Parties: Purple Bunny Party

When my daughter Ella said she wanted a 'purple bunny' party for her birthday, well - all possible generic theme ideas went right out the window. Not such a bad thing... it presented a challenge and I do love a party that's unique.

INVITATIONS
The first thing I did was sort the invitations. Using little pink bunny envelopes I bought in Japan, I scanned and then changed the pink to purple. I added text, printed and pasted onto white card and cut out the edge with decorative scissors.

I love clear cello bags, and the finished invitations were slipped into bags and tied with a little strip of black ribbon. Like gift-wrapping, I think it's so important to make an effort with invitations. Adorable.

DECORATIONS

Time is rather scarce with me right now, so I wanted this party to be easy but beautiful. I started with Martha Stewart's beautiful tissue paper pompoms which are stunning but oh so easy.

The next thing I did was make garlands - these are so easy! I just snipped triangles from coordinating scrapbooking paper and simply sewed them together with white thread, leaving three or four stabs of the needle in between each piece of paper. I laid them out first to get the patterning interspersed attractively, then it took only minutes to sew them all together. Make sure you leave enough thread at either end to hang.

Then it was balloons in bunches, teensy vases studded with little flowers and dishware and table accessories in coordinating colours. I also added little rabbits from Ella's toy collection, but don't overdo this otherwise it starts to look tacky.

Note the little picture of a rabbit printed out and sticktaped over an existing picture. Really simple and effective. You could also cut out individual letters spelling out the birthday girl's name.

I think it helps to decorate just a small area of your house, where most of the action will take place. It makes for gorgeous photos and a festive atmosphere.

THE CAKE

This cake was surprisingly easy - I was nervous about how it would construct at first - what sits inside your head is not necessarily what comes out into reality!

I baked chocolate cake into a shallow metal bowl and a small, rounded metal bowl with high sides. Lay two long strips of baking paper into these bowls, overlapping at the centre to form a cross. This will help you lift out the cake once baked.

To assemble, I trimmed the top off the larger, shallower cake so it sat flush with the plate. I also trimmed one rounded end off the smaller, rounder cake so it would sit flat. I then added a generous dollop of seven minute frosting and sat the smaller cake on top of the flat one. It didn't need any shaping.

I then added two small round madeleine cakes to form a muzzle. You could use the tops of small muffins or cupcakes for this. Fix in place with a toothpick.

The entire cake was then covered in seven minute frosting, which is so easy to work with. Make sure you shape it between the cakes so it gives the rabbit a neck. You could tie the neck with a ribbon bow once the frosting dries.

The eyes are cut from the ends of a fat strip of licorice. The nose is a big marshmallow, trimmed. The teeth are also large marshmallows, trimmed.

The ears are made from two strips of felt, glued together to sandwich a pipecleaner. Make sure the pipecleaner is doubled over and sticks out the bottom of the ears so that you can insert them into the rabbit's head. Be sure to keep candles clear of them.

The whiskers are my favourite part. They are sparklers! Remember not to allow little hands to remove the burnt sparklers until they have cooled. Rabbit's meringue face may get a little 'cooked' by the sparklers at the end, but it sure smells good!

THE FOOD

I'm a sucker for 'coordinating food' - thematically and colourwise. I tried to find food that was purple, which is difficult! so I also chose contrasting colours in white and green.

I had cherries and purple grapes as well as green. Purple cupcakes were made using purchased cupcakes (easy peasy!), iced in bought frosting, which I tinted myself, then dipped in purple sprinkles. I printed off purple rabbits and number 9s, cut them out with a circular punch and glued to white card, with a skewer sandwiched between. I then cut around them with decorative scissors and inserted them into the cakes.

Sandwhiches were ham and cheese cut with a rabbit head cookie cutter. You could also use purple jam.

I served bought jam drop macaroons (you could fill these with purple jam) and I made sugar cookies in the shape of flowers, baked with a skewer behind them, then iced. I was planning to insert these in a 'garden' I made around the rabbit but I forgot about doing this and had to serve them on a plate. You could stick them into cupcakes or even flower frogs, but make sure you bake the cookies thin so they're not too top heavy.

Parfaits were a big hit and you could put anything in them - I used purple jelly with a hit of milk, to lighten it, blueberries, crushed Nice biscuits and cream, topped off with a cherry. I also served crackers with brie, popcorn, chips and chicken nuggets. I think it's a mistake to give children too much food - they are too busy playing and never even eat the cake.

For drinks, we had grape juice and sprite tinted with the juice. You could also do purple milkshakes.

THE GAMES
These little bunny girls are nine years old, so the game thing has shifted. I decided not to hold classic games (which I LOVE!) but instead started proceedings with an elaborate treasure hunt.

The girls had to read and find cryptic clues which would lead them to the next clue. This gave me plenty of time to get food into the oven and uncover cakes and organize cool drinks. Plus, the girls had a ball.

The treasure was their goodie bags, tucked into a basket and tied with ribbon, stashed in the rabbit hutch outside. The real-life bunnies thought they were in for a treat!

CRAFTS

After the treasure hunting, the girls walked the rabbits in the park and jumped on the trampoline, expelling enough energy to sit and get crafty.

Using white chenille pipecleaners, they happily sat at the table and made bunny bookmarks.

I first took photos of the girls' faces and printed them onto paper which I cut out and glued to card. They loved seeing their faces peeking from these adorable bookmarks.

After the bookmarks and a fuel reload, the girls decorated rabbit cookies with a tempting array of candies and icing.

BLOWING OUT THE CANDLES

Of course, the best way to wrap up a fab party is blowing out the candles. Bunny's sparklers were a huge hit and everyone went home very well satisfied, combining meringue-covered cake with ice cream.

HOPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLA!

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