The Icecream Party - Details.....

Ohhh I'm here!! Just!!

Finally... I have some details about the cute little Ice cream Party that we held to celebrate Max and Lacey's 3rd birthdays.

As I have previously mentioned, this party was thrown together at short notice but I still had time to organise a few cute touches.

Firstly, I found a free printable pack on the wonderful world wide web, and the colour scheme was just what I was looking for. Being a unisex party, I wanted to keep the colours light but still related to the theme. Best of all? Its a free printable!! You can find more details HERE

Seeing as though pack contained some cute flags for making a bunting , I got my lovely husband to cute 2 pieces of pipe (that stood inside the holes of bricks) and strung the 2 'YUM' buntings above the table. Quick and easy but effective all the same. (And it was free as we already had the pipe)

The printable pack contains lots of tags for the toppings, cupcake toppers, signs etc, and as fate would have it, I had started to collect little bits and pieces and they all fit the colour scheme well.
The ice cream bowls (front left of photo below) are from a local discount store for $2.50 and come with little ice cream sticks. The Serviettes are from IKEA and the plates were bought for Angus' party and didn't arrive in time so I re purposed them.

The cute hanging 'Icecream cones' were made using cheap pom poms (Red Dot are now stocking a pack for $3 for 2) and some brown card stock rolled into a cone and secured with double sided tape.

The gorgeous stands on either side of the table displayed the different toppings available for ice-cream. These are actually Herb planters from Bunnings that I bought on sale for $13 (they came with 4 little wooden pots too) They are foldable, are easy to store and perfect for what I wanted.
The little aqua bowls (my favourite colour at the moment) I bought at the Reject shop a while ago and held crushed oreos, but the other toppings were- Raspberry lollies, chopped nuts, chocolate sprinkles, sprinkles and then strawberry and chocolate topping ( seen in the pics wrapped with some yellow patterned paper to conceal an ugly label)

I attempted to bake cupcakes in Ice cream cones for the first time and it was a success (thanks to all who gave advice on my facebook page).
I simply filled the cones to the top of the small base section and baked for the appropriate amount of time. Iced to look like Sundaes, there were a real hit and super cute too!!
In hindsight, the cones did go a tad soft for my liking , these would definitely be better baked fresh the day you are going to use them, but time is never on my side for Parties so they were just fine the way they were!

The cute Ice cream bowls and spoons on the bottom shelf of the Toppings stands came in a 2 pack of pink and blue, and I bought them from Red Dot also (got to love a cheap shop!). I have received a lot of queries regarding those, and to be honest , I don't think too much when organising a party. I knew last year that I wanted to do an Ice cream theme this year , so I just start to keep a look out for things I like and these were one of those purchases.

The lolly bags were simple white bags from Spotlight for just a few dollars (seen above) but I ran a strip of Washi Tape through the middle and it tizzied them up enough to look cute.


The food was kept simple, as the guest list was too. Immediate family and the twins Godmother and her children, but we had : cupcakes, Oreo Pops, Fruit kebabs, dip tray with vegetables, vanilla custard in small cups , sausage rolls, party pies and of course, ice cream sundaes!!

I LOVED throwing and decorating this party. It was simple, Super duper CHEAP and the kids had an absolute ball creating their own sundaes with toppings that were a bit special (considering our kids don't have ice cream at home ever!)

Lately I have been receiving emails asking advice on throwing childrens parties, and I am definitely NO expert, but I do have one main piece of advice that helps me no end!

Set your theme in advance, and I am talking WELL WELL in advance. 

Like I said, I knew last year that I wanted to do an Ice cream party, so as I saw things in the shops, I bought them. As I was looking on Pinterest etc, I would store that idea to my memory bank. It makes the whole organising experience easier, less stressful not to mention cheaper. When you are buying a few things every few weeks for just $3, it doesn't hurt the bank balance too much. I am not one to get on a website and make an order of a few hundred dollars. To be honest, I couldn't think of anything worse. Plus, making decorations yourself, scouting the net for free things to use, its all part of the fun!!

I am sorry this took so long to write, I have just not had the headspace for much at the moment. 

BIG changes are happening here!! I'll keep you posted x

Ice Cream Party

Last weekend we held a wee little party for Max and Lacey's 3rd Birthday!!

It was quite a rushed party really, with the time and date/day only sent with 5 days to go , but seeing as though I had already picked the theme some months back and started to collect bits and pieces, the prep wasn't too hard!!

We kept the guests to a bare minimum, my sister and her family (4 kids) and my cousin and her 3 kids and my parents (in laws were away). Having a small number of guests was fantastic, as I have held quite a few parties in the past that have got well out of hand in the guest department and it makes the party less enjoyable for everyone. As far as Max and Lacey were concerned, their were kids, lolly bags and cake. That makes for a pretty good party in a 3 year old eyes!

