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Focus On Cooking and Fun Will Follow

Without cake (and ice cream), you haven't really had a birthday party. So, we say,
Focus on the cake and the fun will follow. Making a cake in your own kitchen, with the
Birthday boy or girl, is an experience to remember for the child and the adult baker. It's a
Great family tradition to start. For help visit for more details you can login to www.camping-outdoors-recipes.com. But you're too busy to bake a cake. You don't bake anymore. You don't know how to
Bake. You're afraid the cake will flop. Relax. We have a recipe that is as easy as a mix and
Tastes a lot better. (I promise: You measure the ingredients into the bowl of an electric
Mixer and turn it on. Then you put it in a pan and bake it. That's all. It is delicious.) We
Have a foolproof, no-cook frosting.

We have ideas for decorating that a child could do, and we've tested them with a
Preschooler. This makes a homemade birthday cake possible even for kitchen klutzes.
And you will be a hero to your kid. It's a great feeling.

For more adventurous bakers, we have a light-as-air, old fashioned fudge cake with a
Rich fudge icing. (This, I confess, was my birthday cake of choice as a child, and the recipe
Is from my mother.)

While cake and ice cream are the high points of a kid's birthday bash, we're not
Without other notions for easy ways to feed young party-goers.

We confess that most of these ideas are best suited to smallish gatherings, which we
Much prefer to the mega-parties that seem to be the rage these days. If you are having
the entire kindergarten or Sunday school class or neighborhood or all of the above, we
Say: Have your party at the park, order pizza to be delivered and spring for the cake from
The store.

But if your style, like ours, runs to a small bunch of friends, close family and the like,
You’ll find plenty of ideas that work.

Here's our primer on parties:

Isn't the worst moment of a kid's party when you stand there, frantically trying to dig?
Ice cream out of the carton? Do this instead: Scoop the ice cream in advance, making
Nice big balls. Roll them in coconut, chopped nuts, crunchy cereal or sprinkles, then set
On a wax paper-lined baking sheet or in paper baking liners. Freeze until firm, then
Wrap in lots of plastic wrap. At party time, you're ready.

If you're using cones to serve, put a marshmallow or banana slice in the bottom of
The pointy-ended ones to prevent leaks.

To nobody's surprise, pizza is often the food of choice for kids' parties. You can order
It (the chains will deliver to a park if the party's not at your house), but making it can be
A fun activity to build the party around. You can buy the dough from a neighborhood
Pizzeria or Italian market or buy pizza shells at the supermarket. You can make the
Sauce or use bottled for more details you can login to www.apples-recipes.com. You can let the kids grate the cheese, or you do it in advance. Have an assortment of toppings -- pepperoni, cooked ground beef, veggies -- and let the kids help assemble the pizzas. Then you bake them -- pizza takes about 10 minutes at 500
Degrees. You could also start with frozen mini-pizzas and let each child have his or her
Own.

Offer juice, lemonade, water and/or milk as well as soft drinks so that children have
A choice. Mix orange sherbet and ginger ale for a fizzy, creamy treat that kids like. Or
Offer jazzy, fizzy treats by mixing white grape juice with seltzer and crushed ice. (The
purple juice makes stains and the other parents will remember you with loathing every
Time they do the laundry.)

We found this great and easy idea in ``The Penny Whistle Birthday Party Book.''
Bake your favorite cake in a 9- by 13-inch pan and cool it. To decorate, make or buy
White frosting and frost the sides of the cake white. Tint the remaining frosting blue,
and frost the top. This is the water. Use a piece of graham cracker for the diving board
and use different colored Life Saver candies as float rings. If you're into miniatures, you
Could add some palm trees, little people or a ladder. This cake was a huge hit with a
Certain 4 1/2-year-old when we made it. It's fun to put together. It's another ``Penny
Whistle'' discovery.