isabel is 2: a moana birthday party

this adorable little girl had her second birthday party yesterday, a moana birthday party thrown by her very clever mum, my best friend jennifer.

everything looked very island-ish and thanks to our good friends at woolworths, we had an almost life size moana cut out for behind the food table. thank you recent disney tile promotion!

fun fact: you cannot buy brown balloons from party stores. it's just not a colour they make. so, you have to make them yourself, by popping a black balloon inside a burgundy one and blowing them up together. ta-dah!

heart of te fiti cookies ♥

and a hand made tropical number two. she's a clever girl our jen.

but, her specialty is the amazing cakes she churns out! this one was no exception. although she used a edible paper wrap for the bottom layer, the top was completely hand painted! jen, you are amazing!

the birthday girl with her gift from me, a singing heart of te fiti necklace ♥

jen & mat enjoying the party, mat must have been enjoying himself, that shirt says it all!

isabel with her mummy and daddy

and having a laugh with her dad.

happy birthday miss isabel. what a pleasure it was to share your day with you! 

♥

moanaline is six!

on saturday we celebrated madeline's sixth birthday in island style... with a moana birthday party!

(dress from big w) 

for those of you who don't already know, my husband is actually samoan (yes i know, he has red hair! i can see that, thank you for pointing it out though lol. his father's grandmother was maori and his mother samoan, so people mostly assume the red hair came through the maori side. not so. his cousin who is darker skinned with dark hair and eyes, has had two children that are like little dougs! so, we can confirm, it's definitely the samoan line that's passed on the red gene)

anyway, back to the party. when madeline loved moana, we certainly didn't discourage it in any way, as really, it's written as a story of the polynesians, especially those of the samoan islands (fun fact: the rock who voiced maui, is samoan!) and when she decided she wanted a moana party, i was thrilled!

decorations were easy, lots of blue, watery looking goodness: 

blue confetti balloons (big w party store) - $3 for a pack of 3

moana napkins (big w party store) - $5 for a pack of 16

moana bunting, 10 cups and 10 plates (aliexpress) $9.85

maddie was thrilled to get this pineapple lamp in the mail from a family friend the day before the party which was perfect as a decoration (available here from kmart online)

tablecloth is also from kmart (actually a doona cover! haha)

when we went to samoa as a family in 2014, doug desperately wanted to get himself a carved drum, but was concerned about getting it home... flash forward a few months when my parents finished their voluntary mission (working at church college) we made it happen! mum and dad had it shipped with their other items and it's taken pride of place in our house. it was a perfect decoration for the party!

the cake was incredible, made as always by my best friend jennifer, it was a masterpiece! 3 layers of coconut/vanilla cake with ombre wave icing and biscuit crumb "sand." we bought the moana figures at the disney store in the usa when we were over in february, but similar can be found on aliexpress also.

drinks were fresh water and ocean water (lemonade with blue food colouring... noted for next time is that i used wayyyyy too much colouring, there were blue mouths right left and centre on the kids)

and my lovely husband spent hours making this gorgeous "secret underwater cave" in our theatre room with green streamers ($1 for a pack of six from our local red dot (cheap store)) the girls loved it and squealed with excitement when they got to go and and play pass the parcel and have some pics at the end of the party

pin the nose on pua brought much excitement... i had googled some games knowing that it was going to be raining (worst news ever when you have a party!) and couldn't find a free one, so i made my own! please feel free to leave a comment if you want me to email it to you, it's not super fancy, but it's free! the girls loved it! there was a lot of laughter ♥

the aftermath!

leftover noses! i love pua! i was so sad he wasn't in the movie more! :(

prize was a moana colouring book ($2 from big w)

as usual i spent the day before baking, to make sure everything was perfect, yes i am a complete control freak! i made heart of te fiti cookies...

hei hei's chicken feed (corn fritters)

ocean jelly slice (blue jelly slice)

beach sand slice (lemon pie bars)

island coconuts (meatballs made by nanna babs)

pigs in a blanket (mini sausage rolls)

te ka's ash cake (brownies)

sailboat swirls (mini quiches also from the kitchen of nanna babs)

under the sea crackers (limited edition arnotts shapes available at woolworths!)

