Oct
12

Birthday girl, birthday boy

by Sofia   -   in Party planning

This Friday is Bubble Gum´s 5th birthday. Our sweet girl obviously gets breakfast in bed with her presents * as it is customary in our home. Her big sister suggested teddy bear pancakes which we might do for our teddy lover. We have invited the grandparents for birthday cake after school too but all the godparents, uncles , aunts and cousins will get their own party a little later on ( when we celebrate both girls at the same time). Bubble Gum is hosting a small birthday party for a few of her friends too. 5 guests at the party like her age. From pre-school onwards the girls invite all the girls in their group as then there are not so many more and it would feel strange and unkind and unnecessary to leave just a few out. But for under 6 year olds I think having a smaller party is great as they can concentrate better on the few special friends they have. 5 is still so small. 

*( one from her sister, one from us as we are not big believers in giving too many things)

There has been talk in the Finnish media about the costs of birthday parties for children and about the presents given out at them. Apparently some children from not so well of families feel they can not participate as they can´t afford to buy expensive gifts or arrange parties in return. I love arranging parties but I have also always been a believer of making a little go a long way ( I admit I don´t always necessarily follow my own rule when I get over excited but it can absolutely be done) . Things don´t have to be terribly expensive to be lovely. And when it comes to presents I have said it on the blog many times I find it strange that some feel the need to spend a lot of money on expensive gifts for school friends. I always believed that a friends gift should not be something extravagant but rather a small token to pass on at the party to make the party girl or boy feel special. It would also be a great teaching opportunity for us parents, to teach our children to be gracious hosts and appreciative and thankful for all the presents they received no matter what they thought of them. I´ve had a little friend of one of my girls over for a playdate who told me that her mom gave our birthday present away because she thought it was so ugly (they are at the age where they may just come up with this I guess?!). I´m not always over the moon about all the gifts my girls receive but surely dismissing them is not something I would want to teach them.

Marie Chantal wrote a little piece about party etiquette on her blog if you´d like to read. And here is a good collection of small gifts I would not mind my children finding from their friend´s birthday parcels eg. this one. We have also given our little friends gifts with old school toys like the Chinese jump rope ( in Finnish it´s called twist) with some street chalk etc. I like to give something to get the kids outside and moving instead of being huddled up inside. And crafty things like colouring books and some ( cool scented) crayons are always a lovely gift in my opinion.

When I think about parties on a budget I´m always thinking of a story my colleague told me. Her kids are already in their twenties but they still talked about the best birthday party they attended. One of their class mates came from a family that struggled a little but they still wanted to organise a birthday party for their child´s friends. They bought some juice and a box of cookies from the grocery store and took all the kids to a little forest close to their house to explore and have a snack. It´s absolutely genius and all a party really needs to be. Kids just want to be together and the birthday child wants to feel special. That´s really all there needs to be. Nothing fancy or extravagant. And again if I would find my child dismissing a party for not being ” fancy enough” or ” special enough” I would rather have a long look in the mirror to see if I have not quite succeeded in my upbringing.

Here are a few other ideas to make a party on a budget…

I´ve always thought serving ice creams or milkshakes is so easy, everyone loves them and they are fairly inexpensive to make too. ( photo)

Oct
10

Halloween ideas

by Sofia   -   in Party planning

Tiedän, että moni harmittelee sitä, kuinka Amerikkalaiset pyhät kuten Hallowen, tai Valentine´s Day ovat rantautuneet Suomeen, mutta itse olen jotenkin sitä mieltä, että niin kauan kun pidämme myös omista hienoista perinteistämme kiinni, niin nämä voivat olla vain rikkaus. Meillä ainakin innostutaan niin Kalevalan- tai Runebergin päivästä, kuin Halloweenistakin. Itse en rakasta Halloweenin perinteisiä värejä kovinkaan paljon. Oranssia ja mustaa, tai monesti nähtyä violettia ja vihreää. Itseasiassa ne ovat yhdistelminä ehkäpä niitä niin sanottuja inhokkejani. Mutta onneksi Halloweenin voi sävyttää omaan makuunsa sopivaksi, vaikkapa eleganin mustavalkoiseksi tai ehkäpä lisätä ripauksen vaaleanpunaista kuten me teimme viime vuonna. Tänä vuonna maalasimme kaupan kurpitsan myös vaaleanpunaiseksi ja se pääsi tyttöjen huonetta koristamaan jo nyt. Muuten kotiin valikoituu seesteiset ja sisustukseen sopivat Halloweenin sävyt. Näistä lisää vielä blogissa myöhemmin, mutta ajattelin muistoksi jakaa muutaman vähän hempeämmän Halloween kuvan viime vuodelta, jos sinulla vaikka sattuisi olemaan omien Halloween teemaisten juhlien suunnittelut käynnissä.

Sep
19

Pretty cookies

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

Leivoin muutama viikko siitten näitä keksejä ja lupasinkin jakaa kuvia, jos joku muukin saisi söpöistä kekseistä ideoita toetutettavaksi. Erityisesti tykästyin tuohon koiran designiin jonka näin Instagrammissa ja tuo super söpö pupukeksi on ollut minulla Pineterestissä muistissa jo varmasti muutaman vuoden ( olen kyllä tehnyt siitä verisoita jo aiemminkin). Mitään uutta auringon alla nämä eivät siis ole, mutta aina välillä kun törmään johonkin suloiseen keksi-malliin tekee mieli kokeilla ja ajatellin, että ehkä sinullekin voisi olla näistä iloa.

I made some cookies as props for my party planning workshop and they turned out pretty cute so I thought I might share incase you were looking for some new designs. I did not really invent the wheel with these ( the bunny design is from here and the dog from here ) but maybe you´ll find these inspiring or at least cute.