Tales of the unexpected with The Boy, my pride and joy.
Halloween is an exciting time of the year for the young ones. The breeze starts to cool, pumpkins appear on the shelves, and the front porch features life-size Frankenstein inflatable decorations.
Halloween is just the occasion to unlock children’s imaginations, while treating everyone to homemade goodies, and having fun while doing so. All these elements can be incorporated in a Halloween party that is as fun for the children to enjoy as it is for you to plan.
I have a ten year old niece and I know the way to her heart…
I know! Enough mini mannequins and material to make the toughest ten year old girl melt!
At the beginning of the Summer holidays I was provided with a Harumika party package for twelve children. The package included two dress forms with stylus per guest, a pack of materials and stickers per guest, a selection of additional materials, creative tips, and one Petite Harumika per guest as a party bag giveaway.
BEST. AUNTY. EVER!
My niece arranged for eleven of her friends to come over and spend a very pleasant hour and a half exploring the world of Harumika. For those not in the know, Harumika is a world of fashion design involving small mannequins and no sewing, no scissors and no glue. Each mannequin has a slot on the back which allows for the end of the fabric or ribbon to be tucked in securely using the stylus provided. It's simple and ingenious.
My niece and I introduced the concept of Harumika to her friends; most already knew about it but there were three girls who'd never come across it before. They all quickly picked up the idea and I challenged them to make a simple dress for the Summer from the available fabrics; lots of collaborative work and discussion later and we had a great selection on the table.
Next I showed the girls some of the tips of using the belts as straps, wrapping the fabric squares diagonally around the mannequin, twisting the fabric and pleating, and they came up with a great range of ball dresses.
I like Harumika for one big reason; it allows girls to continue playing with dolls in a cool way. And in an age when they are supposed to have moved on from dolls at the tender age of around seven, to see ten, eleven and even a thirteen year old still playing with what is essentially a doll, made me smile. Of course my niece and her friends didn't see their activity as that, for children who play with it they are being allowed to explore the world of fashion, able to make decisions and test out what works and what doesn't.
Harumika sets come in a variety of designs and themes, the guests at my niece's party each received (what seemed to be) the Surfer Style Starter Set which comes in at £11.00. I think that's a good price to get a budding fashion designer started, there are various add on sets for fabrics or dress forms, and investing in one or two of them from pocket money is a good idea to further the Harumika play potential.
I was sent the above party package for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.
As parents one of our jobs is to prevent our children from being afraid of the things we were; to prevent irrational fears.
I always enjoy going to the swimming pool, and I do like swimming, but I have a real fear of water in my face and I can't contemplate swimming underwater or even with the correct head position for front crawl. The minute water splashes up in my face, the fear kicks in that I'm not going to be able to breathe. And just as with every irrational fear, there is something that started it off. For me it was swimming with my dad when I was around eight years old, he left me on the side of the fairly shallowish water while he went and tried out the diving board and plunge pool (he's not the most responsible of people), but unfortunately the pool's wave machine was turned on during that five minutes and I lost my footing and went under. I remember every second vividly and I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to get up again. Obviously I did, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life and accounts for my claustrophobia and fear of putting my face in the water.
I don't want to pass this onto The Boy, and I try really hard to bite my tongue and assess the situation first before rushing forward to him. However sometimes I am aware that a little slips out, and there might be an occasional "let me wipe your face".
So going to a birthday party of a friend whose water confidence is first rate filled me both with terror and hope for The Boy's own confidence.
You can see the difference between the two boys: one has been swimming once since last September due to chronic glue ear in both ears (and even then that was probably only his tenth trip, at a generous guess), and the other boy has been swimming since he was a tiny baby. One has a few drops of water in his face and is rubbing the water out of his eyes, one has water pouring down his face. I'm not criticising my boy, it's just a stark contrast in the ability levels of both boys of the same age.
The Boy happily stayed in the pool for around thirty minutes before getting out to play on the bouncy castle, or with swing ball (playing a leftie is the easiest way of playing this!), and soon wanted to get changed back into his clothes.
Then after dinner, and once all the other party guests had left, both boys returned to play in the garden. Burton quickly stripped down to his pants and went into the pool, The Boy took a further ten minutes before he followed suit.
And this is what happened…
And then, after another hour or so, we end up with this:
And then the final shred of evidence that he is becoming the swimmer I'd like him to be?
We'll be going swimming this week!
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It all started when I was sent a fantastic box of Hallowe'en goodies* to review. Then, when I became involved with planning my toddler group's Hallowe'en party, the cogs in my little ol' head started whirring. I'm just starting out on the whole party extravaganza, but I love party-planning. For me, it's the whole experience; party games, tableware, food, costumes, decorations, party bags etc.
Therefore, I've decided to put together some ideas for a toddler's Hallowe'en party, of the non-scary variety.
Party-games
Decorations
When we have our toddler group's Hallowe'en party, we're going to be hiring a church hall (eek! Hope the big man doesn't mind?) and will need to decorate it quickly, but effectively. That's where the black spiderwebs will come in; we'll use them to decorate the walls. Combined with orange and black balloons which we will be sticking up, it shouldn't take too long to decorate but look effective.
