Planning a birthday party for a 4 year old

So this year I succumbed to the peer pressure and I hosted a party for N’s 4th birthday.  It will be his last birthday at nursery and we invited all of his little friends.  I was slightly terrified.  Despite being an events manager for 8 years, this was my first kids’ party and the thought of entertaining 20 pre-schoolers for 2 hours filled me with a fair amount of trepidation.

When I asked N what kind of party he would like he said ‘fireman, dinosaurs…and princesses’.  Hmmm not sure about merging those three!  After a bit of negotiation, we decided on a fireman theme and I got to pinning ideas on a Pinterest board.

I booked our local community hall and a bouncy castle from Arc Bouncy Castles to fill up some of the space.  I also figured it would be a good way of them all burning off their energy!  I absolutely recommend Arc if you live in the West Midlands – they were on time, their online booking system was really convenient and the bouncy castle was fantastic value.  And obviously the bouncy castle was a huge hit with the kids!

 After my trawls on Pinterest, I decided I wanted to have a craft table to entertain the quieter kids and also break up the high-energy bouncing.  I found a free printable for fire chief badges and made one for each child.   As they arrived, I suggested they might like to colour in their badge and stick it to their fireman hat (sourced from a Asda for a bargainous £1 each).  This was a great ice-breaker and got the kids warmed up to the theme.  I also printed off lots of Fireman Sam colouring sheets as an extra activity for those who were feeling creative.   

The main activity on the craft table was jam jar lanterns.  It was really easy to organise – all I needed was some PVA glue, some paintbrushes, jam jars and ripped up bits of orange and red tissue paper.  The kids then painted the inside of the jars with the glue and stuck the tissue paper to it.  I sent everyone home with an LED tealight and, once dry, the jars made quite pretty fiery lanterns!

 
Next I turned my attention to the theming and decoration.  I headed straight to Party Pieces and ordered some fab Fireman Sam balloons, table covers and hanging decorations.  Rather than go full-on fireman, I got some great value packs of plain red tableware (table covers, paper plates and cups, and sandwich platters).   Party Pieces also sell helium canisters and this was lifesaver when it came to blowing up 30 balloons!

The hall I hired was pretty large so I wanted a few more props to fill the space.  I found a pop-up fire engine tent at Argos for £20, I pimped up our Cosy Coupe with a red plastic cup and a vacuum hose so it resembled a fire engine, and the boys and I painted a large piece of cardboard so it looked like a house on fire.  I cut out window-shaped holes, stuck on some tissue paper to look like flames and got the kids to throw blue balls at the holes to “put out the fire”.  We also printed out a large Fireman Sam image and played pin the hat on the fireman. 

Next up on the to-do list: party food!  Continuing the theme, I went with everything that was red or yellow.  So there were platters of ham, cheese and jam sandwiches, strips or red and yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, hula hoops (red packaging!), pots of ready made raspberry jelly, mini babybels, and cups filled with strawberries, melon, red grapes and marshmallows.  I put the non-perishable items into red party boxes (again from Party Pieces) and then tied a helium-filled balloon to each box.  This made the table look pretty and also cut down on the chaos and mess of a standard party buffet where everything is in the middle of the table.   The boxes then doubled up as party bags, so each child took their slice of party cake home in their box. 

 When it came to the cake, there was only one lady for the job!   Vicky at Victoria’s Sponge made this epic cake and it tasted as good as it looks!
 

All-in-all, the party was a success!  N had a great time and one little girl told her mum it was the best fireman party EVER!!!  Phew, I’m glad it’s over for another year… 

 

Travelling with little ones: my top ten tips!

It’s been exactly one month since we got back from our South African adventure and we have only just readjusted to normality (and caught up with the mountain of laundry).  We had a fantastic holiday, but it was the first time we had taken our two boys abroad (the longest holiday we had had up until last month was 5 days in North Yorkshire).  Two and a half weeks in South Africa with a 3.5 year old and a 20 month old was a bit of a challenge; a lot of friends told us we were brave, which I think is code for ‘totally, certifiably insane’. So here are my top ten tips for travelling with wee ones, written in the hope that they will help fellow crazy parents embarking on a family adventure:

