Themed Cake Ideas -- HELP

is the scavenger hunt thing still happening?

if so, maybe something sort of Harriet-the-Spyish could work - magnifying glass, notebook, flashlight

not as detailed as the original




but the sneakers are so awesome

this shows a cool use of a magnifying glass theme on a cake

http://thepartycakebyandrea.blogspot.com/2010/05/spy-cake.html#!/2010/05/spy-cake.html

something like this modified with a clue list instead of a spy book






I still love Harriet the best because of the sneakers

That's promising!

The scavenger hunt is still happening. It's still photo-based rather than thing-based but the clues/ directions + camera + flashlight (it's happening after dark) could totally work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56336475@N08/5371045188/


dig this one ( I still like Harriet better)

http://erinscustomcakes.blogspot.com/2011/11/mall-scavenger-hunt.html

another direction

http://simplysweetsaz.blogspot.com/2010/09/cupcakes-for-40th-birthday-scavenger.html

I love the little dotted lines! That's a great idea. I have no knowledge of where they're going unfortunately (Kay's big sis + her friends are in charge of that part, and probably aren't reachable before order deadline) but can maybe make it abstract.

themed v literal gives you room to do some things kind of scavenger/investigator/spy-related in other components of the party

I quite liked this one



http://voices.yahoo.com/how-plan-spy-theme-birthday-party-kids-630736.html

Oh that's cute!

The party is tomorrow evening and I'm already in high scramble mode so I probably can't do too much of that sort of thing, but I do like that idea.

High scramble mode: Kay and sozlet came up with this idea in September. I gave them a deadline for getting a go-ahead from Kay's mom that was late October, with an expectation of having the party late November or early December.

The day of the deadline, at which point I had started to get used to the idea that this was probably not going to happen, Kay says that her mom said yes and will be emailing me to finalize/ figure out details. Oh OK, great! (That's when I opened the scavenger hunt thread here and started planning.)

I wait a week for the promised email, nothing. So I send an email to Kay's mom instead. Nothing. Nothing continues for QUITE a while, and I start to research alternate arrangements, since it seems like this isn't going to happen.

November 7th I get a bright "So sorry for the delay! Let's get going on this!" email. Well, that's a bit of a surprise, but sure. Then there are various back-and-forths re: when to have it. First she offers the scavenger-hunt-leading services of Kay's older sis and her friends, who are pros (great!). Then she keeps pulling the rug out of various possible dates because sis and friends aren't available then. Plus Kay's mom feels strongly that if we push it to December we will have lousy weather. (In Columbus, the chance of lousy weather started about a month ago and from there it's a crapshoot. Might be great, might be lousy, who knows.)

We settle on the 16th as the best time (aka I capitulate as I just want to settle SOMETHING and get moving), after a bunch of back-and-forths that culminate on the 11th. As in, five days' advance notice. Gah, a lot more, but you get the picture. It's been a mess, really, but a fair amount is getting done, and miraculously enough only one of the invitees couldn't make it.

Oh and she also nixed the mall idea, which removes weather from the equation, because she didn't want kids running around there. Even with chaperones.

Anyway, back to cakes -- I'm talking with a (very nice!) person at Piece of Cake, looks like we're going towards something with the dotted lines + local landmarks + maybe a camera/ phone.

Thanks Beth, very helpful!

good grief to the back and forth and Yay! on the party happening

I like that dotted lines concept

(if you have time to hit a $1 store or Target you could probably grab some cheap cheap themed stuff for quick decorating/loot)

ohhh

thought of the party last week

I was waiting for the streetcar home when I was approached by team of adult, out-of-town, suit-type scavengers looking for a used subway transfer .... dug around in my knapsack ... found one ... handed it over ... they dashed away

Ninja cake:

ooooooh that looks like my favourite - zebra cake - on the inside

Good grief indeed! And there's so much more... started to type but it makes me tired just thinking about it and need to focus on all the stuff that needs to get done yet!

Yep, took the girls to exactly that (Target and the dollar store) yesterday, I also did a round of orders on Amazon on Tuesday morning (should be arriving today) that they approved, have some nifty goody bags + contents, and a giant bag of balloons.

Oh cool!

DrewDad, we saw that same picture, and thought about it! So funny.

OK that was a well-earned red ribbon! I couldn't get ahold of sozlet (she's at a thing), Kay loves the map/ dotted line idea, the Piece of Cake people were awesome about it, I think it will be really cool!

Soz, I say this in jest and love, that you remind me of Mrs. Hennessy, a major woman in my life. Very sharp, very sharp!, the mentor of the place that made me normalish, an Evanston neighborhood. I've kept in touch off and on with my early friends, her daughters, but frankly they mean more to me than me to them - and that's not disparaging, just true. I was the 'only child' with little experience at playing at all, and they brought me into that.

I sometimes roll my eyes re all this stuff for birthdays, etc. - I'm on the quiet side, believe it or not - but you know what? I've remembered most of those few years forever now.

In the meantime, she taught us about games - more so about play in general, but she didn't hover. Play strikes me as important, all this time later, in both science and art.

I don't know, really, how her children think about her, last thing I'd ask fifty years later. And the father was no louse, he was the one who took us in the Mercury Station Wagon to the next town up for ice cream cones. All of the children turned out doing good for others in their careers. I'd nominate her for Wonderful Day to Day Neighbor Ever.
I put Boomer and yourself in the same territory.


Oh, and like, this isn't hagiography.

She was a good cook too, the woman who taught me to at least taste spaghetti.

Aw, I had one of those people in my life too, osso, and I definitely consider her a role model.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to stay in touch with Kay and getting stuff done that way (Kay's mom sent an email early this morning, I replied ~20 minutes later, nothing since, and much left unresolved), just found out that scavenger-hunt-leading big sis is home with the stomach flu today. Awesome.

I'm going to have some sort of scavenger hunt plan B in place, if I can.

And ultimately, if the girls just goof around for a few hours and enjoy each others' company, that's fine too.

Well that was INSANE.

In a good way mostly. There were continuing frustrations with Kay's mom, but it worked out in the end and actually working together the night of the party went really smoothly (things ended on a high note but then just divebombed again -- not worth getting into). There were no major disasters though (about the worst of it was orange soda spilled on a white chair and hidden behind a pillow -- but E.G. found it shortly after the party, and the chair has a washable slipcover, so I washed it and all was well).

The cake was a hit, it wasn't quite what I had in mind (the area shown was a little off of what I asked for, there weren't any dotted locomotion lines) but it looked good on its own terms, it was thematic, and most importantly it tasted great!

Bottom line -- the kids had a ton of fun.

AND, I can stop thinking about this! Yay!

Thanks again for your help, everyone, especially ehBeth.