Dec
31

Happy New Year!

by Sofia   -   in DIY projects  Good things for kids  Party planning

I made a little DIY project for you to use this evening ( yes you still have time to make one, it´s that easy!). The idea is not mine really, it´s from… you guessed it, Pinterest. But I thought it was cute and so easy anyone can make one in just a few minutes. It´s a party in a bag! We are sending the kids for a sleepover as we got invited to a New Years party for adults only. ( Don´t worry, they are very excited about their plans…) So I decided to make them a little party bag to take with them for spreading some festive spirit around them. Or more so litter the house with confetti. But hey, it´s New Years and it´s fun! So their little bags contain some confetti, party pops with streamers and confetti, serpentine, balloons, noise makers and on top of that I included golden party hats for extra fun and to match the noise makers. I also added non alcoholic beverages for them to pop. But I doubt they will last until midnight ( the kids I mean). 

Dec
30

Minty hot cocoa

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Good things for kids

Who does not love hot cocoa? We do! And we all know it tastes the best after downhill skiing or cross country skiing in a brisk weather or after ice-skating or sledging. But even just playing in a park on a sunny but snowy day will make it taste like the most miraculous thing. I added candy cane to ours and topped it off with whipped cream and some crushed peppermint candy. Not to forget the cute little gingerbread houses I found in Anthropologie ( you could absolutely make some yourself). The houses may be a bit Christmassy but other than that I think hot cocoa should be drank all through winter! When I´m collecting away my christmas candy buffet from the kitchen I´m going to replace it with a hot cocoa bar. Just laying it all out there for easy access. Mini marshmallows and some chocolate shavings and my favourite cocoa jars from Mariebelle.

Dec
29

A Flamingo pool party

by Sofia   -   in Good things for kids  Party planning

Cotton Candy turned six while we were on our holiday so her party for friends was still to be held. We were looking for some ideas already in the summer and came up with a pool party. We have a swimming pool in our building that was recently completely renovated so we rented the area for us for a few hours on a Sunday. Cotton Candy and I were browsing through some ideas on Pinterest for the pool party and a flamingo theme came up. Sold! So we had our theme picked up. I was happy to find a venue that was close to home for logistic reasons ( it´s literally in our basement) but outside the house as I wanted to already add some holiday touches around the house but did not want the Flamingo party to look like a Christmas flamingo party. So this was perfect.

The menu needed to be very simple as I did not want to have too much cleaning up to do after the party as it was not to be held in our house ( nor did I want anyone getting any crumbs in the pool!). A tropical party menu was a good choice so we just decided to have fruit and ice-cream. I also bought some colour co-ordinated candy as it just makes a party look that more festive. We made water melon popsicles and used some flamingo picks for different bits of tropical fruit such as pineapple, grapes and mango. Easy as anything. I laid it all out on the little table on a sitting area by the pool. We made watermelon popsicles using popsicle sticks and cutting the watermelon in to wedges.  I scooped them ice-cream in to cones and handed those around. The invitation included instruction to bring a towel, floating aids if needed and a swimsuit. I have a waterproof cover for my phone so for the parents and us I took underwater photos of the girls diving to keep as a memory. I´m keeping the pictures from the pool area private as there are children in most of them in their swimsuits ( and I never share other people´s children´s photos on the blog anyway). But I did take photos of all our props before the party.

Me saimme Hattaran kuusivuotisjuhliin testattavaksi Pingviinin uutusjäätelöä joka sopi teemaan aivan täydellisesti. Hattaralla oli Flamingo uima-allas bileet joten trooppiset hedelmät ja jätskit olivat juuri oikea tarjottava. Synttäritriossa on mansikka, banaani ja päärynäkermajätskiä ja maailman herkullisimmat värit ( ja koska jätski on laktoositon se käy lähes kaikille juhijoille)! Maistelimme jätskiä jo yhden ystävämme synttäreillä aiemmin syksyllä jossa siitä oli tehty prinsessalinnakakku. Ja kyllä se maistui lapsille nytkin! Jäätelön lisäksi tarjottavana oli tosiaan hedelmiä ja vähän juhlan teemaväreihin sopivia namuja. Jokainen juhlija sai mukaansa pienen lahjapaketin kiitoksesksi synttäreille osallistumisesta. Olin hankkinut jo keväällä saarireissuja varten vedenpitävän kotelon puhelimelleni joten otin vedenalaisia sukellusvideoita juhlijoista vanhemmille lähetettäväksi. Oikeiden juhlien kuvat jäävät tällä kertaa julkaisematta blogissa, koska niissä on lähes kaikissa iloisia pikku uimareita ( enkä tietenkään jaa kenenkään muun lasten kuvia blogissani) ja keskityin muutenkin enemmän juhlijoiden silmällä pitämiseen kuin itse kuvaamiseen. Kuvasin kuitenkin juhlien rekvisiittaa etukäteen jos joku saisi vaikka ideoita niistä omiin juhliinsa!