My 4-year-old's princess party

I have never been too keen on the whole princess/ Barbie/ fairy/ pink thing for girls. But it took me less than 3 years as the mother of a daughter to realise that this was inevitable (actually, the pink part was inevitable as soon as I started buying and receiving clothes for my first girl!) Now I have embraced the pink/ princess/ fairy thing. I'm still not too keen on the Disney princesses, but again... inevitable, and not worth fighting over. 

Miss 4 had a princess afternoon tea party yesterday. It was significant in that it was the first party where Miss 4 chose her own friends to come... not necessarily the children of our friends and family (though I am also friends with all the mothers) And, embracing the pink/ pretty/ princess thing was lots of fun!

The cake was made following a You tube clip (gotta love the Internet!). If I'm being a perfectionist, I can see a few things wrong, but all in all, I was pretty happy with it.

The very sweet spread included jelly cups, fruit, pink and gold fairy bread, pink cupcakes, and pink-iced shortbread biscuits (hearts and star shapes). There were some party sausage rolls throw in for good measure (just the frozen ones, not home-made).

I got some of the decorations and the invitations from a cute online store - Lovely Chubblies. They also have some great pirate-themed things. Hard to resist the urge to have a 3rd birthday party for Mr 2. (We are trying to stick to parties for even years).

I followed another online tutorial from "Mum's the Word" to make the tissue-paper pom-poms.

We prettied up our day-bed (which is usually covered with dog-fur and mouldy cushions), by adding a pink fitted sheet and some indoor pink cushions (from our bed and Miss 4's bed)

The girls were so cute in their princess outfits. I won't post any clearer pictures of other kids, for privacy reasons. Dress-ups was a last minute decision, but it seems every 3 or 4 year-old girl owns a princess or fairy outfit! There were also two boys - one came as a dinosaur, and the other had a storm-trooper mask. Mr 2 was a "pirate in shining armour" -half in a pirate costume and half-knight costume. (Matt couldn't find the pirate shirt and I didn't have time to dig around).

We played "pin the crown on the princess". And, the kids also initiated their own games of "Duck, Duck Goose" and "What's the time Mr. Wolf?"

The birthday girl was just thrilled with the day, and had a lovely time. Thanks everyone who came!

30 minutes to turn your daughter into a butterfly

We attended a (very fun) 2nd birthday party on Sunday, with the theme of "jungle animals". When I first discussed the party with Miss 3, she insisted that she should go dressed as a pig. Pink pigs are a favourite here at the moment.

I had started putting together a bit of a pig costume - ears attached to a head-band, a cardboard snout and a spiral type tail. Then on Sunday at lunch-time came a late costume change - Miss 3 decided she wanted to go as a butterfly. (She finally admitted that a pig - at least a pink one - isn't really a jungle animal, although by this stage I had stopped trying to convince her)

Under most circumstances, I probably would have made her stick with the pig costume, but I had a brainwave about how I could make a butterfly, and, with about 90 minutes to party-time, I wanted to give it a go (Plus, I thought it would be quite cute for both girls to be matching butterflies!)

So, here is how to make a (no-sew) butterfly costume in about 30 minutes (about 50 minutes to make two). If you are clever with this sort of thing, you could probably do it even faster.

1. Cut out two wing shapes with cardboard. I placed the two pieces of cardboard on top of each other so the centre join would be the same length without measuring.

 2. Cover each half of the wing with some fabric

3. Wrap like a birthday present, fold and staple the edges

4. Staple the two halves together

5. Tie, or staple some elastic onto the back (front?) of the wings and make two loops for arms to go through

6. Make antennae by using a head-band, and wrapping pipe cleaners around the top

7. Wear a skivvy and tights with your wings and antennae

8. Join your "elephant" brother (and many other jungle animal guests) and par-tay!

Join Jess at Diary of a SAHM

Party for a 2-year-old

We have  been recovering from a busy  (long) weekend of toddler partying. Friday was spent preparing for Mr. 2's party. Saturday was spent partying (from 10am-12pm).  At 11:50am(ish) on Saturday, I succumbed to the 'flu, and spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday feeling all feverish, achy, and snotty-nosed...

