Partying Big on a Little Budget (Plain Party Challenge)

Just a few days now until Scrag's 6th birthday "Just Plain Party" and do I look worried? Do you see me rushing around like a headless chook, spending weeks making and creating?
Hardly at all.

Why? Because it's a Just Plain Party, created to Scrag's very specific instructions and it's wonderfully simple, while at the same time colourful, festive and fun. And cheap. Stylish-but-cheap. Simple but beautiful. Easy but fun.

I have set myself the challenge of creating all my parties this year for under $100 each for everything including food sweets drinks decorating, the lot. So far, just a few days out I am sticking ruthlessly to my budget and I can see the finish line.

With a combination of re-using, upcycling, dollar-store shopping and a bit of ingenuity and creativity the party is promising to be a load of colourful fun. I even have a rain plan.

Here's how I'm putting on a great party for ten kids for under a hundred bucks...

Re-using, Re-cycling:

• DRESS-UPS: I have gone through our mountainous pile of dressups and pulled out a bunch which we are happy to part with. When the guests arrive they will be able to choose a costume to wear and they will be able to keep it. This helps me clear space in our cupboards and sends each guest home with a cool new dress up outfit = win. (Cost=zip)
• FACE-PAINTING: We are pulling out our collection of face-paints and upon arrival the guests will also have their faces painted by Miss Fab and her clever pal, Yaz (who rocked Scrag's Carnival Party with her awesome paintjobs). I love getting the big kids involved in running the party. The girls will also take photos of the guests dressed up which I will email to their mums afterwards. (Cost = zip)
• LEMONADE STAND: Where would I be without my trusty Lemonade Stand? I built it last year (myself!) for the carnival party - it cost nothing because it was made out of ripped-up decking timber. You could easily build something very similar using pallets found free at the dump. (Cost = zip)
• DECORATIONS FROM PREVIOUS PARTIES: I have a few bits of bunting and a ribbon chandelier that we will be re-using - the more bunting the better, I say. My clever friend Deb has also whipped me up a strand of gorgeous vintage sheet bunting for (in exchange for a book) which is a dream come true. (Cost = a book).
• PRIZES: Scrag has requested Pass-the-Parcel and a treasure hunt. For the prizes we are making use of unused Happy Meal toys (cars, packs of game cards) as well as outgrown DVDs, leftover choccies from the goodie bags and a few other repurposed bits and pieces. More on the games later on. Cost=zip.
• GAME PROPS: Scrag also wants to play musical "chairs" and have a sack race. I'm pulling out my felt toadstools (made for Miss Fab's fairy party six years ago) to use as the "chairs"; I'm using old pillowcases for the sack races. I did splash out on a $2 medal for a prize for that one. (Cost $2)

Styling

I have tried hard to juggle cuteness, colour and party-cool with Scrag's requests and the restricted budget. By shopping at the dollar store  and making use of every colourful dish and plate in my possession the eclectic style will scream "fun". Everything is paper (straws, cups, plates) so it is recyclable (good for the planet); I found the same style you usually see in boutique party stores but at a fraction of the price. (Most of it I found at "Look Sharp", a new dollar store which has a massive party range, really cheap; when I went in they also had 30% off everything - bonus!)

I am particularly proud of  my recycled painted tin cans in their wooden holder (found at Typo a while back for a bargain; I use it all the time). The cans have their labels peeled off, are washed and painted using left over testpots. The holder will display straws, spoons and napkins.

PRINTABLES

Of course a party of mine would not be complete without some printables. These ones are based on Scrag's hand-drawn party invitations, and are perfect for a non themed party for either a girl or boy. I printed them out black and white and then hand-coloured them with colour pencil (being so very budget conscious). If I were braver I might have let Scrag help me colour them. But I wasn't.
First we have "Thank you for coming" labels...

Next is the "fizzy pop" soda bottle labels, which turn .85c Homebrand lemonade into a work of art....

I plan to drop a couple of dots of colour into each bottle just before the party, for a bit of excitement without too many nasty chemicals....

GRAB THE FREE PRINTABLES
These labels print out black and white on an A4 page; you can then colour them in yourself or get the kids to do it (if you're brave). Click to view them larger. Right-click to save to your computer. Print them out then colour them in, trim and use. Enjoy!

