Bouncy Castles, Burgers and Cake

Can I just say that I am shattered. If I stop now and sit down I will slump over while I stare into the distance and possibly dribble a bit.

The party is done. We survived. Actually, it was great fun. The nice bouncy castle people upgraded our inflatable to one with a roof, for free and unasked, when they knew what the weather would be like. But apart from one brief shower, the rain held off and the sun even came out. Below is a photo of said bouncy castle filling our entire back garden. It's not that the bouncy castle is huge, it's more that our garden is very small. I am standing in one corner and our neighbour's wall is behind the castle. Luckily we live near lots of parks!

It was too cool and windy too eat outside as I'd hoped, so we had an indoor picnic consisting of mini burgers, chicken nuggets, fries and salad. No child would touch the salad until one Dad there told them all to think of it as a bushtucker trial and bet them that they couldn't eat any...of course then they all ate the salad.

No patriotic theme here, just finally using up the very last of the Jubilee party things...

The individual bottles of strawberry milkshake were a huge hit. I will definitely do that again. There were no breakages - the bottles are really quite sturdy - and they are much less inclined to spill than those paper cups which seem to tip over at the earliest opportunity.

In the last week, Angus has requested a car birthday cake, then a tiger birthday cake, then finally a green monster cake. Which frankly was a relief as the green monster was easy to bake and fun to ice.

I've recently had a revelation regarding kid's birthday cakes which goes something like "You are not a professional cake decorator. Give yourself a break." The cake is the buttermilk birthday cake from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, my go-to birthday cake in my go-to baking book. The buttercream icing is horribly, perfectly green and it was great fun to make. Angus grinned and said "My green monster cake!!" when he saw it, so at least he could tell what it was.

I made about one hundred (no, eighteen) strawberry milkshakes cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery: Home Sweet Home. They are yummy but my word, they are sweet! Tooth achingly sweet.

I decorated them with cut up paper straws.

I like to see a mass of cakes lined up before a party, like a little cupcake army - it makes me feel like I've done something right. If all else fails, there will be cake!

And remember those sunflowers? I potted ten in little plastic pots and added a bow.

With a cupcake and a balloon, they made for very economical and hopefully fun party bags. 

Here is the birthday boy, wearing a mask that someone left behind, happy, probably quite over tired and definitely over fed.

Today we met up with John's parents in York. We visited the National Railway Museum, always a hit, and had a lovely lunch out. A great day, and we will all sleep well tonight.

Happy Birthday Angus. You are four today. My baby, my big boy, stubborn, affectionate, questioning, quiet in company but non-stop chatty at home, hater of vegetables and liker of Peppa Pig, quietly adoring of your big sister and beloved by everyone in this house.

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Last weekend, this little blog was featured in The Telegraph. I am both very happy and very shy about it. Many thanks to those who happened to read it and sent lovely emails and messages. And many, MANY thanks to you out there who visit here and read, old followers and new, nearby and thousands of miles away - it's really wonderful to me that you stop by and your comments continue to make my day.

Having a Party

Lately, my scatterbrained and distracted thoughts all turn towards Angus's birthday this weekend, in particular his party. I am writing a lot of lists and trying to make sure I've remembered everything. Trying to balance what matters with what doesn't, the essentials with the extras. And thinking that I blame my ideas about what constitutes a good children's birthday party on this book, Having a Party, published in 1973. It's part of a little collection of books from my childhood which are stashed away for safe keeping. None of them are particularly good books or classics, but they are special to me for the memories they hold. I was fascinated by this book as a child and would spend a long time poring over the illustrations and committing them all to memory.

I mean, look at it. The colours, the clothes, the decorations...it's so rainbowy, so self-consciously inclusive.

I'm sure I'm not the only child born in the seventies who remembers "hedgehogs" made from cheese and pineapple sticks poked into a foil-wrapped grapefruit at all parties.

Lemonade, anyone?

How I wanted to cook sausage on a fire. Even the clean up afterwards looks fun.

I think I'm there. Everything is either bought or coming in tomorrow's supermarket delivery. 

There is a bit of a red and blue theme going on, mainly because I wanted to use up all the plates, balloons and straws left over from last year's little Jubilee party. Angus wont mind.

I very much want to use this bottles - they look so cute with the straws in them - but have paper cups just in case we decide that glass and very excited small children might not be a good idea, Perhaps the older ones can use them. 

And the crochet snake is growing. It's about 70 cm long at the moment. I will crochet as many more rows tonight as I can, then tomorrow I'll start the head. It will be done in time, of course it will! 

What about you? Any random children's books that you adore for no good reason other than they were part of your childhood memories? And any tips for a happy children's birthday party? We are on weather watch at the moment as the forecast for Saturday moves from "sun and cloud"  to "sun and showers" and currently "cloud and showers", and hoping fervently that it's dry otherwise we'll be cancelling our bouncy castle and Googling "fun indoor party activities for ten disappointed and hyperactive four year olds".

Happy Birthday Bella

It was old fashioned, the sort of party I remember from my own childhood. Ten girls and one boy came to join in the fun. There was an abundance of sequins and bows and sparkly shoes. They played musical statues and pass-the-parcel. The food consisted of sandwiches (plastic white bread, crusts cut off), crisps, cocktail sausages, cakes. Carrot sticks and grapes to tick the healthy box. I didn't know where to seat thirteen children so we moved the dining room table out of the way and put a disposable tablecloth on the floor and called it an "indoor birthday picnic", which they thought was great fun.

When I asked Bella what kind of cake she would like, she asked for a round, chocolate cake covered in Smarties. Yes, very specific, but I have to say I nearly cried with relief and thought - I can do that! Previous birthday cakes have included a train, a princess castle and a butterfly. (The castle had seven layers of rainbow layered sponge - what was I thinking??). I used my mother-in-law's recipe and made a chocolate buttercream icing. Arranging the Smarties was very soothing, I enjoyed that part enormously. We enjoyed eating it too.

