Ten Science-Themed Party Treats

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Ten Science-Themed Party Treats

Halloween is just around the corner and if you're planning a party in the lab we've got some great ideas for you! Impress your sweet-toothed research colleagues on their next coffee break with one of our tasty suggestions. From DNA cookies to fruity molecules, delicious petri dishes to a periodic cake table, there's something on the menu for every science fan. Get creative with the snacks at your next lab group meeting with these 10 science-themed party treats!

1) Gel Electrophoresis Cookies

First is a simple yet effective idea from the notsohumblepie blog. All you need is an easy sugar cookie recipe and some royal icing, and you can decorate your biscuit tops with DNA fragments! You'll need a steady hand to pipe the pink markers onto the part-set purple icing, but the result can be very effective. If you really want to impress your lab colleagues, why not try to replicate the patterns of their own microbiology gels!

Find the recipe here: Gel Electrophoresis Cookies

2) Antibody Cupcakes

Here at Hello Bio HQ we celebrated our success at the 2023 CiteAb Awards with these specially commissioned antibody cupcakes! Based on our unique ValidAbs range of products, we were delighted to received this delicious order of uniquely decorated cake toppers. Why not get your science designs (or your lab mate's face!) printed onto icing and place them on top of your favourite bakes?

Find out more: Custom Cupcake Toppers from EatYourPhoto.co.uk

3) Periodic Cake Table

Have you got a really big lab party coming up? Do you need a large number of small cakes for a special science event? This idea might just be perfect for you! This periodic cake table is is a fun way to feed lots of hungry mouths at a science-themed gathering. We recommend placing cards or a printed table underneath the cupcakes so that the design stays together as people start to tuck in to your delicious cakes. A word of warning though... this is no small task! If you do decide to tackle this eye-catching display, be prepared to bake and decorate 118 cakes!

More examples:

4) Fruity Molecular Structures

This is a great idea is for the chemists among you! Grape molecules are an eye-catching idea for any party, and especially fun for the little ones to get involved (be sure to supervise with those sharp cocktail sticks!). Build any structure you like and try freezing your grapes first for an interesting twist. You can even switch out the grapes for candies if you have an even sweeter tooth!

More info: Grape Molecule Food Science Activity

5) Rock Candy Crystals

These rock candy crystals not only look impressive, they taste great too! By using a supersaturated sugar solution, you can grow your own sugar crystals on lollipop sticks. The process takes around a week, with crystals forming when the sugar solution encouters a 'seed' molecule, in this case, regular granulated sugar we all have in our kitchen cupboards! Try adding your own coloring and flavoring to personalize the treats.

Full instructions from The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Science on a Stick: Rock Candy

6) Sweet DNA Structures

This fun activity is another fantastic way to display sweet treats with a science theme at your next party. Using cocktail sticks, licorice pencils and some jelly candies you can create your own double helix structure! Be sure to use candies of different colours so that you can assign them to each of the four nucleotides - adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine - just make sure you match your bases!

Find out how here: DNA Model Project With Candy

7) Edible Water Bubbles

Amazing your party guests with these very unusual offerings! Edible water bubbles can be made at home using a process called spherification, although the recipe requires a few things you might not normally find in your kitchen cupboards! However, you can easily purchase both sodium alginate and food grade calcium lactate online, which are combined to create the tasteless membrane that cleverly encases water in an intriguing bubble!

Watch this instructional video from inhabitat.com: How to Make an Edible Water "Bottle"

8) Edible Sugar Glass

This brilliant sugarcraft idea is both eye-catching and fascinating. Sugar glass can be crafted in molds to make all manner of shapes such as edible test tubes, stained glass windows and even sea glass. By boiling sugar and water and adding coloring and flavoring you can make bowls full of these crystalized treats to impress your party guests.

Follow the recipe: Easy Edible Sea Glass Candy

9) Delicious Petri Dishes

Looking for an unusual way to portion jelly at your next lab team dinner? Maybe you want to spook the kids at a mad scientist-themed Halloween party? Why not try these petri dish jelly shots from sugarandcloth.com! You can even use different shapes of sprinkles to top your toxic desserts with the various classes of bacteria! Just make sure you don't mix these up with your actual agar plates...

Find out how: Petri Dish Jello Recipe

10) Red Velvet Brain Cake

And finally... why not use a brain cake mold to create this gruesome showstopper! Coated in white chocolate and with a cream cheese frosting, this cake recipe from Parties with a Cause is definitely a lot tastier than it looks. Perfect to present as a Halloween party gift, and a great way to impress the neuroscientists among you.

Get the recipe: Brain Cake Tutorial

We hope our list of Ten Science-Themed Party Treats has inspired you to try and make you own delicious snacks! Share photos of your own science-themed party creations via social media, or email hello@hellobio.com

More ‘Top Tens’ from Hello Bio!

Here are some more great 'top ten' recommendations on the Hello Bio blog:

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Ten Science-Themed Party Treats

Ten Science-Themed Party Treats

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