all done for another year

The Girl had her birthday party yesterday. It all went so well, I had several children tell me that it was 'the best party ever'! I don't think you can get a better compliment than that. I changed a couple of the details at the last minute. After buying the milk bottles for them to drink from, I decided against it. Lets just say some of the kids were more 'exuberant' than I remembered! With a bouncy castle and a tiny tot, I didn't want the risk of broken glass. For similar reasons, I didn't put out the Candy Buffet either. I just discreetly made up sweetie bags and put in the goody bags for them to take home.

I took a couple of short cuts. We all know from my previous attempts that I am not the best cake maker/decorator. I am all for removing stress where possible, so I bought a big old choccy cake. The Girl had asked for chocolate cake, and it was a big hit ~ it didn't last long! I gave it a bit of a homemade air but adding cake bunting, and vintage style cut outs on top, which I bought from [Jelly & Blancmange].
Luckily, I'd bought some tiny cupcakes for the goody bags, again to give a homemade feeling, I used ready made pink icing and cake decorations, and added to each.
While there was some food out, I didn't go overboard. We were treating to the kids to Happy Meals during the party.
Feel free to judge me for taking shortcuts like this, I don't mind. Don't care either. There was far too much to sort out to be worried about faffing around with making cakes and sandwiches myself. The focus was on fun, and making the overall experience pretty.

Which I think we did! The big hits of the day were Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake, and the Lucky Dip. The sun refused to come out, it was chilly and blustery, but the children didn't seem to mind. Good old British weather, you can always rely on it to let you down! At least it didn't rain, I'm grateful for that.

On to the pics. Lots of them. Some taken the day before (when we had actual sunshine), some taken before everyone arrived, and one or at the party. I didn't want to show pics of the children, so it might seem as if they weren't there, but believe me, they were there!!!
Signs showing the way.

cupcake shortcut for goody bags.

Cake!

I had a couple of comments about how much things must have cost, and how lucky The Girl was to be 'spoilt'. I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of what I think about that, but I will say that for the most part, this was an old fashioned, homemade party. I may not have made the bouncy castle or the cakes, but we made the games, and most of the little details were homemade. Girly Girl and I started planning her party w-a-y back in January, and anything that needed buying has been bought each month since then. I spread the cost. It's not rocket science! If you plan ahead, then you can buy or make everything you want.
Next year she is going to have a small party, at a venue in town. Not going to say any more about it until then, because with the current economic climate I'm scared the shop will close, so I'm quietly hoping it continues to do well. I shall be booking it in April. Always planning ahead!
By 7 p.m last night, everything had been cleared up. The bouncy castle collected. There was no clue a party had ever taken place.
But I know 13 children will remember it fondly.

Now I need to start thinking about her Halloween Party!! Arghhh!!!!