Teddy turns 7!

I cannot believe I have a 7 year old! Where does the time go! We threw this party only 2 weeks ago and what a blast! I was originally looking for a set of quads to hire and have at my parents house. They have a fantastic garden and we were trying to recreate a party my mum organised for my brother at a similar age. It was fantastic. If I had photos I'd share them. We had hay bales lining out a track in what was the orchard and a company brought in a set of little quads for us all to drive around. It really was great fun! There doesn't seem to be any companies up north that offers this anymore and when asking on a facebook page for any recommendations, someone lead me to mini offrovers! I had seen them advertised but did not know they would come out to events. I was so pleased after chatting to Claire, she came for a site visit and we chatted through the possibilites for the track and set a date! The family has always been landrover mad! My dad is a fanatic! and has definitely passed the love on to us all, including Teddy!

Now I love a theme! But I was struggling to organise a childs party solely on Land Rover..... although I would have loved to! Bar designing my own decorations and spending a small fortune on favours, I had to think a bit more outside the box. Land Rovers......safari! Easy theme, and Teddy adores Tigers so I could incorporate that too! And so I took to Pinterest for inspo! As I'm sure we all do! There's so many creative people out there, with fantastic ideas! I spent hours on Google searching for favours in bulk and other activities to keep the kids engaged. We were only having 4 mini Land Rovers, which could seat 2 at a time and we had 23 kids coming, almost 30 when you included young siblings!

A bouncy castle was needed! We have used cheshire events company in the past and really rate them, this time we hired a large bouncy slide! (Teddy had seen one at a friends party and was desperate for one at his!). I also wanted something creative and found the carboard dinosaur safari landrovers on offer at HobbyCraft! 2 of those plus some felt tips and I had my creative activity too!

Seating was also an issue for this many kids! We've done it before but each year we throw something together and its never available the next year! My dad had a fab idea to put 2 picnic benches we already had, together with some ply wood on top and over the seats. Not going to lie, they were pretty rotten so wouldnt have done as they were. It turned out really well! It is useful having a handy dad around! 

Now for the party favours! I try my hardest to never use a bag! I like to be creative but I was struggling with this one! I would have loved something Land Rover shaped and did look for some sort of cut out I could assemble but there was nothing already set up. I did see a lovely idea on Pinterest, adopt an animal! It was so sweet but I did want to make it more my own. I searched and searched for bulk wild animal plush toys. I spend as long as possible trying to get the best value for money! I didnt want to just have a toy and a certificate. I tend to like to have something they can play with, something creative, and something as a treat, all while keeping the cost down as low as I can! I set about searching for some sort of container to look like a pet carrier! I finally found some plane white, lunch box type things (see the photos). Inside I added the cuddly and I found some scratch art animals from BakerRoss (love this website! we use it for all our crafts, especially at christmas time!), If you've not checked it out....you need to! I wasnt happy with the boxes being so plain and again wanting more creativity for the little ones, I ordered some safari themed sticker and pom poms with glue dots. They could decorate their pet carrier, then choose some 'Food', I had a bowl of pick n mix sweets and bags to fill (thank you B&M) and finally an adoption certificate. I used Canva to design these along with the posters I set around the 'adoption station'. I love this app. Lots of amazing templates and ideas to use and make your own! 

I'm very lucky that my parents let me use their garden and my dad bought a basic (but large) marquee years ago. Its done us very well! I then just had to decorate. Again I tend to shop around as much as I can to get the best prices on decorations. Amazon actually usually has some decent deals on party packs with decorations and balloons. I like to decorate the marquee, I do think it adds a litte extra! 

The final touch was balloon animals dotted around the track! If you had a bit of extra money to spare (which I didnt), binoculars for them to drive around with, spotting animals would make an amazing addition! 

I also love to incorporate food and drink for the adults too! I feel everyone should enjoy the party as much as possible! I'm not putting down parties at soft plays, theyre fab! and work a treat! but they aren't the most enjoyable for the grownups! So if i can make a kids birthday party a bit more bareable, with a drink and a bit of food i will!! We always do a BBQ, because we find it easier and I always offer a selection of alcoholic (and non) beverages for the grown ups! 

I wish i was the kind of mum that could bake a cake and it look and taste half decent.......I am not! I've used a few different places over the years but the last few I have used The cake box Cheshire. Lisa has made beautful cakes for us and always delivers with the theme! Again i take to Pinterest to find inspiration and Lisa recreates and adapts to make the cake perfection! 

Everyone had an amazing day, more importantly Teddy had the best birthday!! 

As I've said if youre interested in any of the products or creations please do get in touch! 

Product links

These are some of the products I purchased to decorate the marquee and make the party favors.

Click on the pictures to take you to a link for prices and purchases;

Gift Ideas