But obviously in my opinion, with more time, I probably could have pulled together a few things a bit better, but I happy with the way the party looked/ran with minimal effort involved.

Anyway, I thought I could share with you some pics, them them speak for themselves and then do an info post to follow tomorrow. So if you have anything in particular you would like to know about, just shoot me an email or message of Facebook or comment on this post.

So without further ado, Max and Lacey's Ice cream Party.

(Please excuse the lighting in the table pics, the party was held under our patio. Very practical but it doesn't make for the best backdrop and certainly doesn't do the camera and lens any favours. But you have to choose practicality over looks sometimes, just sometimes.

There is always one child that doesn't like tot play the game and join in on the group photo. (and a 5 year old that likes to smile with her 'fake' smile!

The kids all LOVED creating their own ice cream sundaes, choosing the sauces and toppings is a real novelty (especially for our kids who don't get ice cream very often, if ever)

Stay tuned for more info x

Piece of Cake...

Life has been a little busy here of late, and unfortunately a few of us have had a run in with a tummy bug last week too!! Not good.
Anyway , everyone is all good now, and while I try and find the time to write some bigger posts, I will just share the cakes I have made for our kids.

When I was making Max and Lacey's cakes, I was thinking back on all the others I have made, such great memories.

Fancy birthday cakes are always time consuming, messy and sometimes hard, but well worth the effort when you see your little cherubs faces light up !!

So here is a trip down memory , cake lane....

For Stella's First birthday she had a number 1 cake, pink with smarties, but the photos are not on hand, I am sure you can picture it!!

Stella's Second Birthday, Upsy Daisy cake

Stella's Third Birthday , A lady bug

Stella's 4th Birthday, a Barbie princess cake

Max's First Birthday , a rainbow

Lacey's First Birthday , a number one

Lacey's 2nd Birthday, a piglet

Max's 2nd Birthday, a Lion

It doesn't matter how busy I am, I am always going to make decorative cakes for our kids. I can remember ones that I had as a child and the memory is still with me, I want nothing more for our kids, and its only once a year, no effort is too much I think!!

Angus's birthday is in October, so at least I have some time in the month and not all the birthdays crammed into the same one!! Oh so many possibilities for what to make!!

Do you do fancy cakes for your kids?

If so, what have you made?

Our two Turned 2!!

On Sunday, our precious twins, Max and Lacey turned 2.

They are at a beautiful (and testing) age , where they know what is going on in the way of birthdays. Especially since Stella's wasn't that long ago.

Anytime you spoke of their birthday in the days leading up to it, they got the biggest smiles on their faces! So cute!

The present opening was so gorgeous. Every time they opened one, everything had to be opened, put on and played with, completely forgetting that they had more to go. Totally different than when the kids get older, its like a race to open all of them, and sometimes I don't think they even see what each gift is.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Notice the shoes are on, the beanie is on. Priorities!!

We celebrated the day with Pikelets for breakfast, morning tea with their godmother and kids, lots of playing, a day nap and then a big casual, family dinner.

They have such a big LOVE/HATE relationship, but most of the time it is love. Actually it depends on the day!!

Angus even had cuddles with his Great Grandmother, beautiful

And then came time for the cakes. They had to be fairly simple and quick to execute, as DH and I didn't get home until 5pm the night before from Perth. There was no time for precooking and freezing , like I prefer to do with birthday cakes.

So Max got a Lion (Raa Raa)

And Lacey got a Pig (Pepper)

But they did NOT want to blow out those candles!!

Luckily they had lots of cousins and a big sister to help with that!!

They really are growing up. The presents this year were more "big kids" toys, and they were so mature when opening and playing with them.

Yet again, it was quite an emotional day for me, even 12 months later, I spoke about it after their birthday last year HERE. ( Pics in that post are not for the faint heart!!!)

Parenting twins is really something special. When I fell pregnant with them, everyone kept saying that they are only given to people that could cope and handle them.

I think they might have been right!! Not to brag, but the past 24 months have certainly not been easy.

The emotional roller coaster of parenting multiples is HUGE!!

They are testing, yet so loving.

They fight, yet adore each other.

You are busy, yet blessed.

Your house and car are full, yet so is your heart.

They will always have someone to help, to experience things with and to comfort them.

They are friends for life......

And we are so very proud of them.

They are nearly toilet trained ( in the process, and Max is pretty much finished and Lacey is nearly there) They are so independent and like to dress themselves and put their own shoes on.

They love to play dress ups, with Mr Potato Head and at the Kitchenette. Oh and they LOVE the sandpit, and love even more to bring half of the sand inside !! haha

Max's speech is amazing!! He is a little parrot and has started to string 4 or 5 words together in a sentence. Lacey can say things but is quieter. She observes and silently conquers!!

To say we love these two is an understatement.

They made our little trio a real family.

They have enriched our lives in so many ways.

And they have also added more than a few grey hairs to the locks!!

Happy Second Birthday to Our Max and Lacey xo