I love giving parties, do you need some ideas?

[ShirleyKnot]

Hello!

If you don't know me I'm Shirley and I'm a great lover of planning parties. I do a blog about it (which I'm not going to link here, but if you look on the bloggers network for PartySpanner you'll find me)

ANYWAY

If you're chucking a do, I might be able to help - I'm not a business, I don't charge for my ideas or owt, I just love to trawl the internet find good invite ideas, games and food.

Jump in and I'll see if I can help.

Hope today has been better TheDW and your dd is better.

Ah what a good cross post! I'm so pleased she is better. And yay re the cake - looking forward to seeing photos of the lizard pjs and the master-cake!

So glad DD is better, DW - and what a fab granny making jamas for Lizard - DD clearly has her well trained (and when she comes home in the future demanding bleeding impossible costumes you can offload request to MIL [not bitter, much])

HOORAY Drs! HOORAYYYYY!

So you're on count down now MrsDW! Have you got everything you need? Food, plates, decorations etc? Are you a list person? I an going to have to make some very big lists for next week! I've ordered a Sainsbury's shop with all the food on for Friday morning. Are you providing any wine/beer for the parents or just a cuppa?

Stealthsquiggle is your party soon now too? How did the invites go in the end?

Sorry I meant Blathers, it's your party soon isn't it, not yours Stealthsquiggle. Oops.

Mine's not 'til the 17th December. I've got about 3 weeks but I am already panicing.

Good luck for this weekend DW.

I am done with parties for this year now, I think (unless we decide to do Christmas and/or 12th Night parties) - I just have nativity costumes and bags-for-birthday-presents and bags-for-christmas-presents and the fact that DS has not forgotten that I owe him a pencil case. So vicarious party planning is a great deplacement activity.

DrsWife it will all be fab and everyone will love it and simultaneously hate you for doing it so well - don't forget we need photos though

Evening all. I'm slumped on sofa exhausted and frankly wish i didnt have 40 people coming tomorrow. Dd's had a lovely birthday had lots of presents already but think she thinks her birthday is really tomorrow as she's waiting for friends, games, balloons and cake.

My kitchen/diner looks brill. Grass tablecloth with herbs in middle with mini toadstools in them, surrounded by fircones, sycamore seeds and dried leaves. Cake looks fab surrounded by fir cones etc. Massive tree pinned to the wall with gruffalo characters. Lots of red/white spotty touches to match toadstools.
Party bags have woodland theme stuff and julia donaldson books. Sweets all mice and snakes. Ive made a big jelly to scramble with jelly snakes and 'owl icecream'. No where near ready but hoping mil comes early and will help. Hope it all goes okay but starting to wish i'd booked pizza hut.

Those feeling the night before are so normal! I always say the morning of a party "WHY? WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?!" and then at the end of the party I always think "hooray! It's over, and IT WAS FAB"

Will be sending you party vibes tomorrow.

We need photos - it sounds AMAZING!

Wow! Sounds fab. I am so impressed and agree re photos definitely needed. Good luck tomorrow - it's going to be brilliant and your dd is going to love it!

How did it go TheDW? Really hope your dd had a ball and you are relaxing with a glass or three of

I've just got back from out of hours gp with ds2 who has a chest infection. He's almost six months and apart from coughs and colds, this is his first real illness - horrid. He's done well to avoid anything too bad so far given having an older snotty toddler brother I suppose. Anyway, it's been a couple of weeks of sleepless nights building up to this, and guess we're in for another tonight.

Yeah! Housewarming for new house which is domicile for a very stylish 17 year old and an almost 60 year old who is into laughing and not behaving her age.

How did it go DW? We need those photos - Shirley and I are so desperate to see them, we were talking about it at the meet up last night!

Sorry your DS is poorly BlastOff, hope he feels better soon and you get some sleep too.

I'm going to need some more sleep before I think about parties. I'll be back though Sloo :)

Pops head in. Oh god were you really discussing it? No pressure then!
I'll upload pics in the morning. How was the meet up? Dish the dirt that's like the biggest party of all.

