The One Party: Entertainment

As I mentioned, I was initially sourcing for a venue with a playground so that the kids could entertain themselves. I considered organising games for them since the children were mostly 2-4 year olds but decided against it since the birthday girl herself wouldn't really be able to participate. Since most of my budget went to the food and venue, I decided not to rent toys but instead went the DIY route for entertainment.

A. Indoor Kids' Corner

We lugged down a playmat and a big box full of toys for the littlest ones at the party. Soft toys, some musical instruments, an activity centre or two, cloth books, and some of Noey's vehicles and trucks. The little ones did have some fun there, but I dare say the bigger kids had even more fun! I think it achieved its purpose when parents got to eat in peace.

The older kids had more options.

I had an easel with paper on one side and a chalk board on the other for the kids to draw on, which they -- naturally -- scribbled on with glee.
And also...

B. A Cookie Decorating Station

We were at a cooking school after all! So while the kids were a bit young for any real cooking, I thought it might be fun to work with some food.

I decided that the easiest way to achieve this was to let the kids decorate pre-baked cookies with icing and toppings or their choice. My Mum makes some excellent cookies, so I got her to make some star-shaped ones (to suit the theme) and she threw in some gingerbread men for good measure. I made the icings using this recipe from All-Recipes and it turned out so well! I was doing it at 1am the night before, praying that I wouldn't wake up to hardened icing or ants, and thankfully leaving them on the counter in air-tight containers worked. We put out little dishes of mini m&ms, chocolate chips, chopped almonds, hundreds&thousands, and raisins on a low table and we were good to go!

My mum even brought along little bags and a sealer (she's professional like that about her cookies) so that the kids could pack the cookies home but they ALL preferred to just chomp down their masterpieces once they were done! I told her that would happen! Haha.

C. Outdoor Rides

Because there was a little courtyard outside the studio, we brought along a bunch of Noey's ride-on toys for the kids to play with. (Thanks D for the idea from Sean's birthday!) With the Strider, a tricycle, a skate scooter, and the hot favourite -- Noey's electric tractor, there was enough to go round. Sometimes I forget how much stuff he has!

D. Piñata

This was the highlight of the party for me!

I decided to make a piñata from scratch myself and there was lots of trial and error over the course of the week. I'll blog about the making of the piñata separately because it really is a whole long story in itself. DD helped me with the last bits of painting, decorating and stringing it up, and in typical fashion, we were doing this late into the night on the eve of the party. Which was a bad idea because it left little room for error! We almost gave up on this piñata a few times -- with DD even asking me whether we could just run down to the shops the next morning and buy one -- but I REFUSED to concede defeat and give up on the first piñata I've ever made. Besides, what was I going to do with all those sweets and toys I'd already filled it with?? There was lots of last-minute patchwork, but I was glad that we had a decent looking piñata by the end of the process.

All I wanted was for it to hold up for everyone to have some fun with it and then break at the right moment. And by and large, it did.

The birthday girl got things going...

 And then the kids, big and small, got a chance to give it a go.

The piñata held up pretty well, and some of the kids might have been happy continuing to clobber the life out of it, but we decided to let DD step in to speed things up. I just love the mad scramble for sweets when it breaks!

If you're wondering about Noey bursting into tears, that would be because he was really upset about people hitting "his" piñata and also because he thought that all the sweets and toys inside were his. Oops. I just think he needs to burst into tears when there's a big occasion!

All in all, I'm just glad all the kids had fun and I didn't have to spend money renting anything. The next time round, when it's Noey's birthday, maybe I'll have some organised games instead. I have some time to think about that!