Sleepless nights and Parties (always the reveller!)

Ooh I didn't sleep at all well last night. Its always easy to say things like 'I must only have had two hours sleep', and know that, realistically, it only felt like two hours and was probably a lot more. But in this case... I think it was! When I was little and I couldn't sleep, my mum used to say 'well what are you excited about?', and when I was a little older, 'are you nervous?' (well there were a lot of exams about, in school and out!), and in recent years, she'd say 'its no wonder- you must be unsettled'. Hmmm, I think all three applied last night, and I may touch on the latter two in another post, but for now, yes, I'm excited!

My children both have Christmastime birthdays, (yeah- I know, and yes, I feel bad!) and even though I have tried things various different ways, I've found its all too early yet to settle on a system of party-age. Its been different each year, and things are always chaotic, although they turn out well. They've had joint birthday parties, they've had massively delayed birthdays (Little Guy was 6 weeks prem and Pickle Missy had to wait until February that year I think), but always there is a theme, there is jelly, there are traditional party games and lots of balloons, and we celebrate things separately from Christmas.

Theres a strong tradition of children't parties in our family! One that I'm keen to carry on. They got more elaborate and fancy as my sister and I got older. There was a Butterfly Ball, an Artist's party, a full on Dinner party with a 3 course meal when we hit double figures and celebrated our 10th, a Treasure Hunt, and a Shadow-Puppet party. (Yes, we each had puppets and acted out 'Jack and the Beanstalk' to the parents). Fab.

So, as I kinda don't want to short-change my children with the other goings-on at this time of year, I'm once again organising a themed party, desperately trying to make up for the bad timing, and the fact that all of their excitement and pressies come at one end of the year. I'm not yet reaching the heights of the ones my mum hosted, but I'm getting there very gradually. My mum and dad, despite the distance, are always keen to pitch in, which brings me on to the things that are exciting me- party bags! Surely the best bit?!

I really couldn't advise you on the pattern but can ask by request. I have my suspiscions that after many many years knitting, she just comes up with these things off the top of her head, bringing ideas together from other projects.

Ahh! Look what my clever mum has knitted. I know that most of the fellow bloggers I have come across are keen on their craft, so thought I'd share these. Cute- no? And theres these to add to the bag:

Off the top of my head, and from vague recollections of working on something similar for a brownie badge, I'd be tempted to point you in the direction of Jean Greenhowe here.

These are the kind of details that I remember from our birthday parties- things were home-made and carefully planned, and unique. More cute cats! You've probably guessed Pickle Missy's theme by now- she chose it by herself, and I was pleased because there were so many things we could do. I've also been working on the 'pin the tail on the' game, which always take far longer than they should because I get a little carried away. This was the result of my insomnia last night- I got bored of turning around in bed and got up, and got all productive. Are you ready? You have to pin the bow on the...

Cat In The Hat! Terrible photo- appologies! And at the moment, uncoloured- I'm just working out what best to use. You want to see the fish? I hope so. I'm very pleased with my fish. Just don't ask him what he thinks of my drawing, because he'd say 'Do I like this? Oh, no! I do not.'

Ha! So I'm tired, but slightly ahead of schedule. Not a bad compromise. Now for the cake! My favourite bit- will update here and let you see what I came up with.


xxx