Brand New Website

Happy Saturday!

I am very excited as after many months of changes and designing, my brand new Once Upon A Time Parties website is up and running! Check out the link below:

http://www.onceuponatimeparties-london.co.uk/

For any more information about the parties I do, email me at info@onceuponatimeparties-london.co.uk.  We cover South West London and are running very special offers to our new customers at just £99 an hour.

Now enough self promoting, and I promise lots more tips to come, including some delicious fairy cupcake recipes next week!

Enjoy your weekend,

Love Once Upon A Time Parties x

Recipe 1: Yummy Ideas for Home-made Take Home Cook Book

As promised, I have compiled some of my favourite easy peasy recipes that you can include in your home-made, take home cook book after a cooking party!

Whirligigs

Delicious hot or cold, sweet or savoury.  Other fillings can include cheese and tomato, chocolate spread or peanut butter!

For cheese and Marmite whirligigs you will need:

- 9 ounces puff pastry (pre-made)
- Marmite - more or less depending how much you love it!
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 ounces cheese, grated (cheddar, red leicester)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 220 degrees/Gas 7. Line baking sheet with non stick paper
2) Roll out puff pastry to about 15x10 inches
3) Spread Marmite thinly on the pastry, leave a 1cm border
4) Brush the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg
5) Sprinkle cheese evenly over the Marmite
6) Roll up pastry as if it is a swiss roll for a whirli effect, starting from the long edge. Brush the outside with beaten egg.
7) Cut the roll into thick slices and place on baking sheet.
8) Cook for 12-15 minutes until pastry is risen and golden.
9) Enjoy hot or cold!

Tip: These also make a great addition to any event including children's parties, picnics, entertaining guests and canapes!

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

Glittery Take Home Gift

A child's Birthday Party is never complete without a take home gift or party bag and is something that finishes the party off wonderfully and can be a lovely reminder of the party.

However, all to often these party bags are full of expensive tat that serve as a 5 minute wonder to the children and an extra expense to the mum and dad.  A lovely idea which is particularly effective at fairy and princess party themes is take home fairy dust.

All you need for this is: 

• Vials with a lid, jar or a drawstring bag (small sizes - think Tinkerbell sized!)
• Different coloured glitters. Craft stores will stock these in abundance and they are cheap!
• Sequins
• Dried flowers
• Ribbon
• Labels or tags

Step one: Fill the vial with different coloured glitters, sequins and dried flowers such as little roses.

Step two: After putting the lid on securely, tie a ribbon around the neck of the vial. Again, craft shops will stock pretty ribbons of all colours.

Step 3: Put a label, or cut out some fancy shaped tags using card and write the party and the name of the child who will take home this particular gift.

Et voilà! A simple, cheap but pretty and sweet take home gift.

Another idea that works really well with slightly older children (6+\) is to set out a fairy dust making station at the beginning of the party and get them to fill their own vial with glitters and sequins, much like a coloured sand activity.  To get the glitter into the vial with the least amount of mess, use a long thin spoon (latte) and put the different coloured glitters into separate containers.

                                    

Easy Party Game!

What do children and magpies have in common?

They LOVE shiny things! Be it jewellery, sparkly lights, christmas decorations or glitter, one thing is for sure, anything that shines is a winner.

So what more could they want for a party game than glittery shiny shapes!?  Not only are these shiny shapes super cheap and available from craft shops, art stores and online, the little sequins are actually incredibly versatile and can keep the children entertained for hours!

Here are my top tips for incorporating these sequins into your child's Birthday party:



1) Remember my earlier post when I discussed the importance of having a theme? Well sequins can really add to that. Describe them to the children as fairy dust or princess sparkles, or if you are having a pirate party the shiny shapes can become the treasure or they can even be a superhero's secret power!

2) I like to use my shiny shapes at the beginning of the party.  Tell the children you have some magic on you and show them the shiny shapes (extra points if you make a special pouch to hold them in!) and sprinkle a few into each of their hands.  When all the children have the sequins in their hands, say a simple 'spell' all together and throw them up in the air at the same time.

3) When all the shapes are on the floor, start a dancing game where each time the music stops, the first child to bring you, for example, 3 blue shapes is the winner.

4) An excellent way to clear the shapes up before moving onto another party game is to simply run a contest where whoever has the most shapes and brings them to you first is the winner!

5) To make the Birthday tea more exciting for the children, give each of them a small handful of the shiny shapes to decorate the table before they begin eating.

