Party at Home - Things to think about 2 months before the big day!

Planning the Party

• Think about which room / rooms to use in the house and if you have the space! Parents and brothers and sisters often stay on at the party so you may have more guests than you planned!
• How many children are going to be invited? Plan the room accordingly and add a plus one for the mums!
• Does your child have a favourite character or hobby on which to base a theme on?
• If you are planning an outdoor summer party in the garden, do you have cover if the weather changes?
• Pets. They may be the soppiest animal on the planet but some children will be scared of cats and dogs! Plus loud noises are not ideal for your animal so you may want to think about putting them in a separate room or leaving them with a trusted friend.
• Are you planning on hiring an entertainer or a bouncy castle? If so now is the time to book!

Invitations   

• Confirm names and numbers of guests
• Include an RSVP on the invite with a contact name, telephone and date you need to reply by.  Always include directions to your house and any key features to look out for!
• Include clear start and finishing times
• Parking instructions are a must.
• Include the theme of the party on the invitation and if children should wear fancy dress or old clothes if there are going to be messy crafts and games!

Food

• Are you going to be serving a meal at the party, or nibbles and snacks? 
• Where will the guests be eating their meal?  If space is an issue, a buffet table and floor space will suffice for children, or plan for a table and chairs.
• Don't forget to think about how many chairs and tables you will need for lots of guests!
• Decide if you are going to use an outside caterer.  If so, two months before the party is a good time to book to ensure you get a good caterer!
• Remember to get some adult friendly snacks for the mums and dads!

Cake

• If you are getting a custom made birthday cake start thinking of what kind of design your child would like and do some research!  Ask bakers for some previous examples and book well ahead of time.

Read my blog tomorrow for some tips on a venue at home to think about 2 - 3 weeks before the big day!!

Thanks for reading :)

Once Upon A Time Parties xx

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Best Party Venue?

Recently I have been getting asked by a lot of Parent's of the best venues to host a children's party.  The venue is an important part of the party and can play a big part in the theme of the party... Here are some of the most popular ideas and things to think about when considering the options!

Your House

Probably the most obvious and popular choice of venue as well as a very cost effective option!
A themed party is great to organise at your home and you can choose to hire an entertainer to keep the kids occupied for an hour or two! For older children why not try a film and popcorn party, sleepover or BBQ?!

Top tips: Lock away any valuable items!

Best for: Any age group depending on the activities you have planned.  For younger children try hiring an entertainer, and for older children try a treasure hunt party or sleepover!

Price: Free!

Organisation required: Lots... But get the children involved and check out my previous blog post about organising a birthday party at home and you can't go wrong!


Hall


A hall is a very popular choice for all kids parties as they can hold lots of children, they normally have a large and well equipped kitchen attached, are easy to find and take away the stress of having children and their parents filling every nook and cranny of your lovely home!

Top tips: Do your research! Some halls are incredibly reasonably priced and others do special deals on certain days of the week / month.  If you are hiring an entertainer or DJ they will bring their powerful music players but if you are going it alone bare in mind that the size of the room makes music much harder to hear!

Best for: Large groups of children!

Price: Can be expensive, especially when you take into account the decorations of the hall, food and entertainment.

Organisation required: You will need to do your research on local halls.  Some halls have fully equipped kitchens and include decorations but do double check when booking!



Local Park / Outdoor space

This can be a great option in Summer months for all sorts of parties but best for active events.  You could plan a Football, cycling or rambling party, treasure hunt or picnic / tea party! Be sure to check if there are any events going on in your local park before sending out the invitations.

Top tips: Have a back up! You can never predict the weather in England so have a plan in case the skies open on the big day!

Best for: Older children.  Being in an open space you will need to be responsible for all the children and older children are easier to manage and better suited to outdoor activities like a  football or cycling party.

Price: Free!

Organisation required: Food and activities to keep the children entertained but definitely the most laid back party venue!

I hope these tips will help you in deciding your party venue... Be sure to check on my blog in the next week where I will be posting lists of top venues in your local area!

Top 5 Pirate Cakes

So, I'm hoping you have all read through my blog that revealed my top 5 fairy cakes! Today, I am going to share you with my top 5 Pirate Cakes- involving any thing from a huge showstopper or just miniature cupcakes, I want these cakes to give you some inspiration when planning your child's big day, or if you like the look of any of these cakes but your feeling a little lazy, you can contact Once Upon A Time parties to bring you along something similar. 

At number 5 we have this 'Arrrrrr'mazing Layered Cake

                                

To make this cake you need a little skill but why not give something similar a go. Decorating the cake is always the fun part so once you've baked the cake and put on the icing, try some pirate patterns such as the skull and crossbones. Like the decorations on this cake, the red and black balls reflect jewellery/treasure from a treasure chest- Try it!

Number 4

     This cake clearly represents the theme of the party! However it is very difficult to replicate- However once you've baked the cake and done the king, you simply need to cut out hard icing of different colours and make the pirate face! Along with that you want to add dots of icing for the stubble and of course chocolate gold coins to finish this masterpiece off.

Your little one would be more than happy to show this off to all of their friends.

Number 3- Cupcakes!

