Wednesday 20 May 2015

Chloe's Party Mixed Feelings




Chloe’s birthday party
Hey girls and guys, As some of you know I won a competition called second chance.
The competition ran by oceans finance, for second chance of something.
I chose a party for chloe as she has never had one before.
because I won ocean finance paid for it.



So Chloe turned 6 and this was her first ever party she was so excited bless her.
she loved the fact she was going to have her first very own cake and bouncy castle
So here's the low down.






The preparation

the preparation was so stressful at first, this is the first party I have had to plan and organise which was really hard with prices to make sure everything fit in with the budget of 300 pounds.
£300 may be a lot of money, but trust me some of the party related things i saw added up to more than this with some djs been 150 alone, by time you add on face painters bouncy castles food party bags it does all add up.


So what did we do for chloe party?




Venue


We did it simple really, we hired a scout hut from 12pm till 4pm  which was only £50.
This was amazing because the money goes to the scout's which is great as it helps them.
So thank you to  3rd st pauls cray scouts for letting me hire your hall.


Bouncy castle


we hired one from jumpabouts based in sidcup kent.
the bouncy castle was a tiger castle cosy but still fun the kids loved it.
this is around  £60 for the day, which is great as the people drop it off to you set it up then come back to collect at end of party so you do not have to worry about hiring vans to collect castles etc. Thank you Jump abouts for letting me hire the castle.


Music



Music this was simple we borrowed my little brothers speaker which lets you connect by bluetooth or cable etc to play your music this was great even though the children was more into the bouncy castle the music was nice to have in background rather than it been really silent.


Face Painter


We hired a lovely lady called Peppa, who based in Orpington.
She was really friendly and kind she was really amazing at facepainting.
she moved to Orpington from london with a few years experience,
she is going to set up her own face painting company to put her amazing skills to good use.
I must add she was really amazing at what she does the children was happy.


Food

My hubby shane geach from think milk design catered for our little chloes party.
Shane made sandwiches, marshmallows covered in white chocolate dipped in hundreds and thousands. oh and sandwich roll around wraps, also cooked up some sausage rolls.
then we added crisps to a bowl and put some party rings on table too.


Disney Frozen Cake

My hubby shane from Think Milk Design not only baked the cake, he decorated it too.
it took a few hours but it was worth it even if we both didn't go bed till gone 1.30 am the night before the party.



The cake figures on top the cake are from Gameseek for £15 for the set which was fab they arrived the day after i ordered them which was great meaning one less worry.
The same figures can be found in harrods, and a few other stores also on amazon individually.


Getting set up



We got to the hall at 12 to get set up blowing up balloons, and to meet face painter to get the paints set up etc, thank you to my best friend amy's hubby for helping us transport the cake food and everything to the party and staying at party to help us bring back stuff afterwards.
Big big thank you to my friend donna for helping us get the venue and for opening up the gates.


The Party


Party started at 1pm, we invited 20 something people, but less than 10 turned up.
But in way this was good 5 people came and 2 of them brought siblings which i said was fine as its nice to see chloe smile and meet new people too couple of the children invited she never met before but she got on so well with them.


With there been only a small amount of children who came it meant they didn't have to queue to go on bouncy castle so got more time bouncing on it as well as, not having to wait long to get their face painted oh and less mess to clean up at the end so it kind of worked in our favour although it would of been nice to see more kids having fun and enjoying playing with chloe.
Anyway the kids wasn't really fussed about not having clowns running around or those really annoying party entertainers who make you do silly dances that you don't really want to do.
just a little bit of music in the background, a table of food,  facepainter at back of hall and bouncy castle outside was more then enough for the children.


The idea of not sitting down at table for the food part worked really well, after all no one likes been forced to sit down and eat when you're not hungry the food table works well because, if you are hungry help yourself eat when you are hungry.
The kids came over ate something had juice went and played outside etc.




When it was time to do the cake, this was fun because chloe blew out the candle before we could even sing happy birthday and this made me smile such a lovely moment to capture.
The children and parents sang happy birthday to chloe and she then blew out the candle again.


so overall despite there not been many kids, chloe was happy that she had a party.
she is happy that those that came had fun and enjoyed themselves.


party was meant to finish at 3pm but we let it overrun slightly as the bouncy castle wasn't due to be picked up until 4pm so few kids who was still at party i said they may as well enjoy the bouncy castle for bit longer.



I would like to add the kids who turned up was very pleasant kind and polite.
I have never seen so many kids in a room who say please and thank you this was even more fantastic as there was no need for parents to be telling their kids off etc.
So hats of to the parents.


Just a bit more for you to read if you haven't fallen asleep already.


So basically that was her party I do feel disappointed not many came,
As chloe had always wanted a party with all her friends there.
As well as been disappointed, I am also pleased that some came at least.
I am very grateful for winning and been able to have a party for her.

Even though it wasn't much but it was enough for the amount of kids who came.
I think next year a party will not be on the cards due to the cost though and that.
But might sway more towards doing something somewhere where the kids can explore maybe seaworld or something like that.


Special thank you to the following people



Peppa The Face Painter - no page yet but feel free to ask for details


Also a big thank you to
Dean for helping transport things to the hall and helping out.
Donna for helping find a perfect hall, opening the gates and helping out.
The parents and children for attending and making chloe's day special.


Thats all for now sorry for the style of writing today I always try find the best style for the post i am writing for you all to read, I should be back very soon with a post about something sweet.


Thanks for reading
Caroline

Ps if you would like another post on tips for party planning please let me know in comments box or by email, facebook comment etc always love your ideas,comments and emails.

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