6) If you decide to break halfway through a party for party food, I would suggest having a non-energetic party game afterwards.  By providing some glue, paper and colouring in pencils, encourage them to use the shiny shapes to stick onto their drawings.  Again, a theme really comes in useful here as  you can tell them to draw a princess, fairy, superhero etc and use the shiny shapes to decorate them.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Rules to Planning a Fabulous Children's Party

So you have decided to be brave and run the party yourself - congratulations! But before you get carried away and finding yourself running to the nearest party store to stock up on face paint, glitter, fairy wings and sparkly trinkets, ask your child what THEY want.  More often than not, you'll be surprised at the theme or activities they suggest.

Take my friend Sam for example, who decided he knew what was best in terms of pleasing his 5 year old daughter Daisy and her friends instead of listening to Daisy's pleas of playing teachers and having a school themed party (strange, I know!) and instead opted to book a puppet show for the group of youngsters.  On arrival Daisy desperately tried to take a 'registrar' while the puppet show was overshadowed by the cries of frightened children confronted with those creepy dolls and the Birthday Girl trying to 'teach' them a lesson by locking them in the bathroom until they had done their homework.  But fear not as this kind of disaster is an exception if you follow these rules:

Rule Number 1:  Plan ahead with the birthday child

Firstly, sit down with the Birthday Child and find out what he or she wants.  As a general rule, children up to the age of 8 are happy with traditional parties and games where as the older they get, the more niche they become.  

Not only will the Birthday Child be super excited about their upcoming party, they will very important to have picked the theme and activities.

That is another thing: theme. Pick one and stick to it relentlessly. Common themes are fairy and princess parties, pirate, football, and super hero themes. 

Rule Number 2: Get organised with the help of a check-list

I LOVE lists. Actually, more accurately I LOVE ticking things off my list, even though it does seems like I tick off one action and two more crop up... regardless I hope this check-list helps:

• Date. 
• Ideally it is best to arrange the party on the day of the child's Birthday or the weekend before or after.  If the child's birthday falls in school holidays there is a good chance that some of the children will be away, so make sure you plan it on a day where the best friends can make it.
• Length
• Decide on the length for the party as well as thinking about the general structure.  Two hours is a great length, and works well when the first hour is taken up by party games, followed by a birthday tea and for the remaining half an hour arranging crafts and colouring in competitions.
• Start and finish time
• Location
• Guest List
• Invitations (stick to the theme)
• Essential supplies 
• Tablewear - plates, cutlery, cups, serviettes, table decorations, table covers
• Party banners, balloons, birthday candles, music, music player, party bags, prizes, sweets
• Party games such as pass the parcel, treasure hunts, piñata, pin the tail, craft game
• Food and drink
• As a rule I tend to find less is more.  Children don't tend to eat a huge amount at parties so stick with a few varieties of sandwiches, crisps, chopped vegetables, sausage rolls, cheese sticks and some sweets such as party rings, cupcakes and fruit.
• AVOID fizzy drinks! Opt for water and squash.
• Games
• This is probably the most daunting part of the party for the majority of mums and dads.  After working out the structure of the party, plan 4 - 5 games.  An ice breaker game at the beginning to warm everyone up is a great idea, followed by musical games (bump, statues), a treasure hunt, pass the parcel, and my personal favourite - sleeping lions! Try and match the games to the theme and use role play to really get the children involved and enjoying the party.
• Birthday Cake 
• Volunteers - get all the adult help you can get! You cannot be in ten places at once so don't be shy asking for a hand throughout the party.
• Thank you notes

Rule Number 3: Relax and Enjoy the Day

Make sure you have your camera ready, your nerves steady and a well earned bottle glass of wine!

TIP: At the beginning of the party, thank the parents for the present and swiftly take it out of sight. You do not want a pile of presents becoming a huge distraction throughout the party!

Thank you for reading and stay posted as I am going to be sharing a lot more tips about games, themes, cheap party ideas and venues.

Emma x

Welcome

Hello...

Welcome to the Once Upon A Time Parties first ever blog!

We are a children's party company in London providing parties and entertainment for girls and boys and the purpose of this blog is to share with you some hints and tips as well as fabulous ideas if you are brave enough to go it alone!

A couple of weeks ago I met up with an old friend who just so happens to be a mum to young Lucy, aged 5.  With panic in her eyes and a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead, she grabbed my arm as if it were a lone rock in a stormy sea and muttered, "it is Lucy's birthday next month... She wants to invite her entire class!"

Before she started hyperventilating, I quickly reassured her that organising a children's party cannot possibly be as stressful as her career as an A&E Nurse if she follows these golden rules:

Rule Number 1:  Plan ahead with the birthday child.
Rule Number 2: Get organised with the help of a checklist
Rule Number 3: Rope in some other adults to help you on the day
Rule Number 4: Make sure there are lots of planned activities for the party
Rule Number 5: Relax and enjoy the day

Please check out my posts on each of these rules individually to give you a step by step guide to a smoothly run and full of fun children's party!

Emma x