Shirley's party advice part 6 - don't be afraid to interrupt us!

[Tinkerisdead]

Okay, this is shirley's party advice part 6. Shirley ducked out a while ago and you'll notice us chatting about all kinds of stuff whilst we wait for party planners to barge in.

So, don't lurk, jump in and chat. We'll give you any advice on parties from costumes to cakes....

What a bloody cheek about lunchboxes. Ignore!!

In fact i went to a party on saturday and it was lunchboxes. My 1yr old cried to get down and wouldnt eat and my 4yr old ate some but wanted to get down and play. The beauty of lunchboxes was i just shut them up and the party host was fine about taking them away. For littlies they're ideal because its hard for them to sit nicely amongst party excitement.

Glad it all went so well though. We love a success story.

My dd announced that she prob doesnt want a pizza party now but an Art Attack party. I said no! (Because my dad is working on vector images to create an invite, and ive bought a mini pizza mould to make mini choc pizzas) but i did try to get her to agree for a babys arty party for dd2 when shes 2. But i could only think of handprint pictures what else can 2yr olds manage? Because having different stations to go round like messy play is much more bearable than pinning two year olds down for pass the parcel!

For a 1 year old up the road, where they invited all the kids on the road (aged 1-10), they had cardboard mask shapes, brushes and pva glue, and bottles of glitter and sequins to stick on. LOADS of fun was had (although the DM was clearing glitter from her boys clothes for a month afterwards - lots of pink as the 1 yr old was the only girl!).

And colouring in on free printable pictures with crayons. Or even having a large sheet of plain paper for them to make a "poster" together (maybe suggest they draw something on a theme - animals, parties, family, circus, favourite sport....).

Well ive sat with the dd's all afternoon doing handprints snd sticking etc with our craft cupboards of stuff and i reckon i can easily do a messy play party.

Blathers is it you that did cloud dough before? Was it easy to clear up?

Biddy - glitter no way to that!!!

Hello, 'tis I Blathers in my 'Oh No HelenMN has left' guise :)

Cloud dough was me. I made the kids use ours mostly as it is pretty much MoonSand and I had heard horror stories but I didn't think it was that hard to clear up really.

For 2 year old crafts, I'd suggest maybe doing pictures with a little bouncy ball dipped in paint and a high sided tray with paper stuck to the bottom. They're in charge of tipping the tray so have some control over the finished picture but are also not in contact with any paint which makes for easy tidying up :) If you get a cheap bag of bouncy balls (Tesco were doing a bag of about 20 for a couple of quid when I went in yesterday) and stick a few in different colour paints you can let them mix things up without making too much mess. They also dry quite quickly because there is no inch thick paint on the paper.

Another one mine always enjoyed was the bubble painting. You loosen poster paint with a bit of water and add some washing up liquid. Blow bubbles in the mixture with a straw and then press paper down on the resulting pile of bubbles. Again, dried quick because of thin paint layer but can go horribly wrong if they suck or if they tip the bowl of mixture up. Might be a final job for those baby bowls with the suckers on the bottom if you have any?

We made sock snakes for DS's 2nd. We stuffed stripey socks with a kinder egg middle filled with sand and newspaper, added tongues and sticky eyes. All the kids loved them and DS still has his!

Crowns with the stick on jewels were a huge hit at DD's party too. They might be sufficiently Art Attack-y to fill time while everyone arrives?

How about the scratchy blackboard paintings with the paint underneath? You could but shapes from Baker Ross or make your own sheets up in advance? They'd be creative with minimal mess...

Ooh yes thats all brill thank you. I used to do loads with dd1 all of what you mentioned except cloud dough and sock snake but its amazing what you forget! I used to make cornflour gloop and put it on the highchair tray but i just dobt get the chance with dd1 about. When she starts school i'll make a real effort for dd2. Starting with gloop and cloud dough in the trofast trays. Ive got ball pool balls doing nothing, i could use them in trofast trays for painting too.

Dd2 is talking loads too now, she shouted chair and i rushed into the dining room to see her stood on a chair! Then she laughed and said wee wee and yep she'd pee'd all over the chair! So i think im gearing up for a lot more activities now rather than herding her around dd1!

Ok party gurus, more help needed!!

DDs Christening in October - I wanted to do a 'Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice' theme but all I can think of doing is a candy buffet! I have got a few vintage-y cardboard serving platter things and my problem is that I have spent a year with this idea in my head without coming up with anything and now I'm burnt out and can't seem to move forward.
Vintage is soo overdone darlings but I can't think of anything else for the sugar theme unless its just pink. But I might, just might, finally be sick of pink!!
The service is 10:30 until 12noon so I have to really feed people. Before, we've just done cake & tea and cheese & biscuits respectively.
We're looking into getting it catered but I'm sure we can't afford it so what can I feed people that can be made the night before and re-heated easily whilst still tasting lovely? DH said chilli, which fits the theme, but not everyone will eat chilli and I will have to cook the rice on the day. I was hoping to avoid that.

