Pony Party

Well, the party was GREAT!  We all had so much fun and when I asked my daughter what her favourite part of the party was she answered, "The whole thing!"  

Even my boys told me, "It was the best party ever!" Awwww!

For print-outs and to see the preparation for this party, click here!

"Pony Party" {pink and pretty}

Specially made pony t-shirt and layered skirt.

For my daughter's 6th birthday coming up in just a few weeks, she's requested a "pony party".
Not wanting it to be your average, "My Little Pony" party, I've made my own invites, toppers, water labels etc.
Here's a sneaky-peak at the beginning stages of the party preparations.  

Blank invite

Water bottle label 

The party will be based around the partygoers new pony (each child will get a hobby horse to keep).

The kids will decorate their horse with bling- hair clips, ribbons etc. They will receive an adoption certificate and name their pony.

Then we will have a parade with ribbons awarded for various skills like best jumping, most creative name etc. 

So, watch this space over the next coming weeks for more pics.  This party is going to be FUN!! 

Dinosaur Party

Okay, here they are... the highlights of the "Dinosaur Party".
This was for my son's 4th birthday.  
He's LOVED dinosaurs every since he learnt about them at preschool.
If you're a first-time visitor to this site, you may not know that we  are an Australian family living in Thailand (you can read more about that here).  
Parties aren't quite as easy to plan here (there's no 'party' shops or pre-made themed party packs), the heat makes icing cakes pretty tricky and most Thai people don't even celebrate birthdays! Gasp!
But these challenges have not stopped me from having themed parties for my kids- it's just meant I've had to be a little bit more creative.
This photo was taken a couple of nights before the party and shows the bunting, drink labels, party bag toppers and party hats that I made all using free printable templates made by Lovely Living.  So cool!

Some of the party activities included:

• Dinosaur coloring pages and dinosaur book reading. (Surprisingly, this area was where all the kids headed to first). 
• Dinosaur water play.
• Sand tray (with hidden dinosaur skeletons).
• Sand pit (with hidden dinosaurs and strainers, shovels etc for finding dinosaur figurines).
• Treasure hunt with clues to find a bucket full of dinosaurs and the book, Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs with surprise dinosaur eggs (with a dinosaur candy inside) to find along the way.

Story Time

Sand pit- hidden dinosaurs!

Here's the birthday boy (below) with his dinosaur tail that I made for him (does that fabric look familiar?).  I am so glad that he loved it.  He reluctantly took it off after the party finished to have it washed and hung out to dry (ready to wear again tomorrow...?)   
I used a pattern and instructions found on Pinterest. You can find it by searching 'dinosaur tails' or go directly to the Running with Scissors website.

 The food table included volcanic rocks (m&m's), chocolate stones,  dinosaur toe nails, dino-jello, dino trail mix, dinosaur-shaped candy, fresh fruit as well as bread, dips, dipping vegetables and some other Thai snacks (but I'm not sure what they were called).

The Party Table

To make the cake pictured below, check out this Betty Crocker video, instructions and templates.  
This made making this cake so much easier than I'd anticipated. 

To check out more party themes, checkout the KID'S PARTY IDEAS section.
Until next time.... x

Watermelon Party

Feel like a refreshing, bright and simple party theme?
Why not try a watermelon party?
We just had my parents come and visit us from Australia and while they were here we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday with this cheerful theme.

Happy Birthday Gramps!

The Amazing Race

Once a month the families that work at ZOE get together for some "family" time.  
Named 'Ohana' (which means family) we each take it in turns to organize the morning's activities.
It can consist of anything that (a) involves everyone and (b) helps us to spend valuable time getting to know each other and strengthening our bond as a community of people who all live and work alongside one another in a foreign country away from our original 'homes'.
Well, this month it was our turn to organize the event, so what better way to avoid being outside in the pollution, keep the little ones amused and involve a range of age groups from 1 to 50+ than... an Amazing Race.
I chose a local shopping centre/ mall for the event and spent a couple of hours a few days before scouting it out and writing up the clues.
The rest was fun, making the clue box and all the clues in preparation for the big race!
Well I have some photos of the preparation but not from the actual day, sorry.  Part of me wanted to take my camera and part of me wanted to spend time just being in and enjoying the moment.


When out of balance, my life starts to feel like a potential-blog-post waiting to happen... so I try hard to keep some parts totally photograph-free, with just the sweet memories to dwell on in my mind (sometimes these are better than the photos anyway LOL).

And by the way, it turned out great and was a lot of fun!