Party preparations

K's party is this weekend!

I need to find a recipe for an ice cream cake as I've decided that is what I want to make. I'm not a huge fan of regular cake... but ice cream... That is my weakness. Since it's getting close to summer I figure it will be good. If you have any recipes, let me know.

I'm starting to web search on recipes, but I'm leaning towards just doing a cookie crust (chocolate wafers, butter and brown sugar) and then ice cream (cookies and cream flavor), then more crushed cookies and then more ice cream and whipped cream drizzled with chocolate sauce. I figure you can't go wrong with that combination.

I'm going to make a chicken salad or a pasta salad for lunch for the adults and most likely pizza for the kiddos (and adults if they want it). Supposedly Trader Joe's has a great pizza dough that comes in a ball. I'm going to get some and try making one tonight to see if we like it. (I wrote most of this last night (tuesday) before dinner... Since I've now made the pizza I can add that I wasn't that impressed with the dough from Trader Joes...and more importantly, neither was K.) Can't decide what to do for lunch for the kiddos... Maybe I'll get a cornmeal crust and just make cornmeal crust pizzas (like I usually make for K and she loves!).

Thought I'm cooking and making things, I'm trying to keep the party low-key. We'll play at our house for a while and then head to the park that is just down the street. We'll have 5 kids (age range 2-5) plus our 3 girls for the party. I think there will end up being about 12 adults too (including my husband and me).

I did a lot of cleaning last weekend so that the house would be in pretty good shape for the party without too much effort this week. I hate to clean my house just for a party of kids... The place will be trashed afterwards and I'll have to clean again. I'm hoping to keep it mostly outside... But I'll still have about 15 extra people tromping through the house. (Ugh, dirt.)

Hello Kitty is the theme for the party. K loves girly-girl things. I got her some Hello Kitty shoes. (I'm sure she'll be "excited" (her word. Remember, she LOVES shoes!) I have Hello Kitty plates and napkins ... Oh, I need to get more party favors... I got Hello Kitty toothbrushes for the girls and flashing toothbrushes for the boys. I should get coloring books maybe... or maybe just some candy (so that there will be a real reason for the toothbrushes).

What else... After reading the reviews on Amazon, I decided not to get the Jumpolene. Peoople basically liked it, but it didn't hold up well. I can't imagine anything more depressing than giving a toy that is lots of fun to your kid and then having it not work in a month. People said they would buy it again, but that seems silly to me.

Since we have 3 little girls with lots of energy though, we really liked the idea of a bouncy toy. We found this and even though it's twice the price, it got great reviews and seems to be very durable. If it lasts for a long time it will so worth the money.

I'm so excited for K's birthday so that they can start bouncing in it!