Success

I am not a good cook. I get by for daily meals and the occasional baking, but generally I don't enjoy it. So I was quite pleased with this result. It really is very easy to make! Just make sure you have double the icing you think you will need! I used these instructions.

Jemima's rainbow birthday party was a lot of fun - it rained, and then the sun came out. Perfect really. Twas a great celebration of my little miss. And she is already planning her 5th.

Grass Heads

Caleb and Jemima went to a party a couple of months ago and the fixings of these little fellows was their take home loot bag. I'm sure we have all seen/done this in some form or another, but I thought I'd share it here because I thought it was a great idea to be reminded of! (Especially if you have a party coming up yourself.)

In the bag was a bit of pantyhose, grass seeds, eyes and a bag of dirt. All we had to do was spoon the dirt in, pop the grass seeds on top and tie it up. Then the kids stuck the eyes on and we watered and waited. When the hair was long enough, the kids gave them haircuts, which was a highlight of the project for sure.

I think they are great- and it was nice not to get more lollies at the end of the day!

It's Party Time, Excellent.

Twas le grande 5th Birthday Party on Saturday. A "SPACE" party to be exact.

Was a bit of an old school do with pass the parcel and some craft, as well as beating the snot out of a pinata.

Was a whole bunch of fun.

5 year olds are different from 4 year olds. En masse, 5 year olds make their own fun a bit more it would seem to me- must be something to do with social development. No sooner had the children arrived had the party started rocking. The first (unplanned) activity was to run around like crazy and make a whole lot of noise with no real purpose. My 27 year old brother ran around with them for about 5 minutes and completely exhausted himself.

We made a "rocket" out of boxes and masking tape. Which repeatedly fell over throughout the rest of the party. Sometimes on purpose. Good times.

Pass the parcel went on a bit long really. (I had lost count of how many layers I had done, and had kept on doing "one more for luck"). Chris danced to keep the kidlets entertained throughout.

Later we made light sabers out of moldable balloons and toilet rolls like they did over at this great blog, Zakka Life. And like Jessica suggested, we used a bubble machine to have a bubble battle with our new weapons. Unfortunately the bubble machine was having issues, but the kids thought it hilarious to all crowd around it and flail their light sabers madly at it before the bubbles ever had a chance at freedom. The scene was not unlike a fish feeding frenzy with balloons flapping about in the place of the frothing water, and grinning 5 year olds in the place of the hungry sea creatures below.

While they were in a frenzy we thought it a good time to bring out our astronaut pinata. A few moments of hilarity ensued while the little jedis turned their aggression onto the hapless astronaut who bopped madly about, without so much as a dent. A few good whacks with a small baseball bat sent the goodies flying.

Behold, the cake! Caleb and I designed it. Let me talk you through it. It is an alien with 3 eyes wearing "undiewears", arm warmers and pants- but no shirt. The original had nipples too, but I censored them so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities at the party.

The extravagance of our little old school party was a helium tank. Chris enjoyed what helium joy he could with me around spoiling his fun by being responsible.

I made up a little bag for the kids for their pinata loot and also put together a little take home craft activity involving green playdough, pom poms, feathers, googley eyes, and coloured matchsticks.

Caleb had a ball. And that's what it was all about. Five is well worth the celebration.