Indias 7th Birthday Party 2011

My Lord...well, we did it! We survived India's first sleepover party. With 4 girls sleeping over (many for their first ever sleepover apart from family) it was a very interesting and tiring night! They were still talking when we went to sleep ~ 10:30, and were up at 5:30 while it was still dark.

Kade got his comeuppance though as the girls turned his light on while he was sleeping this morning and woke him up for a change. He is normally the one to wake everyone else up in the house. He was quite bleary eyed, so I had a good laugh.

There were a few moans and groans, most weren't even from me..haha. And a few girl fights, girls are soooo high maintenance!!!

And there was a lot of, 'Your house is very old, and your paintings...you should move!" and "why do you have all these old things" and 'it is all old and grubby"...we were counting down the hours for pickup (11:00am) although most parents were 1/2 hour late and the kids didn't want to go home.

We have come to the conclusion that boys are sooo much easier for a sleepover and Mr T has decided that we should never do it again...until next year..hahaha

India is very tired and emotional as I type and will be going to bed very soon! O.k.., now she is having a meltdown, gotta run! Bye.

Party Preparations

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post :)

Its nearly that time again...Indias's 7th birthday is fast approaching (May). Can't believe this time last year I was painting our granny flat for her last party; the last year has gone so fast.

We found these super cute tiny cupcake girls at Top Bargain for $1.50 a piece, these will be added to the party favours. The pinwheels were found at Top Dollar for $2.00 for the bag of 12. I'll let you know if I find some more cute party pieces.

India is only inviting up to 6 girls this year, for a makeover/pedi/manicure party and sleep over. I have been trying to source peel off non toxic nail polish for children. I found a product in Australia, but has been discontinued...boohoo. I did find a product by Sula (USA) that I might be able to buy. If you know of any kid friendly products (makeup or polish), could you drop me a line...many thanks.

Have a lovely day whatever you have planned.

9th Birthday Pool and Slumber Party

Today Kade had a few friends over for a pool party and a sleep over. He had 6 in total but only 4 are sleeping over, easy peasy. It wasn't too hot today so we pretty much had the pool to ourselves, it was ideal. After a few sausage sandwiches and a few hours swimming we headed back home. The pool attendant said as we were leaving that they were the best behaved pool party kids they have had all summer!



I bought this from Target yesterday for only $17, the kids loved it. Four can play at once, so its great for a group. The challenges are really fun too. Its also good because it is only rated 'G' so it would not upset any parents.

Kade had a Pokemon theme running this year. We bought some popcorn bags to hand out for lolly bags. Kade cut out a few Pokemon pictures and stuck them on. We filled each with a glow stick, finger lazer, parachute men, and only a few lollies, they have been eating them all day!



As our oven still is not working, we bought a chocolate mud cake from the Cheesecake shop and I double iced it (using Betty Crocker Vanilla Icing) to make a Pokemon Master ball. We stuck down some Pokemon figures around the board with icing. The cake was so delicious with the extra icing layer...I know! There goes the diet!



We ordered a few pizzas, and they watched a Pokemon movie, again only rated 'PG'. Two went home at 8:30, and we have settled the others into their pj's in front the telly to watch another Pokemon movie. In between they have been playing Pokemon on their Nintendo DS's. Blimey.

I just took this photo, its nearly 10:30. Looks like it is going to be a long night!

It's been a wonderful day and quite surprisingly relaxing. I am planning our UK trip at the moment and watching my Ebay items, which are only going so so.

I hope they go to sleep soon...I don't think there is much chance of that, but we can hope :) Have a great night!

A Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Wow..I can't believe it's Saturday already..hope you have a chance to unwind over the weekend. This is a long post, so grab a cuppa and enjoy. I hope I don't bore you too much, I know your time is precious :)

I wanted to do something special for my daughters first 'Real' party now that she has started Kindergarten. I had envisaged a wonderful Tea Party with all things girlie. She loved the idea but at the last minute decided that she wanted to invite boys as well. I had to change gears a bit but decided on the 'Mad Hatters Tea Party' that would appeal to both girls and boys...as it turned out no boy could attend :)

Here are a few shots of the decorations:
*** (remember you can click to make the image bigger :):***

We found a Teapot tea set on sale and I cut the Alice picture to size and added a bit of glitter and tad of colour.

