Leila's 3rd Birthday Mermaid Party

On Sunday we celebrated Leila's third birthday with a mermaid party at the beach. She originally wanted to go camping for her birthday, but we decided to postpone this to later on the year. She tossed up between a flower party, butterfly party or a mermaid party.

Once again, it was meant to be a small, low-key gathering, but I can't help myself and we ended up with 15 kids! The weather in the lead up to the party was questionable and the forecast was for storms at precisely the time of the party! Eeekk! But the sun shone and the day was beautiful. Here's a few shots from the day:

A spread of starfish fairy bread, fruit cups, seaweed sushi, pizza fish, jelly fish jelly, and in the tupperware container there are crab claws (carrot sticks), sea cucumber sticks, seaweed crackers, pretzels and dip. We also served up some fresh prawns. And of course the cake, a sand castle no less!

The cake was actually quite simple to make: 3 cakes stacked and iced, covered with crushed biscuits mixed with a little brown sugar. A few ice cream cones received the same treatment, and then a chocolate shells were scattered and some green and blue pearl decorations for a bit of colour. The flag was a straw with a glittery cutout flag stuck on the top. A mermaid statue was added to tie in with the theme—this was probably the most time consuming, trying to find a nice looking mermaid that wasn't Disney related!

I kept the decorations simple, as the backdrop of the ocean was the star I think. We just had a table cloth with a fishing net draped over and a few shells and sea-glass pebbles scattered around. 

 Mahlia and some Montessori friends enjoying the jellyfish jelly.

 Daddy coordinated a crab race!

Then the ocean beckoned all but Leila. At this point she got very overwhelmed and clutched to daddy until it was cake time!

 Archer was passed around – I didn't see him the whole party. Such a good bub.

 Mermaids catching waves.

 Birthday girl in her mermaid dress.

All the kids (plus me).

 Singing Happy Birthday!

Dishing out the cake.

 Present time. Leila was no longer being clingy!

The party bags were a hit! A found some buckets on clearance and filled them with mermaid stickers, a bubble wand, a curly straw, a shell, an ocean animal figurine, chocolate coins, an ocean animal notepad and a gel pen, and added a few ribbons to pretty them up!

 Who doesn't love bubbles! The beach was awash with them!

 Leila with her best friend Maeve.

Everyone had a great time, and the weather was perfect! We are blessed to have such a lovely group of friends to share the day with too. I can't believe my baby girl is 3! She is such a feisty and determined girl and I love her to the moon and back and beyond.

Mahlia's 5th Safari Party

A little late, but here we go! 

When I asked Mahlia what theme she'd like for her birthday party, she asked for animals such as elephants, zebras and giraffes. So a safari party it was! After gathering ideas from the net, I think I met Mahlia's brief! She was very happy with it, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters! She wanted it at the same place as last year's Enchanted Fairy and Gnome Party—a perfect spot as it's safe for kids to run off all the sugar!

The invites were a passport design from the Etsy store PaperBuiltShop, and they looked brilliant—everyone loved them! This was Leila's invite to the party, so it's not in the best condition!

As I was due to give birth 3 weeks after her party, I had planned to keep it simple and low-key, but we ended up with quite a few kids, about 20, and their parents. It was afternoon tea, so I didn't need to provide too much food. Here are the photos!

All the kids were given binoculars to go on 'safari' to find some animals!

Food included Hungry Hippo Dip (Spinach Cob dip); Cheese and Pineapple Porcupines; Cupcakes in animal print cases; Jungle fruit cups; Flamingo Fairy Bread; Cheetah chips and more that I can't remember!

There was a little quiz on the animals with chocolate prizes. Then hubby made balloon giraffes for all the kids—a nightmare as they kept popping and he needed to keep making more!

The cake! I kept the decorating simple, with homemade bunting and a figurine.

It was meant to be zebra stripes inside—close enough!

I didn't get a photo of the party bags, but they were animal print bags with a chocolate; an animal texta or crayon; a balloon; some bubbles; and some stickers!

 And finally, the lucky girl with her beautiful gifts!

Enchanted Fairy and Gnome Party

My beautiful Mahlia turned four a couple of weeks ago. I am at a loss to even fathom where the last four years have gone. In a blink of an eye, she's gone from this enchanting, knowing newborn to a terrific toddler (with a handful of those dreaded tantrums for good measure), to a delightful, caring and clever little girl.

She had been looking forward to her party for months. She originally wanted a butterfly party, but I dissuaded her as that was last year's theme. So she selected the good old fairy party. However, she plays with the boys at Montessori as much as the girls, if not more. So I took it upon myself to make it an Enchanted Fairies and Gnomes party. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. We held it at a beautiful nature reserve just ten minutes from where we live—plenty of space for fairies and gnomes to run and roam freely and safely. Here are some photos and details of her morning.

We held a treasure hunt, and Papa Gnome handed out paper bags and instructions—take ONE item from the balloon-marked areas. We had bubble wands, fake flowers, fairy dust, feathers and chocolate coins (many of these were put out, and none were left, so the instruction of one each obviously went unheeded!). When they made it back, the girls were gifted a handmade (by yours truly) wand and the boys received some magical gnome stones (aka marbles in an organza bag).

I made the decorations—doily bunting and tissue paper pom-poms. Not much more needed I thought, as the setting provided the perfect backdrop. Food was also simple, with popcorn, cups of berries, cheese and crackers and fairy bread. And of course the cake. Layered with a small fairy statue on the top. I also made the flower garlands that my little fairies were wearing – cute hey?

I had planned to do a lot more, but I'm more than happy with the end result. And more importantly, the birthday girl was as happy as can be. There is so much inspiration out there on the internet, and I wasted spent many an hour researching! Now, better start planning Leila's second birthday party ... any ideas?