Shirley's party advice part 3 - in which Shirley may make a guest appearance

[stealthsquiggle]

We appear to have filled another thread

www.karaspartyideas.com/2012/05/mad-hatter-tea-party.html

www.google.co.uk/search?q=mad+hatters+tea+party&hl=en&client=safari&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NrPTT8ieD8-U8gOSg-yUAw&ved=0CHYQsAQ&biw=320&bih=416#i=8

www.google.co.uk/search?q=mad+hatters+tea+party&hl=en&client=safari&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NrPTT8ieD8-U8gOSg-yUAw&ved=0CHYQsAQ&biw=320&bih=416#i=92

I'm back...

We were fairly lucky with the weather and managed to be inside for all but 2 massive downpours. Totally knackered now so will have a sleep before I attempt any party planning :)

Sorry to butt in but I'm loving this thread. It's putting me to shame as I'm not crafty in the slightest but would love to be!!

I'm wondering if any of you ladies could give me some advice on planning a party for my daughters. Their birthdays are a week apart and they'll be 3 and 1 so I'd like to do a joint party for them. I've only done small, tea parties for my eldests first 2 birthdays but this year I'd like to do something a bit different, but I don't know what.

I don't know where to hold it, my house is only small so I could either hire a hall or ask my mum and dad if we could have it at their house. I'd like to hire a bouncy castle and have a themed party as my eldest would love this. She is obsessed with mr tumble and peppa pig so I'm thinking one of these for a theme.

Has anyone hired a hall for a party for little ones of this age, I'm not sure if it would be a bit of a waste and I'd be better off taking them to soft play.

Btw their birthdays aren't til September so I'm a bit early planning, but I have some peace this morning so I have been googling venues :)

Hi DrsWife
We discussed the idea of mad hatters tea party,but DD wasnt so keen. I really liked the idea and found loads of great props, but she was having none of it.

We have just come through the jeans and baggy band tshirt stage. But DD now seems to be more girly, so I think she wants to embrace that. She's chosen a very pink theme.

We are having tissue pompoms which we're going to make ourselves.

mini milk bottles with red stripey paper straws to serve cocktails in. i need to find a nice alcoholic cocktail recipe that I can make quite weak on the alcohol but full of flavour. DD has been to a few partys in friends houses where parents have been on site and allowed them enough alcohol to be merry but not drunk. We have bought a pink pitcher to serve drinks in.

I have a nice tea set and a few 3 tier plate stands and glass bonbon bowls. Im also looking round the charity shops for other bits and pieces. We thorght stole the idea we'd use the tea pot as a vase and use the cups ans saucers as serving dishes rather than serve tea. Im not sure what to serve in them yet. Oh and I will makesome bunting

Little friend- if you want a theme then maybe spotty for mr tumbles spotty bag. That way you'll get way more in decorations etc rather than paying through the nose for character bits. I hired a hall with a bouncy castle for my dd's 2nd birthday and it worked better than soft play as i had place to myself and could cater cheaply. Other theme ideas a rainbow party is all the rage, im doing a playdoh party for dd's 4th.

And never to early to plan on this thread, welcome.

Voldermort ok no mad hatters, think you'll have to go garden party chic rather than fushia pink madness. Sounds like you have it pegged tho, not sure you need help! Maybe raid charity shops for tea cups and do little flower arrangements. Is it girls only party as sounds very girly?

Welcome back blathers i need your help re weight watchers. X

Thanks doctors wife, that's a good idea about the spotty theme and she'd know exactly what it is, anything spotty is mr tumble :)

I'm glad you preferred the hall and bouncy castle idea. Did you plan any party games? I'm thinking the children will be too little to understand most games but would like to do something with them.

I felt very guilty last year as my little ones birthday was the day after my due date and I wasn't feeling the best. She still had a lovely little party but I promised myself I'd make more of an effort this year.

Btw voldemort, your dd's party sounds great. Just the type of thing I liked at that age. As for cocktails, what about woo woo. I think it's normally just vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice but you could change it a bit so it's weaker.