When it was The Boy's last birthday I tried really hard to find some different party bags to do with the theme of cars. Not Cars, but cars. I didn't want Lightning McQueen all over them, nor at best did I want Roary on them. I wanted some nice Mr. Men type cars. In the end I settled for vintage racing cars.
I wasn't happy though because they looked so mass produced and it felt like it was just another party bag from just another party. I've already decided on next year's theme (not telling, don't ask) and am keeping my eyes open for appropriate party gear as and when I see it.
This is why when I was approached to review a set of party bags, I jumped at the chance.
How much more effective and individual would it have been if I had got the children to make their own party bags? It would also have given an activity for them to do, especially as they were stuck in doors due to torrential rain and gale force winds. In June!
Well using this really clever and creative set from RoseRed & Blue, that is exactly what you can do. They have a creative party bag set containing 10 natural cotton bags and a pack of 15 PastelDye crayons in order to personalise the bags. These plain cotton bags and the fabric crayons allow children to decorate their own bag and go home proud with something that they have done themselves; guaranteed to last longer than house-car-house-bin.
The Boy kindly tried them out for me:
The fabric crayons are incredibly easy to use and leave a vibrant and bold mark on the cotton bag, which can be fixed really easily by placing a sheet of kitchen towel or muslin over the top and ironing on a non-steam setting. They are the perfect size for a party bag. Once there's a small toy, a bottle of bubbles and a slice of cake in there, it truly would be the perfect party bag set to impress your little one and last a long time, far more environmentally friendly than plastic bags.
I am definitely going to be buying some more of these to top up the supply for his next party. At £17.50 I think this is a good price for the products. The fabric crayons will last for far longer than the inital activity with the children and so can be reused. I am pretty positive that I am not alone in spending £2+ per party bag and contents. With these £1.20 of that (the price of an individual bag) would be spent on each bag, but that is the present! I think it's very good value, providing an excellent activity for children's parties.
We were sent a Creative Party Bag set for the purpose of this review. My opinion is unbiased and honest.
It never fails to amaze me the absolute tat that people put into their child's party bags. I know, it's appalling isn't it? I am a party bag snob.
Ok perspective here: a friend's son's 1st birthday party bags contained Refresher chewy lollies, sherbet sweets, balloons and those little army men thingies. For one year olds. ONE! Another bag from another friend contained more appropriate items (he was three) including a foam pirate hat, a little spy-glass and a packet of buttons.
Now don't get me wrong, I know party bags are a relatively new commodity. When I was a child, we were sent off with a slice of cake. Nowadays, they are expensive business and it is difficult to spend less than £1.50 or £2.00 on each bag, and if you want to put anything other than plastic cracker fillings in it, then you're struggling. I was a few months ago when I was trying to do The Boy's 2nd birthday party bags.
Which is why you should investigate The Enchanted Party Shop.
They sell the whole caboodle: the bags (including nice fabric, resuable ones), party hats, balloons, toys, games, sweets and chocolates. All perfect for filling your child's party bags with age appropriate and quality goods at prices that won't have your purse weeping.
We were sent a boy's party bag as an example of the types of goods that are sold:
I was thoroughly impressed with this bag (which was assembled for the purpose of this review) and the quality of the items included.
Obviously the quantity of items sent were to highlight the range. In The Boy's party bags I tend to include a decent toy, a little chocolate, a slice of cake, maybe a hat or a blower or something, and I try very hard not to spend more thatn £2.00 a bag. Clearly the amazing range that The Enchanted Party Shop stock allows for this to be possible, and find quality items to suit your theme, age of child and budget. When I was browsing around the store, I also came across these items which I really liked:
I know that I will definitely be visiting The Enchanted Party Shop for The Boy's next birthday, and quite possibly if my toddler group needs goodies for the Hallowe'en or Christmas parties!
We were sent a party bag to review. My opinion, as always, is honest.
I like a good old birthday celebration. For my 21st my family and I went to London, for hubby's 30th I took him to Edinburgh for a surprise weekend away, on my 30th we stayed in a swish local hotel and then had a big garden party back at our house. I love it all; from the beginning stages of choosing the theme to making sure the balloons hang just so, and everyone getting their allocated party bag. Until The Boy was born, we had a little bit of a lull in reasons for a celebration. My son's first birthday was the perfect excuse to go overboard and plan a fabulous little birthday party for him.
It's The Boy's 2nd birthday tomorrow and so I am in full party-planning mode! Bring on the cast-iron cake tin, roll out the vibrant plastic 'crockery' and puff up your lungs in preparation for the balloons; he's going to be celebrating in style.
Therefore the theme for this weekend's ShowOff ShowCase is birthdays. I'd like you to dig out a post that you have on celebrating getting older; you, your children, your parents, when you were a teenager, a 'special' birthday, a magical party that you've been to, a dodgy party that you've been to!
Link up below and please add the badge using the html to your post so we can hop around and read all the other little birthday tales!
