DIY: Super Easy Marshmallow Pops

You don't have the knack for baking but wants those cake pops for your dessert buffet or for give away for your little princess' party? Try marshmallow pops instead!

It's super easy to make as you don't have to touch the oven (maybe just the microwave to melt the chocolate coating) and you don't have to worry about making the cake into perfectly shaped balls because your pops just take the shape of your marshmallows. All you need are a few ingredients and lots of creativity!

I am speaking from experience, I tell you. I did marshmallow pops for the first time and called it "Mushroom Wands" for my daughter's fairy party.

 

 

You too can do this and these are the ingredients/materials you will need:

 

- Lollipop sticks OR

- Colored straws (the hard ones, not those used for softdrinks) OR

- Barbeque sticks (if colored straws are not available)

- Marshmallows (the huge ones) in your desired color/s but I recommend to use white

- Candy sprinkles, (vermicelli sprinkles is the one I used in my mallows above) or other colorful sprinkles in various shapes (I've seen stars, hearts, and flowers at Chocolate Lover)

- White chocolate - I prefer to use this especially if sprinkles to be used are of light shades (baby pink, light green etc). I find the chocolate color a bit messy to look at.

 

Here's the very easy steps:

 

1. Melt the chocolates using a double broiler. Some would recommend using a microwave but I find it doesn't melt the chocolates evenly and the possibility of burning the chocolate is likely.

 

TIP: If you don't have a double broiler, the easiest way (but slow) is to put very hot water into a bowl then put a smaller glass bowl on top of the water. Melt your chocolate on the smaller bowl. Chocolate melts better in small chunks so slice the bar into bite size pieces for melting.

 

2. Insert a lollipop stick into each marshmallow and gently dip it into the melted chocolate. You can dip the entire mallows or just half of it, depends on what you want or the design you want to achieve.

 

3. Gently shake off the excess chocolate and roll or dip into the candy sprinkles!!

 

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!!

 

Party Venue : One San Miguel Avenue Building Penthouse (49th Floor)

Perhaps unknown to many, there is a lovely function room on top of this very tall building in Ortigas. The function room is managed by Baby Nathan's Kitchen, the sole food concessionaire at One San Miguel Avenue Bldg (OSMA). Baby Nathan's is part of the CateringTrio group that manages the function rooms at Prestige Tower at Emerald Avenue and Deh-Tah Restaurant at Camp Crame.

Anyway, the roofdeck function room at OSMA can accommodate 140 guests but you have to lay out the tables wisely as the room is not square but rather a long rectangle with huge pillars.

Baby Nathan's allows clients for a food tasting meeting after you have chosen your menu. Grab that opportunity so you know exactly how your food will fare with your guests. You can also comment if the dish is too salty, bland etc.

As to the food presentation, I will give them 2 thumbs up. They use elegant chaffing dishes that are usually used in hotels. The buffet setup is made better by their individual spot lights for each dish although they don't have any buffet centerpiece.



Rental for the function room is FREE for four (4) hours provided you reach a food order of Php25,000 plus service charge.

Interested? Here's what I think are the points to consider when renting this party venue:

Pros:

1. The huge annoying pillars were covered with full length mirrors to compensate, thus giving an illusion of extra space (and elegance).

2. Baby Nathan provides the stage, sound system, screen if you are using an LCD projector all FREE of charge.

3. There's no corkage fee if clients bring in 3 dishes (including lechon) and they will even provide you with the chaffing dishes for the outside food. They will even provide (setup nicely) the lechon table and chop it - without corkage!

4. You and your guest can enjoy the beautiful view of Metro Manila at night from the rooftop!

Cons:

1. The huge pillars positioned almost near the center of the room make lay outing challenging especially if you are bringing in food carts and you have an elaborate program.

2. Stage can be setup only in the middle, facing the main entrance which would mean the guests are watching from the side.

3. The function room is exclusive only for Baby Nathan's Kitchen. No outside catering service is allowed.

Interested to have a party here? Contact the following:

Baby Nathan's Kitchen

9th Floor, One San Miguel Ave. Bldg

San Miguel Ave., cor Shaw Boulevard

Pasig City

Tel. No:

Look for Sheng or Annie

You may also check their website for more details on their menu.