Game Ingenuity and Rain Plans
So all this was of course planned to be gorgeously outdoors under the trees, with bunting flapping gently in the breeze. The weather forecast has put a bit of a dampener on that and after a brief moment of panic (and disappointment) I've made a Rain Plan.

Some the of the games can easily be played indoors: Pass the Parcel, Musical Mats and even the Treasure Hunt. But Mr G is convinced that we can still do Scrag's favourite Hide'n'seek outside along with a few other energy-burning faves if we tell the parents to send their kids with gumboots and jackets.

We shall see. But in the meantime, at least I'm prepared and not freaking out (the weather is so unpredictable at this time of the year; hope for the best but plan for the worst).

[I used leftover Christmas wrapping paper for the layers and a collection of treats and repurposed gifts for the big prize]

GAMES
Pass the Parcel can be a bit "meh" for those of us watching on, so I've added a couple of surprises in some of the layers along with the inevitable lollipop between each layer, just to shake things up a little. The kids who unwrap three random layers will find a note saying: "To get a lollipop you must...." Sing the National Anthem. Hop on one foot for ten seconds while patting your head. Stuff these six marshmallows in your mouth and say "fluffy bunnies" three times. Hehe.

Meanwhile my upcycled treasure hunt is a wonder of cleverness and ease (if I do say so myself). On the left you see twenty (mostly upcycled) prizes tied up with curling ribbon and tagged with a numbered ticket.
The tickets are left over from the carnival party last year and have a matching ticket which will be hidden either around the garden or the house, depending on the weather. I have added colour coded ribbon - pink for girls' prizes, blue for boys', green for gender neutral; no boys will end up with Barbie Mariposa, and the girls should avoid ending up with a bag of toy cars.

It can easily and quickly be set up either indoors or outdoors depending on how the weather turns out. Feeling so clever right now.

And there you have it. Three more sleeps until my first ever Just Plain Party. I think it's coming together nicely.

• KEEP the things you make for one party to be reused at other parties. Keep the crafty leftovers from one party to the next. I collect all my leftover bits and bobs in file boxes - ribbons, string, tickets, feathers, fabric, you name it. You just never know when that stuff can be used again. Toadstool mats from the fairy party will come in handy again, as will the lemonade stand, the ribbon chandelier, the bunting. The tin cans you carefully collected and peeled labels off for Boy vs Wild, will be reused and/or repainted. Save yourself time and work by keeping what you've already made.
• COLLECT/INVEST in things that can be used again and again. Like a face paint collection you add to bit by bit. Like our glass drinks dispenser, the mini glass drink bottles, whitewashed crates, mini blackboards, cake and cupcake stand... over time these generic items have accumulated until now we have enough cool stuff to whip up a stylish party at a moment's notice. They have all been used again and again.
• PLAN AHEAD so you can shop on sale: If you know what the plan for your next party is well ahead of time, you can grab the bargains when you spot them. Adding a bag of sweets or cake decorating bits (when you see them on sale) to your groceries over time also helps absorb and spread the cost.
• BE CLEVER. Instead of spending 10% of your budget on a bunch of helium balloons, buy a pack of long balloon sticks from for $2. Or make faux helium balloons like I did here. Don't buy branded soft drinks - get Home Brand and then add your own printed labels (use my freebies; I have loads of styles). Use what you have, borrow what you don't; enlist friends and even your kids to help run the party instead of parting with cash for entertainers and face painters.
• REMEMBER that the most important thing is that the kids have fun - not that your party is fit for Donna Hay. Take the pressure off and simply enjoy celebrating your kid.

Party on, my friends!
.....................

More Party Inspiration:

• My Just Plain Party Challenge
• My Party Page
• How to Build your own Lemonade Stand
• Cupcakes for Everyone
• DIY Face Painting
• Why Party? (my party philosophy)

Meanness, Vulnerability and Social Media (a mother's rant)

All he wanted for Christmas was an iPod 5. After much negotiation, a handy discount and some birthday money thrown in, we wrapped up the device and put it under the Christmas Tree.

