In previous years, Honey's birthday celebrations have lasted a whole day with her friends coming along to the house to play in the morning and family members joining us in the afternoon. This year, with a young baby added to the mix, the idea of having everything over and done with by lunchtime really appealed! There was only one issue with that, the unpredictable weather! If the sun shone, we could all spread out into the garden and there would be no problem, but if it didn't then we'd be playing sardines in the house!
After toying with a range of party venues and packages, I decided to hire out our local church hall for the occasion and organise a 'stay and play' style party for Honey. I chose a morning slot for two reasons, firstly so that Honey would be at her best (she can get quite tired and grumpy of an afternoon now that she has dropped her afternoon nap) and secondly, so that food preparation and expenditure would be kept to a minimum (snacks and drinks rather than full on lunch). To keep costs down, I rejected my initial idea of hiring a bouncy castle or soft play package and decided to mimic some of the toddler sessions we have attended at similar venues.
In the end, we had:
Garden games
Parachute
Vehicles
Sensory play trays
Colouring activity roll
Big Kids' games
Each play station had a sign with words and pictures in an attempt to keep things tidy and organised (ish) and were created using things we already had so again, helped to keep things to budget. All the children seemed to enjoy flitting from one activity to another and had the option to play with, or just near each other!
I was fairly last minute about it all this year as we were playing everything by ear depending on whether or not Ace was a late baby and how he had settled into family life. Unfortunately, this meant that we missed out on having the incredibly popular Tiddles Face painting there and I didn't have time to arrange for an elaborate cake to be made by the fabulous Yippee Foods. These are two local businesses run by lovely friends of mine, but there's always next year for us and I highly recommend you take a look at their pages if you're planning a party soon!
Honey wears... Florasaurus dress by Boden
After toying with a range of party venues and packages, I decided to hire out our local church hall for the occasion and organise a 'stay and play' style party for Honey. I chose a morning slot for two reasons, firstly so that Honey would be at her best (she can get quite tired and grumpy of an afternoon now that she has dropped her afternoon nap) and secondly, so that food preparation and expenditure would be kept to a minimum (snacks and drinks rather than full on lunch). To keep costs down, I rejected my initial idea of hiring a bouncy castle or soft play package and decided to mimic some of the toddler sessions we have attended at similar venues.
In the end, we had:
Garden games
Parachute
Vehicles
Sensory play trays
Colouring activity roll
Big Kids' games
Each play station had a sign with words and pictures in an attempt to keep things tidy and organised (ish) and were created using things we already had so again, helped to keep things to budget. All the children seemed to enjoy flitting from one activity to another and had the option to play with, or just near each other!
I was fairly last minute about it all this year as we were playing everything by ear depending on whether or not Ace was a late baby and how he had settled into family life. Unfortunately, this meant that we missed out on having the incredibly popular Tiddles Face painting there and I didn't have time to arrange for an elaborate cake to be made by the fabulous Yippee Foods. These are two local businesses run by lovely friends of mine, but there's always next year for us and I highly recommend you take a look at their pages if you're planning a party soon!
Honey wears... Florasaurus dress by Boden
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