kakamora (chocolate truffles)

tamatoa's treasure (caramel popcorn with added jewels to make them shiiiiiiiny)

hei hei's egg sandwiches 

to make the food labels, i found all these pictures on google and then added the type, again, not fancy... but free! leave me a comment and i can email them out.

joseph was pretty shy at the party and stayed behind nanna in the background (and flat our refused to wear the adorable maui shirt we had bought him! :( i was so sad!) but i managed to get this cute snap of him enjoying one of the te fiti cookies, to be honest i am sure he ate about 8 of them... eep. 

food was a hit and demolished... made it all worth it!

we played pass the parcel (of course... what is a kids party without a game of pass the parcel! layers contained lollies and sheets of under the sea stickers ($2 for a book from the local cheap shop) and the middle had a moana necklace (i'm wearing one in the 2nd picture - $2.59 from ebay, came super quick and looks great!) and another ocean themed sticker book

maddie was so pleased with her party and just looked thrilled and important the whole day to be having her first one with school friends. our girl is growing up so fast!

finally it was cake time... and this cake did not disappoint! aunty jenny had even managed to find some blue "ocean" flamed candles and they were the talk of the party. so so cool!

last but not least, the girlies took home a coconut with some treats inside.

i love planning parties, once it all comes together and works out, all the effort doesn't matter... just how happy your kid is! 

we love you moana-line! hope you loved your island party! ♥

(more photos on instagram - #moanalineissix)

moana party prep

sometimes i think i enjoy the party prep more than the party! i have so much thinking of ideas and seeing them come to life. madeline decided that this year she'd like a moana party for her birthday, so my mind went into overload thinking what i could do to make the party that little bit cooler.

my very awesome best friend jen got to work making chocolate wraps that i could print to cover the aldi 40g chocolates ($2.99 for 5), you simply remove their paper (very carefully) and then add your own print (a standard size 4x6 photo wrapped fits perfectly) and hold in place with a small piece of tape.

these were to go inside these awesome coconut cups i ordered from ebay here ($2.95 each with flat rate postage for $7.95 no matter how many you order) along with some allens pineapples and a white lollipop (which totally looks like a coconut on a stick)

i decided to make jelly slice (because it's a crowd pleaser and would totally look like ocean slice with the blue white and sandy colour... only this was a huge fail. i am reporting back so no one else has to go through this... i bought the awesome looking new aeroplane glitter jelly (because who doesn't like glitter) but after being in the fridge on top of the slice all day long it still wasn't set!!!! it seems as though the glitter jelly uses a different setting agent than the regular gelatine in most jellies and adding the additional gelatine required to get it solid enough to hold on the slice had caused it to react and not set. long story short, i'll be heading off to coles in the morning on an emergency non-glitter jelly run after i tip this lot off.

i desperately wanted to make heart of te fiti cookies. for those of you that have seen moana, the movie centres on a small green stone called the heart of te fiti and i wanted to give it a go! i used the recipe i used last year to make the pineapple cookies last year and got to work. i was in the middle of rolling out the dough when madeline came into the kitchen and said, "mum, what are you doing?" i replied, "i'm making heart of te fiti cookies" "oh. why aren't they green?" oh my gosh. why weren't they green?! my darling girl with all the innocence of a child had saved me hours of icing the cookies with common sense. back in the mixer with some green food colouring, then back onto the bench to roll again.

i used a pumpkin cookie cutter that i picked up at coles in a 4 pack for a few dollars after halloween last year then used the knife i was lifting the cookies with to cut off the stem. easy!

into the oven they went... then once they were cool i iced them (same icing recipe from the pineapple cookie post mentioned above) with a simple swirl. they aren't perfect, that's for sure, but i love them!

i also made some "tamatoa's shiny treasure" by using caramel popcorn with some cute shiny gold stars and pearls to make it extra shiiiiiiiny!!

and some "beach sand slice" aka lemon pie bars, which my friend lisa used to make allll the time when she lived in australia. they are excellent and i strongly suggest you give them a try while lemons are in season. 

stay tuned... party is tomorrow and we are super excited at makeshift motonui. i can't wait to show off pictures!