(He's 11, off to Intermediate, all his friends have them).

There were rules of course. No Facebook. A private profile on Instagram. We know his passwords, follow his feed and regularly screen his posts, checking for swearing, bullying, rudeness and other dodgyness in the posts of those he follows. Anyone we see doing anything less than kosher is immediately deleted and blocked. And if he were to be found participating in anything dodgy? He would lose his right to an Instagram account. Those are the rules, which he agreed to and followed.

So my feed is dotted with his selfies, and we check his account on a regular basis. A few people have been deleted along the way - some swearing, some minor rudeness - enough to block them but nothing sinister.
Until last night.

He comes into the kitchen holding his ipod, his shoulders slumped.
"I've just been bullied on Instagram..." he says.
Parenting protective radar kicks in.
We grab the device and pepper him with questions: who? what? how?

It seems that no matter how many rules and boundaries you put in place to protect your child, nothing can completely shield them from meanness that gets personal.

We're not even talking trolls or cyber-stalkers here, but a couple of immature kids who once played on his football team.

It all started with one of those silly "vote them out" games kids play on IG. Someone puts up a collage of faces, tags in a bunch of their friends and then invites people to "vote them out". The last kid standing gets TEN CENTS and winner's kudos. Ha. Silly, right?
Yes, but not harmless. Not when you vote someone out and they turn on you with viciousness in a personal attack. Then it's not a silly game for ten cents and bragging rights - then it can be crushing.

"F U Dash! Your just a stupid crybaby who cries every time they get beat in soccer!"

It was like a knife to the heart when I read what that boy wrote. He has no idea what my child goes through or what it has taken to get to the place where he can manage his emotions. He has a vulnerability, an Achilles heel (most of us do) and that boy turned a silly game into a personal attack on a weak point.

It hurts to be judged. It hurts to be misunderstood.
All of us have been there at times, and the online world is riddled with people who are quick to judge and quick to condemn. That makes it a potentially dangerous place for those who are vulnerable.

I'm not at liberty to share with you Dash's struggle (though he has bravely shared with his whole class, he doesn't want me to "tell the whole world" here on my blog, so I respect his wishes). Suffice it to say that the message that boy posted so publicly on Instagram calling my son a cry baby attacked him right where he wears no armour.

Another boy joined in at that point, agreeing with the first boy. Both previous team-mates. Both boys who had seen my son in his weakness and judged him for it.
(I deleted and blocked both boys immediately. Dash just doesn't need people like that looking over his shoulder, commenting on his life and judging it).

Afterwards, as I rubbed my son's back and tried to let words of encouragement pour oil on his wounds I talked to him about how far he's come, how hard he's worked, how much progress he's made.
How he doesn't need to let other people's judgement take away from who he is.

This article makes me sick to my stomach - the author has obviously never experienced depression or
she would never have written such a pile of nasty drivel. Poor Charlotte Dawson,
still hounded and misunderstood even when she's dead. Shame on you Deborah Hill Cone! But then she apologises here -
after getting a rather awful taste of Charlotte's medicine in the backlash that followed -
which goes to show that what goes around comes around. Well done Deborah Hill Cone. Apology accepted.

And I told him the story of Charlotte Dawson. Hounded by trolls and the media. More vulnerable than most to nastiness, as the Black Dog of depression chased her down. If only she could have not listened to those who were kicking her where she was weakest (deleted her Twitter account?) then maybe she wouldn't have gotten so low that she took her own life.

But sometimes we are drawn back to the source of the pain, like a mouth ulcer we just can't help poking our tongue into. We can't leave it alone. And for people like poor Charlotte whose vulnerability is out in the open for all the world to see, they are sitting ducks for the nasty side of human nature.

There's nothing I hate more than meanness and bullying. I despise it.
I know that it is out there in the world, running rampant through social media and the schoolyard - so what will my response be in order to protect my children?
Will I throw the baby out with the bathwater, and delete my son's Instagram account completely because there is a chance he might come across meanness? Because he is more vulnerable than most?
I will if I have to but at this point I think we can both learn a lot from the experience.

