Party Time - Part Four: The Bags

It's onwards and upwards with the 'party posts'. The subject of this post is the all-important party bag. Now, I'm unaware of when the party bag thing became an essential part of a children's party - sometime between being a child myself and becoming a mother who throws birthday parties for her children I guess. In my day you would take home a slice of birthday cake wrapped in a piece of kitchen roll and, if you were lucky, perhaps a balloon. 

Well Lily assures me that party bags are the pinnacle of all good parties and every child loves to receive a bundle of booty to take home with them. I've been witness to many types of party bag over the last few years. It seems that the likes of Disney Princess, Hello Kitty, Spiderman and Thomas the Tank Engine have the monopoly on the party bag, which seems wrong to say the least. Also they are incredibly 

un-eco and throw-away. So if Lily wants party bags she has them my way; unique, simple, handmade and hopefully longer-lasting.

The bags themselves I make from fabric. They are really quick to run up on the sowing machine. They are fasten with ribbons that I finished off with some spare pom poms that I had left over from the fabric party hats. The contents were kept simple as the children also took home their fabric party hats and a tissue paper pom. Inside each bag was a Chocolate Bar, a Tunnocks Teacake (just love the wrapper), Bubbles, Seeds (Giant Cinderella Pumpkins), Coloured Pencils and a printed poem (The End by A. A. Milne from Now We Are Six). To make the contents that little bit special I replaced all the wrappers (other than the Tunnock Teacake of course!) with my own wrapper designs that fitted my theme of 'bright patterned retro prints'. Some may say it's a step too far, but I found it a rather nice way to round things off. 

A Tune for Tuesday No. 3

It's Tuesday again, so time to post another 'Tune for Tuesday'. Random, nostalgic and good-for-the-soul, this week's tune is one of my favourite David Bowie tracks. I first came to really know this song in fairly recent years. An old friend who now lives in Ireland, posted me a CD with this one song burnt onto it whilst I was heavily pregnant with Lily. I played it over and over, and it now brings back happy memories of excitement and anticipation of very nearly being a mother.

As if that wasn't reason enough to make this song 'A Tune for Tuesday', today is also the said friends birthday. So it has to be and can only be.

Enjoy (& Happy Birthday Kevin! x)

Party Time - Part Three: The Hats

This is the final 'party' post for today, but there are still a couple more to come tomorrow or later in the week. Now let me introduce you to my homemade Party Hats. 

In the back of my mind, I have a business plan to start a small venture, providing 'bits' for children's parties. These hats were the start of that idea and I used Lily's party as a trial run for them. Without doubt people love them, but they are so very time consuming to make. I need to find a way to cut back on the time otherwise they're not a viable product to make money from. Any advice or feedback would be gratefully received!

Many of the fabric's I used were vintage or vintage inspired. I remember a yellow and brown floor-length party dress I wore to lots of parties as a little girl and that memory triggered the inspiration for these hats. I started off with mass-produced pom-poms for the top, but they were too perfectly formed and fluffy, so I bought some wool and made my own, which I think finished each hat off much better, yet added another five minutes per hat!

I'm a bit 'hatted out' for now, but soon I will revisit them and see if there is any life for them out there in the mad and crazy world of children's parties.

Now We Are Six .... well almost

Several times, on a daily basis, Lily is informing me of how many days to her birthday and how many days to her party. This countdown has been in full-flow for a good two weeks or so now and we've still almost that much time to go again to we get there.

I have however, probably added fuel-to-the-fire by having started preparations for her party. I pride myself on being organised - I have lists (and in some cases notebooks) to catalogue the various projects and daily tasks I have in my life. Lists keep me sane.

So the party. Well, we are having it at home. I've yet to venture holding one of Lily's parties outside of the home, although the day after each years party I swear that next year we're hiring a hall or that Lily can pick a few select friends to have a dinner out with. She's not having it and to be honest neither am I. I love the idea of young children having their parties at home, just as we used to. Their expectations are relatively small; a party bag, games, pass-the-parcel, dancing and cake.

I relish any chance to get creative, and my children's parties are good opportunities in which to do so. 

I enjoy the run up, the preparation, much in the same way I love the run up to Christmas. I set myself a goal to try make each years party individual, fun and memorable. I'm sure in a few years time, Lily will be begging me not to get 'so involved' and that she would rather just go out and have pizza with her friends, so I shall therefore, as they say, make hay whilst the sun shines. This year my (rather loose) theme is bright colour and pattern with a wink-and-a-nod to children's parties of the 1970's. It will be a crafty homemade affair through and through. I've made a start on making some fabric cone party hats for each of the guests and I've got fabric for my party bags cut and ready to sow.

Now the countdown really has begun. The invitations have gone out. The invitation design came about through my recent obsession with the wonderful Ed Emberley Picture Pie books. It's a rather therapeutic way to spend an evening or two, cutting and sticking these simple shapes. I hope that these invitations have gone some way to setting a taste of what is to come.