Sounds like fun Nonsense.

I'll be back with some ideas later - just got to go and run 9 miles

Baked potatoes!!!! Great idea!
If we hire a hall (too many to have at home) we could pop them in the oven when we decorate in the morning and they'd be ready for when we get back!
Top of the list so far Sunny

Oooh sugar and spice them brilliant.

I saw a fab chilli bar on pinterest and it really does fit your theme, it doesnt have to be spicy at all if you just use ground coriander, cumin, paprika and no chilli powder etc. snd you can make quorn ones for veggies. I did a chilli bar for bonfire night once and it was wolfed down even my one friend who wont eat mince?!!

You could do like a mulled wine/spiced drink for reception type drinks im sure ive seen a spiced apple juice drink in a cookbook. Gingerbread works brilliantly. I'd be having things like star anise, cinnamon etc dotted around for the smells. For sugar, sugared almonds as sunny said or do a chilli bar with jacket potatoes, nachos, salad, (no rice needed) and then a big pick and mix bar for sugar. I'd go for a gingerbread theme without making it christmassy as its sweet/spiced. I'll come back in a min with some links to lure you in...

chilli bar think hessian rustic prettied up with pastels not ness pink, teal? Lemon? Lilac?

nice look here, you dont have to do vintage more earthy meets pastel sugaryness

spiced apple punch

If you borrow slow cookers you can have all this cooking itself too...

non christmassy gingerbread

stealths favourite pom pom decorations

Oh I love the chilli bar idea!!!
And I liked the colours in the not so vintage thread.
I was thinking of making a heart shaped cake with sweets on the frosting but I really likes the look of the cake in above link.
And a gingerbread something for all of the kids to take home?
How easy would it be to put them on sticks and what should they be??

Gingerbread should be ok on wide lollysticks i'd say. And im gonna say girly hearts ha ha. Or make cake pops if you want something on sticks. Carrot cake would be nicely spiced. But gingerbread i'd do the hearts i linked to in cellophane bags.

Posted a reply and MN went down!!

You are right DW and just on their own in cellophane bags with a pink (it's never going to be anything else) ribbon would be best.

Do I have to buy those pom poms or is there a cheats version anywhere?

I bought a board/sign today with the 'sugar and spice' rhyme on so that can go on the sweet table.
I was thinking of centrepieces being glass bowls (all random) full of sweets, like those necklaces and bracelets etc. or is that overkill on the sweets?

In full on party prep mode now! Have also had my first anxiety dream about the party - dreamt that I got there and then I had forgotten loads of things, everything went wrong and we had to move to a different venue!!!

I am doing books instead of party bags. Would you have some appropriate books ready for younger / older siblings so they don't feel left out? I'm not really counting them in the party numbers (well I'm counting the 2 year olds who are invited but not the 1 year olds as I'm thinking some may bring them some may not)

Nonsense if you can afford it, i'd get cheap jars from ikea and set it up like a sweet shop with paper bags that you can buy on ebay dirt cheap. Big glass bowls or even cylinder vases work great too tho with little scoops.

scoops

Me again i was looking at other options, you can buy cylinder acrylic vases cheaply or the enamel buckets that i did my flowers in, you can get them in loads if pastel shades so they'd look sugary tones. Or if you ask a florist they can hire you big fishbowl vases.

Excuse the typos by the way i do my mnetting in snatched moments on my phone.

Jetstar - dont panic, we all have the "my party is gonna be shit and we'll run out of games etc" moment. You'll be fine! I personally wouldn't do party bag gifts for anyone other than named guests. I think Stealth does spares but it really gets my goat when people bring siblings and expect them to be included so i don't do it. Because i want to discourage people from the whole tagging people on thing lol. For my pizza party i think im even gonna put a caveat on the invite stating "please be aware that only named invitees will be provided for" because at 12.00 a child i'm not paying for hangers on.

My dd starts school next week and has already been going to classmates parties etc and i'm stunned at how many people bring older siblings along, those who could easily get them looked after but say "oh i told them to come along and just tag on the end" or at a soft play centre where one woman threw a strop because she had to pay for her youngest child who wasnt invited. Argghh

But if you want to be nice, have sone extra haribo/choc buttons and offer them to the hangers on.