Category: Celebrations

This year we held Little Man’s party before the school holidays. We have discovered that when you have a birthday in the holidays it’s quite difficult to get all your pals together on the day itself, so we tend to plan his birthday celebrations for the weekend before the end of term and celebrate as a family on his special day.

This birthday was an easy one to organise, a morning at Lazerquest followed by lunch at McDonalds. Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas which are the most fun for all. We took both our cars and had our two children and four guests in our party.  I made the party invitations, with the Lazerquest logo and using the Typorama app and laminated to finish them off nicely.

Lazerquest hold a 2 hour children’s session on a Sunday morning, teaching the children how to play and then playing lots of different games. it’s very much aimed at younger children so was perfect for our little group, no teenagers playing roughly and lots of helpers on hand. We booked in advance to guarantee our places but it was a quiet morning when we went. The session is very well organised with a game, a short break to look at scores, have a drink which is provided and then back to a new game. We played four games in total and in the second break we had the birthday cake. Lazerquest are really amenable to parties and were fine with us bringing in a cake.

As Little Man loves his cricket I had made a cricket pitch cake complete with him as the little cricketer. The grass was simply dyed desiccated coconut on a green buttercream base and the wickets were made from candy sticks ‘glued’ with icing. I got the figure on the internet with the colours matching those of his cricket club.

After a successful morning at Lazerquest we walked to McDonalds for lunch. The boys all loved their food which were simply Happy Meals of their own choices.

The games had tired the boys so it was a quiet journey home in the car. I did get to hear all the gossip about school so it was highly amusing!

As a thank you I made cards from two of my favourite photos of the day, dressed up in Lazerquest gear and then dabbing in McDonald’s. It’s a simple thing to do but a lovely momento. It’s also a really reasonable idea, costing the price of a photo print.

I was really pleased with the Lazerquest party, simple but fun. Now all I have to do is think of an original idea for next year.

Easter is always a special time of the year for me. I was raised in a catholic family and Easter was a time of celebration, second only to Christmas.  It was a time of church services but family get-togethers too and we would often celebrate Easter with aunts and uncles and cousins, all dressed up in new outfits and new sandals, whilst the house would be decorated with Pussy Willow Easter trees and fresh flowers.  Sadly Mr S doesn’t appear to have celebrated Easter like we did and I think is quite bemused by the effort and excitement I hold for Easter.  However I want the children to share the special nature of the festival and ensure we keep some of my childhood traditions.

This year we were away the week before Easter arriving home on Good Friday afternoon.  It meant that I wasn’t able to go and buy hot cross buns in our local baker on Good Friday morning like I normally do. These are the most perfect hot cross buns.  However, as we walked into breakfast at our hotel, the warm, spicy smell of hot cross buns wafted to our table in a much appreciated gesture from Butlins and we got to enjoy our traditional Good Friday breakfast.  As I knew I wouldn’t have time to prepare for Easter when we returned home, I had managed to do most of my prep in advance.  I decorated the house the week before, minus my fresh flowers and had bought all the necessary accessories for my Easter egg hunt.  My collection of Easter decorations grows every year, we have some lovely shops in our town and I find it difficult to resist a few new decorations annually.  I have a window display in the kitchen as this is my favourite room and where we spend a lot of time as a family and then a few more decorations in the living room.  This year we had two Easter trees, one in each room and bunting in the garden.  I am still looking for an Easter wreath which I think would be a welcome addition to our decorations.

One of the highlights of Easter is the Easter egg hunt which takes place on Sunday afternoon after an Easter roast dinner.  It is not only a hunt for chocolate but Easter themed props too, including a stone with a cross on to remember the religious aspect of the festival.  I hand draw a help sheet so everyone knows what they are looking for.  I don’t like the idea of Easter simply being about chocolate so now the children are older, the first 6 eggs are activities, this year these activities included an egg and spoon race, spelling out your name with orange Kinder egg shells marked with a letter (and a mini egg inside) an egg full of Lego to make a model, a make your own rabbit decoration set (v cheap in last year’s Easter sale) guess the number of eggs contest, find the chicks for the nest etc.. These activities help extend the egg hunt too so its not a mad 5 minutes in the garden and then a chocolate fest! I really enjoyed our hunt this year, for the first time in a few years we actually got to do it outside in the garden in warm sunshine, an advantage of a late Easter.

I do like a theme, so our Easter lunch was a traditional Easter roast, the children had chicken whilst for Mr S and I who are both veggies, I made a goats cheese and Mediterranean vegetable pastry.  I used a cookie cutter for the pastry so the pastries were egg shape and the bottom did have the imprint of a decorated egg. My daughter noticed and appreciated the effort, Mr S was bemused again!   Dessert was a simple cheesecake, decorated with a variety of assorted chocolate eggs.  I was realistic this year that given our holiday away I wasn’t going to be able to bake a Simnel cake, so again had purchased one in advance for Easter tea.

We are lucky that our children do not receive lots of chocolate for Easter, I’m not into the Easter bunny so we bought them a simple Thorntons egg as we knew there was plenty of chocolate in the egg hunt and their grandparents sent a small money gift.  Our neighbours made a lovely present, filling a box with straw and a chicken made from natural materials with a few chocolates, they keep chickens so it was a really appropriate and fun gift.  I bought Mr S his cricket Playfair annual and got a few bonus wife points.

Easter this year was a very relaxed weekend, we did all we wanted to enjoy the Easter celebration but also simple things like family walks and good food.  It was just the 4 of us this year and a nice way to end our family holiday.

