Baby Shower Ideas Archives

Posted on July 21, 2020March 16, 2022 by idohandmade — Leave a comment

An Epic Bake-Less Cake Recipe

Want a SUPER simple bake-less cake recipe that will make the perfect dessert for any celebration? Read on 🙂

I celebrated my birthday recently and it’s a tradition in our house for the mama bear to make us all a handmade cake, usually in a creative, quirky fun design.

This year was quite an impressive cake I’ve gotta say, it’s up there as one of my favs! A five decker layer ice-cream cake. Oh my goodness was it yummy.

The best thing is, it’s all made of ice-cream so it’s so simple to make as there’s no baking involved. Any age can make it and it will look super impressive!

How to make you ice-cream cake

You’ll need:

5x tubs of ice-cream, all different colours and flavours ideally (you won’t need it all)
Sweets and biscuits to decorate
Melted chocolate
5x round cake tins

You’ll need the ice-cream slightly squishy to mould it for the first stage. So either take it out of the freezer for 5/10 minutes, or usually by the time you get back from the shops it’s the perfect stage to start making your ice-cream cake.

Scoop out your ice-cream into the cake tins – one flavour for each tin. Press it down firmly to create about a 1 inch thick layer.

Pop all cake tins back in the freezer to solidify and wait at least an hour for it to properly freeze.

Take out each of your cake tins, and fill up a washing up bowl with boiling water. Just dip each cake tin in the hot water for about 5 seconds, wipe the bottom of the tin with a tea towel and turn the tin over onto a plate. The ice-cream should pop out relatively easily with a few shakes. Take a knife and score around the edges and repeat the water technique again if you’re struggling to get it out.

Place all the layers on top of each other, then use your creative imagination to decorate your ice-cream tower.

Melted chocolate makes a great effect if you drip it down the edge of the cake. Or you could cover your cake in melted chocolate stripes.

Then adorn your cake with yummy sweets and biscuits. My mum decorated mine in mini jammi-dodgers, chocolate fingers, cadburys crunchie and wafer biscuits as they are a few of my favs!

The more colourful it is, the more impressive it’ll look!

Remember to keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to present to the birthday girl or boy.

There you have it, a super epic bake-less cake recipe!

Posted on July 1, 2020March 16, 2022 by idohandmade — 1 Comment

Handmade Gift Idea For Mamas-To-Be

This is a thoughtful handmade gift idea for a new mum or expecting mama. Perfect if you’re wondering what to get someone.

Inspired from a gift I received when I was pregnant, I wanted to write little letters to my bump of all the things I was thinking and dreaming for him. My pregnancy was a little miracle at a time filled with many unsettling circumstances. This little babe was one of the only things that kept us going mentally as a family and I wanted to express this in a letter to explain how perfectly timed his life was and how blessed we are to have him.

Gushy stuff over! I therefore wrote several letters – things I’d love him to try, things I hope for him, important things about life. I put them in different labelled envelopes.

Fast-forward to last month, I wanted to send a few of my pregnant friends a ‘thinking of you’ present. Pregnant during lockdown sounds incredibly tough, you’re desperate for things to keep you busy but want to do things that don’t require too much physical movement! So I personalised some envelopes for them to be able to write a similar thing for their bundle

I wrote five envelopes and labelled them with different topics and decorated the edge of each envelope with some metallic washi tape.

Then I tied them up with string and added a tag to look a little more gift-like! I used the phrase ‘Letters to the one who made me a mum’

And there you have it, a thoughtful gift idea for new mum and mamas-to-be out there.

Posted on May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 by idohandmade — Leave a comment

How To Make A Streamer Backdrop

If you have a celebration coming up and you’d like to decorate, check out this simple ‘how to make a streamer backdrop’ tutorial to create your own impressive display.

All you need:

Crepe paper streamers
String
Scissors
Gold metallic ribbon (optional)

I have seen so many of these stunning streamer backdrops all over pinterest, these brightly coloured backdrops can add a wow factor to any venue. So with my son’s 1st birthday during lockdown, I wanted to try make it special, not that he will remember it! I had a go at making my own.

Getting started

I went for a green jungle, turquoise and gold sorta’ colour theme. If you’re designing your own, choose colours that might be in the room, or on other decorations e.g. balloons, banners, bunting, table cloths, straws etc.

I bought crepe paper streamers from this ebay store. This particular UK based seller has lots of colours. When purchasing yours, I’d recommend choosing 3 or 4 colours.

Making Your Backdrop

Choose the width and height you’d like to make, e.g. if it’s going behind a table, measure the width of the table.

The string is what you’re going to tie your streamers to. Cut your string double your desired width, so you have enough to secure your backdrop to wherever it’s going.

I used our washing line to make our backdrop, and then re-positioned it when it was made. For yours decide where it’s going to go, and either make it there, or you could make it on a wall that has nails already in a wall holding up photos, or a curtain pole.

Tying your streamers

Once you’ve decided the height of your backdrop, take your first coloured streamer and cut it double your chosen length.Take the midway point of your cut streamer in one hand, and thread this over your string and bring the two tails through the loop. The official knot term is called a Lark Head Knot. See below an image taken from google.

This is the knot you’re going to do for each streamer.

Check you’re happy with the length of your first streamer, and if so start cutting more crepe streamers of the same length.

We tied ours in colour order, but feel free to add yours in any order you wish.

It also sometimes looks nice with them all different heights. You can always trim it at the end, if you’d prefer a neat line.

Finally, add a few gold ribbon strings randomly along your backdrop, and score them so they spiral. I think it personally adds a fun finish to the backdrop.