I have to be honest, a part of me did worry that it wasn't enough of a party, not big or fancy enough. One parent asked me what the theme was. I replied that the theme was that is was a sixth birthday party. But when I asked Bella what her favourite part of the day was she said "playing pass-the-parcel". Children are amazingly traditional in their tastes.

Tomorrow is her actual birthday. This time sixth years ago I think I was screaming for an epidural, all thoughts of natural, intervention-free birth long gone. We will open a couple of presents before school - naturally she has chosen those already. After school we will go out for tea; when I asked her where she would like to go she said "McDonalds", quick as a flash. 

Bella - Happy Birthday my beautiful girl! You bring us more joy and happiness than you can possibly imagine and we love you to the moon and back.

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Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments on my last post. My Grandma died last week. It has not quite sunk in yet, and I don't know that it will until I go back home and see my family. She was quite a character and I'd like to tell you more about her one day. We are very sad but taking a lot of comfort from the fact that she lived to be eighty nine and died peacefully with family her side, and there is a lot to be said for that.

On a happier note, hello new followers! It's very nice to have you here and you are most welcome. Thank you as ever for being here and for reading. x

A Little Autumn Party

It was one of those occasions when I was talked into something by a persuasive small child then, a few days before the party, kicked myself for being so weak. So much to do, so many lists to write. It's not like I don't have ten other things to be getting on with. But when this afternoon came I was so glad that I'd put the effort into the planning and making and baking. It was totally worth it, of course it was.

Bella made invitations decorated with leaf stickers. Both kids and I baked gingerbread leaves and we purchased many, many bags of sweets so that the leaves could be gaudily iced by our guests, and groan under the weight of dolly mixture and icing before being eaten. They did some crafting and colouring, and apple bobbing, and playing, and a lot of shrieking and running around. I made toffee apples for our little guests to take away with them. It was my first attempt and I think the toffee may be quite hard. The girls were all proudly showing me their wobbly teeth or gaps where teeth had recently fallen out. I fear that my toffee apples may hasten the arrival of the tooth fairy in a few households tonight.

Not a Halloween party, no. That is for another time. But a little autumn play date with seven of Bella's school friends and it was really, really nice. 

My ears are still ringing from the shrieking.

Jubileeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Ok, my last Jubilee post, I promise. There is a definite red, white and blue theme to today's activities. I found the photo above when I recently stayed at my parent's house. It is me, aged three and a half, at Charles and Diana's wedding in July 1981. I know it's not really a Jubilee photo, but I like it. I think it echoes everything I have seen here in the UK over the last few weeks; fun, fancy dress, street parties, eating and drinking, bunting, a sense of community. I remember making that hat with Mum and Grandma, then wearing it for the playschool hat parade.

Bella kindly modeled her Corgi T-shirt for me. (Angus was less keen).

Today we had a small tea party with some friends. I made cupcakes (recipe here).

I love these little cake toppers:

Jubilee Rocky Roads, which are plain old Rocky Roads with a Union Flag stuck in the top (recipe here).

Some cups. And straws. I didn't photograph the matching plates, napkins, bunting...

But the highlight of my day, actually my week, is this little picture that Bella drew this morning:

Her Royal Highness is wearing a crown, striped tights and what look like red cowboy boots. But best of all, for some reason I do not understand, the Queen is wearing an apron, with a picture of the Queen on it. When I asked Bella why, she looked at me as though I was very stupid and said "because she is baking some Queen cakes.". I do not understand the logic of a five year old mind but I love it.

Happy Days

It felt like Angus's Birthday Part Two this weekend. On Sunday he had a joint party at a nearby soft play centre with another little boy we know. My role was the food, my friend's the drinks and party bags.

On Saturday I made three dozen fairy cakes...

...and iced them. Old school icing, just icing sugar and water, no buttercream frosting here.

Thirty two paper bags were filled with thirty two packed lunches.

Bella rose to the challenge of Chief Smartie Sorter, a job she took very seriously. I told her she could only eat the brown ones.

I had fun playing with them to make a pattern for Angus's cake. (Yes I know he had a cake last week, but we needed another for when everyone sang Happy Birthday at the party!)

Much fun was had with a new giant football, and Bella was very excited to have another opportunity to wear her party dress.

Then, the best part of the weekend. On Sunday night we walked up to our local fish and chip shop. We often use the take away but have never eaten in the attached restaurant. What a joy it was. A proper old fashioned, Yorkshire place, with "senior specials". "Fresh orange juice" was listed as one of the starters on the menu. For dessert, or "sweet" as they called it, were things like steamed pudding, mandarin surprise (!) or "chocolate biscuit". I don't think the menu choices or type of customer have changed in thirty years, and why should they, as it is perfect. It was so busy, people were queuing out of the door. 

As is traditional in the North of England, fish and chips are served with a cup of tea:

and the children's ice cream was Mr Whippy style, in a lovely retro dish with lots of sprinkles.

It was one of the nicest meals we've ever had with the children. Easy, unplanned and happy. The kids were well behaved, the food came quickly (less bored wriggling) and was fresh and delicious. As we left, the waitress brought over a little plastic tiara for Bella and a toy dinosaur for Angus. Honestly, it could not have been more perfect. Any restaurant that makes families with little ones feel welcome gets my vote, and my return business. We left a big tip and went home with full tummies and smiling faces.

I hope you had a nice weekend too. Did you do anything special? Have a great Monday and thank you for reading. Hello also to my new followers, thank you very much for stopping by and reading.