Well i had 40 odd people in little house. It. Was. Mental.
My poorly friend called at 10am to say her kids were on the way with grandparents.dd was delighted but quickly had to add layers to pass the parcel and make party bags. Everyone was so so impressed with all my decor and moreover that i'd done so much being massively pregnant. My younger bro said he was so proud of me, that i'm a great mum.

Party games were hit and miss as adults didnt really clear the way. Dh read the gruffalo to the whole room and i got a bit choked as all the kids shouting 'a gruffalo' at key points. Despite my mum and step mum rudely chatting over the top of it. My sil was an utter penile projected forehead but thats her default setting. Apparently my 'lump' kept getting in her way. I assume she meant her unborn niece/nephew! Her daughter snatched all the hidden puzzle pieces off the little kids and opened dd's presents and tossed them aside. Despite me saying leave the presents til after.

Anyway, dd loved it. Today i was congratulated on the best party bag ever! And no-one rubbed my bump. Brilliant. The girl done good.

TheDW it sounds like a massive success! Well done! Especially I agree, being heavily pregnant - huge respect. I could hardly be bothered to get out of my pjs when heavily pregnant with ds2. Shame about the sil (I feel the same way about my bil - so I haven't invited him ) but I'm sure your dd didn't notice, and she had fun, which is all that matters really. I'm really looking forward to seeing the photos.

DS2 is definitely getting better and the antibiotics seem to be doing the trick, thank goodness. I was so worried about him yesterday and Friday, but I hope he's turned the corner now.

I am driving DH mad with this, so I open this to the floor... The theme is Rockets. I have three table options (and given it's a big hall which I can't really decorate because the ceiling is too high, it's my only decorations other than some cool alien/ star balloons I found) - please help!

1. This starry tablecloth with silver paper plates and cups;

1. Plain royal blue tablecloth with these astronaut and shuttle plates;

1. Plain royal blue tablecloth with silver paper plates and cups.

DH thinks DS will like the astronaut and shuttle plates, but I wonder if it looks a bit too 'done' and think I prefer the homespun approach a bit more... But it's not very colourful, and although I know what he means, they are also quite grown up space pictures for a 3 year old. What I'd really like doesn't exist - more stylistic images of a rocket and moon, similar to the invitations I made! And I really need to order soon - I'm leaving it a bit late, but I just can't decide. Open to any other ideas too.

I'd go for blue cloth and silver plates etc. Think the plates are a bit to 'trying to make it fit' iyswim. If you have helium balloons can you find any rocket ones but weight them enough so the float in midair above the table? I think matchboxes are usually enough to suspend a balloon. I saw a rocket shaped ball pool lately in a sale too, would that be good for three year olds if i can remember where?

m.tesco.com/mt/direct.tesco.com/q/R.205-4289.aspx

Here!

Actually we went to holiday park in summer and they did a space theme play day. The kids had to go on a hunt for aliens, loads of inflatable aliens hidden around. Little kids loved it.

photos uploaded to profile.

Rocket helium balloons on ebay blastoff.

DrsWife - that all looks AMAZING! Honestly, you should be so proud.

BlastOff - I agree with navy cloth, silver plates too

TheDW - that is just so fabulous. The spotty bunting and balloons on the ceiling are such nice details, and the table is amazing. And the cake is incredible - I'm gushing now I realise, but I'm just so impressed and so embarrassed by my efforts now, I am such an amateur

That's what I thought about the table too. Blasted DH trying to sway me with his tastelessness economy

And that is a great idea about the balloons TheDW - I have ordered a foil rocket and two silver stars, and I'm going to have them above the table, possibly at different heights, and have got some star weights to hold them down. Dark blue tablecloth and silver plates.

This is my first child's party and I'm quite nervous...

Try not to be nervous! And...this bit is really important...try to enjoy the actual party as well!

BlastOff it will be fine - a little theming goes a long way with little ones. I had to talk one little girl into DS's 3rd Birthday (theme: Monsters). We had cut out monster footprints and put them from the car park into the hall and she was too scared of the monsters to come in . It took me a good 5 mins of talking about our monster-screening process and how only very friendly monsters were allowed to get her to come inside.

DrsWife it all looks fab. I am particularly in awe of you doing it at home - one of the guiding principles of party-giving in our house (or rather, not in our house) is being able to walk out and leave the house looking like a bomb with a payload of icing sugar just went off