Cole's Beach Bash Birthday Party
I had a lot of fun planning this party for my son, Cole, probably the most fun i've ever had putting a party together (confession, I've only done a few!). We celebrated his 3rd Birthday with a Beach party at Leo Carillo State Beach in Malibu, CA. This beach is relatively less well known so there are usually less crowds. The little bay and tide pools also make it especially kid friendly. Plus, no worrying about having enough inside space and chairs!
For his 1st Birthday we threw a rock n' roll themed BBQ. It was a lot of fun, but mostly for everyone else! I was so excited that I didn't really consider budget, or timing how long everything takes. I was up late cooking for several nights before the party that by the time it arrived I was a bit delirous. We BBQ'd beautiful burgers and sausages from McCall's Meat and Fish in Los Feliz, which were amazing but Chris ended up being glued to the grill for most of the party instead of hanging out with everyone. We also invited basically everyone we knew. We were just so excited that we got through the first year of being parents. I learned a lot from that year. Namely, planning is everything. And everything takes longer than you think it will... plus your kids just get older and need your attention and demand time from you in full complete sentences that you can't pretend you don't understand ;/
Last year we scaled back, bought a 5 foot sub from a local italian bakery and cupcakes from SusieCakes. We were much more relaxed. We had moved from the house we were renting and great friends loaned us their back yard for the day. But this year, I really wanted to get back in the kitchen.
That proved a little more complicated once we decided on a beach party since our current place is too small to accommodate a bunch of adults and kids. The beach was a stroke of genius considering how much space the beach has to offer, until I realized we had to pack and transport everything there. Everything HAD to be made in advance, there was really no option of "finishing something that morning" and everything had to be served room temperature. For the menu below, I made everything ahead of time, even the tarts which worried me the most. The tarts turned out great, actually, but a 5 min reheat before serving would be great if you have an oven handy.
I ordered the cake pops, but did make the shark cookies. The cookies turned out to be time consuming but worth it, I made them ahead on Tuesday and froze them, then defrosted and served at the party on Saturday.
For games, I ordered shark teeth from Etsy and set them up in a small area around shark flags I had made. There were 4-5 around each flag, all the kids had to do was grab as many as they could and stick them in cute little shark teeth baggies to take home.
For favors I got orange buckets from Michael's Crafts and used a blue paint pen to write all the kid's names on the buckets. The tags I downloaded and printed from A Small Snippet's beach party blog post. Her party really was the inspiration for this one, although scaled back to accommodate 3 year olds. Everyone esp loved the shark teeth hunt game!
I got a cute paperlesspost.com invite with sharks at the bottom, ordered Cole his custom birthday t-shirt and used sand from the actual beach to finish off the shell centerpiece. All the kids seemed to have a great time, esp Cole.
Nuts and Bolts Mix (home made chex mix). recipe below.
Pimiento Cheese with Celery and Corn Chips. recipe below.
Shell Ham and Mayo Sandwiches
Palm Tree Hummus and Shredded Carrot Sandwiches
Chinese Chicken Salad - I made a few adjustments to the salad. You can halve the amount of lettuce and cabbage, assuming they are big bunches, and still serve 8. But do double the salad dressing, always better to have a bit more than too little. I added some grated ginger and minced garlic to the dressing and also added wasabi peas to the salad for some additional bite and crunch.
Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts
Shark Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Beach Ball Cake Pops, ordered from our local cupcake shop in Sherman Oaks, Cakes by Rumy. They were a big hit and really delicious!
Honest Kids Organic Juice Pouches
Still and Sparkling Water
Bandit Boxed Pinot Grigio - this is the best stuff ever for a glass free option to bring to the beach. Available at Silverlake Wine in Los Angeles.
Grandma Mary's Recipe. This makes A LOT, but it keeps in an airtight container for quite awhile.
1/4 c worcestershire sauce
Preheat oven to 225 F degrees. Mix butter, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder and celery salt together in a small bowl. Toss all the nuts, pretzels, rice chex and cheerios together in a big bowl. Pour melted butter mixture onto the chex mixture and toss with your hands until evenly coated. Do this in batches if there is too much mix to handle at once. Then lay the mix on sheet pans (2 or 1 at a time) and roast in the oven for 1 hour, tossing every 15 minutes. Allow to cool, then pack in airtight containers until ready to serve.
from the Bride and Groom, First and Forever Cookbook
8 ounces extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
8 ounces extra-sharp aged yellow cheddar cheese
1/2 c mayonaise (or 1/4 c mayo & 1/4 c lighter greek yogurt)
4 ounces chopped pimientos, drained
2 tsp finely grated yellow onions
1/2 tsp sugar or agave syrup
3 tbsp hot picante sauce (I use Tapatio)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (or cilantro)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
Finely grate the cheeses into a medium bowl. Add the mayo, pimientos, onion, sugar, pepper, picante sauce, parsley and stir until well incorporated. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to develop. The pimiento cheese spread will keep, tightly covered and refrigerated for up to a week.
Create open-faced sandwiches on soft bread, topped with tomato slices or picante sauce. Amazing for grilled cheese sandwiches, and also tastes great with eggs or in a frittata. We served it at the party as a dip with Frito Scoops corn chips and celery sticks.
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