I love the mad hatter idea, def keep that in mind for next year (or could I get away with throwing one for myself!!)

Party games for littlies:
Pass the parcel
Musical bumps or statues (show me show me your groovy moves...freeze!)
I did a hunt for puzzle pieces and we made a big floor puzzle

And of course the craft activity. You could get mr tumble pics off cbeebies no prob. I'll think more....off to a princess party right now.

Thank you, I love those ideas!! My daughter already plays show me show me your groovy moves haha, she makes me and her little sister play with her. I love the hunt for the puzzle too, would never have thought of that.

Getting very excited now, have to think of something my one year old will like too although I'm sure she'll be happy whatever we do.

LOL Voldemort - I was going to suggest Alice (and this book) but since your DD has rejected that idea, if you are going vintage, why not take advantage of all the jubliee stuff and go more specifically '50s? There is oodles of stuff around at the moment and it would widen the scope for decor to all florals (makes making bunting easier, for a start - although actually prices like this might make it not worth making it - or mixing homemade and bought)?

For spotty/Mr Tumble party, there are similarly lots of nice things around - like this range if you don't mind the pinkness

SayHello - DS's third birthday party was in a hall with a bouncy castle. The kids loved it. We didn't have any organised party games - tbh, they were mostly happy just running around. However, we did have a few garden sports games (the type that are always on 3 for 2 at elc) and we took them along for the kids to play with e.g. big plastic egg and spoon. We were going to have some races etc but decided not to bother as they were so happy just running around and playing on the bouncy castle (it was a really big one with a slide built into it). You could also take ride on toys, pop up tunnels etc with you.

If you use a church hall that normally has a toddler group, you might be able to use some equipment that the toddler group has?

For the 1 year olds (assuming you're inviting some others) I would set up a baby corner of sorts in the hall, with a ball pit, some mats, baby toys etc - just take some of your own stuff with you.

We had play for 1 hour, then about half an hour for food and cake then finished off with DH reading some stories. We also had a table set up with colouring in sheets.

Justin Fletcher has a newish CD out with action songs - could be good for the three year olds as an alternative or addition to party games?

Yes we had that cd at my nephews party lots if action songs that you could all get into. I just came back from nieces party ( nothing to see here folks except heels on the 5yr old) and we did lots of musical bumps/ statues/conga/pass the parcel/hokey cokey

the best bit was we got to do 'superman' you know swim, ski, wave, ring the bell .... Superman. Loved loved loved doing that with my 3yr old.

I agree about asking if the hall has toys or contact your local toy library(surestart will know where it is) they'll loan you big garden toys/slides/rockers/jumperoos etc for peanuts and i mean peanuts.

If your worried about them following games do a big action songs session and pass the parcel, if you made a spotty bag, fill it with sweets and kids take in turns to take from the bag. Way easier to control who has had a turn and no waiting for littlies to open paper.

Maybe do a game based in eye spy with prizes... Lets look over here when you see it wave or cheer!

www.amazon.co.uk/Quadra-classic-book-bag-yellow/dp/B002BAI1ZI/ref=sr_1_6?s=shoes&ie=UTF8&qid=1339361436&sr=1-6
Cheapy pass off as the bag

Or real deal..

www.amazon.co.uk/Anvil-Messenger-Bag-Yellow-OS/dp/B004L6WZWU/ref=sr_1_105?s=shoes&ie=UTF8&qid=1339361627&sr=1-105

Seems you can get a lot of mr tumble stuff!
shop.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/searchresults?cmd=SKW&pg=1&kw=mr+tumble+party

www.partypieces.co.uk/kids-party-children-s-parties-party-supplies/kids-party-themes/spots-party.html

More spots!
Off to bed i'm googled out.

mytinyvintagewedding.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/sweet-avalanche.html?m=1

One more for you voldermort...loving the pearls draped over and old stacked books.

