Yesterday, we had a birthday party day for my daughter. It was simple and inexpensive but she said she’d always remember it 🙂 I got a 5am wake-up call and stalled for a bit before we went downstairs to open presents. After that, I made some easy pastries out of my Midnight Kitchen cookery book. It just uses pre-rolled puff pastry and any fillings you like, so I made nutella, jam and plain butter ones. They were a bit like filled croissants and the girls seemed to enjoy them. I had set the table and put the decorations up the night before. I try to use different plates and cups to make it feel special, as well as adding a bright table cloth and kid-friendly music. Usually I dictate what music we listen to in the kitchen and the girls play theirs in the living room, but I gave in yesterday and we had princess music 🙂
I had a 50% off Uber Eats voucher so I ordered some coffee for myself and milkshakes for the girls. It was nice getting a coffee delivery so early in the morning 🙂 I think my favourite latte flavour at the minute might be peppermint. I think that coffee and mint compliment each other like the chocolate and mint in after-dinner mints 🙂 We had our fancy drinks and I painted the girls nails and let them pick whatever colour combinations they wanted 🙂 It seems to mysteriously disappear from their nails an hour or two later, but they enjoy it while it lasts 🙂
I decided to open one of the girls’ art club box crafts. We started with reading about Anni Albers and the girls showed a surprising interest in hearing about her. Then they made some sewn felt pictures. They just had to cut up colourful felt into whatever shapes they liked and then sew it onto cross stitch fabric using a plastic needle and different wools/threads. They decided to add their stickers to them and I let them get on with it 🙂 I was impressed by how well they seemed to understand it. I think the first sewing kits they’ve been using have helped them get the hang of which direction to stitch in 🙂 They really enjoyed making them and I found it therapeutic helping them. Sometimes craft kits stress me out because, if there is any construction involved, I struggle to get my head around it, but that freer kind of craft was perfect for us 🙂
I got my daughter a book called Her Story about important women in history and the girls sat for a little while and listened. I think it might still be of more interest to me, but they showed interest in hearing about Beatrix Potter and Frida Kahlo 🙂
We did some party games for just the two of them. They played pass the parcel and each year I draw a picture for pin the tail on the donkey. This year I did a pin the eye mask on Ladybug because my daughter is obsessed with it 🙂 I just use one of my scarves as a blindfold. The girls played musical statues and musical chairs too and Blind Man’s Bluff, until an inevitable accident occurred 
My neighbour kindly brought us some diamond art kits, so I opened one for the girls. I think it is designed for adults to apply the diamonds to the sticky back poster with precision, but the girls loved sprinkling the diamonds on and patting them to get them to stick 🙂 I might attempt the other kit and see how complicated it is when they’re in bed some time 🙂 Some of our lovely neighbours called over with presents and cards 🙂 I’m lucky to have such a nice community in my street.
For dinner, I let my daughter choose all her favourite foods (which resulted in plenty of party food and not a vegetable in sight :)) After having vast quantities of sausages and pizza, we had some birthday cake and “champage.” (Fizzy wine for me, Schloer for the girls.) We got a small chocolate cake and some carrot cupcakes because they are the only kinds of cake my daughter seems to eat 🙂
We waited until it was beginning to get dark outside and then we took our s’mores kit we got from a friend. I decided to make the s’mores outside and I’m glad I did because it felt like we were camping in the garden and the heat from the flame kept us warmer than I expected to be 🙂 The girls enjoyed toasting their own marshmallows and trying them with different types of chocolate/biscuits and strawberries. There was something really memorable about sitting on the ground in the garden with the girls at twilight, toasting our marshmallows and sampling different combinations. We nearly finished the bag 🙂 I think Hershey’s cookies and cream might be my new favourite chocolate 🙂 One of my daughters decided to start telling ghost stories and pretended we were camping. Her stories make me laugh because they’re so to-the-point and she doesn’t sugarcoat anything to make it more palatable (especially when you’re eating.)) I felt lucky to have the whole day with my daughter because she usually seems to be in school on her birthday.
The Funky Thrifter 