Even though we might not be able to get together in-person to celebrate big life moments right now, there’s no reason we can’t celebrate virtually – and your child’s birthday is no exception!

We’ve put together this step-by-step guide to help make hosting a virtual party as fun and special as it would be if you had it in person.

Planning

• Pick a date - It’s a strange time, and for many of us, our schedules have never been more open. With the slow down of most extracurricular activities, know that you aren’t limited to hosting your virtual party on a weekend. If a Tuesday evening feels like the best fit for your family and guests, go for it!

• Send out invites - Don’t just send a calendar invite to parents with the attendance details. Make it special by designing an e-invite! Paperless Post, Minted, and Punchbowl are all great options for creating your e-invite for free or a small charge depending on your customizations.

• Order the dough - Play dough from the Dough Parlour provides an activity and party favour in one! We recommend ordering at least two different flavours for each guest, but if you’re looking for value, our gift pack sets of three or our party packs of 20 offer some great savings per dough pot. Place your order at least 10 days before your party to make sure you receive everything in time. You can have the dough delivered individually to each of your guests, or have them all shipped directly to you to handle the drop off yourself. If you are delivering the dough yourself, consider also including a snack or a cupcake that can be enjoyed during the party.

• Don’t forget decor - You certainly don’t need to decorate your whole house, but adding some balloons, streamers, or a birthday banner behind where the birthday boy or girl will be sitting will definitely help to level-up the festivities.

Hosting

• Have some ice breakers ready - Kids can get a little camera shy from time to time. Have some icebreaker questions ready for the beginning of the party to get children warmed up and talking. You could ask, “If you could be an animal which one would you be?” or “What’s your favourite thing about winter?”, and have the guests take turns sharing their answers.

• Bring on the dough challenges - Now for the main event! Have the children open up their dough pots and bring out their creativity with some fun creation challenges. For example, the challenges could be to ‘make something that lives in the ocean,’ ‘make one of your family members,’ or ‘make a bracelet.’ We suggest keeping challenges to three minutes to add a fun ‘against the clock’ element to the activity and to keep the party moving. Allow everyone to show their creation on screen after each challenge and say a few words about their masterpiece.

• Give thanks for gifts - If gifts have been sent or dropped off ahead of time, spend some time opening them and thanking guests. If you’d like to cut down on drop-offs at your house, you may want to see if your child would like to pick a charity to ask his or her friends to donate to in place of presents or encourage parents to send gift cards that can be used at a later time for activities or toys.

Wrap Up

• Make a wish - Have a cupcake, donut, or your child’s favourite treat brought out with candles and ask everyone at the party to help you sing happy birthday.

• A big thanks – Thank all guests for coming and be sure to send any pictures (or screenshots) you snapped during the party to the parents – they’ll also cherish this strange and special time for their children.

And there you have it – it might take a little creativity, but hosting a virtual birthday party for your child may turn out to be one of their most memorable birthdays yet.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, it’s the season of love and compassion! What better way to express that love and appreciation for your family and loved ones than with some fresh baked cookies!

Baking can be a great way to bring the family together, especially if you get the kids involved! They’ll love watching and helping you mix the dough, and decorate the cookies when they’re done. Showing them that expressing themselves through doing something homemade and special for someone you care about is always a great lesson. While the cookies are baking and cooling, grab a tub of dough and let them pretend to bake more cookies to keep them occupied while they wait for their sweet treats to be ready!

These heart shaped cookies are very cute and help stir positive emotions with both the baker, and the cookie receiver! Use our classic cookie Dough Parlour Sugar Cookie Recipe and decorate the cookies in whatever colour icing you like, adding sprinkles for some extra sparkle!

What shapes will you bake with your family this Valentine’s Day?

The Dough Parlour’s Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie Recipe
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (or use salted butter and only 1/2 tsp added salt)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp if using salted butter)

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl and beat until creamy.
2. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet until well combined.
5. Divide dough into two disks, cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
TIP: To make cutting easier, pre-roll your dough before putting it into the fridge, just make sure you cover it well so it doesn’t dry out, and use parchment or a silicone baking mat to keep the two layers separate.
6. Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
7. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out one cookie dough to about 1/4″ thick. Add flour as needed.
8. Use our cutters to cut out shapes and transfer shapes to the baking sheet.
9. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until edges begin to golden.
10. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before frosting with your favourite frosting recipe!