We can keep doing what we've been doing. Keep a close eye on things, talk things through, respond quickly and model wisdom, common sense and kindness.
We can give good advice (and then follow it ourselves): Keep the mean rude people as far away from you as possible. Pick and choose your friends carefully (both online and in real-life). Don't invite trouble. Don't engage in debate with people who misjudge you and say cruel things - walk away and cut those meanies out of your life. Don't repay back evil for evil, because then they have succeeded in dragging you down to their level.

I told Dash I don't want him joining in those Instagram games anymore. He can't help it if people tag him, but I don't want him to participate. No voting. No commenting.

Social media can be fun but it can turn nasty in seconds. Vote out the wrong person on a silly game and they can turn on you, kicking you where it hurts.

Social media is a huge part of today's landscape; There is meanness in the online world and there are bullies; I want my son to learn how to cope with both when he comes across them, rather than run screaming for the hills and simply ban everything.

Social media in and of itself is neutral - it's as evil or as good as the people using it.
My job as a parent is to guide my child through the minefield and teach him how to conduct himself well and bounce back from the knocks while providing boundaries to protect him as much as possible.

What would you have done in this situation? Have you experienced any cyber bullying - either you or your kids? What has been your response?

Lemony Baked Berry Cheesecake (with Berry Coulis)

I'd never been a fan of cheesecake (waaay too sickly)  until I discovered baked cheesecake back in the nineties. From then on whenever I spotted that particular dessert in the cake cabinet of a cafe, I ordered it with my cappuccino.

Although I've loved baked cheesecake for years and it has remained a favourite cafe treat, I never actually attempted making it... until now.
For the occasion of Mr G's birthday I googled a recipe, adapted it to my liking and today I'm sharing with you the result.
It's light, it's tangy, it's delicious... and it's EASY. I served it with Berry Coulis that I made myself (again: so easy), so I'll share that with you too.

Here is my take on Lemony Baked Berry Cheesecake
 

INGREDIENTS:
250g packet of plain sweet biscuits (I used malt)
150g butter, melted
500g of lite cream cheese (2 pottles)
3/4 cup of caster sugar
the zest and juice of one medium-large lemon
3 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 140oC fan baked (or 150oC regular). Grease a 20-25cm springform pan.

2. Process the biscuits until they are fine crumbs. (I don't have a processor, so I put my biscuits in 4 layers of plastic bags and smashed the heck out of them with a rolling pin, which was more work but did the job.)

3. Add the melted butter and mix together, then press the crumb mixture evenly into the springform pan to create the base and sides. Refrigerate for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.

4. In a clean bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest until smooth. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined. Add the lemon juice and beat for one minute. Stir in approximately a cup of frozen berries.

6. Pour the mixture into the biscuit base and then bake in preheated oven for one hour or until the filling is just set. Cool in the oven with the door ajar, then refrigerate for four hours.

Now for the Easy Berry Coulis...

This is ridiculously quick and simple but adds a berry zing to an already delicious dessert.

I found the recipe on Creature Comforts Blog (thanks Google - what a lovely blog packed full of awesomeness) and having tested it out and found it brilliantly simple and delicious, I now share my take on it here....

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of frozen berries
1/8 cup of water
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice (about half a lemon's worth)
4 Tablespoons of caster sugar

Put all the ingredients in a pot, simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until everything is soft and squishy. Now you can either serve as is, with berry bits (a simple berry sauce) or you can turn it into a "coulis" by mashing it through a sieve and discarding all the seeds and pulp.

Serve this delicious dessert to your delighted family with whipped cream on the side and ENJOY! (candles and birthday wishes optional).

For all my other tried-and-tested favourite recipes check out my

Favourite Recipes Page

Slice of Life (ouch)

So, Ouch. My back has gone.
That dodgey disc in my lower back has pinged like back in the bad old days and I am hobbling round like an old crone, pretty much useless to anyone.

I can't sit here for long, but then I can't sit or stand or lie anywhere for long.
It hurts no matter what I do.
In which case I might as well suck up some pain and at least not be bored, type a few random thoughts, post up some photos.

These snaps of the kids running with their dad are from Sunday and I rather fancy them, although you should be glad it's not a video with all the complaining, moaning and whingeing that went along with it. Stills are so much more peaceful than clips-with-a-soundtrack.

