Confessions of a Lazy Mother - Party Edition

I'm terribly sorry if I have misled you all - that was never my intention. I'm a little worried that some people may be under the mistaken impression that my children lead a charmed life full of whimsical tea parties, theme dinners and picnics; a life full of jolly fun, a magical memory-filled enviable childhood. Because after all, this blog was called (until very recently) "Greatfun4kids". And wasn't it all about having fun with your kids? Wasn't I meant to be some kind of role model for an impromptu fun-filled life?

No, no, no. If you thought that, I'm sorry but you have me pegged all wrong.
While you may have imagined that the person who could pull off a party for no reason at the drop of a hat must be exceedingly energetic and well organised in the domestic department - and while you may have been under the impression that my kitchen always smells like fresh muffins and every dinner is themed - nothing could be further from the truth. I am anything but energetic. I am more often boring than fun. And I only bake when I have to.

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A Star Wars Party *Just Because*

I must be mad, I know, let's just admit it right now. These "parties for no reason" are getting out of hand, with TWO these last school holidays.

I was kind of hoping Scrag would forget my mumbled agreement to have a Star Wars "party" for him and a few Jedi pals, but on the last Wednesday of the hols, he came up to me as I sat at the computer pinning things and asked so sweetly: "Mum, shouldn't we be getting ready for the Star Wars party already? Shall I get my notebook so we can start making plans?"

In my defence, I am rather powerless against the heartfelt pleas of my young Jedi when he asks so nicely (and hugs me so much). The Force is strong with this one. What could I do but start searching for Star Wars ideas?

The first thing I found were these cool Styrofoam R2D2 cups. So I pinned them. Downloaded the free printable and printed off two sheets. Scrag and I made the cups together, improvising the lids (since we couldn't find any cups with lids in the shops)...

1. Trim and stick the R2D2 body onto the styrofoam cup using a glue stick. Trace circles on the back of silver card to form a lid. Carefully cut out the circles.
2. Cut a small cross with a craft knife in the middle of the circle to poke the straw through. Cut out the round lid printable. 
3. Use a hole punch to punch a hole in the centre circle of the lid printable (or carefully cut a small circle). Staple the lid printable to the silver circle, letting the staples line up with the edges of the blue printed shapes.
4. Poke a straw through and Voila! An R2D2 cup perfect for your impromptu Star Wars Party!

Download the free R2D2 Cup printable

 I've made these Light Saber Napkin Holders before (and had been collecting toilet rolls for weeks). They are easy to make, by covering cardboard toilet rolls with silver duct tape and adding black electrical tape details. (Or you can paint the toilet rolls black and add the duct tape as detail).

We have been mad keen Star Wars enthusiasts since forever. We've had a Star Wars Birthday Party (for Dash), a Star Wars Theme dinner and a May The Fourth (be with you) Star Wars night for a bunch of eight and nine year olds.
In our dressup box lurks a Darth Vader talking helmet and a Princess Leia wig, so pulling off a Star Wars party with two days notice was really a doddle, especially with the most enthusiastic six-year old Jedi helper EVER.

We made enough light saber handles from toilet rolls to make balloon light sabers as well. Such a pity that the $2 shop balloon pump broke after we just blew up these two balloons. I guess you get what you pay for aye? (You can bet we protected these two beauties from all comers until it was time to do battle).

I was a bit bummed but my young padawan told me, "Mum don't be worried because look at all the OTHER amazing things you've made! Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate is the path to the dark side..." Someone's been listening to Yoda.

I found a roll of leftover black building paper in the garage, which I stapled to the back wall under the carport, and Scrag and I drew a chalk galaxy...

This is such a simple idea, cost NOTHING and was so effective. Building paper, staples, chalk. Easy!

Of course our trusty lemonade stand was put to use again, and this time our drink dispenser was filled with delicious sugar-free Yoda Soda...

Sugar Free Yoda Soda Recipe (Apple & Green Tea punch)

PUNCH BASE:
1 litre of boiling water
4 green tea bags
2-3 tablespoons of liquid honey
Juice and zest of one lemon
One green apple, grated

Leave to steep and chill overnight. In the morning, strain the liquid into your drink dispenser or punch bowl and add:

• one litre of clear apple juice
• two litres of sparkling soda water
• 2-3 drops of green food colouring

Our young Jedi trainees guzzled this down like they didn't know it was good for them. Yummy!

Last week of the school holidays, not many of his buddies were in town, so just three young Jedi were due to turn up to play. Really, this was a themed afternoon tea, with light saber battles thrown in. But Scrag loved it and appreciated all the little touches (he kept hugging me and saying, "Thankyou mummy, I love you" "Mummy you're the best mum ever!" It made it all worth it).

I set up a beam for them to have light saber battled on, a plank of wood supported by two sawhorses. Underneath was a homemade fall-mat. A tarp, spread with flat cushions/squabs, with our large woven mat spread on top. Nobody seemed to mind falling.

Of course if this were a "real party" I would have planned all kinds of fun star wars games and activities. But this was a glorified group playdate on a theme with a special afternoon tea, so I left them to come up with their own fun.

