MN Little Italy 15

[francagoestohollywood]

welcome!

Sputnik Dh exact words....I wish I was in the Uk today not Monday !!!! He gave up working at 2 pm yesterday as he couldn't stay outside any longer plus there was no shade where he was . within 1 hr of being at home the a?c had filled a bucket of water... Hope it breaks soon. Crappio weather here dds in tracksuits and l/s teeshirts !!!!

great gio, have a good time!

school called to go pick DS up as we were about to go to the shops to get stuff fot tomorrow, because he was coughing and wasn't feeling well. well, he has been coughing a bit, but he's had that cough for ages, and he was fine when he came home, no temp and hasn't coughed once since.. he'd better be fine, this party is costing a fortune, money and PITA to get everything prepared (really, why are we putting ouselves through this!?!?! keep telling ourselves it's to make up for last year...), and don't want to delay our flight either! and really don't get party bags! and still have to prepare enough bags and food for 30 kids though only 20 have replied! oh, god, I sound such a grumpy old woman... I blame it on this cold and DD waking up every 5 mins last night as she's got the cold too now...

oh, don't know anything about Monza, sorry can't help.

blardy hell Camo are you having a party for the whole class. impressed! I've got 15ish and think it will be madness.

might ask for some suggestions etc

good luck Camo! Hope ds is ok.
Bloody hell how cold is it here!!!! Rain, wind and cold! Really hit me when I got off plane. Mind you am glad to be out of heat for a bit. Couldnt sleep at all last night in Rome, was unbearable!
DS now fine, full of energy and you'd never think had been ill

yes, all 30 of them, but that's just because it seemed to be the done thing and had to make up for last year. still, we've now had 6 cancellations due to illness/pig flu, plus 10 haven't even bothered to RSVP , which is sooooooooo PITA as I'll still have to make enough food for "just in case they turn up". but never again! I'll choose the invitees next year! and not all of them!

glad DS is well, gio, mum said even the sea water wasn't refreshing yesterday... she should have tried standin in the rain here

well I asked dd who she wanted to invite, i.e. the ones she plays with and are her friends. Still some mums (not 'mums' not 'children') got upset their boy wasn;t invited. I'd haste to point out their children did not invite everybody to the party and certainly did not invite dd. boh. people are quite mad I'm concluding.

mums got upset? i am relieved when ds is not invited to a school friend party, it does get out of hands in some schools where all 30 children invite all 30 kids which basically means that all weekends are taken up with these things.....

how was the party camo?

i am becoming a bit amxious about swine flu, do you think young babies can be immunised?

McC, let's just say I'm glad it's done and not to be repeated! you spend all this money for the venue, but you still have to do all the food etc, so while the kids play you're getting all flustered getting the (horrible) party room ready. then the kids arrive to eat and obviously they all want everything NOW. think a couple of mums took pity on us and helped. in the end we had 14 so good, lots of food left over though. DS was happy and I suppose that was the main thing.

paranoid about the flu too as we're flying on Thursday so DS's not going to school now just in case, as his class is the worst affected. he has got a bit of a cough and runny nose, DD too, but GP (and me too) thinks it's just a cold as no temp. worried though as BA stuff can refuse to let people on the plane if they show flu sympthoms (so if you have a cold or hayfever, are they going to stop you from flying because you show sympthoms that are same as flu? ). one of the mums that were at the party works for the NHS and she said that vaccine will be here in a few weeks, 2 injections but they're still deciding on priority.

no idea. DH will ask though because of dds breathing issues (which only happened 3 times so far). doubt it somehow. boh.

camo have a few things to ask re party and swine flu. must go now but please do come back later.
well done on the party btw. if sat it rains I'm f*ed!

damom do you want our list of party games, i can email it to you...

i would definetly push for vaccination for your dd2....

camo you need a holiday!

everylittlehelps ! thanks McC.

I wanted suggestions about food really as previously kids here did not eat anything except for crisps and the cupcakes at the end.

So sorry to hear of all the unwell LittleItalians and their sprogletini. Hope everyone is feeling better.

Poor DD has been a bit under the weather the past few days too. Had her first ever elevated temperature - a measly 37.7, but it was enough to worry us! And since then she's been all tired and prone to tears, poor wee thing. Some kind of unspecified virus, but I'm not taking her to the doctors, because I reckon that's worse for her health!

Pippi - how's the party planning going? Hope all's well.

