Swap Party - The Party's Over

The Swap Party on Tuesday was loads of fun. I had three beautiful friends and kids turn up carrying their items to swap. Once the goods were laid out on the table for each of us to see we began looking through everything. There were books in beautiful condition, vases, some kitchen goods, homemade cards bundled up with ribbon, children's clothes, shoes and lots of exquisite women's clothes. This was going to be a great swap!

Immediately we each found things we wanted to take home with us. I swapped for some cat slippers for Miss M which she absolutely loves and wears even on these hot hot days. I got a Flightpath book for my father who has a keen interest in planes and then my favourite was a beautiful temp red and black dress which had never been worn.

For the kids I set up magazine bunting decorations, a mat full of things from our recycling (boxes, egg cartons etc) to see where their imagination would take them but we found the most fun in making beautiful snow globes out of baby food jars. It was a great way to reuse them. Here's how they were made....

Snow Globes

* NB Lots of parental assistance is needed with this activity, from handling glass jars to using the super glue.

You will need...

Baby food jars

Water

Glitter

Strong glue like Super Glue - water resistant

Figurine - we used tiny My Little Pony figures

• Super Glue the figurine to the inside of the lid, making sure you have enough room to put it back on the jar. I did this process the night before so they were ready to go.
• Add about a teaspoon of glitter to the inside of the jar.
• Fill the jar almost to the top with water.
• Put Super Glue around the top of the jar and return the lid, screwing it on tightly. Be careful not to spill the glue!
• Keep the jar upright until the glue dries.

There you have it. One very simple but beautiful snow globe.

Hosting a swap party was a lot of fun and it felt good to be reusing items that might otherwise be thrown away or left sitting in a cupboard. I also found it a great way to teach the girls about the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle. If you're interested in hosting a swap party go to http://www.recyclingweek.planetark.org/ for all the details.

Have you entered the BusyBrissyMum card giveaway? Entries close and winner will be drawn tomorrow, Friday, November 27 @ 9pm. Let me know what item you would choose to giveaway at a swap. Please make sure your name is clearly on your comment.

Ruby Red Party

Our little baby girl turned one on Sunday so it seemed fitting to have a ruby red party to celebrate. (Her second name is Ruby!) We did a pink party for Miss M on her first birthday so we kept the colour theme going.

Our children's first birthdays are celebrated with family but we still like to have party games and other fun for the cousins to enjoy. We had a great time on Sunday playing bobbing for apples. This was hilarious to watch! We did a red snake eating competition which was also lots of fun and the kids could play with the tea set and make red lady beetles from paper plates at their leisure. There was lots of yummy red party food and the girls had their faces painted. We just had to play pass the parcel which is Miss M's favourite. It's become a regular birthday game. Everyone got involved on Sunday which was a hoot!

I spent last week baking the cake. It took five goes before I actually had a sponge cake that cooked all the way through (old oven!) but the final result was a red lady beetle cake. Just check out the look on Miss H's face when she saw her cake - it was delightful to see. That made all those baking efforts worth while.

Everyone who wore red received a prize bag before they went home. It really was a great day with our little girl. Happy Birthday Miss H - you brighten up our lives!

A "Beary Special" Morning

If you went into the woods (Wendouree Park) yesterday you would have been sure of a big surprise because yesterday was the annual Teddy Bear's Picnic for our mums group. I wish you had been there to see it! Our cute little bunch of kidlets and their teddies (rabbits and dollies too!) came to the park to enjoy a "beary special" morning together.

We had a morning tea filled with "beary yummy" teddy bear treats including the teddy bear cupcakes pictured above. I found this idea in the Woman's Weekly Kids Party Cakes book - how could we not have cupcakes! We did all the favourite bear songs and rhymes like 'Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear', 'Rock-a-bye Your Bear', 'Round and Round the Garden' and 'I Know a Hairy Bear' followed by the "beary scary" story 'Where's My Teddy?'. (It's not really that scary but it's is a favourite in our house!)

Together we all went on a huge bear hunt singing our way round the park to which afterwards one little girl told me that she was scared. It was a lot of fun.....and a little bit scary!