Shakey's Kiddie Party - Not a Typical Fast Food Party

Fast Food chains are slowly becoming a popular choice for kiddie parties especially by parents who doesn't have the luxury of time to plan and the bulk of a moolah to pay for an extravagant birthday bash.

Now that we have 3 kids, I sort of consider myself very well versed in party planning so I thought I wouldn't spend so much now on by youngest child's birthday but still give her an unforgettable, fun and 'hindi mukhang tinipid' kiddie party especially that it's her first birthday.

We've attended dozens of kiddie parties in fast food chains like Jollibee, McDonalds, Burger King etc but the party at Shakey's stands out to me as good choice for a 1st birthday. First, my daughter is still too young to appreciate Jollibee and there's McDo at almost every corner of Metro Manila. I also read in another blog that Shakey's can serve the party food buffet style.

 

I checked various blogs before proceeding to a Shakey's branch so I already know that the buffet food is actually their Monster Meal Deal which they will serve buffet style. And why not, MMD is good for 10-12 people and contains all party food (pasta, garlic bread, chicken, mojos, pizza and drinks). It's a great deal for Php2079 (SC not included) per set.

I chose a branch with a Fun Zone area. Fun Zone is a small arcade where kids can buy tokens and play. As of this posting there are only 4 branches with Fun Zone - E.Rodriguez,  Katipunan, Quezon Avenue and Marcos Hi-way. We're from Rizal so Marcos Hiway was our branch of choice. It has a huge party area that can accommodate up to 120 guests. There's also ample free parking spaces around the branch.

The party themes available are Barney and Justice League, both of which did not appeal to me so I requested be allowed to create my own theme. This would mean I would drop their party amenities which includes game prizes and party give aways. Luckily, the agreed and wasn't charged a dime.

The money I saved for not getting the party amenities, I of course used to purchase our own game prizes, loot bags and other kiddie party ornaments bearing our own theme which is Tinkerbell. The staff still happily arranged them on a dressed table for the party and helped me with the setup.

 

 

They also provided the party host free of charge even though we did not avail the party amenities. The party host did a great job with the kids especially with the games. She basically ran the whole program.

 

I was also allowed to put my candy/dessert buffet to complement the Chocolate Fountain service that I booked (a partner of Shakey's). The dessert buffet and chocolate fountain were actually one of the best ideas I put for this party as it served as finger food for the guests, kids especially, while waiting for the meals to be served.

It's a bit tedious putting the candy buffet together and manage it while I host the party, but then that's the price I have to pay for wanting to have it DIY :) hehe. (Tips on how to setup your own Candy Buffet to follow).

So for those mommies out there who is considering Shakey's, allow me to enumerate what I think are the pros and cons of having your party there:


Pros

1. Just like other fast food chain kiddie parties, a Shakey's party is only for 2 hours. Best to plan the program neatly to maximize the time. If the store allows it, try to haggle for an extra hour especially if they don't have a booking after your party. You will be charged an extension fee of course (Php1000 at Marcos Hiway).

 

2. Unlike other fast food chain parties, Shakey's allowed us to serve the cake to our guests. In other words, di masyadong maarte. I heard other branches would ask for a waiver to be signed, but luckily for us at Marcos Hiway, this was never asked.

 

3. Fun Zone tokens are being sold at only Php10 each and can be used as prizes for games to those arcade addicts enthusiastic kids.

 

4. The food is good! The chicken parts are huge and crispy. The pasta are filling and you have 2 choices pa. Best of all, they now allow you to choose your pizza (because before they have only Pepperoni and Manager's Choice).

 

5. They are not too strict (at least at Marcos Hiway) and tried to accommodate all my requests, including additional balloons, additional dressed tables, party hour extension (must be made WEEKS before the party and not on the spot), photobooth service from a non accredited provider and many more!

Cons

1. The party themes at Shakey's are limited and lame. Justice League and Barney? Seriously? Haha. If only they can come up with better themes then I am sure clients would be availing more.

2. The Fun Zone can be both a blessing and a curse. From our experience, I felt the downside of the Fun Zone when the kids became very hard to coax to come into the party area and join the program. They are more interested in the arcade!

3. They have a mascot which nobody knows or even remember. I haven't met a kid who is aware of Shakey's mascot. Haha.