How to throw a fun, easy and stress free birthday party. At the last minute no less.

As I mentioned yesterday, birthday parties can be exhausting.

In my mind a birthday party should be fun, easy and stress free. This weekend just gone saw the first of our birthday party holding for the year. Thankfully it went off like a frog in a sock. 

Not only was it a huge success but it was incredibly simple and did not break the bank. Talk about winning hey?

Being the awesome caring sharing blogger that I am, I am going to share with you how I managed to throw a stress free, yet totally fun birthday party for a three year old.

My Top Tips For Stress Free Birthday Parties

1. Keep It Simple. Never let go of the K.I.S principle.
   Know your limitations and don't feel the need to push past them. Not every party has to look like it would send Pinterest users into overdrive. In fact it is probably best to forget that the evils of Pinterest even exist. (Unless of course you are going there to pin my photos/posts to let others know of how easy a party can be)
   The food was incredibly simple.
   
   Sausages cooked on the barbie, complete with sauce and rolls or bread
   Fairy bread cut into fun shapes
   Chocolate crackles and honey joys
   Dip with celery, carrot and capsicum strips
   Celery with peanut butter
   Kabana & cheese
   Chips
   
   Most of which can be prepared ahead of time and popped in the fridge till party time. I think it took me all of an hour to cut up what was needed.
   
   
2. Don't go overboard with the invites.
   Especially if it is a party for little ones. My mum has a great rule that you only invite as many children as the age of the birthday.
   
   With that in mind Miss Three choose three friends (one of whom couldn't make it). By the time we invited our besties, who have three children, and two children from the complex we live in (it seemed wrong to have a pool party at the complex pool and not invite them), we suddenly had a total of twelve children. Since they were all manner of ages though it was quite manageable. Particularly since there were some older children that were able to entertain younger ones. Winning right there I tell you.
   
   
3. Accept help when it is offered.
   There was a time when I mistakenly thought I had to do it all myself. Not this year though. Mum offered to make chocolate crackles and honey joys. My instinct was to say no it's fine I'll do it but thankfully common sense won through and before she even finished the sentence I was gratefully accepting.
   
   
4. Remember that children don't need a lot to have fun.
   Being blessed with a large pool makes last minute parties easy because who doesn't want to spend a lazy afternoon by the pool. Throw in a few water balloons or even some water guns and you have just found hours of entertainment for rowdy kids.
   
   I also did a very simple rigged game of pass the parcel. When I say rigged I mean it was one of those ones where everyone got something, be it a lolly, sticker or balloon. The end prize was a pack of textas picked up from the local $2 shop. Everyone walked away with a smile on their face.
   
   
5. Any cake is good cake.
   Seriously it is. Especially if you are a child. Store bought or homemade, at the end of the day it makes no difference. A cake is a cake.
   
   I did give the birthday girl a cake book to flick through and choose from but she couldn't decide on one and quite frankly neither could I. As much as I like the whole homemade cake thing, it is also a rather stressful and time consuming affair.
   
   Thanks to the cute little creatures you can pick up from the local supermarket I was able to create a simple masterpiece. I don't mind baking the odd cake every now and then so I just whipped up a simple chocolate orange mud cake type thing, slapped on a bit of butter cream icing, stuck some cute little creatures and hundreds and thousands on it and Bob's your uncle birthday cake complete.

One last minute cake, complete with dodgy icing.

Joining in with Jess and the IBOT gang

I must confess that birthday parties wear me out

Last year as birthday season approached I boldly declared that this would be the year of no parties. For anyone at all. We would still have a birthday celebration complete with cake and lots of fun. It would just be restricted to family and the super of closest friends. 

image from here

For some reason the thought of arranging birthday parties for three children sent my brain into shutdown and it refused to process the possibility. After eleven years of parties, plus the extras once I had more than one child I just could not face it again. I refused to. The money, the effort, the completely worn out and exhausted feeling at the end of it. I just wanted nothing to do with any of it.

Since my brilliant idea stretched across the board and since I offered such fantastic alternatives everyone agreed with my plan. I let out a sigh of relief and once again began to look forward to the celebration of the birth of my children.

Thinking I had found an easy way around birthdays I was rather impressed with the prospect of no parties. I was however slightly mistaken with the whole easy aspect though. As lovely as the birthdays all were, each one still equated to a fair bit of work for me and left me thinking that maybe a party would have been the way to go after all.

This year, Miss Turning Twelve had made it quite clear she was not having a bar of the whole there is no party thing this year. Which was fine because with Miss Two Turning Three I had decided that she was in need of a party. Miss In The Middle, who celebrates her birth in June rather than April with the other two, is still not overly fussed about the party as long as she gets to go camping again. Odds are certainly in her favour.

