I feel I should begin this post with the following confession:
Party planning sends me a little crazy. It’s a good kind of crazy, but crazy nonetheless.
It’s partly my Mother’s fault. The birthday parties she threw my sister and I as children were epic. She thought up incredible games, prepared amazing food and always rounded off the celebration with a breathtaking homemade birthday cake. They were truly magical.
It sounds twee, but all I want to do is sprinkle a little of that magic into the lives of my own children. I’m just trying to make a few memories for them, you know? So, I order decorations, I bake, I craft, I go a little crazy. They smile and laugh and it’s exhausting, but so very, very wonderful.
Let’s start with the cake shall we? Four simple layers of lemon sponge sandwiched together with mascarpone and lemon curd. That was the easy bit.
I made the cake topper by photocopying Lauren Child’s illustrations from The Secret Garden {the edition mentioned in this post}. I then spent a good hour cutting them out with a craft knife before taping wooden skewers to the back. Some pink roses, pretty candles and a generous dusting of icing sugar completed the look.
My collection of vintage books served as decoration, along with jam jars filled with pink tulips. We hung crepe paper streamers in shades of pale pink, lilac and powder blue from the ceiling, and added floral bunting and huge paper balls.
I used the Truly Scrumptious range from Party Pieces and a whole host of papery goodness from Pearl & Earl, including the stripey straws pictured below. The children drank pink lemonade and ginger beer as if they were guests at a Famous Five picnic. 
Jesse looked fabulous dressed as The Gruffalo and my sister made an excellent Max from Where The Wild Things Are. The Hermione costume I bought Izzy for Halloween was given another outing. Her love affair with Miss Granger shows no sign of abating. 
The party tea was inspired by food from an array of much loved children’s classics. Apart from the crisps. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a literary account of Wotsits anywhere. 
I have plenty of photos of smiling children decked out in fabulous fancy dress, but I’m not one for plastering the faces of other people’s kids all over the Internet.You’ll just have to believe me when I say they had a good time!
The afternoon began with the children colouring in a bookmark each, which I later added to each of their party bags. Next on the agenda was a game of Guess Who…
Pass-the-parcel {with a copy of Enid Blyton’s The Chimney Corner Collection as the prize} was followed by a brief interlude as we readied the food. The children watched an animated version of Roald Dahl’s The Magic Finger while we carried everything through from the kitchen. The party tea was devoured picnic style on the playroom floor.
Happy birthday was sung, candles were extinguished and a quick game of musical statues rounded off the afternoon nicely. Each child took away a slice of cake, their bookmark, a Mac & Ninny book plate, a pencil and a homemade bag of bookworms, all housed in a pink and white paper bag from Pearl & Earl.
So, that’s how you throw a story book party. Yesterday Izzy asked me how many sleeps there are until her 9th birthday! Of course, Jesse’s is next. Hard to believe he’ll be 4 in June. I’m thinking a superhero theme could be good. I had better start a Pinterest board….
Love Audrey xxx
Goodness me! I am in awe! So impressed with the cake topper! Well done. You’re very talented and creative and what amazing memories Izzy & Jessie will have. They are very lucky to have a mum like you x
Such a lovely comment, thank you Clare. I was really pleased with how the cake topper turned out, especially as it took me much longer to cut out the tree than I thought it would!
xxx
What an awesome party! So well thought out, I’m sure Izzy (and Jesse!) will have wonderful memories of the parties you will throw them as they grow. I think you should definitely become a party planner/gift buyer 🙂
Thank you Grace 🙂 Honestly, I’d love to spend my life buying gifts for people {with someone else’s money!!}
xxx
Absolutely fantastic! Agree with Claire, you are a talented lady and your children will have wonderful memories.
Thank you, that’s what this parenting lark is all about really! 😉
xxx
Your children are really so lucky… I hope I’m fortunate enough to be a mummy one day and make such nice memories for my children 🙂 x
I totally agree with you Leanne, these post are inspiring despite not yet being a mother. This would have been my dream party as a child, what lucky children! Fantastic ideas x
I’d quite happily have this as my 29th birthday party next year! Wowee, it is all brilliant. Such amazing attention to detail! 🙂
Haha, I was thinking exactly the same Victoria.
Well done Frankie, excellently done xxx
Wow you really know how to throw a party! All the details were just perfect. I loved all the colors and especially the creative name tags to go with all the food! Izzy was a very lucky birthday girl, and looked adorable in her Hermione costume! Well done! 🙂
Such beautiful details and wonderful memories made. x
It looks wonderful, I want to come along to one of your parties! Loving the food labels, and am determined to utilise some of the Pearl and Earl bits next time we have a bash.
I was looking forward to this post after you mentioned it on Twitter and was not disappointed. You knocked it out of the park! Amazing party, beautifully done. I am sure your kids will remember this one for years to come.
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
Everything you put together is adorable, how on earth are you going to top that year after year?! Lucky Izzy, Cadburys world on her birthday and then this! She’s a very lucky little girl! x
SO fabulous – I’m sharing this! x