Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Race Party

One of the biggest events in a cub scouts year is the Pinewood Derby Race.  In our pack, our leader hands the kits out in December which gives our scouts around two months to create their master pieces.  The kits contain a block of wood, four wheels and metal rods.  Each scout is allowed to use his imagination and create whatever they want as long as it stays within the rules.  The night of the race, each scout will have his car inspected and then wait his turn to race against his fellow scouts.  The winners receive an award and will get to race their car against the winners from other packs.  

These are two examples of my sons derby cars.  His Mario won first place in 2013 but the Angry Bird lost in 2014 and it was to big and we had to remove the sling shot so it would fit under the finish line. 

 

As for the party and the reason for this blog....one year I got creative and decided to make treats for the kids in the Pinewood Derby Theme.  Below find my treat creations and directions to make each of one.

 

S'MORES CARS

My first idea was S'mores Cars.  These are really simple to make. but the end result was amazing.  You will need:

• Marshmallows
• Mini Oreos
• Teddy Grams
• Gram Crackers
• Melting Chocolate

I made the white hearts but you can use anything as a grill to cover the whole I made dipping the Marshmallows.  To make it easy, have all your ingredients ready to assembly the car.  I broke up the gram crackers and separated the mini oreos in advance as my chocolate was melting.      

To melt the chocolate, I always us a double boiler.  Once your chocolate is melted, dip the marshmallow and place on gram cracker base.  While the chocolate is still melted, add the oreo wheels and teddy gram.  Once the chocolate hardens, everything is stuck together like glue.  The kids loved these and it was a huge hit for the parents as well.

CHOCOLATE DIPPED CAR PRETZEL RODS

 

My next treat was Chocolate Dipped Car Pretzel Rods.  You will need:

• Melting Chocolate
• Pretzel Rods
• Car Candy Mold

There really wasn't much to do on these but melt the chocolate and pour into the car pretzel rod candy molds I found at my local Micheal's Craft Store.  Make sure to gently tap the mold after you pour in the chocolate to allow air bubbles to escape.

CELERY CARS

To balance out all the candy treats, I also made these celery stuffed with cream cheese cars with grape wheels.  As you may have figured out, these were the last to go.  You will need:

• Celery
• Light Cream Cheese
• Grapes
• Toothpicks

Cut up your celery and add cream cheese.  Add the toothpick and grapes for wheels.

Next time I would not use the teddy grams because the longer they sat in the cream cheese the softer they became and ended up not being a good fit.  I would try gummy bears because they may hold up better.
 

STOPLIGHT RICE CRISPY TREATS

Rice Crispy Treats are so easy to make and should always be at any party.  Young or old, they are a party hit. For the derby party, I turned regular rice crispy treats into stoplights using M&M's as the different color lights.  You will need:

• Rice Crispy Cereal
• Marshmallows
• Butter
• M&M's (Green, Red and Yellow)
• Small tube of icing

Follow the directions on the rice crispy box to make the treats.  After they have cooled, cut into rectangles.  To make the M&M's stick to the rice crispy, put a tiny bit of icing on them and it will hold them on like glue.

I hope you enjoyed my treat ideas and end up using them for your scout party or race car theme birthday.  Thanks for read!!!

Rainbow Party Favors

Coming up with a creative and fun favor for a thirteen year old's birthday party was a little challenging.  I wanted something different, with a lot of colors and not to kiddish for young teenagers.  For this party I created two different favors.  

The first was personalized suckers with the birthday girls name.  I found the suckers at Oriental Trading in bulk.  I found the rainbows on yahoo images and then added the personal touch and printed them on labels.  If you use the 2"x4" you should be able to fit 2 rainbows on one label.  I then printed out and cut to fit the sucker.  This was simple and easy to do.

Also at Oriental Trading (one of my favorite online party stores), I found these make your own puzzles and rainbow crayons.  An idea formed to use these so that the teenagers could make their own master piece puzzles to pass to each other to solve. 

Step One:  I found the rainbow I wanted to use on Yahoo Images and then added the personal message.  I printed the rainbows on labels and then used different colored card stock to make the top.

 Step Two:  Cute the card stock into two different pieces.

 Step Three:  Cute each side into equal threes and fold in the center.

Step Four:  Add your stickers.  Pretty simple.

Step Five:  Gather the above items...plus a stapler (not pictured).

Step Six:  Place the items in the baggy, making sure that the pen is standing up before you move on to the next step.

 

Step Seven:  Flip the bag over, fold to fit the puzzle, tuck the corner up and then tape to hold it together.

Step Eight:  Fold the top down and tape.

Step Nine:  Add the top and staple together.

This was a pretty simple favor to make.  I would have liked to use paints (water colors) but the room the party was in did not allow such things. Enjoy :-)