Activities for Calmer, Happier Children – Keep Calm and Parent On!

Let’s face it, the stress of today’s changing world not only has us adults dealing with heightened anxiety, but also our children. It’s true, children across the world have been real super stars in dealing with these uncertain, scary times that the COVID pandemic has brought, but it still has had its effect. It has been a monster-full of change for them to bear; changes in their parent’s schedules, and even the limited interaction with family and friends. While the beauty of children is that they always find a reason to smile, the uncertainties and inconsistency in relation to what they expect can cause them mild anxiety.

Being parents ourselves at The Dough Parlour, we worry about our children’s mental health too. Included in those worries is the need to restrict screen time, since it also contributes to aggravating their anxiety.

If you’re anything like us, then you must be exhausted thinking of new ways to keep your children busy! So, we decided to save others the extra work of brainstorming and made a list!

Inspired by Play Therapy we’ve put together some activities that help calm and reduce anxiety in children. Play is a powerful means for children to express their emotions and let us know how they are truly feeling despite not quite knowing how to express themselves in words.

Create a Space

Consider clearing an area in your home, which allows a cluttered free “work space” for children to find a place of calm and consistency, as well as enjoy their play time.

Here are some calming activities, as well as Natalie’s picks showcasing some awesome products that will keep children happy and healthy (yes… and busy!).

• Colouring and Drawing
• Playing with dough
• Puzzles
• Wooden Blocks
• Stuffed Animals
• Finger Painting
• Board/Card Games – Candy Land, Go Fish, etc.

Natalie’s Calming Corner Picks

Dough Parlour’s Founder and Childhood Educator shares some of her favourite products to include in your pre-schoolers ‘calming corner’.

Jelly Cat – For a beautiful friend to play with, cuddle and hold tight – day and night (that wasn’t meant to rhyme, but a mom is a mom!)

Rock Blocks – A different, almost natural way to build. This toy offers building play without traditional blocks but rather play “rocks” that come in calming, relaxing colours.

Janod Puzzles – Dazzling cardboard puzzles, that come with a poster you can use to decorate your space. It’s also packaged in a cute carrying case. It’s easy to tuck away and bring out whenever your children are ready for some quiet play time.

Noodle & Boo – Bath time has its reputation to calm anyone down! These products make bath time a wholesome, soothing experience.

As the expression goes, “it takes a tribe to raise a child” and we’re certain that our creative Dough Parlour followers have tons of great ideas on what they do to help calm their children.

Share with us what you do to help alleviate anxiety in your children/child – tag us @DoughParlour. You never know who can benefit from your experience, including us! 

6 Colouring Pages Filled with Fall Fun!

As we approach cozy, sweater Season and more time indoors for little ones, we thought we’d design some FREE Autumn-inspired colouring pages to enjoy and to help pass the time. All of our graphics are designed in-house by our talented designer, Farhana.

We love colouring pages for a lot of reasons – it’s quick and easy to keep kids busy, mess-free, and helps to support fine motor skills and creativity – plus it’s fun for kids and adults alike, so grab some pencil crayons and join in!

P.S. Did you download our Summer colouring pages yet?

If your child had a great time with Dough Parlour’s colouring pages, then please tag us on Instagram or Facebook (@DoughParlour on both), we’d love to see them!

Download each one individually by clicking on the ones you like best, or download them all at once »

Bonding with Your Children Just Got Even Sweeter!

At The Dough Parlour we’re all about fun and food – especially when it involves sweet treats! Since there’s nothing quite as motivating to children than jumping into ‘real life’ play we have something special for you… We whipped up some easy, delicious, fun shaped cookies, and included the recipe so you can make them too.

This sugar cookie recipe is simply the best, with an added bonus of allowing us to use our creative cutters that dig deep into children’s imagination! Also, if we’re being honest, they taste awesome too (yes, biased, but it’s true).

Of course, the fun doesn’t stop once the cookies are baked, there’s also decorating – yum! If your ‘lil ones are anything like ours, they’ll be excited to complete their cookie making mission by adding icing on top (it’s serious business in here!).

Sugar cookies are a simple, yet great activity that boosts a child’s confidence by organically enticing them to follow through a task from start to finish. They want to do it because it’s fun and rewarding! (It helps that their sweet tooth pushes them to go that extra mile!)

