Birthday Party Success - Planning Pays Off!

Well the Birthday Party has been and gone for another year. And it was a huge success!

With all the planning I did prior to the event it went quite smoothly (see previous post). Quite a bit of the food was prepared beforehand and what I had to do at the last minute was quite simple. I am very lucky to have some wonderful friends who take care of the kitchen on the day so it frees me up to organise the kids games and activities. As part of my planning I drew up a chart of which food to put on the kids and adults tables. Unfortunately there was something I forgot to put on the chart and I forgot about it during the party so it didn't get served! We then had it for dinner that night. I think it is really important and welcoming to have lots of food for everyone so I tend to go a bit overboard.

Firstly the cake. I love making and decorating B's birthday cakes myself. I definiately wing it in terms of my cake decorating skills. So if you have any experience in cake decorating don't cringe too much at my skills!! As the theme of the party was a sport party we had to go for a sport themed cake too. The cake was an orange poppyseed cake which turned out quite well considering how long I had to cook it due the to shape of the tin. B chose a soccer cake and placed all the soccer players on the cake himself. I am quite happy with how it looked:

With it being a sport party I organised lots of races and games for the kids and then an obstacle course in the backyard for them to have a freeplay. Being winter in Melbourne it was a bit stressful during the week as to how the weather would be on the day, however, there was no rain and the sun was out for most of the day. Praise God! I did warn all the parents the day before though that there was a good chance that the kids could get wet and dirty as the backyard was a bit muddy from the rain during the week. I did this so they could bring a change of clothes just in case they were needed. Unfortunately it was a bit stressful for one of the girls who got very nervous about the party. Luckily she had a great time and now says that she likes sports parties!

Here are some of the races:

Egg and spoon race. I got plastic balls and put blue tak on the spoon to keep them attached. We had done a practise run before the party and B could only get 1 or 2 steps before the ball fell off so I figured it would be a lot more fun for the kids if they didn't have to worry too much. Of course, the older kids and adults who had a race didn't get that advantage!

Relay race. I got these rods a few weeks ago in my free stuff at Spotlight (see previous post). There were enough for the kids to take one home in their party bags.

Bean bags. We used these for a balancing game where the kids had to balance the bags on different parts of their body - head, shoulder, hand, foot, etc. Then we did a bean bag toss into the hula hoops. I made the bean bags myself. I took 2 squares of fabric, overlocked 3 edges, filled with beans and overlocked the final edge. These also went home in the party bags.

For the obstacle course/free play I had these set up:

This basketball hoop was actually B's birthday present from me.

This is a toy I got from my Toy Library. They are just separate pieces which click together for a balancing beam.

These tyres were set up in a meandering course for the kids to climb over and just generally muck around on.

The hula hoops to throw the bean bags in or just play around in.

A tarp with holes cut out of it to throw balls through and climb through. Unfortunately the tape I used didn't stick very well so I ended up having to pull it off. Oops!!

Everybody having a great time!

I feel really good about being on top of the planning this year. There was quite a bit of work in the weeks leading up to the party but it was worth it for the enjoyment the B and all the other kids got out of it. I was also lucky in that B was able to help with quite a bit of the preparation so that I did not have to resort to parking him in front of the TV to get everything done!

Craft for kids

I have mentioned before that I love my craft. I haven't done as much as I would like since B has come along. I do make arm and leg wraps for children with disabilities so that has been a large part of the sewing/crafting over the last couple of years.

I am very keen to pass on my love of craft to B. He absolutely adores the messy stuff. We don't do much painting in winter as he makes so much mess that in summer I just put him outside with an easel and let him go for it. I then use the paintings as wrapping paper. We both think the messier the better!!

Recently we have started some sewing. He loves to "help" when I use the sewing machine but I thought some hand sewing would be a good skill for him to learn. So over the last few weeks we have been working on this:

The process is quite simple. I cut a piece of hessian with and drew a simple picture on it - of course B had to have a car! He uses a knitting needle and tapestry wool and has done quite well. It has taken a number of sessions as his attention span for this is quite short and he makes mistakes which are okay or easily rectified. I have had quite a bit of input to help him complete it but I would expect that this will decrease as his skills improve.

So this is our finished product.

I had the ends of the wool on the side with the drawing so that when you turn it over you get a clear picture without the original drawing.

This is a perfect way to craft together during cold and wet winter days like today. Another activity I will try soon is finger knitting.

I would love to hear of your favourite craft activities with your kids.

So Glad They Were Free!

If you have read my blog before you may remember this post. I got a free pair of shoes for B which I was pretty excited about. I am now so very glad they were free.

When we got them they looked like this:

Well, 6 weeks later they look like this and are too small:

So off we went shoe shopping again. He has gone up another size so I suppose that it at least justifies a new pair. Whenever I have mentioned this to friends (or even the lady in the shop) the response is "boys". Another friend said that I didn't time the growth spurt well! I can so totally get why my dad complained about having to buy my brother new shoes every couple of months. I'll be earning lots of new pairs at this rate!!