God. Hasn't the weather been depressing here?

pippi, I just did what got eaten at other parties, as supposed to what I would have done (the ungrateful sods wouldn't have appreciated it anyway ). Just finger food (I tell you, messy ehough!) so, pizza (margherita and pepperoni), fresh potato wedges, party sausages, crisps, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, then grapes, and jam tarts + choc cake. make small portions, as less "daunting" for the shy/fussy ones - I cut pizzas in 12, sandwiches in 4 (cut off crusts). water and oj to drink

But had we had the party at home, then I would have done it after lunch, 10 kids max, so there would have been veg/fruit sticks, some crisps and cake. problem is, as you say, what if it rains. 10 kids in our living room would have been madness so it would have had to be a very structured affair, with games etc.

but this was a new experience (as I said, I doubt I'll repeat it as it was quite stressful, I'm glad I didn't invite any friends as I wouldn't have been able to talk to them or anything) - we normally have a big bbq party with our friends and kids, kids normally off in the pool as they walk through the door, a part from the last couple of years thanks to the weather and DIYing, but hopefully we'll do that for DD's b-day.

poor minipenthe, DD will only fall asleep on me for the last few nights, I guess being upright makes it easier for her to breathe...

We cheated and got Mr. Waitrose to cater DD's first birthday... T'was very nice.

Poor little DD, Camo. I feel for you and her.

Hey, advice needed, guys (am reminded by another thread). As a wedding present last year I received some beautiful material to make a sari. I doubt, however, that I will ever wear a sari, and so I want to have something else made from it. What do you suggest? I'm thinking a spring coat, but I'm open to good ideas! TIA.

a skirt? trousers? something for the sprogletta?

a classic empire style maxi dress?

the best party thing we found was the pizza express thing, where for £10 per child they get taught how to make pizza, than they eat it and have drinks and cake and ice cream included, plus the use of the room for an hour after. it would have probably been cheaper in the end considering we only had 14 kids, and I would have just had to sit back and watch! a friend did it last year, shared with someone else as the 2 girls' b-days were close, and all the kids just loved it, as they're all given an apron and chef's hat and get to get messy hands

Camo glad you survived after the party . I had 25 2-3 yr olds in a large room but with lots of parents and I had play your own games dootted round teh room. Thing is I have a reputation for dd1 1st 3 birthdays and everybody says they can't wait to see what I will do next year !!!!!
I am a bit at the swine flu and think that the media have scared the pants off sooo many people ( me included). Plus with Ba refusing if you sneeze the insurance companies saying they will only refund if you have a doc letter saying you have swine flu. getting told not to call your GP if you think you have it. Wasting the Gp's time on instisting you get a letter- waiting a week for the swab tests to come back by then it should have gone !! BA saying unless you have a fully flexible ticket they won't refund you what the heck do you do ????
Well Dh made it up here so we wait and see.... I might try for a vaccination in Italy ( a pagamento )as we are planning on being in the Uk x Natale .........Boh vediamo.

I know, it's all so confusing... all3 of us (me and DCs) have a cold , just praying they realise that! and for once we're flying BA...

Ciao a tutti!
I hope everyone has recovered... It is still very confusing this swine flu thingy. And it is not clear what will happen with the vaccine. Here in Italy it will be given to doctors/teachers/police etc first. Then it will be given to the over 65. It'll be offered to children only in February. Boh!
Camo and Gio, have you left for your holidays?

mandybagpuss, I live in Milan, but I have no idea about Monza .
I suppose it is nicer, as it's more residential and greener... but I like my dose of pollution, so I prefer Milan
Brangelina lives in Monza, she moved there 3 or 4 yrs ago, but she's been working a lot lately and has been missing from this thread for a while

Ok Italy question why are they giving the vaccino to over 65 when the swine flu is hitting the under 40 population in general ?????
Have heard that now teh eclipse is over the weather will improve..I will believe anything but to be honest anything is better than the humidity ..Oh how English am I ???
Fish and chips tonight but I am just having fish and dh eating my chips !!!!!!!!!

Don't ask, rosa. My answer would be that Italy is in fact, a country for old men... I was infact quite shocked to read that older people would get vaccinated before the children. But I wouldn't stress just yet, as the news are very contradicting, and no one (especially the govtm) seems to have an idea of what will happen (brace yourself emoticon)

To be honest, I don't know about venice, which I will agree has a very humid weather, but the weather has been quite pleasant in northern italy, at least up until now. A heatwave has been predicted for the weekend, I ghatehr