The Big Birthday Plan - Part One

I may be getting a bit ahead of myself with this one as I don’t have toots’ birthday to worry about until next year, but with trying to plan ahead for Christmas and make a lot of the gifts, I know that I’ll end up putting off any planning until the New Year and before I know it April will sneak up on me and that’s when the party will end up costing a fortune.

I’ve been having ideas for a birthday party for a month or so now, but find that sometimes no sooner has a great idea popped into my head than its gone again.

I know, I know…write them down, but I’ve mentioned before about my handbag full of scrappy little bits of paper. My bag tends to be the place where good ideas go to die.

So I’ll add them here, I may add to this post over time if I have any more good ideas or add additional separate posts if I really get into the swing of things.

This will be Toots’ first real birthday party as such. We’ve had a couple of friends over for play dates on her birthday but not a party. This year she turns four and I think she’ll be ready for a full blown party although I’d rather it wasn’t more than two or three hours long max. Kids that age start to burn out after a couple of hours and with it being in April I’ll have to have plenty of indoor backups at the ready. You just can’t guarantee the weather here at any time of the year but April can be especially changeable.

I want to keep the party quite minimal without spending too much money, actually I’d prefer to spend virtually nothing, but we’ll see how that goes.

I’m going to try to separate this up a little to help me spot them again quickly later. I’ll also post over the course of a couple of days as it’s getting quite involved.

Food

I will be making her cake and I’ve been extolling the virtues of a princess cake (not Barbie, we don’t do Barbie in this house…evil freak of nature). Last year she wanted Tom and Jerry and that was time consuming but so worth the look on her face when she finally saw it finished. Here it is part way through.

The photos of the completed cake are buried on the other laptop and I’ll find them eventually, but you get the idea. Toots isn’t what you’d call a girly girl so I’m not sure I’ll get away with a princess cake, plus her bestest friend in the whole wide world is a boy, they are inseparable.

I’ll make ice cream for the party myself as well. The ice cream I usually make at home is fakey banana. Basically, peel and chop bananas into chunks and freeze until solid, then whiz in a food processor with a little milk until it’s the consistency of ice cream, you can add nuts or choc chips. Swirling in a little maple syrup is also very good and I’ll serve this in little plastic bowls I picked up years ago which look like waffle/brandy snap baskets. I just have to stop the kids from trying to eat them.

I’ll also serve some crisps and jelly shapes, preferably sugar free. I will not be the mum who sends the kids home “buzzing” to their mums just in time for bed.

I’ll also make some fruit kabob skewers for a healthier option. I have some plastic skewers about six inches long with a screw on cap at both ends. I picked them up in a car boot sale about a year ago and although I don’t thing this was originally their intended use, they work perfectly and I’ll feel a lot safer with a bunch of kids running around with them when there aren’t any pointy ends.

Then I think a few sandwiches cut with cookie cutters should make enough food, kids sometimes don’t eat a lot when they’re excited and I’ll try not to plan this party over a main meal time.