The Darth Vader helmet was a hit. Darth even came for afternoon tea...

For a bit of easy (healthy) food theming, I put cheese, salami, celery and carrot sticks on toothpicks and wrapped their bottoms with a strip of tin foil. I labelled the tomato sauce "lava", put popcorn in silver boxes and called it "asteroids" and for the piece de resistance, Scrag and I made some Star Wars cookies. I found some cookie cutters online and used our favourite basic cookie recipe...

The cookie cutters come in a pack of four, C3PO, Yoda, Chewbacca and Darth Vader. I found mine on TradeMe, but you can find them all over the internet and they are cheap as chips ($6.95 for the set).
We divided the dough into quarters and added colour for each shape.

1. C3PO: Just cut out the dough, as is. No colouring required.
2. Yoda: Add a splash of green food colouring to Yoda's quarter of the dough.
3. Chewbacca: Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to Chewie's dough to make him nice and brown.
4. Darth Vader: Add cocoa powder PLUS black food colouring to make Darth dark, as he should be.

While not as much fun FOR ME as the fairy party (cos all the mums dropped their boys and fled the scene) Scrag loved it and I was super-glad I pulled it off for him. Plus it means that now he's not asking for a Star Wars Party for his next birthday any more (we've already DONE that one), now he wants a couple of friends to go to Rainbows End....

Oh dear. Are we coming to the end of our birthday party years? NOOOooooo!!! See why I have to squeeze in these parties for no reason while I can?

Other Star Wars Fun...

• Star Wars Birthday Party (with me as Princess Leia)
• Star Wars Theme Night
• How to Make an EASY Darth Vader Pinata
• How to Make Wookie Cookies & Lightsaber Napkin Holders

Garden Fairy Party *Just Because*

I really thought my fairy party days were behind me. After all my daughter is ten, and most ten-year-old girls have left fairies and wing-wearing far behind. But driving along in the car last week, my tall gorgeous tween said to me, "Mum remember how we sometimes do those garden parties in the school holidays? It would be so cool to have a fairy party with my friends these holidays. Like when we were little, for a laugh. It would be so CUTE!"

And then came the brainwave. She said, "We could invite some little girls! Like J! Oh my gosh, that would be so cute! Me and my friends could be the big fairies..." And off she went imagining and envisioning a nostalgic fairy party, starring her.

I couldn't not do it; I've always wanted to do a fairy party in our garden, after all (her birthday is in Winter, so her little girl fairy birthday was indoors). So we sent out a text to some friends with daughters, big and little. "Come to our garden fairy party - wear your wings!" And hoped like heck for good weather.

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School Holiday Fun: The Book Party (with free printables)

Any excuse for a party, I say, and School Holidays is reason enough.
It's become a bit of a habit, throwing an impromptu party-for-no-reason when school is out; a chance to gather friends, and kids-of-friends, eat food and drink coffee. We've had themeless parties-for-no-reason, a Lego party, garden parties and last school holidays, Book Club: Kids Edition.
This led me naturally to the idea of throwing a Book-themed party this time. Invite the kids to dress up, and the mums to bring book-themed food. What could be simpler, right?

I have to admit, I had fun coming up with the ideas, and was pleasantly surprised how fun and easy this theme was. It might be that I went a little overboard...? (No, surely not, Simoney! that doesn't sound like you at all, did I hear you say...)


The Book Party Decor was super easy. I used what I have plenty of,  i.e. books of all shapes and sizes. My best bit of inspiration was trying out the idea of books as bunting. I tied up some strands of (strong) string, hung up a range of small books and VOILA! Book bunting...






For the table, I laid out thin paper-backed picture books and covered them with a $2 white plastic tablecover. Too easy, and cute.

The food was the fun part. To make sure that nobody missed the book-association, I made little labels...

The labels were made ahead of time: black paper stuck onto old business cards, with a mini picture of the relevant book stuck on it. I wrote the food's title with chalk and then sprayed each one with hairpsray, so the chalk didn't smudge. (Mini Book cover printable is at the bottom of this post)







But what you really want to see is the food, right??!

MR HAPPY COOKIES (from Mr Men books): plain packet biscuits topped with circles of rolled out yellow fondant; the face drawn on with chocolate squeeze-tube icing.
TRUFFULA TREES CUPCAKES (from The Lorax): a squirt of green buttercream on a choclate cupcake, topped with a wafer tube and a ball of candy floss (held in with a toothpick)
OREO SPIDERS (from Charlotte's Web): Oreo cookies split in half, with slivers of licorice poked in for legs; the Oreo gets sandwiched back together and squirty tube icing eyes applied
CHEESE TOUCH CHEESE N CRACKERS (from Diary of a Wimpy Kid): cheese and crackers!
MAX'S JELLY BOATS (from Where the Wild Things Are): blueberry jelly set in cups; a mandarin segment spiked through with a toothpick and a paper triangle.
CATERPILLAR GRAPE SKEWERS (from The Very Hungry Caterpillar): green and red grapes, on a skewer
SCRAMBLED SNAKE (from The Gruffalo): Home Brand Sour Worms
RINGS (from Lord of the Rings): Burger Rings! (could also use Cheezels)
EDMUNDS TURKISH DELIGHT (from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe): Turkish Delight. From a packet.

