Can You Afford A Party?

Hello and good morning to you all. We've had a bit more snow again this week but the sun is out today and I'm told that spring might actually make an appearance this year sometime soon!!
I thought I share a couple of articles I found this morning on the price of price and the competition to give your child the best party ever!! Party competitiveness is certainly something I've noticed in the past with my kids friend's parties, although in recent years most of the parties have been more at home parties which the kids really do enjoy. From my experience, just having something a little special is enough to make them go "Wow!" and really make the party.
Here are the links to the two articles I found
Extravagant Parties and Planning Children's Parties
I will continue to search out new ideas which are affordable and easy to organise to help you in your party planning.
My two youngest are both already planning their birthday parties with me (they're also already thinking ahead to next year!!) so I will share ideas we have come up with. My son is autistic so parties have always been quite difficult for him as he gets stressed with too many people around. He also likes to be organised so we have a mind map with ideas for the party. We have started with the theme he wants and branched off with games he'd like and ways to theme them, food he wants and again ideas for themes and we've thought about the party bags and things that would actually be used to put in them.
My daughter is far less fussy and will be happy as long as she has her friends and cake!! Easy!!

Well, for now, goodbye and take care
Hugs
Suz x

Easter Lunch

Well, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and enjoying the Chocolate!! Apologies to any of you on diets who are managing to be good (a big well done to you as well!!).

I organised a little last minute Easter lunch and treasure hunt for my two youngest and their friend who stayed for a sleepover last night. Luckily I had a few bits and pieces left over from last year - cups, plates and napkins but most of it was designed, printed cut and assembled this morning!!

First up, and idea I've been waiting to show you for a couple of weeks now! A few weeks back I posted about my new mini milk bottles. Now these are really cute and I love them but at about £12 for 6 they're not cheap and being glass there is always a risk that one or more will get broken at some point. So one day as I was washing out jars for recycling an idea struck me that the right sized jar would make lovely little bottle glasses for parties. The jars I've used are sandwich paste jars (luckily Theo has an obsession with sandwich paste at the moment so I've got quite a few!!). These jars are only slightly smaller than the milk bottles and the kids thought they were the milk bottles so an excellent result there!

I tied circle tags onto the necks of the jars using green and yellow curling ribbon (from Hobbycraft's Easter range) and popped in a green straw with a straw flag on. 

Next up, I made up some popcorn boxes and emptied a packet of crisps into each.

These little boxes have now been secreted away to the den in the wardrobe where things are just a little too quiet!!

I simply added a sandwich pick (circle tag taped to a cocktail stick) to a plate of sandwiches and added some tomatoes and cucumber at the side. Very easy but effective.

And to finish off, some cupcakes with toppers. These are shop bought cakes which I had in (99p from Home Bargains and great for lunch boxes too!). 

So a lovely little lunch and very easy to do. I'll be completing some more items in this kit for a more substantial and better planned party and they will available from the website in time for next year. 

I hope this post has given you more ideas for planning parties or even just special lunches and teas for when the kids have friends round! With this in mind, I think I'll design some mini tea party kits in a few different themes that can be used any time of the year. 

So for now, it's a goodbye from me and I hope you enjoy the rest of the Easter weekend.

Hugs, Suz x