Party Time - Part One

28 March 2011


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!

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