The last day of being 4....

The smallest member of our family turns 5 tomorrow.  Five!  Blink and you miss it.  Seriously!

 

Who doesn't remember those last final moments before you meet your new person?!

 

 We were a little jaundiced.

 

Turning 1 with a babushka party.

 

 

Turning 2 with Humpty Dumpty and our obsession with all things Play School!

 

 

Turning 3 with That Rainbow Cake from Pinterest!!!

 

 

Turning 4 with an almost life size Peppa Pig cake!

 

 And here we are, almost being 5....

 

Stop.  I want to get off now.



The boy turned 9!

 

We went vintage Womens Weekly Birthday Cake this time round....

 

 

...The Football Cake!

 

Does everyone else do the present unwrapping on their parents bed?  We snuck the bike in behind him while he was unwrapping another exciting gift - socks and jocks!

The Dimples!

 

We went to Bounce in Glen Iris.   It's basically a massive warehouse full of trampolines! I quite possibly might have had a bounce or three myself.

We also dealt with a massive green eyed monster today.  Poor Isaac - every gift Oscar got was all of a sudden the only thing he ever wanted in his entire life!  It was all very melodramatic!

 

I learnt a big lesson myself today too.

Never kiss a 9 year old boy in front of his mates.  Not even if you are the closest girl when the knife hits the bottom of the cake!

 



 

Happy Birthday Oscar!  We love you very much!

My creative space...The Peppa Pig Party

Better late than never, right?!

 

Miss Matilda turned four at the start of the month and we went with Peppa all the way!  She really is the bees knees and quite hilarious as an adult to watch... especially since I read somewhere recently that a close inspection of Daddy Pig reveals a head that closely resembles a dick and balls!!!

 

(I'm sure Matilda will love reading that when she gets old enough to trawl through this blog!)

 

It was a hot hot hot day so the party had to stay inside (unfortunately!).

 

Party games included Musical Muddy Puddles, Pin the Tail on Peppa and Pass the Piggy Parcel!  I also managed to make mini Peppa Pig colouring books for everyone to keep them entertained at the party table! Party bags included Peppa Pig hair clips and pony tail holders found at the last minute at Best and Less...score!

 

 

The cake might have been a little on the large side!  The benefits of the husband owning a bakery meant that I was able to ask him to bake and bring home a slab cake to cut Peppa out of.  He walked in with a cake almost a metre long and half a metre wide!!!

 

Below is how I've made lots of my birthday cakes and it generally works out well.  I would normally bake a standard size cake or cakes earlier in the week and freeze them.  On the day of cake construction just take them out of the freezer and cut out the shape/s you need.  Cover completely with buttercream icing and then use the ready rolled stuff like a jigsaw puzzle on top!  Because the cake is frozen there are virtually no crumb issues when cutting out the cakes and the chill sets the buttercream icing really well.  By the time you get around to cutting the birthday cake the next day you have one deliciously moist defrosted cake to eat and enjoy! 

 

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Other lovely creative spaces are right this way!  

 



Lego Men Tshirts: A tutorial (kind of)

A certain young man in this house is going to turn 5 next month and we are all systems go prepping for a Lego Party!  I have found loads of fantastic ideas on the internet and pinned them onto my pinterest board if you are interested.

Only recently, I came across these great free downloads that someone has used to make lego man bunting (which we will definately do) but I have also used them for the party invite.

Source: winksanddaisies.blogspot.com via Sonia on Pinterest

The lovely person sharing these has included a blank man, a happy birthday man and lego men with 5, 6, 7 & 8 on them, which I think is super generous of them!  We make Officeworks our best friends at party time and take all our files in there to photocopy and print.  I had them print off the Mr 5 onto some nice thick card, cut them all out and just wrote the invites out on the back.

My other great find has been these lego kirigami.

Source: zakkalife.blogspot.com via Sonia on Pinterest

How cute are all the little lego men holding hands?  We'll definately be using some of these to decorate the house!

