The Ben 10 party….

From a Garden themed party last year to a Ben 10 party this year my little boy has grown up very fast. Last year he didn’t care what his birthday theme was. This year he was persistent about a Ben 10 party; specially a Ben 10 cake!

A Google search tells you that Ben 10 themes are quite popular with young boys all over the world; but where I live, it can be quite a challenge. I couldn’t even find Ben 10 party supplies; forget about things like cake toppers and icing sheets!

I didn’t want to break my boy’s little heart! So I did the next possible thing. A trip to Mumbai (Bombay) and that too to one of my favourite haunts in Mumbai – Crawford market.

                           (Image courtsey Wikipedia)

Whenever I visit this place I feel I am in wonderland. You can find anything from Miso paste to philly cheese to fresh yeast in the very tiny and overstocked shops here. The little shops are overflowing with variety of sweets (even Marshmallows), pastas, fruits ; all at wholesale prices! I bought all the Ben 10 supplies plates, glasses, hats, and masks from these tiny little shops here. Got the favors at a cute little shop called ‘The party Shop’. The most loved shop for me here is a shop called ‘Arife’. This tiny little shop (only 1 person can actually enter inside, it is that small) stocks all the baking, decorating supplies. I was pleasantly surprised this time to see ‘Wilton’ coloring gels, food markers, coloring dust at Arife this time.

The Cake:

The only thing that I could not find in Mumbai too was a Ben 10 cake topper. So I decided to make my own cake topper. My son educated me on what exactly is Ben 10 and his aliens. The omnitrix (Ben 10’s watch) is one of the most admired device by kids his age. So I decided to make an omnitrix as a cake topper. But the challenge didn’t end there. I don’t have easy access to ingredients like fondants or sugar paste or gum paste. So had to make the sugar paste from scratch. I used the sugar paste recipe from this wonderful book ‘Essential Guide to Cake Decorating’ which I bought at a book sale some time back !

I made two 9” square chocolate cakes. I used green and white colour whipped cream to decorate the cake. My friend S helped me to decorate the cake (she patiently decorated the cake with little stars all over). The sugar paste omnitrix and a few play Ben 10 alien figures were used as toppers for the cake. The base below the cake was covered with green paper ,covered with Ben 10 stickers. A lot of hardwork, but worth it especially when I saw the smile on my son’s face!

The party Menu:

Drink: Pina Colada (Pineapple and Coconut milk cordial)

Snacks: Chocolate fountain with Red grapes, pineapple, marshmallows and little hearts dips

Corn and Mushroom Canapes

Crackers with a cheese spread- cucumber topping

Dessert: Marbled Jello and Icecream

(Snacks recipes coming up next)

For the Main course: variety of Dosa, Uttapa and Lemon rice

The Chocolate fountain (also from Arife) was a major hit with the kids. They skipped all the games and fun activities once we started the fountain!

The party:

We arranged the party in our garden, decorated with posters, banners and green – yellow balloons. I arranged for a tattoo maker and a jumping Jack to keep the younger kids occupied. I also arranged few simple games (since it was a mixed age group) like passing the parcel and four corners adapting to the theme with the Ben 10 theme music in the background. For passing the parcel I had the kids passing the Omnitrix and for four corners I printed posters of 4 Ben 10 aliens. All the kids had a ball playing the games.

Each kid went back with a tattoo, a Ben 10 theme piggy bank, Ben 10 badges, some sweets, caps and masks!