So you think you can't make a birthday or celebration cake, think again! It seems inevitable that at some time or another there will be a request from one of your children that you make them a birthday cake for school, kindy or for a home party. I've got a fail proof way for you to master this task.

First of all: don't panic. Making a cake will earn you big brownie points with everyone - and this one is REAL EASY. There's no cooking, if you are able to melt some butter you can do this. The other great thing about this cake is you can add any type of biscuits or lollies to suit to customise it for the birthday recipient.

So give it a go, you don't even need a birthday as an excuse and it's a great recipe for the kids to help choose the ingridients and then help with the mixing.

This makes one Cake serves 6-8 - you will need:
* 18 Arnott's Choc Ripple biscuits or biscuit of your choice
* 8 1/4 cup Cookies & Cream Ice-cream or your choice

Get your family together for a fabulous variety concert

To launch the national week of awareness for Families Day the Families Commission, in partnership with Rotary, Capital Theatre Productions and MORE FM, is hosting a free family variety show at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington.

Family Affair have gathered some of Wellington's best child and adult acts together to put on a free show that the whole family will enjoy. From comedy to Shakespeare, choirs to salsa dancers there will something for everyone.

Bring a can

The theme for Families Day this year is Why Families Matter? And the word that keeps coming back to us when we ask this question is SUPPORT.

So to help us support families in need we are asking those families attending the show to bring along a can of food which will be donated to the Wellington City Mission's Food Bank.

DIYFather will be there hosting a stall, so come along have a chat with us and enjoy a great event!

Family Affair
Sunday 10 May 2009
Michael Fowler Centre
Wellington
Performance 2pm - 4pm
Doors open at 12.30pm

Order your FREE tickets to Family Affair, click here

Dads have the power to enchant the kids when they can indulge in simple activities and celebrations along with the kids, and Easter provides an excellent opportunity for this. In addition to Easter decorations for the home, here are a few creative activities that will excite the kids immeasurably if dad can join them:

1. Baking an Easter Bunny Cake: If dad does not do much cooking, it is still possible to bake a bunny cake using a cake mix and readymade frosting that makes the job simple. But it will simply amaze the kids to see their dad baking a cake, and the Bunny Cake is going to be something too special for any kid in the world anyway.

2. Decorating Easter Eggs: All you need to do is to poke a small hole delicately in an egg, and drain it out till the shell becomes empty. Clean it, dry it, and now it is ready for funny decorations. Let your imagination run a riot, and encourage the kids to let their creative juices flow on the eggshells to create some wonderful decorations.

This is doing the rounds on email at the moment - enjoy (or weep) :-)

POSITION/TITLE:
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an
often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule

Just had to post this fantastic video

The Leukaemia & Blood Foundation's "Shave for a Cure" 2009 TV commercial was filmed in 2008 with a young man called Ryan, along with his close family and friends. This commercial is a true representation of the support and commitment that communities throughout New Zealand need to give to this cause. Ryan has been through a series of leukaemia treatments, and it was in spite of this he got out to film this commercial, with all those friends and family who are featured in this ad, coming together to show their support of him

Great video for a great cause

Click for more information on this cause

- Eric

KIDS WORLD - a truly unique expo for Babies, Kids, Mum’s & Dad’s, Mum’s-to-be and all the family. Come along to learn about and experience all the latest products for you and family with displays and demonstrations all weekend.
KIDS WORLD provides an unbeatable shopping experience for babies and kids of all ages, there’s even something for Mum and Dad all under one roof.....

We have great entertainment with live acts performing throughout the weekend - magicians, musicians, clowns, face painting, bouncy castle, jugglers and much much more.

Also don’t miss our amazing prize give-a-ways throughout the weekend....plus goodie bags for the first 5000 visitors.

Starting a DIY project in general is a great way to save your family some money and in trying economic times like these, there's no shame in being a penny-pincher. That being said, you have to pick and choose your projects very carefully based on your abilities, skills and attention to detail. While the end result of a DIY project is supposed to aid your life in some way, it's important to stress the value of following directions when it comes to building something for your children. As a parent, the safety of your child should be first and foremost over all else, including personal finances. A recent DIY controversy is that of DIY cribs.

Wind-up toys ... don't you just love them? They are super cheap, lots of fun and can entertain kids for ages. Here's a few from our collection at home ...

It gets better ...

In part 4 of our podcasting series on child development and conscious parenting, Vicky talks about the six principles of effective discipline which were put together by SKIP. Some great tips there for parents and excellent background information on discipline vs punishment.

(to subscribe to our podcasting feed)

In today's podcast Vicky talks about providing opportunities for children to fully explore a "window of opportunity" for their development. They might be going through a phase of wanting to explore their sorting skills, drawing skills or their concept of cause and effect. So it is great to be able to provide them additional opportunities on top of what they discover themselves. It is also important to ensure that children can satisfy their desire to explore in a safe environment. There are lots of things in our households that we often throw away that could be used for providing those opportunities. Here's a few examples of DIY toys Vicky made herself:

Amazing what you can do with old drink bottles, caps and pieces of string. Check out the toys in detail in our post "How to stimulate your baby's development with home made toys".

(to subscribe to our podcasting feed)

-Stefan