Mum’s Bunnings party hack with Coles item saves $300

The Queensland mum gave her Bunnings-mad son an epic birthday party by making use of one popular Coles item.

Every time one of Chantelle McNulty’s children has a birthday she lets them name a theme and she will make a cake to match.

This year her son Ari asked for a celebration that featured his two favourite things for his sixth birthday: Bunnings and Christmas.

“We’ve spent a lot of time at Bunnings over the years doing renos and things like that, so the kids will quite often have a play in the Bunnings playground,” Ms McNulty, from Fraser Coast in Queensland, told news.com.au.

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Chantelle McNulty made her son Ari an epic Bunnings cake using three Coles mud cakes. Picture: Supplied.

“And he loves Christmas, he’s already had a Christmas Rudolph birthday party a couple of years ago.”

Ms McNulty has been an amateur cake maker for years and loves using family celebrations to embrace her creative side in the kitchen while “meeting their brief” - while also saving hundreds of dollars in the process.

A few years ago she began using pre-made supermarket mud cakes so she can focus on the decorating.

“I used to make all my own cakes but then I turned to making them with the Coles mud cakes which now saves time,” Ms McNulty said.

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It was for Ari’s Bunnings and Christmas themed birthday party. Picture: Supplied.

“Everyone loves a Coles or Woolies mud cake, so it’s definitely a win-win situation.”

For Ari’s Bunnings and Christmas-themed cake Ms McNulty purchased three mud cakes from Coles, scraping off the chocolate icing and using buttercream icing to layer them on top of each other.

She then dyed buttercream icing a Bunnings green to coat the three cakes, using fondant to make the assorted cake figurines which included a hammer, tape measure, Bunnings logo, reindeer and nails.

“The only bit that wasn’t fondant or made by myself was just the actual tape measure (around the cake),” Ms McNulty said.

The cake was a hit with the kids, who thought the fondant decorations were real tools. Picture: Supplied.

The cake cost between $25-$30 to make, a bargain when Ms McNulty considered the quotes she had previously received to make a cake.

“I got quotes years ago, up to $300 for cakes that were three tiers high with fondant decorations and things like that,” she said.

At Ari’s Bunnings themed party the cake was a hit and the little boy’s friends couldn’t wait to get their hands on the cake.

The party included a ‘garden centre’. Picture: Supplied.

As well as a painting section. Picture: Supplied.

“He loved it and so did all his little friends,” Ms McNulty said.

“The kids were quite excited because they thought the things were real.”

The celebrations included a ‘Garden Centre’ station, DIY pallet fun using rubber mallets, a paint your own plaster statue activity – and of course some Bunnings snags for lunch.

Now Ms McNulty has until November to plan for when her three-year-old daughter turns four.

“She hasn’t given me a theme yet so I’ve still got a bit of time up my sleeve,” she said.