Instead of making take-home bags full of crappy lollies that no-one likes I've had the grand idea to use them as a template and give each party guest their own lego man t-shirt to take home!

Click on the link (above) and print out your lego template.  Trace around as many of him as you need onto iron on transfer paper (I think it has some fancy name starting with v but it escapes me right now!).

(I am fairly certain I will be sick of Lego men before this party even begins!)

Without cutting them out yet, iron them onto some yellow fabric.  Apparently if you cut them out once you have ironed them onto the fabric you get better edges that dont fray as much after they have been through the wash.

Cut them out nicely, then peel off the backing paper and iron them onto your t-shirts.  I have bought a couple from Best and Less for around $4 each.  Depending on my time I think I might even sew around the edges of each man just to make him a little more secure.

The boys have given their thoughts and determined them to be 'way cool!'  I think so to, so much so I think I might make myself a grown up version to wear on party day!

In the (Lady) Lion's Den

Saturday nights change after you have children.  You probably knew that already. 

Mine looks like this on a fairly regular basis. 

The small people are sleeping, my husbands away.  I may have a fairly dreadful movie on tv (The Ugly Truth... and it is pretty ugly... except of course for Gerard Butler!).  I have developed blisters from cutting  out those lego men.  And a large percentage of those m&m's may have already been consumed.

What do your Saturday night's look like?

Winning with One Charming Party

How much fun is it waking up in the morning, opening up your email and discovering you've won a little something in blogland??!!

I entered a competition over at One Charming Party to select one of their lovely party plans.  They were giving away two and I was randomly selected and won both!!!

I'm picking the art party and the superhero party.

An average art party takes on a sophisticated air when you turn the party guests’ creations into a gallery showing. This party includes:

• colorful invitations and thank you cards–print as many as you need
• step-by-step instructions for making an 8 layer rainbow cake to wow the birthday child
• 2 different cupcake toppers (choose your favorite)
• a pre-party activity to keep early guests busy before the party starts
• 5 art stations with detailed instructions for your party success
• a fantastic tutorial for making a rainbow colored flower arrangement–plus our bonus quick guide to flower care
• diy artist profiles you can print in 8 different colors, so guests can choose their favorite
• creative name tags make sure each artist gets proper credit at the gallery showing
• gorgeous photos to guide you through this party from start to finish
• 50+ pages in a downloadable pdf–sent instantly to your inbox

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a superhero party! This party includes:

• cool 3D invitations that you can read with or without 3D glasses
• invitations, thank you cards and superhero certificates–print as many as you need
• printable cake toppers to quickly transform your cake
• a simple and yummy activity to keeps guests busy as you wait for everyone to arrive
• a step-by-step tutorial for a comic book banner that will give your party some POW
• easy instructions for making a super shirt your superhero will love (ages 1-6 and two generic graphics)
• hero training with 6 activities to keep guest entertained for the whole party
• super food labels that will encourage kids to eat healthier
• our expert party tips to keep your party running smoothly
• gorgeous photos to guide you through this party from start to finish
• a resource guide to help you find all of the party supplies
• 60+ pages in a downloadable pdf–sent instantly to your inbox

Images and party descriptions were taken directly from their shop.



Point and Shoot: Matilda turns 2

Saturday afternoon, December 4th, 2010

We had a wonderful Play School themed party for Matilda on Saturday with a few little friends to help us celebrate. As you can see by the last picture, someone partied too hard and completely zonked out on Grandma!

Join in with Point and Shoot too!

I spy with my little eye....

I'm not sure why this picture keeps popping up sideways as it's orientation is the right way up in my files. Praps Blogger is having a picture tanty! Anyway, we are in high party prep at the moment. Can you spy face masks ready for colouring in? Party hats waiting to be folded? Homemade Jemima, Humpty and Big Ted cupcake toppers?

Then of course, what wouldn't you do for this sweet girl singing her own birthday songs?