To end our "beary special" morning each teddy who came along went home with a prize and Miss M's "Jessie Teddy" received the Sweetest Smelling Bear award since she smells just like strawberries. I'm sure many little teddies and kidlets went home for a lovely big sleep after their big day out and they may even talk about this "beary fun" morning 'till the next Teddy Bear's Picnic comes around next year! Look out for my blog on Wendouree Park coming up.

Party Pinata

It was only a little while ago that I wrote about a simple idea for making a pinata using a cereal box but I thought I'd share the more difficult version which is still fairly simple to make.

Pinata

You will need...

A large balloon - I bought a punching balloon for ours

Newspaper

Glue - Cel Mix works well or you can make a flour + water version

Wrapping paper

Thin rope

Large paddle pops or something similar

String

Prizes to go inside - I used a pack specially for pinatas or you can be creative. Wrapped lollies are great also.

• Make the glue following the directions on the Cel Mix container.
• Cut the newspaper into strips.
• Blow or pump up the balloon.
• Coat the balloon with glue and stick one layer of paper on, (paper mache) making sure to overlap the pieces.
• Hang the balloon to dry using string attached to the top of the glue.
• Once dry repeat the process over and over again until the paper is strong enough to carry the prizes inside.
• It is really important that you allow each layer to dry or you'll end up with a soggy mess.
• 5 or so layers seems to work just fine.
• Before you do the final layer, let the balloon pop (if it hasn't already). You should have a hole left at the top so fill the pinata with the prizes.
• To hang your pinata use two large paddle pops joined to make a cross with the rope. Close them up and lower them inside the pinata. You should be able to open them back out once they are inside and they will support the rope.
• Make your final layer one of wrapping paper so your pinata is bright and colourful but to add texture to your pinata you can add strips of paper from the bottom to the top, only sticking at the top of the strip. You'll get a wonderful fringed effect.
• Find what we call in our household a "pinata whacking stick" but I'm sure it's called a pinata stick (or something similar). A metre long piece of wood is good. You can buy these sticks from party supply places and big retail stores.
• Cover the stick in wrapping paper or crepe paper so it's decorative too.

Be creative as you like! You can make this simple design into all kinds of pinata shapes....flowers, Santa, Christmas present, funny faces and teddy bears. The list goes on....and so does the fun!

Party, Party, Party!

This party has been a long time in the making! My Little Miss M has been talking about her 3rd birthday since last years' birthday ended. (Anybody find the same thing happening?) Well it finally arrived! Last week Miss M turned a big 3, not that we are allowed to say big yet. She received a groovy pink scooter from us which she has been riding and riding and crashing everywhere.

Yesterday was the party with her special friends and family attending. Until now we have kept things very simple with just family or family and one special friend helping to celebrate, so this was IT. We have launched ourselves into the party planning stage of life - eek! It was so exciting to plan everything but the real fun came when we could put all the planning into play.

We set the yard up with free-play activities....sand play, swings, collage, fence painting, bubbles and play dough which was intertwined with party games. I like to keep kids busy and having fun all at the same time. All Miss M's been asking for is "parcel parcel" (pass the parcel) and musical statues. We added a butterfly hunt (my very first memory ever, playing this at my own 3rd birthday party) and a pinata too. We couldn't go without a pinata! (I was keen to try a different design)

Butterfly Hunt

You will need.....

Cellophane

Scissors

Cut the cellophane up into smallish rectangles, about 6cm long.

Twist in the middle to make a butterfly.

Hide the butterflies and have the children find them.

The child who collects the most butterflies wins the game.

Miss M likes to play shops so we had an ice-cream shop during afternoon tea, then the requested Dorothy the Dinosaur cake and to end the afternoon we opened up a lolly shop for the kids to choose some lollies to take home in a bag. These were really fun to make.

Lolly Shop

You will need.....

Glass or plastic jars - I bought ours at the cheap shops

Lollies of all kinds - I was looking for ones from our childhood (remember the days?)

Table

Sign

Small tongs or scoops

Small paper or plastic bags

Fill up the jars with lollies.

Make a sign from a large piece of cardboard or paper.

Set your jars up on a small table at child height.

Have the children choose some lollies to put in their bag to take home, with parental supervision - even the mums, dads, aunties, uncles and grandparents got to dip in!

Lots of tired little poppets went home at the end of the party and I heard Miss M ask Daddy as he closed the door for sleep time if she could have another birthday party very soon. So much fun for one "little girl". And we start all over again......