Party Time

Its that time of year again. Birthday season. On Wednesday I turn 35 - actually very grown up. Then a number of sleeps later Holly becomes the big 'ONE-ZERO' - I should know exactly how many sleeps - we have had birthday countdown written on the blackboard for enough months now. Then, just less than a month later, Elijah is 8. I feel quite relieved that I have ridiculous party planning issues and that I ordered things for Holly's party last October. This sort of silliness is really quite useful when you have 2 parties coming up fast and an 8 week old baby... plus the the children (and parents) coming expect you to have something exciting up your sleeve. I'm not sure I will have this year... which I know the parents will get - the children I'm not so sure about! 

This year I have the assistance of my prodigy Holly. She's decided that her 10th is a very important birthday and has been far more opinionated about how this party should go, including the theme, the guest list, the decor. She has decided to invite a select few (normally we have all the girls in the class plus a few extras. I feel guilty about this culling - they all ask her all year round what her party will be and can they please come - but she wants to do things smaller this year and I guess she could blame it on the baby...) The theme? She wants a Vintage Tea Party. Well, could a theme be easier??! This is good timing as I'm pretty sure I would be stretched if I needed to find time to create a yellow brick road or giant flowers again to trail through the house and create a room of green, or a ceiling of playing cards, or 18 hot air balloons. A Vintage Tea Party surely just requires a small bit of space, a table and some cups and saucers, and a few flowery bits here and there - and most homes these days possess a fair few bits of shabby chic 'this and thats' unless they have been somewhere else for the past ten years. Plus, it sounds civilised. So yes, I can remain calm on this one... and then gear up for how to create a LEGO world for the 22nd July. (Do 8 year old boys really not like vintage tea parties too??!)

Today we made a start on the party bags. I've not entirely planned these out yet but I'm sure they will be smaller than last years hot air balloons. As always, I'm keeping to to my strict party bag values. I hate the tack that is just destined for the bin. Either it should be useful to them or at least useful to me.  (I don't mind one bit if last years hot air balloons went in the bin when they got home - they created a good decoration and were fun for the children to make so they served a purpose and Holly has hers hanging next to her bed in her newly decorated room) So this year I'm planning on 4 things; coconut mice, bon bons in a stripy candy bag, a rose shaped lavender bath bomb and some lilac and purple hair grips. We are making all but the bon bons. My nearly-ten-year-old and I are going to have a busy and creative next few days. I didn't realise it would be so exciting to receive an email telling me my Epsom Salt has been dispatched!

(I've never ever made a bath bomb before - are they easy???)