After my birthday the other week it was rather evident that the little one was well and truly switched onto the whole birthday caper and as such deserved a bit of a party. This also tied in well with the fact that our pool has recently had a shade cloth erected over it making it perfect for all day swimming.

Still not overly comfortable with an all out blow your mind party I decided for a very low key affair. While it sounds like a lot when I say I made twelve party bags, one for each child, they were all of such a range of complementing ages that it actually didn't seem like many at all.

There were a few big ones, that helped look after the littlest ones. Though they also did a great job of playing with the middle ones as well. In fact all in all everyone just got along beautifully and it was the most relaxing enjoyable  party I have thrown for a very long time.

Adhering strongly to the  keep it simple principle that applies so often life we had plenty of lovely food that was not hard to prepare and didn't break the bank. Though if you want all the gory details on that you will have to check back tomorrow.

For now I just wanted to join in with Kirsty and confess how after being worn out by the mere thought of a party last year, this year I am glad we partied partied.

Do birthday celebrations exhaust you?

In the space of one month we have a total of six birthdays in the extended family. 

Two of which belong my children and one of course being mine. 

Is it no wonder I find it a bit much at times?

Klaus, this one's for you. Let's petition Jetstar

Sometime in early March I received an email from change.org regarding a petition against something to

do with credit card charges and Jetstar. I skimmed over it and pressed delete without giving it a second thought. After all I had a conference to get ready for and I while I was flying it was not with Jetstar.

Despite living in a capital city that is in the middle of no where, flying is not something we do very often. With five of us it is just to dang expensive. Last year when we were invited to Cairns for my sister's wedding it worked out more economical to road trip than fly. Which is just ridiculous. It was a round trip in the vicinity of 6000km.

So when I do fly I like to do so in style. And by style I mean an air carrier that provides me with food and drink without any exorbitant extra charges. Which kind of only leaves me with one option. Thankfully, for the most part if there is only one person flying and if you time it well and in advance, you can generally pick up a reasonably priced ticket. As such I rarely pay much attention to any of the airline kerfuffles that are often in the media. Hence the skim and delete with the whole Jetstar petition email.

Anyways fast forward a week or so to the end of conference dinner. I was fortunate enough to be on a table with many wonderful women. One of whom was Coralie. Next to her was her sponsor for the conference. The founder of 1st Available (which by the way is an awesome idea so make sure you head on over and check it out)

So there we were, all talking about this and that and whatever. Who has had what results in social media and what not (what else would a bunch of bloggers be discussing) when the 1st Available guy, who goes by the name of Klaus, pipes up with, "well my petition on change.org has nearly 35000" or something to that effect.

Naturally he had all our attention.

Turns out that Klaus was referring to the Jetstar petition that I had simply thrown to the trash without a second thought. Meeting the person behind something I so quickly discarded made me feel a tad bad. To make up for my indiscretion I promised to write a post sharing the wrongs of Jetstar's ways.

So what is the petition about?

Well every time you book online with Jetstar and pay by credit card (essentially the only means available) they hit you with a $8.50 surcharge per passenger per flight. So if I wanted to take my little family of five on a return trip, I would be charged $8.50 a total of TEN times. Which for those to lazy to do the maths is an extra $85.

And that my friends is beyond crazy. In fact that is half the price of what I paid for a one way ticket to Sydney.

To add further insult to injury the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has recently put out a statement saying such charges are just not acceptable and should be dropped.

Let's help Klaus make a stand against Jetstar.

You can find the petition to sign right HERE 

Please sign and then share with your friends.

If you want further anti Jetstar information then check out dontflyjetstar.com

In an effort to get as wide a reach as possible I am joining in with FYBF

One of those days

Image from here

You know those days where everything feels like it is turning to crap? Where no matter what is going on it is sure to go wrong in some shape or form, possible and most probably even both. 

Those days where you just wished you had of stayed in bed, or at least in the house. Those days where it is best if you removed yourself from human interaction because undoubtedly people will drive you to distraction. Even when they don't mean to. Those days where patience has run out the door and every little thing will invariably rub you the wrong way. Most likely because you doubt there even is a right way.

Today feels like one of those days.

It shouldn't but it does. And shaking it just doesn't seem possible.

Today feels like a day where I could quite easily walk into a the doctor and walk out with a bunch of little pills in the hope they are the magic ticket to happiness. Of course I know that is not how it really works but still...

Right now it feels like the weight of the world is resting purely on my poor weak little shoulders. My back feeling like it is unable to withstand much more and likely to give way at any given moment. Leaving me crumpled up and squashed, not unlike a deflated ball kicked aside, no longer of worth to anyone.

All rather dramatic I know.

The worst part about this all is that there have been some rather exciting moments to the day.

