Shirley's party advice part 5 - Here to Help - come and say Hi

[Blatherskite]

Didn't notice we'd gotten to the end of the thread!

Hi welovegrapes can i just call you grapes cos im petrified of a typo like weloverapes? my fingers are like sausages.

Firstly im jealous of a summer party! When will it be and how many people? And how many/parents kids dont you know? And whats the time slot? Do you have access to outside space at the hall?

I will answer your questiona but more info helps :-)

Stealth i forgot to say shes had piriton 4hourly. Shes going back in the bath soon cos shes getting squirmy n tearful again. On the pisitive side she barely slept last night but hasnt napped today so im hoping she flakes out tonight and is too out of it to scratch.

If your ds normally naps later in the afternoon and you're worried about the menu you could do an elevenses type thing. Come and join us for tea and cake. If you do it 3-5 you're going to fall smack into kids teatime and then you're going to have to do kiddy fodder. With that kind of time you'll be "expected" to lay on party food/party bag i'd say.

If you could do a mid morning or dare i say your ds' naptime you could really get away with a coffee n cake casual affair which stands up better to inviting a class full of strangers as its more breezy.

If you have access to the outside space then the older kids may be happy to go and kick a ball about if things get too "babyish" and the strangers from swimming might want to nip out to the park.

Would a shift in time work or is it vital its 3-5?

Sorry reading that back it makes it seem like i didnt read about your afternoon tea menu etc. i meant if you can make morning time then you will have more scope to avoid the traditional party stuff.

If you can only stick to the teatimeish slot we'll give you tips on food etc. ive never cooked in an aga so i cant help with that but theres a duckling cake in the easy party cakes book we all like that is mega mega cute. Like this

Grapes - I am sort of jealous of a summer party. Trouble is, you can't rely on it being nice.

Music - if it's not a hug hassle, then background music helps with the atmosphere.

Older DC - I guess that would be my department, since mine are older than Blathers' and DW's. Two options - craft based stuff, or something competitive (which adults might join in with too) - what is the boy/girl balance of older children, and do you know any of them well enough to know what they are into?

DW - if the piriton isn't working it might be worth switching to Claritin - different drug, and different ones seem to work for different people.

I have done that duck - it was a bit of a nightmare TBH as his beak is a big lump of fondant and in warm weather it didn't want to stay on. You can get duck shaped tins, though (I want one, for no good reason other than how cute it is)

DW - my DD was 2.5yrs old when she had chicken pox and we used virasooth (from boots but I guess all chemists/supermarkets will stock it.) It is much lighter and easier to apply than calamine and really helped her.

We also use homeopathy (I know lots of people don't believe in it and each to their own but just in case you are interested) we used rhus tox (probably about 30c) couple times a day. It is usually a little tablet (again widely available).
Not sure if this of any help what so ever but thought I'd just mention in case your little one is still suffering.
S

duck tin

Im using calamine cream not lotion but it is still a bit stodgy. I'll look for virasoothe thank you. She keeps crying and we all jump up saying what?! What?! And this little voice says im just sooo itchy! but shes being si brave really. Shes white as a sheet n not slept last night so dh kept trying to get her to nap but she wouldnt. So shes crashed out now thank god cos i need some sleep.

I want a duck tin now!

We like to suggest sweets if you have a mixed age range. A sellophane cone of sweets. Mucho cheapness and well received!

Dd was sleeping brilliantly but just woke up crying. We loaded two syringes calpol and piriton. She was lying face down cheek all squished into the pillow. She took each syringe fired it into her mouth n gulped it down and muttered "niiice!" And dozed off again. Dh says he's concerned at her enjoyment of drugs at such a young age.

At least she's realised the drugs help DW! DD has been refusing all drugs all week and I'm sure it's made things harder on more than one occasion.

Grapes, if you're doing an afternoon tea type party then I think you'd easily get away with little triangle sandwiches and sausage rolls to go with your cakes. You could make or buy some lovely bright bunting to go with your balloons to decorate with too.

Blathers have you tried different flavours of drugs? My two loathe strawberry flavour medicine and will only take it if literally forced. Orange flavour nurofen, OTOH, is always well received.

Yikes yes blathers im not one for dosing my kids up on medicine but im trying to keep one step ahead with regular doses with this. I cant imagine if she'd had a fever and refused medicine that would be doubly hard. Poor you! At least calpol brings it down even a bit and they can get a less fitful sleep.

Ok grapes if its the afternoon i'd go for cricket! Really go to town on the afternoon tea theme and like blathers says use bunting. If its in the summer you could do sports day style races either indoors or out and that would enable older kids to help younger ones etc. tescos always do a sports day set in their garden games section.

Tescos nurofen is apple!

Sorry tescos ibuprofen is apple

Grapes - Debbie Brown books are a good place to start for cakes (just don't believe her timings - it takes a lot longer than she claims)

Based on advice from paediatrician friend, we are fairly proactive with paracetamol and ibuprofen. My DD is full of cold and was running a bit of a fever when we arrived at PILs earlier, so we popped into Asda for emergency supplies.

Cricket (proper or, easier, French) sounds like a good option - co-opt a couple of adults to get the game started.

Sorry - that was a very muddled post

Once again, our kids agree stealth. DD hates Strawberry Calpol but will usually take Orange Nurofen. This time she refused both though. I try to hold off the drugs unless she's really miserable as current thinking seems to be that the fever is doing a job and you should let it do it if the child is not suffering but she's been utterly miserable more than once this weekend and refused medicine too which has been no fun

Her temp was 39.7 on Wednesday night and she fought the Calpol so strongly, she made herself puke so we haven't pushed it too much but it's been hard to see her so miserable.

First day without DH tomorrow so I really hope she's better

If you can get some big sacks grapes, sack races would fit your theme wonderfully and are popular with all ages. Good leveller if you have multiple age ranges too

And quoits maybe?

tesco sports day lit with funny face sacks