As it turned out, it was a lot more orderly that I expected, and everyone had a good time, myself included. We had invited a dozen five year-olds to make their own pizzas to help Julia celebrate her fifth birthday, and the weekend before I was wondering if I’d got a little carried away –as did my (childless) friend Paul, who, after a moment of stunned silence, graciously offered to help.
It helped that we were prepared.
David covered the hall carpet with drop cloths, and we rented kid-sized tables and chairs. The decorations and party favors were cheerful and simple — striped (washable) table cloth and kids’ aprons from Les Toiles du Soleil and toques with adjustable velcro closures. (There may be nothing cuter than a kid in a toque.)
Before everyone came I set out kid-friendly pizza toppings in a line of bowls down the center of the table to reduce boarding-house reaches and spills –fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, black olives, sauteed chicken sausage, grated parmesan and jack cheese. David’s mom and I had also pre-stretched the dough for each little pizza and placed it on individual 12-inch aluminum pizza pans covered with plenty of cornmeal to prevent sticking. After the kids had pulled and stretched their dough, Paul and David’s mom added a simple tomato sauce (adult help averting a big red mess), and then the kids went to town with the toppings.
I was worried about a baking bottleneck, but I fit two pizzas in each of two ovens, and at 550F (288C), they only took about 6 minutes to bake, so nobody waited long. All in, I baked 24 pizzas for the kids and their parents and caregivers.
And Paul had so much fun that he’s going to co-host an adult DIY pizza party in a couple of weeks. But I don’t think we’ll have to cover the carpet.