(Do you ever wish you had a mute button for your life? Or at least for your kids?)
No? Oh, just me then.)

Life is so loud. I now carry earplugs with me everywhere I go, just in case.
Sound layered upon sound pelts the senses like a hailstorm. A bombardment. Every scritch and crunch of packets opening, doors banging, feet thumping, taps running, jugs boiling, loos flushing, voices laughing/singing/calling/shouting... Ouch.

Do you ever experience life this way? Where sound hurts?

I've been doing pretty well, overall. Regarding the depression, anxiety et al., now I'm back on the happy pills, but still. Some days/weeks are better than others.
I think Pain makes everything louder, everything harder.
It makes your fuse shorter and your tone snappier.
I've been snapping and growling like a mutt with a thorn in its paw since my back went out.
Pity these poor buggers who have to live with me.
They're lucky to get dinner on the table. And Poor Neglected Husband has had the flu but not a lot of sympathy.

Is there a point to all this? No, not really.
I just sat down to write something, anything, and since my back is giving me grief what came out is this. A bit of a whinge.

So let's fix that shall we? Look on the bright side? Find the gratefuls?

OK, Simoney, Ten Good Things.... GO!

1. The kids are getting better at being independant, making their lunchboxes etc. That really helps.
2. Hubby just found some Voltaren I didn't know we had - that's got to help.
3. It's a beautiful day
4. I have Hot Cross Buns. And a Nespresso machine.
5. The dishwasher and washing machine do the scrubbing for me.
6. I'm in the middle of my best ever month on my little Etsy Shop, and I'm getting great reviews
7. I've lost TEN KILOS since December. Don't ask me how, I have no idea - it certainly wasn't from running (I'm just not that hungry anymore)
8. The jeans I haven't been able to squeeze into for four years are now too big
9. Hachette have added me to their book reviewers list (at last!) and are going to send me "Dreams of Gods and Monsters" (see, I am so blessed)
10. My kitchen makeover is coming along nicely; it may be currently halted due to back injury but I can see it starting to come together and we will get there.

OK, just look how easy that was? Did it take me long to find ten things to be grateful for? No. And I could have gone on... about how much I'm looking forward to bookclub on Thursday, about how glad I am to be able to write for my favourite Parenting magazine on a regular basis; about how glad I am that my kids have awesome teachers and are working hard at school (ALL of them).

About how grateful I am that Dash has settled in so well at Intermediate and has so many friends. About how grateful I am that we can get Miss Fab assessed for Dyslexia and know one way or the other, so if she is like me (as I suspect she might be) she won't have to struggle like I did. How blessed I am to have a sweet almost-six-year-old who lays out his clothes at night and makes his lunchbox ready for the morning. How he is so excited to come home and do Mathletics, how he wants to do homework.

Once you start looking for things to be grateful for, it's like unstopping a dam. It's a river that can't be stopped, a flood that keeps on pouring.

Ah and it feels so much nicer to write all of that than to whinge.
The very act of gratitude is like a tonic.
So I have a really sore back and can't walk very fast or bend very far... but I also have breath, I have sunshine, I have family. And I am grateful.

How's your little slice of life? Want to share your gripes or gratefuls?

A Real Life Book Club for Mrs Readalot (at last)

I have always wanted to be part of a Book Club, but somehow I have never been in the right place at the right time. I would listen enviously as other people talked about "their" book clubs, hoping, wishing someone would invite me to join... but no such luck. (They mustn't have realised what an asset I would be to a Book Club, what gems of insight I would offer, how fast I would gobble up every recommended tome).

So now I've gone and done it for myself - I've started my own Book Club.

Our first gathering was yesterday and I must say, it was lovely.
Really, really lovely. Truly enjoyable on every level.

Ours is not your usual Book Club. We don't all sign up to read the same book in a particular timeframe and then formally discuss it. Our Book Club is rather different.

We simply pool our books, name them, add them to the pot, then borrow whichever books on the pile take our fancy, to read at our own pace. Then we have coffee, eat, talk, laugh...