We’ve got plenty of cutter sets to suit every child’s interest! Take a deep dive into crystal waters and sandy beaches with our Mermaid Cutters Set, or check out our Sea Life cutters are available for a limited time in our Summer Edition Sensory Surprise box, available as well at Maisonette.

The Dough Parlour’s Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie Recipe
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (or use salted butter and only 1/2 tsp added salt)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp if using salted butter)

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl and beat until creamy.
2. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet until well combined.
5. Divide dough into two disks, cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
TIP: To make cutting easier, pre-roll your dough before putting it into the fridge, just make sure you cover it well so it doesn’t dry out, and use parchment or a silicone baking mat to keep the two layers separate.
6. Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
7. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out one cookie dough to about 1/4″ thick. Add flour as needed.
8. Use our cutters to cut out shapes and transfer shapes to the baking sheet.
9. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until edges begin to golden.
10. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before frosting with your favourite frosting recipe!

[Print Recipe]

6 Colouring Pages Filled with Sunshine!

Smiles are everywhere with our latest new resource in the Dough Parlour’s online hub! It’s a quick and easy way to keep children busy (and off screens), while supporting their development in fine motor skills and creativity. Another advantage of colouring is that it helps children increase their level of concentration, and offers a form of independent play.

So naturally, we couldn’t help but create something special for parents to print out and enjoy during the summer. Children can have fun with one or all six of our summer fun colouring sheets to get creative at the park, on the patio or just keep busy inside.

Here’s another fun fact about colouring:

“Colouring has the ability to relax the fear center of your brain, the amygdala. It induces the same state as meditating by reducing the thoughts of a restless mind. This generates mindfulness and quietness.”

With that said – moms, dads, grandparents or any caregiver: maybe print two copies and join in on some mental relaxation (and special bonding)

If your child had a great time with Dough Parlour’s summer colouring pages, then please tag us on Instagram or Facebook (@DoughParlour on both), we’d love to see them!

Download each one individually by clicking on the ones you like best, or download them all at once »

Some toys just never go out of style. While ball in cup and the slinky have seen better days, play dough seems to excite children of any generation. That seems to be because play dough is based on imagination and creativity. It’s not a static function toy like the others. Play dough knows no boundaries. So you may be excited to buy some play dough for your kids, and can’t wait to see what sort of creations they come up with. If you want to inspire their creativity here are the top 5 fun things to make with play dough using our 100% non toxic dough parlour, as seen on CBC’s Canadian television show, Dragon’s Den. These ideas below should open up the creativity flood gates and make play dough fun for years to come.

Dough cutters can be the most satisfying thing to use with play dough. It’s also a super fun start for younger kids that need help channeling their creativity. Think of them as the training wheels for play dough! We offer a lot of different cutters so your kid can shape their dough into dinosaurs, llamas, pumpkins, cats, dogs, or even the night sky! Creativity is born at a young age, so help nurture that part of your child’s brain with the right tools!

If your kid is a little beyond the cutter stage, and looking to expand their creative potential, start thinking about what exciting things they see every day. I like to use animals as my inspiration since kids always go wild for animals. Whether it’s a play dough creation of their pet cat or dog, or even a llama, animals are lovable so kids enjoy molding play dough into them.

Making fruits or vegetables is a great way for your young child to form connections with the world around them. I love giving my kids pumpkin spice play dough in the Fall. This way when they make pumpkins, trees, or leaves they also get the sensory benefits of smelling pumpkin too. Sensory learning is so crucial for young minds, so I like to facilitate those connections that help them build their knowledge base. Since my dough is made from 100% all-natural and non-toxic ingredients you don’t have to worry about the temptation they’ll naturally have for putting their creations in their mouths. All kids do it, but you shouldn’t have to worry about what that means for their health! ADDED BONUS – This activity might make your child a better eater and give them more appreciation for healthy foods.

Dinosaurs have sparked the imagination of kids for many generations now. Everyone loves the mysterious world that we can’t quite grasp. So give your kids some ideas on how to make fun dino creations! Grab some penne pasta for spikes, candy corn for teeth, and googly eyes. Then sit back and watch your kid bring the dinosaur of their dreams to life!

Nothing adds character quite like googly eyes and pipe cleaners. With these simple tools, your child can create life-like creations, monsters, princesses or whatever beings their imaginations can come up with. Pipe cleaners are great because they can be arms, legs, tails, or cut shorter to make hair.