birthday party debrief - with tenuous links to flea market finds

Mini Blogger's birthday falls about a week after the Donna Hay Kids Magazine comes out - which is a good and bad thing.

Good, because I do generally find a few ideas or recipes to incorporate in our party, and bad, because I look at those photos and start thinking "this is what a birthday party should look like" (of course forgetting that those parties are put on by a [paid] team of stylists / editors and other clever people, and that the "party" is in fact a photo shoot).

Strangely enough, our party did not look (or feel) like a Donna Hay photo shoot.

The day began inauspiciously with a crying, sniffly guest of honour.

When guests started to arrive, she was still out of sorts, and not keen to join in any planned activities - I had stayed up last night cutting out cardboard antennae for guests to decorate with pencils, crayons (50c from the op shop) and stickers - luckily the other kids had fun.

I had planned a small musical interlude once antennae were made - a spot of "jitterbugging" to Wham! because that is what ladybirds do according to our girl. I did end up listening to Wham, but in a quiet room, just me and her, trying to cuddle and console a miserable child, to help her make it through her party. Which she did, through the power of Wham!, chocolate and assorted sugar filled products. She was even happy by the end - and I'm pretty sure it wasn't just from the sugar!

About half the planned menu items were abandoned due to lack of time (and hopefully because the guests were actually full) - the menu did, however, include these cute ants on a log and carrot stick insects...

The cake selection was a success, despite lumpy cake batter (unsifted cocoa - luckily not noticeable in the finished cakes) and a distinct lack of planning - I made up the ladybird cake design this morning after being unable to find the components I'd planned for when shopping last night. The worms and butterflies were ideas from a borrowed cookbook.

I was also really happy with how the bug jar party favours turned out - really easy, using mostly things we had at home already.

So, in the end, no Donna Hay party, but a happy-in-the-end, near-enough-is-good-enough, real life party shared with people we love and love to spend time with (who of course I can't show to protect their privacy).

And finally, just to sneak my way in to Flea Market Finds tomorrow... a bug catcher I found at the oppie for 50c on the day we sent out our bug party invites... and then forgot to actually use at the party today!!