I love the informality of it. The way we can just hang out, connect, talk about books (or not) and pick up some great new reads with no pressure.

And I do so love to host. You know that about me, right? I love making the place feel welcoming (and pretty); I love to create an environment you can walk into and feel right at home in.
Plus, having people over forces me to do the dusting and vacuuming.

It helps that some of my favourite people are coming; they don't all know each other but they soon will. A latecoming friend popped her head around the door and said, "I can hear the laughter from down the driveway - that's a good sign!"
It is, isn't it?

The plan is this: every Thursday (starting next week) I will be ready at 11am with the giant pile of books and the Nespresso machine. Whoever wants can drop in, hang out, bring some treats (and books) to share. They can come every week if they want, or just when they want to swap a book or have nothing else on.

So if you're in Auckland, love books, are a wonderful person with sparkling humour and do NOT possess a PhD in literature you are welcome to add your books to the pile and come join us.

[two of my lovely friends posing for me "reading books at bookclub" ha!]

Or, if you live elsewhere but think this type of BookClub is right up your street, and would like to start something just like it in your corner of the world, I'll post my printable book labels and sign up sheets right below this.

There you have it: Mrs Readalot's Real life Book Club is now a reality *O Happy Day*

 

[FREE PRINTABLES: Click to view larger; right click to save to your computer then print and use]

Loving Lately... (some goodness from my week)

Monday morning and all's quiet on the Western Front. The cyclone that was meant to ravage our shores took a detour and never eventuated (surprise surprise) so although the weekend was wet and windy, it wasn't too wild after all. No power cuts, no downed trees - at least not in our neck of the woods.

This morning, despite having no milk and nothing exciting for the lunchboxes, I managed to get all children to school by 8.15am, fed and watered (after an emergency run to the dairy) and ready to go with no shouting of any kind. Some kind of a Monday Miracle.

So as I sat down to gratefully sip my coffee (with milk) I decided to take a wee detour from the invitation orders that came in over the weekend and reflect on the goodness in my world over the last week/weekend as a nice way to start the new week.

The first bit of goodness is Miss fab getting her cast off - wahoo! She still has another two weeks being careful (no cartwheels, no monkey bars) but at least she can shower. Ha.

Next, there's my kitchen revamp project which is crawling along slowly. I am LOVING my upcycled dining table. Lo-ving.

Look at the difference a bit of white paint makes. Before, the table disappeared in a sea of woodenness. Now, after a rough sand, a coat of "smooth surface sealer" and a topcoat of semi gloss (waterbased) enamel, it's a joy to behold. It lightens the whole room. L.O.V.E.

I also loved braving the "cyclone" on Saturday with the family who were desperate to get out of the house. We crossed the Harbour Bridge in those gale force winds, to pick up a new set of drawers for Scrag in our people mover. Then we headed for "Temping Bowling".
At the last minute (just before the last city offramp) I remembered that there was a new place open right in the city, Metrolanes, so we took the exit and rocked up. They have a cute little mini-bowling mezzanine floor, where you have short lanes and little balls and it feels like you have your own private bowling alley. What's more there was no waiting list for the mezzanine mini bowling, so we gave it a go. And Loved it. (Mr G whipped all our butts and I *ahem* did my best to come last. I'm nice like that.)

On Sunday we had lunch with friends and I Loved watching Dash snuggle their baby so tenderly. I whipped out my phone and snapped this moment. Dash Loves babies, and it warms my heart.

Later on that wet and windy (but decidedly non-cyclonic) Sunday we resurrected the Singstar for a bit of a laugh. It's been ages since we've played, like, years.
We got the PS2 and Singstar back when Miss Fab was a baby, and I have to say it's been great value.
I Loved listening to the kids belting out old classics, taking on their dad (and me). Mr G has a weird ability to sound awful but still win. Our Singstarring is not always tuneful, but it's always a good laugh and we all LOVE it. I think we might be reviving the SingStar on a regular basis now we've remembered that we have it.

Our crazy rock-the-mic-like vandals family. Flippin nuts (in the best loopiest way). Love them.



That's a few of the thing's I'm loving lately. What are you loving? (And did the cyclone affect you at all?)