Heather's 4th Birthday

Calling all Princesses and Pirates, come and have some fun with Heather to help celebrate her 4th Birthday - it will be a royal swashbuckling affair!

The decorations

We didn't go as crazy with the decorations this year (I think we set the bar fairly high with Evan's Wonka Party) but we did make the house look really special for Heather.

Dining Room

The dining room was the pirate room where the food was hiding amongst the loot, jewels and gold doubloons.

 

 

The Kitchen

The pink princess desert table in the kitchen with dressed with cupcakes, strawberry tarts and marshmallow wands - and, of course - the Birthday cake!!

The empty plates had fruit kebabs on them - we put them out at the last minute and forgot to take the pic again.
 

 

  

 

No, we didn't make the cake, it came from Celebration Stations www.celebrationstations.co.uk. We ordered it over the phone and had just described what we wanted - they did a brilliant job. The cake tasted amazing too!!!

 

The Living Room and Hall

Ian decorated the hall using strips of pink party streamers and string - it looked amazing; it felt as though we were in a gazebo. Both kids thought it was great when they came down the stairs in the morning and saw the hall all decorated. The hall and living room also had some beautiful princesses hanging from some pink and green lanterns.

 

 

 

 

We used chalk pens to write in the bathroom and hall mirrors. The mirror hangs straight, it's just the picture that was squint!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside

The large plant pots at the front of the house were decorated with large gold crowns and pink ribbons to herald the arrival of the pretty princesses and, of course, there was a sign in the garden to warn everyone to look out for the party pirates.

 

 Heather didn't want to stand with Mummy and Daddy...too cool for that! Evan was asleep.

 Me, Heather and fabulous Auntie Tracy

 The Back Garden

In the back garden we had a 'Dig for Treasure' station. The kids had to dig around in the sand and collect the treasure. It worked really well and I think all kids had a turn and got plenty of treasure to take home.

 

 

 

 Jenny and Abbie digging for treasure

We also hired a bouncy castle- a huge hit with the kids and adults!

 

 

The Princess

 

 

  

 

Heather wanted to be a beautiful princess but kept saying that her dress had to have a "cape". After a lot of careful questioning, it turns out that a cape is a veil!  We got Heather a pretty 'Princess' (flower girl) dress and made her a "cape" using chiffon, ribbon and sequins (and the glue gun, of course - only burned myself twice!). There was a matching piece of pink ribbon to go round her waist but we have absolutely no idea where it is hiding. I have no doubt that I have put it in an ultra safe place...I'll find it next year probably. We managed to get a pair of sparkly shoes that matched the dusky pink ribbon perfectly. She looked so beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago I showed her my wedding dress and let her try it on (I tried it on too; it almost fitted me, I know, I was shocked!) I'm pretty sure that she wanted to look like a bride at the party (hence the "cape") -  she succeeded!

Party Games

We knew that the kids (and adults) would have fun on the bouncy castle but we needed a bit if 'organised fun' (of which I am the queen). And anyway, a  children's party is not a party without a few party games?

Firstly we played  Pass the Parcel. Boys in the hall and girls in the living room - we didn't have enough space for all to play together. It was going really well (or so I thought) as I jumped between the two games trying to make sure everyone got a chance to open the parcel at some point. Unfortunately I made a BIG mistake and failed massively as a Mum. Heather didn't get a chance to open it!!!!! In fact, what made it worse was that, the girl beside her got to open it 3 times and eventually won! Mummy was in the bad books and Heather was in tears. I FAILED!!!! I only managed to redeem the situation when I took her through to show her a big pile of parcels that were all for her. Tears gone!

We also played the 'corners game' but ran out of time to play 'pin the patch' on the parrot.

 

 

 

 

Blowing out the candles

 

It has become tradition each year to get a photo of the birthday girl with her cake on the wee red table. We thought it would be a nice way to see the kids (and us) getting older. I'm sure I have a limited time when the kids will let me do this so I'll grab these pictures while I can. 

 

 



 

 

 

Family & Friends

 

 

Grampa, Auntie Les (well done Auntie Les for dressing up), Alec and Uncle Gordon! 

 

 

 

 

Granma and Auntie Les 

 

  Auntie Janice and Alec

Auntie Tracy, Granny and Granma

 

 Daddy, Pirate Evan and Colin

We all had a wonderful day!

 

Happy Birthday beautiful 4 year old girl, all our love,
Mummy, Daddy and Evan xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China Night...

A few years ago (before our kids were born) Ian and I brought back some cute wee outfits for our neice and nephew from China Town. Ok, it was a bit of a random gift! Fortunately the kids loved them and we turned these wee outfits into a spur of the moment theme night (as you do).

And so China Night was born!!!

Ian and I ran home to find something that looked remotely Chinese and my Sister and Brother-in-law did the same.

Well, it wasn't an easy task and, to be fair, neither of our outfits were actually Chinese but what a laugh we had. Ian only had a pair of PJs from Muji so he paired that with his socks and flip flops for a Japanese look... I had a dress that looked vaugely Oriental.

When we arrived at my big sister's house, we were not let down at all. In fact we were very impressed with Lesley's dress as it was actually Chinese and from China! However, as Gordon came down the stairs in his outfit, Ian and I nearly wet ourselves on the door step! He was wearing my Nana's dress teamed with some sports socks and flip-flops, oh yeh, he also had a painted on moustach!!!

Everyone looked absolutely brilliant and so funny! I just hoped somewhere in China that night, there was a group of similar nutters dressed as Scottish people wearing a mixture of tartan things teamed with Moris Dancing scarves and bells!!!!

So what should we eat on our China Night...? Chinese of course! So, which of us was going to the Takeaway restaurant? Unfortunately, after quickly realising that Les, Gordon and Ian would probably get chucked out the restaurant, it fell to me to get the take away.


We had so much fun that night, we did it again the next year.

 

 

Bring on China Night 2!

 

• Les came a Japanese Geisha Girl!
• I had a jacket from China and some baggy trousers
• Ian brought out his trusty Muji PJs
• C had taken up Ti Kwon Do and so wore his unoform and passed his original outfit to J.
• J passed her old outfit to H!
• Gordon...well, he struggled a bit this time - I think he was feeling the pressure to out do his outfit from last year. He eventually decided to wear his football kit and scarf...we had no idea what he was thinking or what he was meant to be!

It turns out he came as a 'Fan'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made Chinese hats! I copied some chinese writing from the takeaway menu and put it on my hat. I have no idea what it siad...probably something like Kung Po chicken and special fried rice!

Again, I was sent for the Takeaway.



So, we had really exhauseted the idea of China night and so last year we changed the theme to:
                  

 International Night

To ensure I wasn't again sent to the takeaway, I decided that I would buy some International foods and heat them at home!

I can't find the photos from International Night at the moment but I'll add them when I have a better look.