Today, I have tidied away our decorations, filled in my Christmas planning book and reflected on Christmas 2016.  It was fantastic and made very special by our holiday to Lanzarote where we could just focus on our little family and have fun together, with no other pressures.  The more Christmases I experience the more I look for the true values and sentiments of the season.  I do think I held steady to my beliefs this year, I bought from local shops, only buying what was needed and took great care in my present buying.  My favourite present given was to my Mum and daughter, I sent some of Little Miss’ favourite old dresses to a lady who creates a keepsake from them, they both love their rabbits and the story of them.  Our family received one of the most thoughtful and fun presents this year, a family advent calendar, my friend chose 24 presents and labelled them with our names and the date so we could take turns in opening them.  My presents included a coffee at a favourite cafe, lovely samples of expensive toiletries etc..  It was an incredibly thoughtful and a delight to open every day.

Below are my highlights of the season, interestingly most of these were community events with very little cost (except the holiday)

1. Carol concerts and the Nativity.   We attended two carols by candlelight services, one for beavers and the second for school.  They were beautiful and a delightful mix of traditional and contemporary music choices.  Both made me focus on the spiritual side of Christmas and the peace which accompanies such reflections.  The nativity was incredibly sweet, Little Man wore a tea towel on his head as part of his inn keeper costume.  It was as every nativity should be, it was with sadness that I realised that was probably my last as it’s only Key Stage 1 who do the nativity at the children’s school.

2. The Christmas tree festival.  In our town this festival just gets bigger and better. It’s the opportunity to see 45 decorated trees, do Christmas crafts, listen to live performances, dress up in nativity costumes.  It’s truly magical and a real treat.

3. The Christmas Market.  The market is one of the highlights of the year.  The main Street is closed and beach huts brought in to become alpine sheds.  There is live music all day performing different styles of music, from sing along carols to glam rock Christmas hits.  This year there was a crafty and artisan theme to the stalls and I bought a few decorations.  There are also lots of charity stalls for local causes ad it is just an occasion to meet friends and enjoy hot chestnuts and a warming drink.  We had a fish and chip lunch after our visit, which was a perfect end to the trip.

4. Advent calendars.  I was totally won over by the Lego advent calendars this year, the children loved them and as they were not allowed to open them until they were dressed the morning routines became so much easier in December.  I justified the cost by simply deducting the price from my Christmas budget.  Little Man has already asked Tommy the elf who arrived with the calendars if he can have another next year.

5. Tommy the elf.  Our little elf is just pure magic and my favourite new family tradition.  Tommy rocks x

6. The kindness of neighbours. In my Christmas Day post I explained how our neighbours set up our Christmas for us and filed our fridge with all the necessities.  Their help meant that the children may just believe for a few more years.

So this has been Christmas 2016, I am already looking forward to 2017 and have noted a few ideas to follow up. I believe it’s never too early to start planning!

When we booked our holiday, I was hoping that Christmas Eve would be special.  It certainly was, from the surreal arrival of Santa on a camel, participating in the tradition of Wishing trees and the all important meeting with Santa it has been a lovely Christmas evening, perfect to get us ready for tomorrow.

Tommy flew out to Lanzarote with us, he even had his own suitcase and tshirts for the holiday.  It was the most challenging week of hiding Tommy as whilst our family room was large, it was open plan and I had to wait until everyone was asleep to hide him.  In these photos you can see him riding a balloon animal the children had made in their club, sitting on the pool ring, sampling the free toiletries, colouring in, sitting on the Stack’ems etc..  He continued to write a daily letter too.  Again it was sad to say goodbye to Tommy, he really is one of my favourite traditions.  

Easter for me is a much loved celebration.  Growing up it was a very special long weekend often shared with our extended family, so lots of cousins and fun.  I find Easter to be a spiritual time and I hope that my celebration of Easter always recognises this.  This weekend’s light box message is He Is Risen and in the Easter egg hunt, the children had to find a stone with a cross, representing the cross Jesus died on and the stone which was pushed away from his tomb. The children have lots of chocolate and treats but the true message of Easter is present.

As a child, we always decorated our home for Easter with fresh flowers and little hanging ornaments on an Easter tree normally made of pussy willow.  I love to decorate our house for Easter, full of colour and fresh flowers and this year I have displays in our kitchen, the true heart of our home and the living room.

The kitchen

In our kitchen we have two beautiful large windows which take up most of the back wall making it a light and airy room.  By our kitchen table we have this smaller window which looks out to the front and is perfect for displays.  I’ve gone for a chick theme here, I love a theme and I think this is my favourite display this year.  The little chick lights were from Poundland and the crochet chicks are from Cath Kidston, my favourite addition to our decorations this year, found in the CK Summer sale last year.  The hanging hatching eggs are from a local shop, we may not have the shops where I can buy life’s essentials but it’s quite easy to pick up knick knacks in our seaside town.  The tree is perfect for all the delicate small decorations, I think these rabbits are probably Grisela Graham and the knitted chicks were made by my Mum.  The daffodils have bloomed brilliantly for today, Easter Sunday.  It’s a fun, bright window.

The Living Room

The fire place is such a lovely focal interest in the room and the simple decorations here I hope add a touch of elegance. It was the perfect backdrop for the Easter hunt photos.

As the living room is open plan the side window lends itself for a display too. I love the simplicity of the pussy willow tree and tulips, it wouldn’t be a display of mine without a little bunting!  Sadly there have been few blue skies over the weekend to beautifully fill the frame!

We also have another Easter tree here, my driftwood tree which gets recycled for Christmas too, I’m loving the Easter bunny egg decorations, simple and pretty.