Food

The Menu
A classic British boarding school menu, such as roasted meats; boiled, roasted or fried potatoes; boiled carrots; and, for dessert, Yorkshire pudding or various flavors of ice cream to go with the cake.

Drinks
• Goblets of soda or juice, or teacups of hot tea served from a teapot

• Wizard Punch

Float a plastic plate in a bowl of your favorite punch and place a paper cone of the same color on top to resemble a wizard hat. If desired, decorate the cone with yellow crescent moon and star shapes in a contrasting color.

• Spider Cider Punch

Fill a punch bowl with spiced apple cider. Float a yellow plastic plate on the punch and place a plastic toy spider on top of the plastic plate.

Cakes
If you have time and a grown-up to help you, you can make a Book of Magic Spells Cake. Or, if you'd like to try an easier project, make the Sword in the Stone Cupcakes below.

Ask an adult to help you with this recipe, especially when using the knife and the oven.

Ingredients:
• One box of cake mix, plus ingredients as box directs
• Two 16-oz cans of white frosting
• Yellow and green food coloring

Directions:

1. Bake the cake in a 9x13-inch pan according to directions and cool.

2. Cut the cake as illustration shows by first cutting a line down the center of the cake. This cut should be 2/3 of the way through the cake, not completely through the cake.

3. About 2-inches from the center cut, cut a diagonal line inward toward the center. Or, cut on a slight curve as the cake in the illustration shows.

4. Cut the outside edges of the cake at a 45-degree angle forming the slant of the pages.

5. Freeze the cake uncovered for about an hour to make the frosting spread on easier.

   Color 3/4 of the frosting yellow and 1/4 of the frosting green.

6. Remove the cake from the freezer and frost the "pages" yellow. To give the appearance of pages, pull a cake decorator's comb across the outer edges of the cake. (You can substitute a fork for a cake decorator's comb.)

7. Put the green frosting in a cake decorator's bag fitted with a No. 104 tip or a rose tip, and frost a bookmark along the center of the cake. Change the tip to a No. 1 tip and add fringes to the bookmark.

8. On the left page, use green frosting to write "Chapter 13 Birthday Spells and Potions." The chapter number could refer to the age you are turning this birthday. On the right page, write "Happy Birthday" and your name.