Cupcakes are a winner, this is because they are easy to just hand out to everyone! Theres no need of cutting through a magnificent looking cake that you don't want to ruin. Whats better than making individual showstoppers that look the part and taste delicious? Once baked, decorate with them with pirate themed toppings such as an anchor, a treasure chest, a pirate of skull and crossbones. These are very fun to look at and the children will absolutely love them.

Number 2- Wow!

Yes, this is a treasure Chest made out of ACTUAL chocolate. 

Filled with golden coins and other sweet treats, this looks incredible to eat! I'm not entirely sure how you would eat the actual chocolate chest covered in golden icing, but it is very impressive.

If you don't want to have a go at actually creating a chocolate chest, then simply buy or use an old box, and fill it with golden coins and anything else including chocolate dust to resemble sand.

At number 1 I had to give to give it to this pirate ship made out of chocolate. The detail given to this cake as well as the amount of work given to make the actual ship is amazing.

To add to the detail create an edible flag, however don't let the children eat the plastic pirates or the canyon. 

If you don't' feel like you could recreate this, try and make a smaller pirate ship cake and if it goes well, eventually make it bigger and bigger until you are happy!

I hope you take some inspiration from my top 5 pirate cakes- they may look difficult to make, but give it a go! Remember, you can always contact me and we can organise one to come to your little one's party.

Thankyou

                                                                                                                             

The Pirate Party- Food

The food at the party is always looked forward to by the children! The time in which they can stuff their faces with their favourite treats and snacks. However to make your little one's party even more special and memorable, be creative and change the food to make it fit in with the pirate theme! Even if its something simple such as putting little flag skewers into the party sausages, everyone is sure to love it- these are pictured to the right..

The Hot Seadogs!

Secondly, similarly to the sausages and the flag picks, why not re-create a pirate ship from a hot dog and the same sort of idea. Simply use straws to poke through the sausages and cut out 10-15 black cards and stick a pirate sign onto it. As you can see from the picture to the left, it resembles a pirate ship- the kids will certainly be drawn to this tasty treat during the party food! 

The Treasure Chest 
Another idea, to not only add a easy treat to the party, but also a relatively healthy one is this little creative masterpiece! The wooden chest really does fit in with the theme of pirates, and simply fill it with either sweets to resemble treasure or fruit such as strawberries and raspberries! Furthermore decorate marshmallows by drawing pirate faces onto them and decorate with sugar icing to make them look even more spectacular!


If your not feeling too creative, why not buy some salty snacks- Ahoy!

• ‘Pizzas’ of Eight: let the rascals have fun making or decorating their own pizzas
• Fish fingers/chicken ‘gold’ nuggets with little buckets of dip
• Hula hoop gold rings
• Cherry tomato cannonballs (warning: these may be launched at passing enemy ships…)
• Sandwiches cut into shark fins, palm trees
• Crossbones: bake a batch of sticky-glazed ribs in the oven (and provide PLENTY of kitchen paper)

And for the sweet snacks

• Orange segment ‘boats’ with pirate flags in. Or set jelly in hollow orange halves and slice into segments when set.
• Skewers of fruit and veg
• Chocolate coins
• Chocolate wafer scrolls
• A hollowed-out watermelon galleon filled with a fruit salad
• Buried treasure jellies: set little pirate tubs of jelly with fruit goodies or a chocolate coin at the bottom for kids to find

I hope this has given you some inspiration on foods to have at your little'uns pirate party! Be sure to check out more blogs giving you tips about this particular theme

Thankyou

Cheap Party Idea and Take Home Gift for Older Kid's

Wouldn't it be nice if children could stay at those magical ages of 5 and 6, where they are easily pleased by traditional parties and everything is exciting and new for them... But sadly they don't, so you  have to get more creative. Here is a party idea for slightly older children (7+) which should keep them well entertained and best of all, combines the entertainment AND the party food!

I am talking about a cooking party!

There seems to be a bit of a trend for baking and making at the moment, but for a fun party I would recommend keeping it simple - we are talking more decorating rather than flambéing!  Personally, I would opt for pizza and cupcakes, as both pizza bases and cupcake bases are easy to buy and would suit a tight budget.  

For the pizza you will need the following:

- Pizza bases

- Sprinkling cheese

- A large variety of vegetables

- Tomato pizza sauce

- Tuna

- Olives

- Different meats

- Onion

- Whatever else you can think of!

For the cupcakes you will need:

- Plain individual sponge cakes

- Frosting

- Edible glitter

- Sweets (dolly mix, jelly tots)

- Edible decorations - go to any baking section in a supermarket!

And then let the children create their own foodie masterpieces, encouraging them to add their favourite ingredients to the pizzas and cupcakes and challenging them to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible! 

While the pizza's are baking, you can play some party games with them, or send them on a scavenger hunt around the garden or your house (or both!), and then sit down to a lovely party tea.

A great idea for a take home gift that goes well with the cooking theme is a home-made recipe book.  Put together some yummy and simple recipes that children can make with their parents. Google or check out my next blog for some great ideas.  Get the birthday child to design the front page and then copy and print your pages and bind them, staple them take them to a copy shop to get them bound professionally.  

For some great recipe ideas to put in your cook book, check out my next few blogs!

For some great scavenger hunt ideas, keep reading my Once Upon A Time Parties Blog!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x