Birthday’s are a big deal in our home. Everybody’s birthday is celebrated and marked in some way but especially Anya’s as for kids, there’s nothing more special. Anya’s birthday is in December and due to a major house move in December 2014, we weren’t able to have a proper party for Anya’s 6th birthday. So when she turned 7 last month, we wanted to celebrate properly.
Winter is always a trickier time for parties as having an outdoor party is out of the question. I didn’t want to hire a venue as it never feels personal enough so we decided on a small party of 10-12 kids at home. And then we thought about possible themes. We went through quite a few ideas but none felt inspired or exciting enough until I thought about a Bollywood party. Anya was so excited by this idea that I knew we had found our theme.
Do you make your own kids party invites or do you buy them? I always plan to make them myself and sometimes do but sometimes life gets in the way and I end up buying them. Most of the kids party invitation cards you find in the shops tend to be a bit samey and are often themed with TV or cartoon characters which isn’t really my thing. Recently I went looking for something a bit different for a friend and I came across these really fun and colourful party invite kits.
These invite kits aren’t just for kids parties but they have baby shower ones, general ones which can be used for a range of occasions and of course kids party invites too. They come as a complete kit with the invites, envelopes, envelope seals and party favour bags included. All the designs just scream fun and cheer, exactly what a party should be! For our next kiddy party I’m loving the colourful heart ones or maybe even for my next grown-up party!
Last weekend we celebrated Anya’s 5th birthday with a small party at home. It was a very girly do with lots of paper pompoms, pink tissue and 5 giggling girls. Last year we had a big party where I hired a venue and invited loads more kids but this year we wanted a more intimate do at home. Anya loves lady bugs so that’s what we chose for the cake: lady bug cupcakes in pale pastels. I wanted to keep it simple with a home-made feel so we chose cupcakes instead of a big cake. I wish I could take credit for making them but they were made by my talented friend and cake maker Mirna. For the food we chose Anya’s favourites and very kid friendly things like pizza, chicken goujons and crisps all home made. I thought the food would look pretty served in little cardboard boxes lined with pink and white striped tissue. Having the party at home meant space was limited and there was no room for an extra table for the girls to eat on. So I lay a white sheet down on the floor at one end of the living room and scattered the sheet with little gold stars and some honeycomb balls and this is where the girls ate. The kids loved the honeycomb balls and started playing catch with them!With a December birthday you have to have the party indoors as it’s way too cold. So that usually means a venue but I so loved having the party at home and keeping it really small and simple. I think Anya enjoyed it more too. All in all the sun shone, the food went down well, the decorations were destroyed and the girls giggled and screamed while my husband and I watched and celebrated our baby turning 5!
This past weekend I was browsing Paper blog when some brown mustaches caught my eye. On delving deeper I found a beautiful site filled with utterly divine looking recipes and I’ve picked out some that I think would make super fun food for kids parties. I know I’m going to include some of these for my daugther’s next birthday bash:
You’d never dream of eating a mustache but how delicious do these chocolate mustache lollipops look? So perfect as a sweet treat for a kids birthday party. But I don’t think the adults will be able to resist either! (I NEED these at my kid’s next birthday do.)
Put these heart shaped pies on a stick and teddy bear bread rolls on your kids party menu and watch all the kids make a beeline for them. You can fill them with whatever you like… sweet or savoury or maybe even a few of each. With the pies, you can go for any shape you like including stars, circles (lollipop pies!), triangles… the list is endless.
I love this idea of elevating a simple cupcake to new heights! These balloon cupcakes look so pretty and best of all you don’t need to spend hours decorating with icing to make them in to a party treat. This couldn’t be simpler but has a huge wow factor.
All these divine looking (and I’m sure tasting) treats are the creation of Sandra Mangas Hernandez, a Spanish mama who has a flair for creating extraordinary food. Sandra gives much of her food, especially the kids stuff, a fun and exciting twist making it extremely inviting to eat. Serve up any of these inspired treats at your kids next birthday do and you’ll impress not only the kids but the adults too, not to mention how stunning and tempting your table will look. You’ll find all these recipes and more at Sandra’s blog called La recita de la felicidad and thankfully there’s an English version of the site too.
Earlier in the week I was on the hunt for some washi tape. You know, the Japanese stuff that’s like masking tape but comes in the most wonderful colours and patterns imaginable and can be used for endless decorating purposes. I found my washi tape and I also found Papermash… a little London boutique full of wonderful, colourful, bright and happy paper goodies.
Their collection is small but everything in it is gorgeous. There are cards and posters from the Rifle Paper Co, there’s lots of washi tape in solid colours or patterned (I went for the neon ones in coral and turquoise and I love them), then you’ve got party supplies including pretty floral paper cups, stripey straws and gorgeous honeycomb balls. Papermash also have a few crafts that you can download for free and make yourself. I’ve got my eye on the super pretty doily wraps which I’m picturing as party favour holders for my daughter’s next birthday bash. Visit Papermash to see all their goodies.
When I first saw these balloons, my heart skipped a beat. How striking are they? Digging a little deeper I found out that they’re made right here in London by Bon Bon Balloons. These are the most wonderful balloons I’ve ever seen and the whole idea behind them is very special too. The balloons come in a range of colours each with a beautifully decorated handcrafted string and when the person receiving it opens the box, the balloon floats up out of the box with your special message attached to the string. Sweet!
They can be sent for any occasion, they can even be individually crafted for you and Bon Bon Balloons also offer a design service for parties and events. But I personally love the idea of sending these as birth announcements instead of cards… what an impact they’d make (admittedly it’ll be expensive but so stunning!). To check out the entire range visit Bon Bon Balloons. And if my husband is reading, I just want to add forget flowers, I want one of these very soon!
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