There you have it! A great DIY decoration idea perfect for baby showers, weddings, parties galore.

I secured mine to our freestanding copper arch which we hire out for weddings and events. I also added a DIY balloon arch, which is a story for another day 🙂

If you have a go at making your own I’d love to see, tag or share your pictures with us.

Posted on April 1, 2020March 16, 2022 by idohandmade — Leave a comment

How to make THE best cocktails every time

Pinch and a (rum) punch, first day of the month. Happy April everyone. We don’t wanna do any fooling here, it’s already a tough old world out there, so here’s your ultimate guide for making the best cocktails every time.

I came across this clever recipe on Pinterest and you can make THE best cocktails with pretty much any ingredients.

All you gotta do is remember the rhyme…

1 of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong and 4 of weak

Firstly pick the unit you’re gonna use depending on how many people it’s for. E.g. if it’s just for yourself you might wanna use a shot measure and if it’s for the whole household, you might wanna use a jug… just make sure you use the same unit all the way through.

So to give you an example, here’s my favourite concoction…

1 shot of sour – fresh lime juice (you could also use lemon juice)

2 shots of sweet – grenadine (you could also use sugar syrup/gomme)

3 shots of strong – spiced rum (the fun part, pick any spirit that takes your fancy)

4 shots of weak – pineapple juice (choose any juice or soft drink)

So for anyone wondering what to do at home, have some fun experimenting until you find your favourite. Just remember to keep to the 1234 ratio.

Add some fruit when you’re ready to serve and don’t forget to make sure you have plenty of ice!

I personally think pineapple and kiwi always makes a prettier punch, and even more delicious!

What’s the first cocktail ingredients you’re gonna try?

If you’re making cocktails for a celebration, have you checked out our guide on how to have a party at home during lockdown?

Posted on August 1, 2016March 16, 2022 by idohandmade

Bootyful Baby Shower Decoration Ideas

Wanting a little inspiration for some baby shower decoration ideas? Or wondering what to do to bring a little fun to an upcoming baby themed party?

We had the pleasure of providing decor for a yummy mummy’s baby shower. We created a few handmade, decorative bits and bobs full of colour. Including a nappy wreath, lace bunting, pink tissue blossom tree and nail varnish favours.

It was a beautiful afternoon full of laughter, cake and baby clothes galore! If you have an upcoming party you’d like some creative decor ideas for we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch here.

Baby shower decoration ideas pink nappy wreath — A nappy wreath made of nappies, pink tissue paper, baby footprint ribbon and a pair of pumps to finish it off!

lace bunting Baby shower decoration ideas — Lace bunting watched all the guests enjoy all the cake

Baby shower bunting Baby shower decoration ideas — White lanterns are great for decorating and add a wow factor to any space

pink pom poms Baby shower decoration ideas — Pink tissue paper pom poms are easy to make and add a little colour to the room

drinks dispenser lemonade stand Baby shower decoration ideas — Our lemonade stand with matching pink straws, yummy cakes and our lace and pink bunting

pink blossom tree Baby shower decoration ideas — We made a display using branches and tissue paper to create the blossom effect

dont say baby game Baby shower decoration ideas — Don’t say baby game, give everyone 3 pegs to begin with, if you say the word baby, the first person to notice gets to take a peg. The person with the most pegs at the end of the event gets a prize.

guess the size of mummys tummy game Baby shower decoration ideas — A classic but a goodie!

flower arrangement in a jar of lemons Baby shower decoration ideas — We created a display of a vase within a vase, using lemons and matching yellow flowers

pink hangers Baby shower decoration ideas — These pink hangers we bought from ebay to hang up the clothes all the guests bought for the bubba

nail varnish favours Baby shower decoration ideas — We made little favours for all the guests, nail varnishes all different shades of pink

Need some help thinking of baby shower decoration ideas, we love helping people get creative with their events. We’ve got a baby themed board on pinterest for other ideas too. Get in touch or check out our catalogue of decor available to hire for your next event.

create it yourself kits craft kits to make at home

Posted on April 26, 2014May 6, 2020 by idohandmade

Nappy Cake Designs Ideas and Inspiration

Nappy cake designs! Here they are, we’ve made a fair few, so I thought I’d save some of our favourite designs all in one place. I’ve also included a tutorial of how I made my first ever one.

If you’re looking to try making a creative gift for the next baby shower you attend, this handmade gift will be pretty unique and incredibly useful! It will also remove the chances of you turning up with the same gift as someone else!

My first ever nappy cake:

You’ll need:

about 60-70 nappies (I’d recommend buying size 3, they’re a good width and if the mama has a big baby they’ll fit!)
string
rubber bands
wrapping paper
decorative ribbon

All of these except the nappies can be purchased from a craft store e.g. Hobbycraft.

Start by rolling up each nappy, into a toilet roll shape, and secure with a small rubber band. Then when you have enough to make the base layer of the ‘cake’, stand them all up and make a circular shape. When you’re happy take a piece of string and tie it around really tight to ensure all the nappies are behaving! Then repeat this and make the remaining two other layers of the cake.

I then measured the height of each layer and cut a long piece of wrapping paper to wrap around the edge of each tier (like where you would ice the cake) I wrapped it round and stuck down with a piece of sticky tape. Then tied a pretty ribbon on top of the wrapping paper, around the middle of each layer. I added a chocolate lollypop at the top which had the ‘happy birthday’ message on, something that my niece could actually enjoy! Et voila 🙂

Here’s some of our other nappy cake designs that we’ve created more recently: