Tuesday, September 1, 2009

the 10th birthday party . . . we'll always have Paris! ;)


It's Friday night around 5:15 p.m. and all is quiet. The house is immaculate. Pink, white and black balloons, everywhere. Pink tablecloths. The cake arrived at 3:30 and has been placed on a puff of pink netting. Furniture has been pushed back. I made platter after platter of baguettes, meats and cheeses. I bought pounds and pounds of fruits, bananas, apples, watermelon, three kinds of grapes. The crafts were ready -- ribbon barettes, boxes for their truffles. The simplest truffle recipe in the world was printed out and ready to go. Within moments, we had 21 little girls, from third grade through fifth grade, arrive at the house, ready for the birthday party. Three were mine. Four did not sleep over. 17 little girls, all in sleeping bags, on tons of extra quilts, comforters, blankets and more. Asleep by midnight, seven minutes before the shuttle launch. This was a treasure! I loved every exhausting moment of this opportunity to be a mom. Such a gift. What a wonderful job I have!

The truffle recipe:

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

Melt chocolate and pour into blended ingredients. Whip with hand-held mixer. Pull mixer out of tall bowl slowly to get mixture off of blades. Chill for one hour. Roll into balls. Roll in toppings. My toppings were lined up in different containers: coconut, minced nuts, cocoa powder, sprinkles -- chocolate and rainbow, sugar crystals, and crushed peppermint. These are easy, beautiful and super-fabulous as gifts. The girls loved them! We placed them in mini-muffin wrappers and fit three in each little box. Completely darling . . .

7 comments:

  1. wow!! You took on a lot. And I get frazzed at the thought of having 2 kids over :D

    What a wonderful idea to make truffles with the girls. And it looks like the kind of recipe I could handle (i.e. one with only a few ingredients) - I may need to try this!

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  2. The cake looks amazing. I love all the pink and black!!

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  3. Wow! I thought the sleepover with 4 girls at my house was a lot! I can't even imagine what 17 would be like... not sure I want to find out! How did you get them to sleep by midnight?!

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  4. It was so much fun! Wore them out in the pool from 5:30 to 9:30 -- they took breaks for truffle-making, barrettes and then put pjs on for the movie. We watched A Little Princess -- I used to read the book all of the time when I was little. They were totally wiped by 11:30. Secret? Plan it on a school night -- they were already tired :)! I'm going to try to post a picture of a few of them truffle-making . . . so easy!

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  5. Linda, This look fabulous!!! Love cakes too bad I can't bake at all ROFL....

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  6. Happy (belated)Birthday. What a wonderful mom you are! The cake looks fantastic, too!

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oh so, well, appreciated! ;) loving those comments, friends!