Roxy's birthday is right in the Christmas / New Year period and parties are always tricky. People are away on holidays, kids are already a bit ratty from late nights, and Roxy gets Christmas and her birthday right on top of one another and then has to wait a whole year for them to come around again.
So this year we had a little 8 and a half celebration with a few of her school friends. Although it meant Roxy had to wait 18 months since her last party she thought it was worth the wait because nobody else she knows gets to have a 'half' birthday party.
The cake is so embarrassing! It's hardly a beautifully styled blog-worthy creation! Roxy's not into cake and it's the one thing that I never have any success baking, so we were both happy with a store bought mud cake. I planned to redecorate it, but Roxy insisted on leaving the existing decoration in place. So I just added the numbers in the centre and some mini bunting.
We made Frog in a Pond, which is an old favourite. I made them in individual cups this time (I usually do them in small shallow paper bowls), and the size was perfect - the frogs just had their heads above water. We pushed the frogs in when the jelly was set so it looked like there were water ripples around them. I added little umbrellas and they were a hit with the girls.
And I found yet another use for wash tape... I removed the labels from water bottles and made little washi tape flags which Roxy wrote her guests' names on.
I used to go all out with parties when Roxy was little... I think that was as much for me as it was for her! As they get older it's more about having fun together than fancy themes and coordinating everything. All the girls are into music, singing, dancing and games, so I did a lot of filming and they did a lot of performing! I hung balloons and streamers from the light, and put out some platters of simple food and some sweets. It was a stress-free party for me, and was declared 'the most awesome party ever in the universe' by one of the guests. So success all round!
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