Jamie's 6th Birthday Party

We took a while to decide what to do this year.  Initially we thought that we would take Jamie away somewhere for his birthday instead of a party.  We looked at LEGOLAND and ThomasLand.   However, as Jamie's birthday falls on the Easter Bank Holiday this year, they were obviously the most expensive weekends.

So, we rang and enquired whether The Ark was free for a party.  They had decided not to hire out the hall at Easter this year.  We could have had the following weekend but we felt that was too late.

So we bit the bullet and decided to organise a party at home!!

Actually, we had TWO parties at home.  One between 12 and 2pm for some of his school friends and another for family from 2.30pm.  Unfortunately by the time I had made my decision about having the party, cousin Noah was unavailable as they had booked a comping trip.  And cousin Lucy could not make it as Auntie Chrissie was having to work on the Easter Saturday.   We made up for Noah not being there by having a small party on the Tuesday with a birthday cake for just Jamie and Noah.  And Lucy is coming in a few weeks.

As it was Easter weekend, I decided that instead of a loot bag, we would give every child an Easter egg.  Luckily Sainsburys were selling some lovely ones for 80p each!  I bought 28 (£22.40) and had a few left over...

We provided the usual Hot Dogs and Pizza which seemed to go down well and Jamie blew the candles out on his Batman cake at both parties;  which were then cut up and shared out at the party.   As the weather stayed nice (bit chilli but no rain) we were able to have the food outside.  As usual, the bouncy castle was a wonderful idea.   We were also glad we had the swings, slide and trampoline to play on.  But we were glad we had the (inside) space of the garage (the Bat Cave) for the children to run in and out of; and later warm up in!   We did put a gazebo up just outside the garage which helped and put a ground sheet down to reduce the muck going into the garage.  Luckily, B&Q were selling some picnic tables the week before which worked perfectly for Jamie and his friends to sit at and eat their food / blow out the candles / eat cake!

All Jamie's school friends stayed the two hours.  One mum stayed chatting, but we had time to clear the decks before starting again at 2.30pm.  This party started off a little cooler but by 4.30pm the sun had started to poke its head out so a few of the mums and children stayed a little later.

Of course, having the party at home meant an awful lot of work ensuring the house was clean and tidy and child friendly!  Daddy did a lot of jobs that had needed doing for a while.  There is nothing like people coming to the house to get yourself motivated! 

All in all, it was a great afternoon, though I am not sure we will be organising another birthday party in our garden.  The Easter weather is just too unpredictable.