Three children, all married, seven grandchildren and a large extended family add up to a calendar filled with birthday celebrations. I am very glad that I have moved beyond the stage of planning and running children's birthday parties.

Birthday party fun

Yes, they're fun but wow.. they're exhausting! And, much as I love Pinterest, the overload of beautifully  presented party images are a lot to live up to.

As a grandma I have found that, although I don't organise the kids' birthday parties, I'm often asked if I could bring along a little something to add to the party table. And these days, a plate of fairy bread just doesn't cut it. (Again.. thanks, Pinterest!)

Feeling Fruity Printables

So... I was delighted when TinyMe created their Feeling Fruity party printables. The range includes fruity baskets, garland, cone wrappers, toppers and tags. Yes, they're wonderful for anyone organising a fruit-themed party. The range also includes some lovely customisable invitations.

They're also wonderful for anyone, like me, needing a special party-style plate of food. The printables make it so easy! It's even easy enough for the kids to create.

And the result???.... you'll be pleased to know that the tray of fruity edibles disappeared very quickly.

Maybe it's the cold weather. Maybe it's the kids home now on school holidays. Maybe it's the inspiration from a recent cookbook sale. Whatever the reason, I seem to be spending more time in the kitchen. And the kids have loved it.

 I recently bought a copy of the Australian Women's Weekly Cookiescookbook. The title grates a little.. Australians cook biscuits, not cookies. But the book itself is beautiful- not a big book but with beautiful layouts and wonderful photos. The front cover has a lovely, almost honeycomb, texture.

Mish Mash Cookies  The biscuit.. sorry, cookie.. recipes have been grouped into 4 categories: kids, cafe, holidays, occasions. Naturally, I began with the kids' cookies. And the Mish Mash cookies are a lot of fun. They are so easy that the kids can help you make them. They'll only take about 15 minutes to complete.

Ingredients 

• 250 gm milk chocolate, chopped roughly
• 115gm packaged baby Oreo biscuits
• 1 cup honey Tiny Teddy biscuits
• 1 cup mixed mini pretzels
• 2 tablespoons caramel choc bits

Directions:  Melt the milk chocolate and spoon 1/2 teaspoonfuls into 6cm circles onto baking paper. Before the chocolate circles can set, gently push 2 tiny teddy biscuits, 2 mini Oreos, a couple of mini pretzels and a few caramel chocolate buds into the melted chocolate. 
Yep.. that's it! You could vary the biscuits by substituting white chocolate or even popping a couple of M&Ms for colour.

Once the chocolate has set, carefully peel the biscuits off the baking paper and pack into air-tight containers. 

I packaged up the biscuits into small white boxes labelled with my Grandma's bakery stickers (you can find the download here) .. one box for each grandchild and included a little gift tag. See below.. A free download of the gift tags is included at the bottom of the article.