Shirley's Party Advice Part 7 - how did they all get so big...

[stealthsquiggle]

Part 7 - link to previous one to follow!

Has the translator helped?

Let me come back to this in the morning cos i just ran through about three versions in my head and its all garbled.

Ive lost my party mojo so i'll hopefully have renewed vigour for yours xxx

The translator didn't help much to be honest.

So far I have ....

"Ahoy there me hearties

Stop yer pillaging and lend me an ear,
I have a message for you to hear,
Ye be invited for some pirate fun,
I’m having a party, I hope you can come

Ye be invited to DD’s 4th Birthday party

Chart ye course and set sail for on Sunday 8th December.

Dock at our pirate hideaway between 11.30 and 1.30 for fun and games and gold dubloons.

Pirates, Buccaneers and Mermaids only please. Landlubbers will be made to walk the plank!"

I hate it to be honest

I think it's lovely. My suggestions were all along the lines of ahoy me hearties captain C invites you to Neverland for a swashbuckling adventure....etc

Yours is really nice rhyme. I know it's hard when you've lost your mojo though. It didn't even occur to me that my dd's birthday is just over a week away!

Why do you hate it, Blathers?

Does DD want to be Captain DD, or another name? I used to have an outlaw wanted poster mug which was "Calamity DD's name" I am sure we could come up with another descriptor that works with her name?

It just seems a bit contrived - but that's maybe because I spent ages contriving it. It's neither a poem or prose, just a mash up.

She's usually Captain DD but then Jake is just Jake so I was wondering if she needed a title.

Captain dd sounds good alliteratively speaking.

If we're spurring each other on where can i buy mini smarties?

Mini Smarties? No idea. Are the treat size packs normal sized Smarties in smaller boxes or mini Smarties?

Amazon have some...

I like Captain DD.

Mini smarties is an interesting one. I have only encountered them inside eggs /chickens/snowmen. I shall hunt.

not clear if they are real Nestlé ones

I got some Dr Oetker mini chocolate beans from Tesco a while aog that could pass for Smarties if they didn't necessarily have to be the real thing?

Dd2 has a sickness bug! Im praying it doesnt hit dd2 too ir i'll get nothing done.

Nope dont have to be real smarties i just thiught they'd be good on my chocolate pizzas like pepperoni but the big ones are too big.

I need to shift myself. I have to make the chocolate puzzas, the cake, and a second cake for the family tea. Actually i could just make two pizza cakes if they are so easy. Then i need to shop for the family tea inc gluten free stuff.

And i feel sick.

I meant hit dd1 too didnt i

Probably .

It's 8am my time and I am sitting in a (very loud) presentation that I could have given better (and more quietly) myself.

Where are you stealth? Should i be jealous of your life(you know fear of flying aside?)

Right, tomorrow i've got to get my arse into gear. No more depressive apathy. I need to really give this kid a lovely pizza party (i think its the fact im not hosting it has robbed me of my mojo). Choc pizzas first then the cake(s) and i need to go to pizza express to get pizza boxes

Denver, CO, DW - and no, probably not. Business travel can be fun when you know lots of people but this week I am at an event where I know nobody (well, 2 people, but I am treading on their turf and they don't want me here) and I am fed up and lonely.

Not having complete control does take away the mojo - DS's birthday treat just involved me dropping them off and I had to really motivate myself to try and make it special (aprons for the 3 boys, a special picnic with baby dragons in chocolate krispie nests) because it didn't feel in the slightest like a party.

I get home Thursday, and Sunday we have family birthday lunch for DS and DB2. Which reminds me, I need to do something about DB2's present. And think of a quick and easy cake.

Oh dont be lonely, we're just here.

You suddenly gave me a jolt into what birthdays are going to be like in a few years

My friend is planning her first big party for her dd who will be 7, previously she's had tea with a few friends or a day out etc. my friend messaged me saying a "disco is 100 for 2 hours and thats before, food, party bags and an actual present for dd" i said welcome to my world!!

I've made five chocolate pizzas. Initially i was buggering about with boiling water and a bowl. Then i cottoned on that each pizza took one packer of aldi chocolate so i shoved it in a pyrex jug, melted it whilst the previous one chilled in the freezer, popped that out and into fridge then poured the next one. I've got another five chilling and one more to start. By tonight i will have 11, 4.5" individual choc pizzas that cost 99p each if you factor the mold in, 45p without!!

Chocolate pizza production line sounds cool.

Blathers - I found a mould for pirate themed lollipops in a shop - this one - are you interested? (a word of warning - they are big lollipops!)

I think I'm sorted on the food and drink front. Feeling mojo-less to try much else anyway :(

Oh dear . I saw some really cute piratey fabric too, but it was too expensive for impulse buying and I had already spent much too much anyway

Hello Party Experts!

I am a total party novice. I stumbled across this thread by the power of mumsnet search :-)

I am having a gruffalo themed party for DS who will be 4 (joint party with a friend whose DS has similar birthday) and there will be approx 25 (gulp) little ones there.

We have hired a hall to play games and eat food.

Was thinking about party games (duck duck goose but owl owl snake or something), stick the tail on the gruffalo, maybe buy the gruffalo pinata ? Any other suggestions?

I am struggling with party bag ideas that don't cost muchos £££ being the gruffalo theme. Had thought about buying cheap socks from Poundland or somewhere and sticking on googly eyes to make snake puppets (read that somewhere on MN!) but that would be a lot of snake puppets, also some white chocolate mice maybe and some green jelly beans for warts, and a piece of cake. Any other suggestions?

Food wise - making the pizza gruffalo themed (somehow), sausage rolls, cocktail sausages (roasted fox?), will have a squizz on pinterest?

Thanks so much in advance (if a gruffalo theme has been discussed indepth on earlier threads could you let me know which one and I could do a search?)

Much appreciated! It's next Sat (leaving it late, as usual!!)
TOOIK.

DoctorsWife did an amazing gruffalo party for her DD1 in one of the early threads - not sure which one though... 1 or 2,maybe?

It was our very first thread stealth, her third birthday. Next week is her fifth birthday. We really have been talking parties for two years!!

Your ideas sound great theonlyone, i think my gruffalo cake may still be on my profile.

We got a big gruffalo floor puzzle and hid the pieces around so the kids had to hunt the pieces and make it together. I made huge copies of the characters and coloured them in. I bought those potted herbs from the supermarket, collected fir cones leaves and conkers. I made big big trees to decorate the walls and used green balloons on the ceiling as a canopy which would be tricky in a hall. I bought mini toadstools and stuck them in the herb pots and put the herbs/fir cones all over the table.

Party bags i bought the julia donaldson pack from the book people, i bought takeaway style bags and stuck pictures of the gruffalo on the front. I gave each child a julia donaldson book as well as woodland themed items like a jumping squirrel, bark effect pen i think i cant remember. Bakerross usually have loads of woodland themed crafts and toys.

IIRC, the first thread contains a lot of angst about the figures for that cake

Thank you so much, love the ideas! Will go and have a rummage for the thread!