Max and Ruby Party

Baby Boy wakes up asking for Max & Ruby and Little Monkey also loves watching this crazy parent-free cartoon and so it made sense for us to host a Max and Ruby party for their birthdays. This year we’re having our own adults Halloween party so this birthday bash was all about the kids unlike last year’s one. We did keep it drop in style and so the party started at 2 p.m. but families came a d went until 7 p.m. and at 7 p.m. our kid-free friends joined and helped us clean up, empty the rest of the booze and of course watch the kids open their presents! If you’ve been following our adventures, you will know that it has been an extremely busy time for us and so I enlisted the help of many to bring this party to life – a big thank you to our family and friends for making Baby Boy’s 2nd and Little Monkey’s 4th birthdays, one they’ll remember!

Decor

I first looked at purchasing Max and Ruby decor only to quickly discover that there isn’t much out there and the few things available were quite expensive. So I kept things simple and printed out all sorts of images which we hung up around my brother’s condo party room. If you’re looking for  great FREE printables, take a look at this Max and Ruby banner from Nick Jr., Max and Ruby flags and Max and Ruby hats from Rosemary Wells, and some kickass Max and Ruby posters (which can be printed in large scale) from HaleGrafx. Hang some balloons and streamers and the place came together nicely and inexpensively!

Entertainment

 This year we set up Ruby’s Beauty Salon for the older kids and there were a few toys scattered for the younger ones. Disney and popular kid friendly pop tunes played throughout the party and every kid who entered was asked if they’d like a Max and Ruby hat which I quickly taped up to fit their heads. Some kids jumped on it and others said no, which was fine! Many wanted to colour their hats but I had purposely not brought any crayons or markers for fear of the carpet getting re-designed!

Ruby’s Beauty Salon featured Glama Girls Nail Shine. While this is traditionally a tween spa, their products are perfect for the under 5s as well. The all natural water-based nail polish is available in 8 different colours, is safe and chemical free. Glama Girls have a partnership with Plan Canada’s Because I am a Girl initiative and with each nail polish bottle sold, $1 will be donated to help create a brighter future for girls around the world. Glam Nail Shine is Health Canada approved and is available throughout Glama Gal locations across Ontario and will soon be in specialty store across Canada and the US. To purchase visit your closest Glama Gal Location.

Ruby’s Beauty Salon also offered face painting and because the kids were young (with low expectations) I grabbed a Snazaroo face painting set which a friend told me was kid friendly, non-toxic, hypoallergenic and easily washable. For both stations at the beauty salon I enlisted the help of my sister in law and a couple moms in attendance who did a fabulous job. Nail shine was the easiest station with many volunteers but the face painting one was the most feared amoungst  the parents. However it all worked out with boys asking for “hand tatoos” and girls asking for butterflies, pizzas with crowns and of course Little Monkey’s request to be a bunny! The $15 pack gives about 50 faces so I have plenty left over to practice my Elsa face painting skills! Wish me luck!

Food 

Thank goodness for Pinterest and my mom! That’s all I can say. I found awesome inspiration for bunny fruit platters and pizzas and so that was the focal point of our Max and Ruby party food. Both dishes were popular with the kids and so I ended up making them TWICE during the party. Luckily we had extra fruits cut up and so it only took a few minutes to  make the platters. We made two medium sized platters using one pineapple, two kiwis, two quarts of strawberries and about 4 quarts of blueberries. We also used strips of chesse and a few marshmellows for an extra touch!

Pizza was super easy to make and hugely popular. I bought ready made dough which was very easy to shape…I popped it in the oven for 5 minutes and then reshaped a bit before spreading Classico pasta sauce and sprinkling cheese. We then used pepperoni for the eyes, mouth and inner ears…voila!!

In additon to these two featured dishes I catered some some Indian food (chicken curry, vegetable curry and fried rice) and my mom made some delicious Sri Lankan cutlets and rolls which were a hit. My dad, not to be outdone did a Costco run and brought some frozen nibbles which were easy for me to serve up. For the first time ever, we only had a few things leftover at the end of the evening and that meant less for us to drag back home!

Drinks

No party of ours is complete without a well stocked bar and so we had beer, wine and juice on offer. The hubs bought a mix of craft beers to meet everyone’s taste preference and I grabbed a couple bottles of Stoneleigh and Graffigna wines for our friends. It was the kids who had the best options though! In addition to the veggie-fruit juices we also had the delicious jax coco Kids. Little Monkey doesn’t usually like coconut water (neither do I) but she loves the jax coco ones. Up to  70% less sugar than most juices jax coco Kidz is made with 100% pure coconut water and fruit puree or pure cocoa. No artificial flavors or colors are added and nothing is from concentrate.Needless to say the chocolate version was the most popular and Baby Boy was a fan of the grape. I saw a couple moms sneaking these kid approved packs for themselves as well! These kids packs can be found at Loblaws!

Cake

No party is complete without cake and each year I strive to make my own. With the lack of time I did a pretty lousy job but of course no one noticed! Betty Crocker brownie and cake mixes were all I needed for their cakes. Baby Boy got a pull apart number 2 cake which featured Max and Ruby edible cupcake toppers that I ordered from last year’s e-Bay contact. The same vendor agreed to design a larger version for Little Monkey and so she had a brownie cake with sprinkles on the side and this Max and Ruby cake topper. Given that the toppers were less than $10 including shipping from the U.K, I knew it was a bargain!

Giveaway

I couldn’t find any Max and Ruby stickers so I decided to recycle some Princess, Mickey, Winnie the Pooh and Cars ones I had by making a pack with mini raisin boxes, fruit candy and these Max and Ruby necklaces with recycled beer bottle caps. Gotta love good e-bay finds!

It was a busy day and at one point the hubs had to take Baby Boy out for a walk so he could take that nap he missed (and the hubs had to grab the bottles of milk he forgot!!). However we all had fun and I enjoyed not having to supervise the kids!! With many parents around we all had eyes on the kids around us and there weren’t too many fights to break apart. A co-worker made some cute Max & Ruby shirts for the kids and while they were a bit too large, they were perfect for our picture! As you can see, I tend to enjoy hosting our own parties and this is why at this stage I prefer not to have someone else host it! Now it’s time for me to start thinking about our Halloween bash and getting our home decked out for the party!