#1 - Parties
When my daughter turned 1, we celebrated the fact that we hadn't lost our minds in the first year of parenthood with a small gathering of friends and family.
Bakers of Ealing (my go to) saved the day with cakes and sandwiches—essential for the parental pat on the back.
Fast forward to her second birthday, where we thought, "Let's throw caution to the wind and add a mini bouncy castle to the mix!"
I discovered that year that Wenzels did catering , so they got my sandwich order—costs add up! so thriftiness comes in handy.
Then out of nowhere came the grand event extravaganza at the ripe old age of 3.
Our budding socialite mentioned she’d like to invite her nursery friends this year, I immediately agreed to it thinking it was so cute she even had friends and perhaps an opportunity for me to meet the other parents at her school.
(Proper conversations cannot and were not had)
But when the rsvps started coming in thick and fast I suddenly found myself panic-buying party favours, signing up to a TEMU membership, and frantically searching for a venue.
I thought her group at nursery was 15-20 kids but it turned out to be more like 30….
Side note: Whilst I was planning this bonanza, I was confirmed on a job in Paris for that same week so I had to come home exhausted and sick from Paris into being party ready.
The YMCA in South Ealing had quite a good room attached to a cafe but they cancelled on me because they didn’t have the staff on the day so I attempted a booking at Blondin Consortium which also has a cafe attached to it and who were very accommodating and helpful I must say but as the rsvp list was growing so were my anxiety levels so I decided to opt for a larger space.
Enter Fielding Primary School, the hero with ample space and an online booking system.
The bouncy castle returned, much larger this time, a beacon of inflatable joy amidst the chaos.
I also trawled the internet for a face painter. Most of them told me that 90 mins wouldn’t be enough time to get through 27 children but then I landed on Claire at Glitter Face Painting who said it would be no problem at all and she was brilliant.
She wielded her brushes like a true artiste and lit up all their 27 little faces.
I was mulling over booking an entertainer but couldn’t justify the cost and seeing how young she was I didn’t think it necessary since I had the castle and the face painter. I told my husband it would be up to him to entertain if all went belly up.
At the height of my mania, Dinosaur suits were considered, then swiftly abandoned.
Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a T-Rex doing the Freeze dance?
Thanks to TEMU, our unofficial party sponsor, we set up some crafts tables which consisted of colouring rolls that were taped to the tables.
All crayons, party bags, party favours, balloons, decorations, plates were from there.
I must also mention we had family helping with the set up so we were 5 total and an hour wasn't enough time.
I bought my cake from Costco and the sandwiches from Sainsbury’s and Wenzels again and I had some grapes and mangos for the kids to snack on, some capri suns that spilled everywhere and some Pom Bear crisps I bought in a pack of 32.
I had sandwiches and crisps for the adults and my very thoughtful mum friend ( bless her soul) brought an Indian chai dispenser over from home which went down a treat!
Oh, I also had a bubble machine which my husband operated. He was very good at keeping the pint sized partygoers focused and on schedule!
Planned games like freeze dancing and pass the parcel were shelved in favour of free-range play, as the children happily bounced, painted, and devoured snacks with wild abandon.
Joking aside, it wasn’t as chaotic as I thought it would be and many commented on how well organised it was which was very lovely to hear considering all the effort that was put into it.
Lesson learned: Next year, it's a VIP list of her closest pals.
Until the grand return at age 10, when we'll do it all over again, armed with more snacks and possibly a parade of circus elephants.
Cheers to parenthood!