The Glow Party Part One: The Food

The way birthday parties work around here is that Alexis picks a theme and then I grab hold of that theme and shoot for the stars. I get carried away, is what I'm saying, but it's exactly as it should be.

This year Alexis' only instructions to me were, "I want a 'glow' party."

I asked for some clarification and it turns out that asking a then 7-year old, "do you mean like a 80's party with neon and Madonna and stuff like that?" will be met with confusion. Madonna is an old lady who walks with a cane in her eyes. So.

Glow.

I can do that. YES, I CAN.

I took it easy on the food for this year's party. I figured the 6 months pregnant thing was a good reason to simmer down. That was a good call, by the way, though for another reason. It turns out that Alexis and 15 of her friends get WAY too excited about seeing each other on a weekend and they forget to eat.

They seriously barely touched the food.

OH WELL.

There was still awesome to be found.

Like Glow Candy. Worth noting, it didn't really glow. There is no such thing as food that glows in the dark. There is, however, food that reacts to black lights. It turns out that vitamin B2 reacts to black lights like that up there. It's awesomeness (and totally safe, not that it matters since the kids barely touched the stuff).

ANYWAY.

There was also glowing punch.

It glowed a lot brighter earlier in the evening, but I forgot to take a photo until the end. It wasn't actually the punch that was black light reactive, by the way. It was the ice. It was made with tonic water, which happens to contain quinine. Quinine turns bright blue under black lights. Throw some tonic water ice cubes into a bowl with some fruit juice (we went with mixed berry) and you've got some fun.

The other thing that I went crazy with was the cupcakes.

They were brownies instead of cake because that's what the birthday girl requested. She also requested cream cheese icing, but I threw peanut butter icing on half of them because it seems she's in the minority of kids her age who like cream cheese icing. Then I made them black light reactive with a little help from my friend tonic water. I tried adding it directly to the icing and that didn't work, so I went with a scheme that involved Jell-O. I was making that anyway because HELLO! MORE FOOD THAT CAN GLOW! It was simple to add a little glow to the icing (instructions/recipe is below, as are all of the party food recipes I used).

There were also glowing Rice Krispies Treats, but those required no intervention. Rice Krispies and marshmallows both reflect black light. I didn't get a picture to prove it because those disappeared within the first 30 minutes of the party (If your kid was at the party, there you go. That's all he or she really ate. SORRY.).

Here's the full menu, as well as the instructions/recipes where appropriate:

Glow Candy (inspired by this)

1/2 cup water
1 vitamin B2 pill (check a vitamin store or Amazon) (it HAS to be vitamin B2, by the way)
1 cup sugar
Food coloring
Candy flavoring (I used peppermint oil)

1. Place the water and the contents of the B2 pill into a medium saucepan. If your B2 pill didn't come in one of those water soluable/breakable cases, you're going to have to crush it. You want a powder in the end.

2. Turn the heat on to medium. Stir constantly until the vitamin powder stuff dissolves completely. Add the sugar and keep stirring.

3. Grab your candy thermometer. You're going to stir until your liquid reaches 200 degrees.

4. When you hit 200 degrees, you can stop stirring. Now let everything simmer until it hits 300 degrees.

5. It's time to start moving SUPER fast. Turn off the heat and add your food coloring and flavoring. FYI--it only takes a drop or two of flavoring. Give it a quick stir.

6. Now use a ladle to quickly pour the liquid candy into a mold. Worth noting, it's not going to shape perfectly because it bubbles a bit while cooling. Use a shape that's forgiving (like the hearts) or follow the instructions for making Kryptonite Candy. Just make sure you work fast. This stuff hardens in less than 2 minutes.

7. Allow the candy to sit until it's fully set. I'd say that takes about 15 minutes. Tops.

Glow Cupcakes

1. Make your cupcakes just like you normally would. Top them with a nice tall pile of frosting and then put them in the freezer. You need to get your frosting to harden a little so it doesn't make a mess.

2. Make some Jell-o. Follow the package instructions, except for the cold water, use tonic water. It's going to jack up the taste of the Jell-o and make it bitter, but if you use a sweeter flavor in the first place, kids don't seem to care.

3. While the Jell-o is still liquid, carefully dip the top of your cupcake into the pot/container/whatever. You only want to get the Jell-o on the frosting, and just a thin layer will do.

4. Toss the cupcakes back in the freezer so the Jell-o sets faster. You can use the leftover Jell-o liquid to make regular Jell-o. Just remember, the tonic water is going to add a bit of bitter to the whole production.

5. You can take the cupcakes out of the freezer once the Jell-o is set. You can't taste it on them at all -- it just makes them look fun under a black light.

Fruit Salad  -- I used strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, mandarin oranges (Dole jarred ones), and bananas. The bananas were black light reactive, meaning they sort of looked like they were glowing.

Fruit Dip -- Recipe here. No glow action at all, but still delicious.

Salad -- Most white foods show up under black lights, so I tossed some shredded paremesan cheese on top of some lettuce, carrots, grape tomatoes, and black olives. Olive oil is black light reactive, so I made an oil and vinegar dressing with also glowy paremsan cheese in it. Most kids picked ranch dressing instead, but at least I tried!

Monster Cookies -- Recipe here. No glow action, but OMG SO GOOD.

Comments

[sassymonkey]

I think I want you to plan my next birthday party. Except that would require me having a birthday party. Maybe I just need you to plan my birthday menu. And find someone to make it.

[hellohahanarf]

horray for quinine and b2!
i am so impressed that you went the extra mile for the food. so well done!