For those planning a child's birthday party, I recommend the Internet as a source of inspiration. I must acknowledge 2 fabulous and well-known blogs - Planning with Kids and Be a Fun Mum - for general ideas and inspiration. Here is what we did:

1) Followed a theme

I was reluctant to have a Thomas the Tank Engine theme, although my 2-year-old is a bit of a fan. I think my reluctance was mostly because Thomas is so popular and overdone! The decision was made for me however when, in a hurry to get invitations out, I asked my husband to get some ready-made invitations. He chose Thomas the Tank Engine. In the end however, we ran with the theme and it was quite a lot of fun!

Although we did not buy specific Thomas the Tank Engine party merchandise (though my mum bought party hats), we kept to the theme with:

•  Blue and red coloured balloons, plastic plates
• The cake - I didn't want to do a train cake, as I did this for Mr. 2's 1st birthday party, so my friend Thora suggested another Thomas character. I went with Harold the Helicopter.

• Party boxes/ bags - I got plain red and blue boxes and used cut-outs from some "Thomas" wrapping paper to stick on the front of each box

• Cupcake toppers - again, cut-outs from wrapping paper, stuck on to toothpicks

• The outfit of the party boy!

2) Used the grandparents' house 

Wow, I was happy about this one! It didn't end up raining during the party, but it was looking pretty close. Our house would never have accommodated all the guests. Many of our guests were from our previous area, so my parents' house was closer for them anyway. The only disadvantage here was the worry about transporting food and toys, and having to get there pretty early on Saturday.

It was also great to have grandparents on hand to keep an eye on our children, (especially our  7-month-old) leaving time for Matt and I to run around, get things organised and chat to people.

3) Kept the food simple and child-friendly

I aimed the catering at the kids (though adults were more than welcome to eat too!). We had:

• Blue-iced cupcakes with "Thomas flags"

• Rice bubble slice, cut in the shape of trains, planes and boats
• Cheese sandwiches
• Watermelon and grapes
• Jelly cups
• Pop-tops
• The birthday cake

4) Kept the party time short

Considering we had 25 or so children, mostly 1-4 years of age, the kids were amazingly well-behaved. This may not have been the case if we had a longer party! Based on what I know of my own children, I think 2 hours is an ideal length of time for a toddler birthday party. Mornings are also better than afternoons. 10am-12pm was perfect.

5) Provided unstructured activity "centres"

I didn't want to make life difficult for myself by trying to run structured party games with toddlers. Instead, we had designated play areas. There was an outdoor mat with cars and trucks etc, a play-dough table, a colouring/ drawing table, a dress-up box (I don't think anyone used this), and some "little people" toys. As it turned out, the "random toy" area (with the toys from MY childhood) was most popular.

6) Kept the "formal bit" short

Kids don't want to listen to speeches when they could be playing and eating! A brief "Happy Birthday" time and present-opening is plenty for kids to observe

What are your best party tips for toddlers?

I love to hear your opinions. Please click on the title of this blog post if you would like to view comments or add your own comment.

(PS - I haven't included photos of guests (well, faces anyway) because I haven't permission to do so. If you were at the party and want to see some more photos, let me know and I'll email you or put something on my personal Facebook page... )

Our big girl

Three years ago...

Ah, so clueless! I thought the worst bit was over!

This weekend...

A pink big girl's bike (well, pink-ish)

A "fairy" cake

A special outing with Grandad

Sisters

What happened to those 3 years? We have packed a lot in (2 more children for example), but those years have flown...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS CHATTERBOX!!!


(It seems my blog has a few issues at the moment which I am not tech-savvy enough to resolve. I apologise if anything looks funny or wrong at your end. I probably won't be blogging too much over the next 2 weeks or so as we finally complete our move and settle in to a new area. I'm hoping by the time I get back to blogging more consistently all the issues will be miraculously resolved!)