Kids Party on a Budget

So July is a birthday month for 2 of my girls (5 days apart) and this year, after getting away with limited parties for nearly 9 years, I decided it was time to do one at home for a group of friends.  My daughter was turning 8 so it was all things Frozen.  I wanted to decorate without breaking the bank and have things for the kids to do rather than just playing for 2 hours.  So here's a few of my things which were easy do and thanks to Dealz cost very little.

Craft table - get some blanks (in this case card fairies, socks, crowns) and some bling (feather boa cut in pieces, pipe cleaners, pom poms, stickers, wiggly eyes) and just let the kids loose with their imaginations.

Kids love this sort of thing and it doesn't need to be complicated, come with instructions or expensive.

I had planned on making Olaf with the socks but the kids just did their own things.

Decorating doesn't need to break the bank either.  I had lots of banners up.  Then made tissue paper globe thingys.  I also strung cotton wool balls on clear string for 'snow' and painted some branches with silver glitter paint for the forest going up North mountain.

I think they all liked it.  The only problem I faced was each ball had to be hot glued onto the string cause they kept slipping down.

And of course the most important part of any party is the food.  The proper food went down a storm - sausage rolls, chicken nuggets and cocktail sausages.  I also had crisps, sweets and buns.

These ones are my high heels.  So easy to do and again don't have to break the bank.  Simple cupcake with buttercream icing.  The 'sole' is a lotus biscuit (like the ones you get with your coffee in the shops) which  you can get in Dealz.  The 'heel' is a wafer biscuit which though I had seen loads of times before found difficult to get this time but you can get them, otherwise try using chocolate fingers.  They are simply stuck on with some buttercream.  Then decorate the top as you like.

 Now the cake is a different story.  I don't normally make these kind I usually just make it simple but I said I'd do something special this year.  It's basically a 3 tier chocolate rice krispie cake.  The topper is printed wafer paper from Sweet Creations which I stuck on with chocolate and because it was wafer paper it stood up perfectly.  The blue 'snow' is just roll out icing available from Sweet Creations, as are the white snowflakes.

I also had chocolate snowflakes which were tasty but too big, I sprinkled them with blue sugar.  The 'trees' I had fun with though.  They are ice cream cones piped with green buttercream.  Then I just kept them in the fridge until last thing so they wouldn't slide :)  I just thought they were super cool.

Needless to say this went down a treat and my daughter loved it ... she's already planning next years one.

Now I've to go and do another cake for my youngest :) I'll post you a pic when I have it finished.  I hope you like this, if you have any questions or comments please do ask and share xx

Sweet & Sour Turkey - Slimming World Style

Last May I joined Slimming World, for anyone outside the UK / Ireland this is like a Weight Watchers type thing where you follow food guidelines to lose weight and there is a weekly weigh in and group meeting.  They don't call it a diet, it's a way of life because it's aim is not only to get you to lose weight but to eat healthier in general.  This is one of their recipes.  Now when I'm cooking main meals (anything except baking) I use the recipe more as a guideline rather than something to be strictly adhered to - this method hasn't failed me yet.  

When I made this it wasn't hugely saucy so if you like a lot of sauce just up the second addition of ingredients by half.  Also I've used turkey here but it obviously goes well with chicken or pork too.  We just eat a lot of chicken so I wanted to change it a bit.

NOTE: if you are watching what you eat and try turkey remember that pre-packed turkey mince is not low in fat.  I think I read it's about 15% fat!!!!  So buy the sliced breast or breast piece or diced turkey and chop it up finely yourself if you need mince.

First of all dice up approx 500g Turkey.  Add to a bowl with a sliced onion and 2 gloves of garlic.  Stir in 3 tbsp soy sauce and leave to sit for about 30 minutes (I just left mine to sit while I got everything else ready and put the rice on).

In a separate bowl measure in 100ml passata, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sweetener, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp paprika and 1/2 tsp chinese five spice.

In a wok / frying pan / saucepan heat some 1cal spray oil.  Add the turkey mixture and cook through.  Once cooked add the sauce ingredients and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.  Serve with rice or noodles (totally syn free for SW people) (totally delish either way).

I hope you enjoy making this and it goes down as well with you as it does in my house.  Though next time I'll think I double the ingredients and go for seconds :) xx