Things like getting confirmation that when Samuel Johnson is in town I will get to meet him and have a little chat. I am beyond excited, and nervous, but at the end of the day the excitement will win. 

Or at least I hope it will. 

If you haven't already heard Sam is riding a unicycle 15000km around Australia in a bid to raise awareness for breast cancer as well as $1Million for the cause. You can donate here

Sunday will also see my darling little Miss Two become Miss Three. It is the first birthday where she really gets the whole birthday concept. Today we walked around the shops and she pointed out various things the birthday fairy will bring her. A concept which just melts my heart because after nearly 12 years of children's birthdays this is the first time I have heard of the birthday fairy. Who knows where she picked it up from but it is beyond cute.

Though it was at the shops that I could feel the unhappiness grow.

As much as I live in a capital city, it is a small capital city. In fact I am sure there are some country towns or even inner city suburbs, that possibly have more than what we do. Turns out in the whole shopping centre there is only one shoe shop that sells children's shoes. Naturally they didn't have a single solitary pair in the nearly birthday girl's size.

"Are you *$#%ing kidding me????" I somehow refrained from screeching at the shop assistant as I stormed out of the store. Go me huh?

I now have to ring said store to ask if she happened to come across a cute little hand knitted bunny rabbit that Miss Nearly Three insisted on taking to the shops that never quite made it home.

Again I refrained from my overwhelming desire to scream "Are you *$#%ing kidding me????" I am sure my mother of the year award will be here any moment.

The worst part about the whole losing the stupid toy (that my mother had made and only given us two days before hand I might add) is that in all my years of being a mother I have never allowed toys to come shopping. Never, ever, never. 

My blood starts to boil at my idiotic resolve to bend the rules a little. Surely I should know by now that rules are there for a reason. (And contrary to whatever I may have said earlier, some rules are not meant to be broken) Live and learn I guess.

Sigh.

None of this is helped by the fact I am acutely aware of there being real problems that people, some of whom I love dearly, are suffering from. Not that it can be discussed here though. Something about lack of privacy and not my stories to tell...

Double sigh.

On the upside though, because as a regular reader you would know I am all about the upside, did I mention I get to meet Samuel Johnson? 

Seriously though there is a lot to the upside. Stuff like I managed to find some great birthday presents for the upcoming birthday girl. And by great I mean what I was looking for and on special. Win win right there peoples. I also scored some free movie tickets. Winning again. 

Then there are just the everyday winning things like having a home, food, loving husband and all that jazz. Blessed is what I truly am and for that I am thankful. Just sometimes a whinge is what we all need. It is good for the soul. The weights all now feel lighter as my burdens have been shared. Thanks for listening.

Have you got something you need to share? The comment box is ready and waiting.

Wordless Wednesday - Sydney Royal Easter Show - Cakes

It just so happened that the day before I left Sydney was also the second day of the Royal Easter Show. Now regular readers will recall that I am a bit of a show girl. You know in that I love going to the show. Who doesn't?

When I worked out that I would be in town for the start of the countries largest show I couldn't not go. As always I was a terrible blogger and didn't take along my SLR. Leaving me to the perils of only my iPhone camera. Which I must admit is not exactly perilous but I always feel limited when using it.

As such all I really took photos of was the cake section. 

OMG.

Never have my eyes seen anything like it. But enough from me because this is supposed to be a somewhat wordless post!

 My sister assured me this was no where near as cool as her hungry caterpillar cake

In much the same way I am certain I prefer to think my pigs in mud cake is better than this one

Though really at the end of the day they are all pretty cool 

 The detail in some of the cakes was nothing short of amazing

Optari Backpack - Review & Giveaway

Now I know that the end of term one might sound like a strange time to do a backpack review and giveaway but when the opportunity arose to check out the Optari Backpack, I just couldn't say no.

Backpack shopping is one of my back to school pet hates. Finding a bag that both child and I agree on is rarely easy. While they are all concerned with what is pretty, hip or cool I am looking at finer details like sturdiness, durability, and size. 

The little misses get all concerned with whether they can find their current favourite colour, yet I am more bothered as to whether the chosen colours will show the dirt and how easily it will come clean. Such details are given no such premise in the mind of a child.

Some ten weeks ago when Miss Six and I were completing the incredibly exciting task of grocery shopping she discovered a bag that she wanted to call her own. It was only $10 and not as big and bulky as last year's selection so I agreed to the purchase. The thought of getting out of school bag shopping greatly outweighed all else.

As we discovered on the first day of school three other little girls from Miss Six's class and their mothers had a similar experience while at the local supermarket. Suddenly the appeal of the bag seemed to fade. Worsened only by the fact the home reader and library bag don't fit while the lunch box is in there. 

Dramas, dramas, dramas.

All of which I am pretty sure would have been avoided if I had of known the coolness that is an Optari backpack.