TheScottishPlayer - I rummaged, but the only waistcoat the right sort of size is a cowboy one. There is a rather splendid Captain Patch (from The Night Pirates) jacket, but I am hoping that can be repurposed for something for DD at some point, since it is adapted from an small-adult sized jacket. However, DH is away and I was avoiding tidying up bored, so I made a pirate one. If you PM me your address I will stick it in the post. I am hoping it's not too small now - it looks teeny for a 4yo (was based on being a bit smaller than a 5yo T shirt) but since my DC are bloody enormous big for their ages I find it hard to judge. Anyway - fingers crossed, and if not maybe you can pass it on to a younger pirate?

Discovery of the weekend, BTW - chocolate roses are easy (if time consuming) - MIL's cake.

Stealth, that is so kind of you. Thank you so much. I will pm you later from the computer.

drsWife] no boys as such, apart from family. I'd love the mad hatters tea party too. I should have made it a surprise but as Sayhello says, maybe I could have myself a party.

stelthsquiggle that book looks great and has really good reviews, when I have an excuse for my mad hatter party, I will have to invest.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the bunting. I've compromised by buying some pre cut flags that just need sewing together. I have bias binding already so it works out cheaper and twice as long

littlefriend don't forget Simon says. A good one for the toddlers to join in too. Also make sure you have loads of balloons blown up. Bag them up into bin bags and then empty them all out. Little ones will play for ages with a balloon. You can even make a game of keepy uppy with the older ones.

Stealth that looks fab how'd you make them? Choc roses i mean. And thats so sweet to make scottish a waistcoat. I love this thread.

Voldemort - I have the book (DB2 bought it for me for Christmas) and it is indeed lovely. I am trying to judge the right age to talk one of my DC into a Mad Hatter's tea party - this year is definitely Dragons for DD (all the stuff is hopefully being delivered to DH in his hotel in the US later today - for a party in October ) - how old do you think you need to be to properly appreciate Mad Hatters - I am thinking 8 or 9 minimum?

DrsW - if you google you will get lots of descriptions of making roses, but I basically cut small circles out of belgian chocolate sugarpaste (which I have loads of left over from sewing basket cake, and I have finally got the hang of it) and rolled the edges thin with one of these and then wrapped them around a small cone of sugarpaste. And repeat for hours and hours on end.

Wow thank you so much for all the suggestions / links, that's really helpful. I didn't realise you could get all the mr tumble range. I also love the spotty stuff so I'm not sure yet what I'll go for.

I've looked in to venues and am going to contact a centre not far from my house, I'm sure they do toddler groups so I'll ask about any equipment too. I've checked prices of bouncy castle hire and found someone who can hire soft play equipment too so that may be good.

I'm going to have to write all the ideas down, how geeky am I. I'm going to have a party folder :) Told my dp if we do well planning our girls party then we'll start planning our wedding haha.

sayhello - we hired a hall and soft play stuff for DS's 3rd birthday - it was great. We had a small bouncy castle (the sort you can buy from ELC), a blow up house/maze thingy (I will try and find a link), a ball pit which was a huge hit with littlies (so would work for your DD2 and her guests) and a ride-on train. The whole lot cost about the same as hiring a big bouncy castle and they got a lot more out of it, IMO.

I just about corralled them to do pass the parcel, and I think we had some colouring sheets and crayons (it was a monster party, so lots of monsters to colour in) but other than that they just rioted and a good time was had by all.

I'm gonna try that stealth thanks. I'm waiting for my cake tins to be delivered today then i'm making christening fruit cake tomorrow i think. Then i need to finish the bunting and think about flowers. I was gonna do balloons but think i'm gonna splurge and have flowers but i want to do them myself. Def need a trial run of that. Then i'm gonna attempt the fairy cake but i cannot get the girl to confirm numbers. Keep trying to say i'll need a rough idea as the cake recipe/pattern has two small cakes and need to check its enough.

Mind you as im not charging i should just do it and say well you never confirmed!