HOMEMADE FAMILY BIRTHDAY PARTY

 

For many years we had parties in the park because our small apartment couldn't accommodate a children's birthday party. However, quite a few times we got rained out and so had to reschedule or relocate. When we moved into our current home and had space to host a party, we were happy to finally have the chance to do so.

We have always enjoyed making birthdays a special celebration, and creating them ourselves - from the food (homemade sausage rolls and birthday cake) to the decor and the entertainment. (Last year for a science party, we created our own experiments using a salt pendulum and a fishing game with magnets and different types of metal.) We like the children to see that we can create our own fun. Where possible, we also like them to get involved in helping create the day - from helping in the kitchen to decorating the walls.

While there's often a big mess to clean up afterwards, there are also lots of memories too as we often let the balloons float around the house for the next few days. It's a nice reminder of the fun that we've had.

This year we created a scalloped wall decoration that was even easier than I was expecting.

Here's how to create our feature wall.

YOU WILL NEED
Crepe paper - white
Tissue paper - gold (If you can find crepe paper in a nice shade of gold, all the better)
Scissors
Washi tape

1. Cut a scalloped shape out of folded crepe paper, ensuring you leave a join on either side of about 2cm. This will give you a strand of scalloped paper about 2m long.
2. Alternate with a gold paper. We had to use tissue paper and as it wasn't as long had to hang in three parts. We folded the paper in a similar style to the crepe paper and cut.
3. Alternate one row of white paper with one row of gold. Or you could use one colour en-masse.
4. Add helium-filled balloons for fun.

images the indigo crew