Unfortunately, B didn't like any of the shoes in the shop except these ones:

I tried to steer him away from them towards the ones with Velcro but was unsuccessful. They were the only pair with shoelaces and I can't believe he chose them. So we now have to learn how to try shoelaces. It's a process I was hoping to avoid for a bit longer. He's quite keen on the idea though so I made this to practice on:

Wish us luck!!

Kitchen Gadgets

I must confess - I am a big fan of kitchen gadgets! Unfortunately I don't have a big kitchen (either cupboard or bench space) so have to be really careful of what I have as some of these are quite bulky and take up quite a bit of space. I just thought I would go through some of my favourites that help me around the kitchen and make my life a little easier.

My slow cooker. I have come very late to slow cookers. We did not have one while I was growing up so I did not have experience with them. I also couldn't see how you could just leave it on while you are out and about during the day - didn't think it was safe. However, I have a number of friends who use them and one even said she couldn't understand how a foodie like me didn't have one!! I must admit after having one for the past year I am a convert. I can happily leave it on all day and not worry. I find it really useful for busy days or days where we are going to be home late and I need dinner ready as soon as we are home. It is also great to cook big batches of food to freeze for later. And the feeling of having dinner done by 9.00 in the morning is one I cannot beat!

And a perfect combination with a yummy slow cooker meal - fresh cooked bread. I don't make bread in the bread maker as much as I should. I do use it often for things like pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns and jam. I really should use it more often as fresh baked bread is so yummy.

My rice cooker. I love being able to just put the rice in, turn it on and know that the rice will be cooked perfectly with very little effort from me.

My ice cream maker. I got this many years ago and didn't really use it, however, this last summer it got a real workout. B has issues with his kidneys so I really need to watch his sodium intake. Commercial ice cream is really high in salt so I made all of our ice cream this summer. It is great as I can do sorbet, ice cream and frozen yoghurt. I like that I know what is in it and can really experiment with different types. I even made tofu ice cream which was really nice.

Other gadgets I like are my food processor/blender, stick blender and my popcorn popper (great for a quick, nutricious snack).

What about you? Do you have a favourite kitchen gadget you couldn't live without? I would love to hear what makes your life easier in the kitchen.

Culture on a Wet Day

Well we have a real fix of culture today. The weather here in Melbourne today has been really typical winter weather.

I booked tickets ages ago to a performance by one of our favourite kid's performers Jay Laga'aia who was performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of their education week. We have seen Jay a few times either on his own or touring with Play School and he is such a marvelous entertainer. I thought it would be good to expose B to a full orchestra in an environment where the performance would be tailored to children and their short attention spans. And I must say it did not disappoint. Not only was Jay wonderful but the MSO conductor and the orchestra were really good too. They had the different sections of the orchestra in different colours so you could easily identify each section and they explained all the different instruments really well. A great introduction to classical music.

MSO and Jay

Jay and his Funky Monkey!

As we would be going into the city I thought we may as well make a day of it. We caught the train into the city which is cheap and offers lots of entertainment. Yesterday, I was racking my brain for another activity that we could do in the morning. We usually head to the playground at Birrarung Marr but as it was very cold and wet that was not an option. I then remembered that a friend mentioned the Kids Space at the National Gallery of Victoria.

I was last there about 2 years ago and was a little disappointed but today was a different story. They have really made a wonderful and free space for kids to enjoy. As they currently have a special exhibition of Napoleon's Masterpieces they have tied this theme into the Kids Space as well. There was also a section of floor that lit up with different stars and constellations when you walked over it. It did not photograph well so I can't show you - sorry. We spent over an hour in there and then discovered they were also doing kids crafts today. B did his bit really quickly but of course his crafty mum had to make sure it looked good - hehe! This is a recommended place to take the kids if you are in Melbourne.

Studying the maps with the magnifying glass

This was a magnetic wall with heads, bodies and legs that you could put together to make a person. Somehow the body got forgotten on this one!

Our crafty rosette with the Kids Space activity sheet

This was a wonderful wet Saturday with a bit of exposure to art and classical music. A win all round!!

Birthday Party Planning

B has his 4th birthday coming up at the end of the month. I am hoping to be quite organised for the party this year to cut down on my stress levels and to spread the cost over a month or so rather than pay for most things in the week of the party. Last year's party was a hit but I left way too much stuff till the last minute and was very disorganised on the day.

I have been purchasing some of the necessary supplies and sourcing a few other items that we need over the last month or so but am heading into serious planning territory now with less than a month to go.

Unfortunately I do not have any extra freezer space (a situation I hope to rectify soon). However, I have some wonderful friends who have offered their freezer space so that I can make food ahead of time and freeze. Today I have made 50+ sausage rolls so they have gone to their freezer. I'll make some more things the next couple of weekends which should cover a lot of the food for the party.

And lists. I am only a recent convert to lists (see this post here). I have created a list of things to do and things I have done. I'm looking forward to moving things from one list to the other!! He is having a sport theme for his birthday so I have created a list of the games we want to play which will also help make sure I have the necessary equipment.

Any suggestions for making birthday parties go smoothly? I would love to hear your success stories and any little tips you have learnt along the way. I have many years of birthday parties ahead of me and not many behind me so tips from the more experienced would be great.