With six bright colours to choose from, including purple, black and red, as well as those shown above, there is bound to be a colour that every child and parent can agree on. Especially since the whole idea of these great backpacks is to personalise them with your own selection from the Optari mini fobbz collection.

Just some of the cute fobbz available to add to your backpack

There are currently fourteen different fobbz to choose from and twenty one places to display them on your backpack. Essentially making the possibilities endless. They also make pretty cool swapsies badges with your friends at school. Because trust me once you rock up at school with one of these, all your friends will be wanting one as well.

The lovely backpack and three fobbz
that were kindly sent for me to check out.

World War III almost ensued at our house when I unpacked this little beauty the other day. 

In my mind I had pretty much already decided that it was more suited to Miss Six than Miss Eleven. However Miss Eleven assured me that I was wrong. First year middle school students would indeed like such a cool backpack. 

She even went to the effort of proving to me all her required books and things would in fact adequately fit. (As does Miss Six's home reading folder by the way) 

With two large zipped compartments, internal pockets, pen holders and side net pockets there is actually a great deal of room in what to the eye looks like a small backpack. The straps are wide, well padded and according to Miss Six, super comfortable.

At only $29.99 the Optari backpack is to me very reasonably priced. Especially since for this picky bag selector it ticks all the right boxes. With the fobbz being $3.50 each they too fall into the I would actually consider purchasing you category. 

To me they would make a perfect reward chart prize.

The lovely Sue from Addicted2pixels did offer to send me a second bag in a bid to offer peace amongst the girls but I politely declined. Much to Miss Eleven's disappointment I might add. 

You see as much as  I would love another one of these little beauties I would much rather be able to offer one of my lovely readers a chance to experience the awesomeness of an Optari backpack and five fobbz to kick off the collection.

For your chance to enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Joining in with

and

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses Oh and just to be sure, I was given an Optari backpack and three fobbz to review for this post. No money exchanged and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

With the recent announcement that Google reader will soon be no more there has been a frenzy on the Internet about how bloggers will be able to keep track of all their favourite reads. Initially I was not one who was consumed with such frenzy, however I can gradually feel it starting to build.

Never wanting to be one to miss out (though naturally I often do) (of course compared to many I am still incredibly blessed but you know...) I noticed that most of the cool bloggers seemed to be jumping on this Bloglovin bandwagon.

Truth be told I had actually seen Bloglovin badges starting to pop up more frequently even before the Google reader announcement. Looking into it was on my list of things that never got down. Well until now it was.

Apparently in order to claim my blog with the Bloglovin folk I need to have a post with some special little code in it. Well there you go, here is said post. I must admit I did feel just a tad special when I saw that I already had 11 followers. Talk about dedication. Thank you lovelies for making my heart swell.

Mind you I recently took most of my following devices away. It was too disheartening not seeing the numbers go up on a regular basis. I know this whole blogging gig is not supposed to be about the numbers but some days you just can't deny the part they do play.

So what about it?

Are you on Bloglovin? 

If so are you following me? 

If not why not?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Monday bloody Monday

Yes I know that is not how the songs goes, but I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I see myself as a bit of a rule breaker at times and I guess this is one of those times. Plus I couldn't think of another title and for some reason my crazy little brain likes to have a title before I get much written.

It feels like forever since I just sat down and wrote. Just let the words purge forth, freeing themselves from the grasps that somehow created and then held them within my mind. One week home from all that DPCON13 was and I am still reeling from the effects. Thankfully I no longer feel as battered and bruised as what I first did. 

There is no doubt that the experience has changed me, and that is certainly not a bad thing. It is all just a bit different to my expectations. My sister wisely pointed out to me that she doesn't have expectations, which means she is never disappointed. Words that I can clearly recall hearing my mother say at various times as well.

To a certain extent I can see where they are coming from. There is however a part of me that thinks if you don't have expectations how can you grow? In my mind expectations are a bit of a double edge sword. For as much as they may lead you to disappointment at times, without them there can be an absence of motivation and dedication.

Being the eternal optimist that I am it is a little hard at times not to expect the best, or at least expect more than the worst. 

And that I can not give away

As much as my title may suggest that today has not been a good Monday. It has been. The four day weekend was just what the doctor ordered. I actually think he tried to order a few more of them but apparently that is just not to be. Thankfully after this short four day week, we are blessed with a week off from school. Which again is not nearly long enough but I am thinking it is possibly one of those examples where there would never be enough.

For now though there is a lovely swimming pool calling my name. As much as I may have ushered Mr Awesome and the kids out of the door to provide me with some quite writing time the stifling heat has me beat and I am off to join them in the cool refreshing water.

Make sure you pop back tomorrow, I have a little giveaway you might be interested in.