Tag Archives: Kids Birthday Themes

Apr 30 2013

A Lazy Mother’s Guide to Children’s Parties

Posted on by

So Dexter will be turning 1 year old in just a matter of weeks! I’m no closer to chosing a theme, or food, or buying decoration or presents… in fact, the only thing I’ve done is send a few invites! I have however found some pretty cool childrens party games thanks to Super Savvy Me.

In truth, I’m feeling more than a little guilty. I first posted about his impending birthday weeks ago, but haven’t actually done anything about it. When I think about the effort I made with Christmas, I feel like I peaked too early. Unfortunately the guilt won’t stop me blagging my way through this party. It’s too late for a theme, so it’s set to be a bit of a shambles.

On a plus, since posting about the prospect of a house-bound party with wine and nibbles, and a few hours of Justin Fletcher in a pathetic bid to stop the children from squabbling, the Big Man seems to have played a blinder and the weather looks set to stay nice. This means we can play Wacky Races and do some sensory play in the garden. I figure that if Craig is distracted doing ‘man things’ like drinking beer and manning the BBQ, I can also get the children to help me re pot my seedlings and take advantage of the free labour.

I’m not sure our garden is big enough for a bouncy castle but it can take a trampoline, and maybe a sandpit - I’m sure I can create some kind of toddler-friendly obstacle course to keep them entertained. If I’m feeling really brave, I might just make one of these cool walls out of some old cereal packets to let the little monsters punch their way out of whatever make-shift maze I subject them to.

55f24114caa1b3f6a045496ab0b5a962 A Lazy Mothers Guide to Childrens Parties

I think we might be horrendously cruel parents and not bother with a birthday pressie for Dex. He won’t remember it and he has everything you can possibly think of. When the time comes to buy him a bike we’ll get it, but it seems silly buying him things he can’t possibly use yet. The only gift I’d like to get is a bottle of wine from 2012 (his birth year, obviously) so we can present him with it on his eighteenth birthday. He can choose to drink it or sell it - it’s just something different (and I fear it says more about me than him!).

So there it is… I’ve ditched the dream of having a first birthday worthy of those cringeworthy shows on MTV. Maybe I’ll get a few balloons and tie them to the front door, maybe I won’t - I guess that depends on how many glasses of wine I drink at 10am when I’m panicking about welcoming everyone! Am I the World’s Worst Mum? Or simply a realist? I’ll let you decide, I’m off to rope to someone into making my son’s birthday cake…

 

 

 

Mar 25 2013

What do you do for a 1st Birthday Party?

Posted on by

Do I need to elaborate?

Okay. Here we go.

f976f0dbbffbd22258dd484772de0796 What do you do for a 1st Birthday Party?

On May 16th, my little guy is going to be 1 year old. It’s a momentous occasion and a special day for his daddy and me… yet it won’t mean anything to him. So I guess I’m asking what on earth we should do to mark the occasion.

We’ve ear-marked Saturday 18th May to celebrate and written invites for our immediate family. They are rather boring - the time, the place (our house), and a number to RSVP. That’s it. No theme, no mention of what we’re doing, no mention of nibbles…

So far the only thing Craig and I have decided, is that we’ll be supplying alcohol for the adults. We’ll need it. Our house has a huge downstairs - but a huge downstairs means there’s more space to tidy when the chaos is over!

My friends have really thrown down the gauntlet. I’ve attended first birthday’s with bouncy castles, BBQ’s, magicians etc. But Dexter is 1! I can’t help but think (uh know) that he won’t remember a damn thing. We’ve been to pirate parties, superhero parties, swimming parties… the list is endless! Do I even try to compete with the big boys? I can already hear you shouting a resounding NOOOO.

20100919 2341 What do you do for a 1st Birthday Party?

But what if I don’t?

I’ll have all these people around our house, some ASDA nibbles, a superior selection of wine and beer… and that’s it. I’ll have a room full of little people (ages 6 months to 6 years) and naff all to distract them from smearing cake up the walls!

I’m weary of the television. As tempting as it is to give the kids a Justin Fletcher fest and down wine in the kitchen, I don’t think I could stand 3 hours of Mr Tumble (or any of his alter ego’s).

f13acf3292eab90516ee356579e0ebbf What do you do for a 1st Birthday Party?

I’m also aware May won’t be warm enough to get in the garden and create a kid’s paradise. There’ll be no sandpit, paddling pool, bouncy castle… beer barrels (sigh)… The weather is bound to let us down.

So we’ll be house-bound.

So what do we do??? Help! What activities can we do that’ll impress the babies, the toddlers, and the kids? PLEASE help.

Oh and if you can send me the links of online shops that could help make the house look a bit more kiddified - do. I’m guessing I’ll need to do the ‘gaudy thing’… Oh and then there’s goody bags… HELP!

 

pixel What do you do for a 1st Birthday Party?