[books and christmas lights provided a cute background for the food on my hutch dresser]

There were so many bookish food ideas, most of them so simple (and I've always wanted to try making these Truffula cupcakes). I collected all the ideas I found on a Pinterest Board if you need more inspiration...

To drink we had NIGHTLOCK BERRY PUNCH (from The Hunger Games) and LASHINGS OF GINGERBEER (from Famous Five; grab the free printable labels below).

There were no book games or activities (though I did briefly consider a Book Quiz); this is not a birthday party after all. It's a chance for the mummies to get together and drink coffee while the kids rampage through the house with their friends on a rainy day, where they might otherwise be stuck inside, bored.

Can you figure out who they are dressed up as???

So at out school holiday book party we ate book themed food, drank book themed drink, and hung out with our friends while the rain fell and the wind blew. It was loud. It was crazy. It was messy.

But it was so much better than being stuck inside on our own.

Have you ever thrown an impromptu party? You should try it sometime. It's fun.

FREE BOOK PARTY PRINTABLES
If you want to host your own Book Party, here are my printables to help you get started...
[Right click to save images to your computer then print, trim and use. Both are set up on an A4 page]

[mini book labels]

["lashings of gingerbeer" Famous Five soda bottle labels]

• More parties here on my Party Index Page

Of Garden Parties, Girls and Great Expectations

This is not exactly the post I imagined when we planned our Garden Tea Party, Miss Fab and I. In our minds this would be an echo of the day we had two summers ago. Mosquito nets hanging from trees, sunlight filtering through leaves, girls lounging on cushions nibbling cupcakes, sipping grapejuice.

It would be pretty, it would be pinnable, it would be the perfect way to spend a summer's day.

Just one problem: nobody told the weatherman.

The day that had been promised was sunny and warm.

The morning that dawned was grey, windy, unappealing.

Not what we had in mind at all.

But heigh ho, right? Roll with it, revise the plans, enjoy the day anyway.

Since we are now veteran party planners, you'd be forgiven for thinking a certain creative nine-year-old would be an expert at flexibility, and going with Plan B.

But no.

A grey windy day when "sunny and summery" was envisioned would not cut it AT ALL.

There was wailing. There were tears.

"Cancel it! Tell them not to come!" sobbed a dramatically perfectionistic young Miss.

Daddy had a great idea for Plan B. Under the grapevine. We could still string up mosquito nets and scatter cushions. It could still be lovely, it could still be fun.
But the young hostess was not buying it. Time was running out til the guests were due and action must be taken so I tried my best to ignore her misery and plowed ahead with the preperations. I stoically pegged up mozzie nets and bunting, spread camp mats and scattered cushions, all the time thinking: I need to help her learn this Lesson. Things in life don't always go to plan and flexibility is a skill she will need.

My daughter is very creative. She has always had brilliant ideas and bold plans aplenty, but sometimes reality can be just so very disappointing. All the way back to our very first Indian theme dinner which ended in tears because her "Sari girl costume" was not beautiful enough (she was four) the difference between what she imagines and what can be achieved has been causing us grief. Hmmmmm. We really need to help her deal with disappointment better. Manage her expectations better. 

She needs to learn that sometimes Plan B can turn out brilliant too. Life will be full of these moments, and if she doesn't learn to roll with it and bounce back, well... she'll end up always disappointed, never satisfied. Not a good way to be.

As you can see, Plan B did turn out to be brilliant. By the time the first guest arrived, the tears evaporated and the young hostess remembered the most important thing about parties: Having fun with your friends.

It doesn't matter if it's cloudy or if the decor is thrown together, or if sunlight-through-leaves might have been prettier in the photographs - what really matters is enjoying yourself with your pals (balancing cushions on your head while you eat, drink and spill stuff)...

So this might not have been the pinworthy post I'd envisioned when we called up Miss fab's friends and invited them over for an impromptu garden tea party... but it turned out to be better. Valuable life lessons learned. Perfectionism pushed aside. Disappointment discarded. Plan B embraced.

In the end the weather didn't matter; though the rain held off. There was plenty of giggling and silliness and great fun was had by all. Which is what really matters after all.

Our Easy Impromptu Garden Tea Party Menu

• easy vanilla cupcakes (my go-to cupcake recipe here)
• in-season strawberries, plums, cherries (and marshmallows)
• chips and dip
• club sandwiches (made by my friend Linda, who came to keep me company; I made her Nespresso)
• to drink: water coloured with a few drops of pink colouring or orange juice mixed with soda water
• fancy sliced apples (cut across-ways and then remove core with mini cookie cutter; dip in lemon juice to prevent browning. Too cute and easy and gobbled up in minutes)

Serve it all up on your prettiest china; serve juice in goblets, sit on cushions, laugh loudly and long. 

More Garden Tea Party Posts

• The Original (Perfect) Impromptu Garden Party that we were hoping to replicate
• The very first Garden Tea Party (and the green eyed monster)
• The Indian Theme Dinner that should have warned me
• My Party Page