Lydia and I made this birthday cake play set for Kateri for her birthday. We actually started it before Christmas, but decided to save it for a birthday gift as we were too busy with other crafts.
During the winter we eat boxes and boxes of clementines and end up with lots of the little crates that are too cute and useful to discard. Eliza discovered the fun game of turning one of the boxes upside down and putting crochet hooks in all of the holes. This was very entertaining for her and good for fine motor skills - and it gave me the idea for this cake! We knew it would be the perfect gift for Kateri as she loves candles and all things Birthday (thanks to this video).
Lydia painted the bottom of the box white. Then we made a fabric covering for the edges of the box. I cut a piece of fabric long enough to go around the perimeter of the box, plus a little extra for a neat overlap. The fabric was about twice as wide as the height of the box edge. I took the strip of fabric, added a length of batting to give a little padding, and then folded in the sides to made neat edges. We stitched together this fabric 'sandwich' tube, adding three rows of white eyelet 'icing'. We then stitched the ends of it together to make a snug fitting cover for the box. We fastened it onto the box using hot glue.
The candles are just lengths of dowel painted pink. We took a crate with us to the store to make sure we got the right size dowel to fit properly. Josiah cut a notch in the top of each 'candle'; Lydia painted them pink and glued in a foamtastic 'flame'.
You can't have a birthday party without silly birthday hats to make you smile and so we made those too. I used an old party hat as a pattern and traced the wedge shape onto cardboard from a cereal box. I cut out fabric coverings using the cardboard as a pattern but making the fabric about half and inch bigger all around to allow for overlap.
I rolled up the cones, stapled them shut, and then covered the seam with tape for added reinforcement. I figured the glue would stick better to the plain cardboard so I made the cones with the slick printed side on the inside. (Kateri likes to peak inside her hat and say "crunchies in there!" when she sees the cereal picture in there - too cute.) I glued on the fabric covering, folding over the excess and gluing it inside the rim for a tidy edge. I just threaded a length of elastic through holes poked in the sides for a chin strap. I couldn't resist adding an eyelet ruffle and of course a pom pom on top.
Everything fits neatly in the upside down 'cake' for storage.
This was a fun craft to make and the only thing I had to purchase was the dowel - everything else we had on hand. The little girls love to play with this set and they are just so cute together. They put on their hats and sit down and take turns singing Happy Birthday to each other. They enjoy the game of putting all the candles in place and taking them out again. There you have it - a recycled, cheap, cute, fun, skill building, homemade toy!