1. Don’t be over-ambitious!  Before children, we were adventurous travellers: we stayed in a primitive gite in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains; road-tripped our way around California and Italy; took solo trips to Australia, New Zealand and Iceland.  We didn’t do anything by halves and we certainly didn’t sit still on holiday!  The flights to SA weren’t cheap and it didn’t seem worth the stress of taking two young boys on a 12 hour flight to stay for only one week.  So we booked for two and a half weeks and then set about filling our precious holiday time with must-see places and must-do experiences.  This involved staying in 7 different hotels/self-catering accommodation, sometimes for just 1 night, and 2 days of long drives in warm weather.  In hindsight, we packed far too much in and, although the boys coped really well with the fast pace, they were most definitely ready to come home after 2 weeks!  So my tip is to scale down your plans, stay in a max of 3 different places for at least 3 nights each, and don’t be over-ambitious.  The last thing you want is to wear out yourself and your kiddos with trying to fit everything in.

En route

2. Never underestimate the power of a good playground.  I remember reading somewhere that boys are like dogs: they need exercising regularly!  Our holiday centred mostly around playgrounds and beaches, where the boys could run off their energy and we had the faint chance of 10 minutes to relax.  SA is really kid-friendly and we were very lucky that everywhere we went there were fab playgrounds and beaches that were clean and safe.

A castle playground with a sandpit, what more could you want?!

3. Don’t sweat it if all they eat is chips and cake.  Because frankly this is all they will eat!  And at the end of the day, if they can’t do this on holiday, when can they?!

How much chocolate cake can I fit in my mouth??

4. Don’t expect to sleep on your own (and not in a sexy kinda way).  You can pretty much forget about any dreams of romantic nights with just the two of you sitting out and watching the stars from your balcony.  I think we managed a grand total of 3 evenings when we stayed up until 11pm and got through a whole movie uninterrupted.  The rest of the time we spent a few hours encouraging our boys to sleep, before giving in at 9 or 10pm and letting them come to bed with us.  And even on the good nights they snuck in at some point, meaning that we had elbows in our ribs and slept on approx 1cm of mattress.  Sleep is for the weak when you’re on holiday with toddlers!

5. Forget the routine.  Yes, you might not get much sleep and no, they might not eat many veggies or go to bed a reasonable hour.  But, as much as you can, try to forget the routine you have at home, it will only make you feel homesick!  Instead, try to ’embrace the chaos’ (my favourite quote from a friend who has 4 boys under 8) and ditch the routine while you’re away.  It’s your holiday too so cut yourself some slack and go with the flow! They will sleep when they’re tired, and eat when they’re hungry.  It will all be fine!

6. Let them choose the activities.  Actually, this is a tip for parenting in general, not just on holiday!  My boys can be little dictators and can throw the most magnificent tantrums if they don’t get their way.  So in an attempt to preempt any toddler angst, let them have a say in what you do and where you go.  Obviously this might not always be possible, but where you can give them options and let them lead the day’s activities.  I’ve learnt the hard way not to push it if my 3 year old doesn’t want to go out!

7. Don’t expect them to pose for photos!  You might be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with the most spectacular photo opps, but your children will not always co-operate. Oh well, we can always go back some day!

Having a meltdown at the foot of Table Mountain

8. Pack smart.  I wrote a whole other post on this minefield!

9. Keep a travel journal.  With my boys being so young, I wanted to have something that would record our fantastic adventure that they could share with friends at nursery and look at when they’re older.  A couple of weeks before we flew, I raided Paperchase and came out with a fab vinyl covered A5 notebook with giraffes and elephants on the cover (very on-theme!), some glittery pens, a glue stick and some stickers.  My 3 year old loved collecting leaflets and postcards everywhere we went and sticking them in the book.  I also wrote a page or two on what we’d done each day and he drew pictures to go along with words.  This was a relatively cheap addition to my packing list and was worth every penny!

10. You will want to feed them to the tigers… Unless you’re a SAHM, you won’t be used to spending so much time with your beloved children.  And yes, you will have days where you want to tear your hair out, run away with the campervan-driving boho surfers down at the beach, or feed your children to the tigers…

But ultimately you will have a fantastic holiday and your wee ones will develop so much through spending so much time with you.  So go for it: book that flight, chuck out the routine for a week or so, and try to embrace life at a toddler’s pace.

As we touched down at Birmingham Airport, J and I turned to each other in our delirious, exhausted state and high-fived the fact that we had survived.  And you will too!  And along the way, you might just enjoy yourself!

Back to reality: more sleep and fewer chips!