May 04, 2018

Kid-Friendly Casino Night Birthday Party!

May 04, 2018/ jodi levine

Birthday party ideas for older kids can be difficult to come up with, so when my younger son requested a casino night for his 11th birthday party, we were really excited! We love playing cards and thought a game night was a great idea, but at the same time had some reservations about introducing kids to the concept of gambling or glamorizing it. My husband, a psychologist and addiction specialist, decided he wanted to write up custom "cautionary tales" for each kid to put in their favor bag where the character had to overcome a difficult struggle with gambling after being lured by the rush of an early win. The kids played with chips but there was no prizes or money to be won. (Do we know how to party or what?)

July 10, 2015

Comic Book Birthday Party!

July 10, 2015/ jodi levine

My son requested a comic-themed party for his ninth birthday. He loves Calvin and Hobbes, Big Nate, and Garfield and came up with his own list of fun activities based on these characters! For his cake, above, we made toppers by printing out some comics we found online, trimming and then taping them to skewers and toothpicks.

May 29, 2015

Fish Pops for a Summer Party!

May 29, 2015/ jodi levine

Is it safe to (finally) say that summer has arrived? I'm hoping so! It's time for sprinklers and pool parties! To celebrate, top a cake with these fish pops for an under-the-sea party. Here in Brooklyn we have a blowup pool in our small backyard and my husband and I squeeze right in there with the kids! The lollipops would make great party favors too.

April 11, 2015

How to Throw a Super Fun Science Party!

April 11, 2015/ jodi levine

For his sixth birthday, my younger son had a science-themed party. We chose a few easy-to-put-together science projects to demonstrate in a silly science show as well as for hands-on activities. The kids had a blast! Some of the projects required only a few household objects, a few others utilized kits from the fantastic website Steve Spangler Science (not a sponsor of this post :). I didn’t get great pic’s...though it wasn’t very “styled” anyway...it was all I could do to get the science projects together! A lot of research went into planning the activities, sourcing the supplies, and the flow of the party so I hope you will find this guide helpful!

Read on for detailed description of all the science activities!

April 01, 2015

Fun Cookie Flower Craft!

April 01, 2015/ jodi levine

We're thinking spring! These cookie flowers are made from store-bought cookies and candy and are an easy and fun party or rainy day activity for younger kids. They're pretty on the side of a frosted cake for Easter, a shower, or any party! The M&M centers are “glued” to the cookie with a dot of vanilla icing that has been tinted pink.

March 12, 2015

Muppet Party!

March 12, 2015/ jodi levine

Last year, my younger son requested a Muppet-themed birthday party and, as a lifelong Muppet fan, I was thrilled! Kermit is one of his favorite characters so the color green became an easy decoration theme. The first items that I bought werethese honeycomb balls, for color, from Target. As I stared at the packaging, I realized with a little snipping, I could make it into a Kermit head! (more photos and how-to below). His balloon body was inspired by some of the crafts in the BALLOON chapter in our next book!!!

January 14, 2015

Cold Weather Candy Craft!

January 14, 2015/ jodi levine

My friend Melissa sent me these great shots of her daughter and friend making lollipops, inspired by our book Candy Aisle Crafts. The lollipops are almost as cute as the girls! I love the rainbow and letter pops that they thought up. Lollipop-making is the perfect stuck-indoors winter activity!

August 27, 2014

Book Giveaway on Bloesem Kids!

August 27, 2014/ jodi levine

The gorgeous blog Bloesem Kids is offering a giveaway of our book Candy Aisle Crafts!! Click over to enter and also to see a few tutorials from the book, including this gumdrop sailboat! If you aren't already familiar with Bloesem, make sure to check out Irene Hoof's other inspiring blog, Bloesem Living. Thank you Bloesem!!

August 21, 2014

Oh Happy Day!

August 21, 2014/ jodi levine

We are thrilled that our Cookie Cakes were featured on one of our absolute favorite blogs, Oh Happy Day! They are even offering a giveaway. If you leave a comment on their post by tomorrow 8/22, you might win a copy of our book Candy Aisle Crafts!

Click over to Oh Happy Day for the full tutorial!

August 01, 2014

Planet Cookies!

August 01, 2014/ jodi levine

Our planet cookies were featured on the beautiful blog 100 Layer Cakelet, a great place to go to for kid's birthday and shower ideas and lots of other parent and expectant parent inspiration!

July 28, 2014

Triangle Cake Decoration

July 28, 2014/ jodi levine

While melting lots of candy for the book, I experimented with cutting through warm candy with kitchen shears while it was still on parchment. (This is hot work for adults only!) Triangles are an easy shape to cut and they make an pretty and graphic cake decoration. They'd also work as Christmas trees for a holiday cake decoration or lollipops.

July 02, 2014

Dot Flower Pops

July 02, 2014/ jodi levine

These simple dot flower pops are from the hard candy chapter in our upcoming book, Candy Aisle Crafts. They are a great starter project for getting used to melting hard candy and would make cute party favors!

Jolly Ranchers are my favorite candies to use for the candy-melting projects I’ve done over the years and have always found that it melts very smoothly.

All Posts