Running with the Alice theme, we chose 1 red and 2 white roses. Of the two white roses, one was kept white, the other was half painted red as if ordered by the Queen of Hearts. We rested a red tipped paintbrush on the vase too.

Table food included heart choc-chip shortbread, candy sticks, pink heart marshmallows, heart shape fairy bread, fruit platter, pastel shaded lollies. For lunch we served mini pizza, mini hot dogs, sausage rolls and party pies.

I hung a banner made from playing cards, alternating between the cards faces (Hearts) and backs. The word 'Wonderland' was spelt out in glittered letters and simply strung on pink ribbon.

I only made a few pom poms (dress makers pattern and tissue paper). Instructions here.

I glittered a garden twig and wired on the butterflies and birds.

Made the little bird drink cup from a pink thimble and a bottle cap for the plate. The little hat consists of scrap music sheet, glitter and crepe paper.

The take-home gifts: I wanted to make something girlie and fun, but inexpensive too, for all the girls to take home. I found the pink party hats and simply added diamonte dots, a glitter initial for each child, a flower pom pom top and some fake flowers to the band. A little extra glitter and they were right to go.

I bought a bulk pack of bubble blowers, cut a piece of pretty scrap paper to cover the original band, found some pretty glitter butterfly stickers and placed in a cellophane bag.

I jazzed up the paper cups with a strip of crepe paper, ribbon, a pipe cleaner handle and card scrap added to the front (idea adapted from Jessica's post at Such Pretty Things).

Inside each child received a colourful beaded necklace, a bubble blower, a mini wand, a chunky plastic diamonte ring (the ones you find in the discount stores). And of course, you couldn't go without a lolly bag. The lollies had to be pretty as well as tasty (musk sticks, lollypops, candy necklace, pink foil covered chocolates, pink candy canes etc).

The cakes: OMG! I found the easiest and tastiest cup cake recipe (click to follow link). I cheated by using the ready-made canned icing with piping attachments by Cake Mate (available in pink, white and blue). I made a batch for each colour. I found that the recipe makes 10 large muffin sized cup cakes and one can of icing iced each batch.

For the first school day back I bought a store-made slab Rainbow cake and cut into small squares and shaped into a number 6. I used a little icing to keep each slice in place. As there are only around 20 kids in her class this was perfect.

You can't have a party without old fashioned party games.
We adapted a few to suit the theme:
* Pass the teapot (instead of pass the parcel and every child picked out a lollypop) **pictured above**
* The Mad Hatter Says (instead of Simon Says)
* Pin the tail on the Cheshire Cat
* Whats the time White Rabbit (instead of Wolf)
* Bag toss Card Man (I painted a Card Soldier on a Foam-core board. Cut out a heart shaped hole in the middle to toss a sack filled with rice through)

Each child received a winners medal (cheap plastic discount store ones) at the end of the games.

The kids had so much fun, some didn't want to leave and there were no tears!! I remember when my son invited his entire class to his kindy birthday party; the boys were fighting in the first five minutes and we lost a kid..he had climbed up our walnut tree :) Oh you gotta love boys....

Next year I am thinking of planning a sleepover Pedi-Party... it should be fun.

What has been your favourite kids party idea to date? I would love to hear about your fab-u-lous ideas :)

PS. The talented Selina Lake, acclaimed Interior Stylist and Author, is proud to announce the upcoming publication of her latest book 'Romantic Style' in September (click the name to follow the link or select from my blog list). She is offering 5 lucky people the chance to win a signed copy! To enter, send Selina a photograph that you have taken that sums up your idea of Romantic Style.