Ten

On Tuesday of this week Lily turned 10. A whole decade. To celebrate reaching double-figures I laid on an after-school afternoon tea for her and six close friends. It was relaxed, fun and I hope memorable. Celebrating such moments in life is time well spent in my book.

So I set to work making tiny cheese & cucumber rolls, filling pretty striped paper cups with chipsticks, baking sausage rolls and filling cocktail sized vol au vents. Then there were mini strawberry & cream meringues, individual coconut & cherry loaf cakes, mini chocolate cakes, mini orange & almond cakes and paper cups filled with lemon cupcake popcorn, berries and chocolate discs and to top it all off a 'fox' birthday cake.

It's the decorations and tableware that also make a gathering an occasion and, in this case, turn one of the most special days of the year into one of the prettiest. All the decorations and tableware in this shoot are from My Little Day, a French online boutique that sell all the kit required to host the most beautiful children's birthday parties. From bunting, confetti-filled balloons and tassel garlands to paper plates, cups, straws and napkins in contemporary patterns. I even made party bags using the paper bags and mini paper rosettes  - they were the icing on the cake.

A Lesson In How To Do Christmas Decorations

The Christmas build-up has started in earnest this weekend. Yesterday was Lily's school Christmas Fair. I organised and ran the craft tables: it's been a bit of a 'second job' these past few weeks what with all the prep work involved but it's been what I would call 'busy-fun'.

Today we had our first official Christmas Engagement: a small pre-christmas gathering for some festive drinks at a friend's house. The abode in question belongs to an old friend of ours, affectionately known as Phil Hair (the name came about as we have three good friends all called Phil and this particular Phil is a hairdresser). But it's not only hair he has a way with. No, come December he turns his flat into the most amazing grotto. This is a man not afraid of multi-coloured tree lights and paper-chains. All of the decorations are vintage; some from as far back as the 40's and 50's. There's a fair amount of ones from the 60's and 70's too; some of which felt so very familiar. It's A Wonderful Life played on the TV and Christmas Tunes provided the background music. You couldn't fail to feel festive.

It's great to have a friend who goes through such effort each year (we're talking 2 - 3 days set up here). The kids loved it: it's far better than a trip to the local 'festive spectacular' in the shopping centre. We practically billed it to them as a 'fun afternoon out', and they weren't disappointed. Being the only children at the gathering wasn't a problem for them. They lapped up the festive ambience along with  what they would call a 'good spread'; nibbles in the form of crisps, peanuts, mince pies and chocolate mini rolls. I think we all could have stayed in that snug, comforting, nostalgic environment late into the evening. I left with a warm festive feel-good glow, though feeling a little inadequate in the Christmas decorations department.

What A Swell Party It Was ...

Yesterday afternoon we threw a small party at home to celebrate Arthur's 2nd birthday. It was delightful. All the little guests seemed to enjoy the celebration. Experience has taught me that the under 6's actually make perfect guests, so long as you keep the numbers low (our party was for 8). A simple meal and plenty of toys to hand is a winner for them. Those who know me are aware that I have difficultly keeping things 'simple', but I think I did okay. I forcefully limited my creative bursts to the cake, a bit of decor and a little take-home gift. The weather was dry so we decided to bring some of the party outside. The children enjoyed playing in the red house (which was a rather weather-beaten pale pink until I got handy with a paint brush last week). I put table and chairs outside complete with printed place names and little floral arrangements (I know they're only two, but just humour me!) for an alfresco tea of fish-fingers & chips. When plates were clean out came the birthday cake. Arthur simply loves cake and ice-cream, so I kind of combined the two, making individual ice-cream cone cakes. They are basically a cupcake baked into an ice cream cone. The result was complete silence, a high usage of wet wipes and 100% approval from the little people! After more play came home time, which some guests find a little hard -  after all who ever wants a good party to come to an end? But I hoped that the take home gift of a jar of homemade playdough and a bag of No. 2 shaped chocolate-chip cookies made it a little bit easier to bare.

Party Time - Part Two: The Poms

These are my Poms. Everybody loves a Pom it seems. I made fifteen of them to decorate our living room with for Lily's party this weekend. After the party each child took one home with them. A few children on receipt of their Poms squashed them on top of their heads to make them look like hats and did several laps around the living room - it was a full energy party you know! Other's carried them out the door like they were the most delicate petal flower they'd ever held and took them home to hang from their bedroom ceiling - it has to be said, that reaction warmed my heart deeply. 

I first made Poms for Lily's party last year and they went down really well. This year was going to be all about my fabric party hats - these were to be the new Poms. But as the party drew nearer parents of children who came last year began to ask if I might be doing the Poms again this year as their son or daughter loved theirs and still had theirs up from last year. One mother even told of her daughter's recent Pom trauma that was bought on by the delicate Pom not surviving their recent house move. I felt a huge responsibility to go down the Pom road again and I ordered my batches of tissue papers.

Poms are actually great for many reasons. Firstly they create quite an impact decoration wise and they are cheaper to make than alternative similar garlands. They're also a good eco option as the children won't want to throw them away and the Poms can continue their existence quite happily hanging from a bedroom ceiling. The original reason we opted for Poms was that unlike a balloon they won't go bang. With Lily not keen on balloons it seemed the best option. Who would have thought they would have gained such a fan base. I'll probably be making them for her wedding reception in years to come!

Party Time - Part One

This weekend was the 'big' weekend of Lily's 6th Birthday party. An event that I had been preparing for for many weeks and a day referred to on a regular basis by Lily for about the last 6 weeks .... no pressure then for me to pull it off! I have a reputation for going the extra mile when putting on a party. Some people really do think I'm a sandwich short of a picnic. I relish in the creative freedom you can choose to have with a party, particularly that of a six-year-old girl's.

Lily likes to have a certain amount of involvement, but also likes a balance of surprise. So she was involved with some details such as the making of the party hats (which almost became a part-time job!), yet the cake was made after dark in topmost secret.

I set out to document the party and all the bits that I made for it, but some things weren't photographed due to the last minute chaos that always happens when putting on a party no matter how in control you think you might be. So I will share with you what I did manage to record over the next few posts.

I started off with a simple theme of pattern and colour. Naturally it gave a nod-and-a-wink to the nostalgia of the nineteen-seventies. It was to be a simple party at home like we had in the good old days.

We had fifteen children in all. We were certainly pushing the limit in our living room, so we were thankful that the sun came out and we were able to let the children spill out into our courtyard. On arrival each child selected a party hat (which they later took home). We played lots of fun games from pass-the-parcel (with forfeits) to musical statues. I made individual lunch bags for the children each with some mini danish pizza's, cheesy biscuits, breadsticks, carrot sticks, grapes and a little pot of cream cheese. There was orange or apple juice to wash it all down with and then came out my homemade strawberry and rainbow sprinkle cupcakes and No. 6 shaped chocolate-chip cookies. The lunch concluded with the birthday cake and a song of 'happy birthday'. After a pretty crazy two hours it was home-time and everyone left with their hats, a party bag, a tissue paper pom and a piece of birthday cake. Lily throughly enjoyed herself and I dare say that the children probably all slept rather well that night. 

I however, have decided that next year we shall either take the party out of the home or do something on a smaller scale. Six year-old's parties are, shall we say, quite a few steps up the scale from a five year-old's party. A large glass of wine was much needed once I had got my house back. Now I can get back to normality with a much reduced to-do list. Lovely!