflake confetti took almost a week to arrive from their flagship store.
As a KS parent, I bought six packs and couldn't even finish using up one. Ugh.
4. Glycerine (from Phoon Huat) and Sealant (from a hardware store at LP)
The glycerine is to enable your globe contents to suspend / float. I used it sparingly - 1 or 2 tsp(s) per container - in my version because the bottle of glycerine I got was too small! If you intend to put heavier contents (like confetti) in your globe, consider adding more glycerine. As for the sealant, I actually purchased UHU-esque glue from Daiso but it didn't stick well, so I headed to the hardware store and got the most expensive glue off the shelf. LOL
5. Felt (bought from the same stationery shop in LP)
For a personalised touch, I drew outlines of the children's names on felt and cut them out, to be included in the globes. The original printed fonts were stapled on the backpacks so I knew which bag was for whom!
6. Frozen character rings (from Mtrade too, but the quality of these were far more superior than the blowers!)
So getting down to business!
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I wanted the globe to look nice and sparkly (and anyway, I had SO MUCH glitter) so I kind of overdosed on it. The water (normal tap water) looked golden yellow! But oh, I love how the snowflake and star confetti looked.
The lao gong on gluing duty. He glued the container directly because this glue nib was too fat for the lid.
All done!
Trying the swirl! I chose this globe picture (over the dozens I took) because you can make out the main elements: felt name, snowflake confetti and Frozen character ring.
Try as I may, the snow globe wasn't as kid-resistant as I hoped. Yes, even after multiple shakes and tests by Bielet and Bieny at home. In my excitement over the goodie bags, I asked one of Bielet's friends to open the bag in the porch after school so I could gauge her response. After Bielet demonstrated the shake, her friend took over the globe but dropped it in the process! Imagine my dismay as a ginormous crack appeared right across the base and water (and glitter) poured out from the crack.
Actually, I wasn't as appalled as you'd think. Just a little sayang but I told the girl that she could take the ring out and wear it instead! LOL And I promised her a new set of materials for her to DIY herself. I hope there weren't any more snow globe casualties from school to home?
Coincidentally, one of my church friends is the drama teacher for one of the kindy's after-school enrichment programmes and she sent me a picture of Bielet's classmate posing sweetly with the globe and Olaf backpack. So glad that the children liked it! At the very least, Bielet totally loved it. xx
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