Party: /ˈpɑːti/ — n, pl -ties. 5. Favours

Tiny Teds - Eleanor's 2nd birthday.

My favourite bit!!  I know that party favours aren't everyone's bag, but they sure are mine.  Gorgeous mini presents for every party guest, yes please!  This is the real benefit of keeping our guest lists small, fewer guests = more favours!

Nautical themed favours, Travel party treats, Lawnmower/garden favours.

Okay, I've done party favours in varying degrees.  From Eleanor's 2nd birthday with allllll the favours, to sweetly packaged handmade soap on her 4th.  It's like this, for me - if I have the time and the inspiration, I looooove to go all out with handmade favours.  I can think of nothing more delicious than little people opening a paper gift page filled with tiny handmade treasures, all for themselves (I always make one for the birthday child, too).  If that doesn't happen, we are so down with the simple take home gift - treats, soap, stickers etc.  No rules, peeps.  It's marvellous :-)

Matchbox lawnmowers - Garland's 2nd, walnut sailboats, paper craft gifts.

Do you know what?  I'm a total geek very normal person and have kept favours from each of our kiddo parties, which I'll save to give them when they're older.  That day...  Oh, oh!  

So back to being exceedingly helpful and knowledgable (mmmhmm, oh yes) about party things, and offering yet more unsolicited party throwing advice...

Packaging!  Scroll on...

Disco party, Milly Molly Mandy party.

Cute paper bags are amongst my top fave material things...  Sad, but true.  And, even a plain old paper bag can be made pretty, with the addition of some cool stickers!  Hello vistaprint!  Washi tape is also the shiz for making a boring bag look pretty (or, a pretty bag look prettier).  I AM SO HELPFUL!  You're welcome.  Okay, here's a tip: fake flowers!  Yeah!  Don't all thank me at once.

Let's not forget - Christmas party favours!  I know, I'm trying to make kiddo-pre-Christmas-parties a thing, and so far I'm the only person I actually know who throws these, but I'm sure they'll catch on soon ;-), because seriously, who can resist handmade Christmas crackers?!

Christmas party #1, Christmas party #2

Okay, probably best not to write a blog post when I'm just a little sleep-deprived (did it contain any information?  No, I do not think so).  For the rest of this sliiiightly gratuitous series, follow these links:

Party Invites

Party Decorations

Party Food

party Games

And for some free party printables - check it.

Mer-peeps party - sneak peek

So originally Eleanor and I agreed on a Fairy Party to celebrate her 5th birthday, but plans change and I'm supa glad this one did!  Because now we're prepping a Mermaid/peeps party and alllll the jewelsssss!!!  I have some seriously over the top ideas swirling around in my brain /deepbreathstaycalm.

This tiny treasure chest and most of the fake jewels were purchased off ebay.  The flatter, glass jewels (red, pink, clear) were discovered in a $2 store in Mt. Eden.  I have some strings of beads too, and hope to create a Mermaid grotto down at the beach somewhere.  I have already roped friends in to dress as mermaids.  Yuss!

 I'll keep you posted as ideas develop into for reals, but couldn't resist this little sneak peek.

Party: /ˈpɑːti/ — n, pl -ties. 4. Games

Hmm, party games.  I'm gonna keep this one brief, though I think there are some super cool ways to bring it to the party games devision of party planning.

It's just that there are many, many peops who are much more inventive than I, when it comes to creating party games.  This is something I'm working on, actually, because with growing kiddos, pass the parcel isn't always going to cut it anymore.   I still maintain that kids are naturals at creating their own entertainment, so really, setting the scene is sometimes all you even need (and yep, often you don't need even that - but for the purpose of these posts, let's just roll with it).  It's good to have a plan though, eh.

Really I only have a couple of super lazy tips to give (directed at a party throwing newb, not all of you experts out there):

+ Don't reinvent the wheel.  Take an old favourite and put a spin on it to suit your theme.  Pin the feather on the flamingo's bum, dinosaur salad (like fruit salad, but with dino names), whatever.

+ Read them a story.  So underrated, but actually a really effective way to keep the tone of the party nice and calm.  They can do some running around later to burn off some sugar, but an on-theme story is such a nice simple way to set the mood when guests first arrive.

+ Self-directed games ftw!  The less you have to do with it, the better.  If you can rope in an older child then yuss!  Even better if you can give your kiddos some instructions and and leave them to it (with some supervision, of course).  Obviously this is easier with older kids, but if you keep it simple, this can be achieved with younger kids too.

+ Balloons, balloons, balloons!  Kids never seem to get tired of these, and so often they seem to be the biggest winner at birthday parties.  If all else fails, start handing out balloons *nodding sagely*...

Told ya I didn't have much!  But I'm working on something a bit more exciting for a certain lass's 5th birthday, and it involves hiring some mates to do the entertaining.  My laziness knows no bounds...

More party posts:
Birthday Invites
Party Decorations
Party Food

Party: /ˈpɑːti/ — n, pl -ties. 3. Fun Food

Okay, now for the really fun stuff.  Coming up with food ideas for parties has quickly taken it's place as a favourite activity.  So much room for creativity, even for non-foodies like myself.  Actually when I think about it, I find it immensely satisfying brainstorming party food ideas, but over half of the following dishes were made by someone other than myself...  Namely, Alice the cake making queen...

Generally I try and cover these following categories, but so long as the table is colourful and laden with goodies, the kiddos tend to be happy.  Yeah, this part is SO for me!

Themed Treats

Globe Pops (Travel Party), Pink Pikelets (Pink Flamingo Party), Peanut bucket (Circus Party), Fish & chips (Nautical Party), Grass Clippings (Lawn Mower Party), Garden cupcakes (Lawn Mower Party), Popcorn buckets (Circus Party), Ocean jellies (Nautical Party), pink food (Pink Flamingo Party), Ready Lawn (Lawn Mower Party), Hot Air Balloon cookies (Travel Party), Turf Trifles (Lawn Mower Party).

Sneaky Veges

Bugs on a Log (Lawn Mower Party), vege bowl (Milly Molly Mandy Party), mini veges (Little Ted Party), cucumber sandwiches (Milly Molly Mandy Party), Compost - vege sticks in hummus (Lawn Mower Party), mini veges + sandwiches (Little Ted Party).

Drinks

Milk (Milly Molly Mandy Party), Swell Soda (Travel Party), disco cups (Disco Party), rainbow straws (Drummer Boy Party), hand-stamped paper cups, lemonade (Circus Party), pink drinks (Pink Flamingo Party).

Fun Displays

Mini picnic basket as cake pop stand (Milly Molly Mandy Party), sweets in jars (Circus Party), driftwood cake pop stand (Nautical Party), candy apple twigs (Milly Molly Mandy Party).

Cakes

Lawnmower cake, blue ruffle cake, drummer boy cake, Posy Gets Cozy cake.

Christmas treats

Christmas puddings, chocolate wreaths, DIY ice-cream sundaes, snowmen two ways - rye bread + cream, pikelets + cream.

I haven't gone into any detail here, but if you would like to read more about these parties and the food created, just follow these links:

Nautical birthday party
Lawn Mower birthday party
Pink Flamingo birthday party
Little Ted's Adventure party
Travel birthday party
Little Drummer boy birthday party
Milly Molly Mandy birthday party
Christmas party & North Pole Breakfast

Previous party posts: Birthday Invites & Party Decorations.