He only really turns 6 tomorrow, but we had his party yesterday.
It came with the usual grinding of teeth (me) and exasperation (Etienne at me and my OTTness) that accompanies all of our kids’ parties.
As parties go this one was one of the smallest and easiest on the pocket we’ve had in a while, but one of the nicest ones. Most of our special friends were there (and then some new ones), so I didn’t feel judged in any way and we could actually just relax and enjoy the day. After a weekend of rain the sun also shined yesterday, so even though we had set up shop in our modified lounge the kids ended up playing outside which was fantastic if you consider the amount of sugar they consumed. Our lot was still bouncing off the walls late yesterday afternoon.
I usually hate themed parties. I hate trying to recreate something that is branded as the margin for error is a LOT bigger. When you throw an “unbranded” party and make most of it yourself the end-result is always a lot more forgiving. When Daniel (not aided by Etienne at all of course) asked for demanded a Star Wars party I literally broke out in a cold sweat, I was not pleased.
Enter The Interwebs (said in my best Jeremy Clarkson voice). Etienne and I scoured the web and came up with some awesome ideas, mostly from here and here.
He had some masks printed and was determined to make a pinata.
Well.
We did the first layer of Death Star paper mache over an oval round balloon, ended up drying it with a hairdryer, did the second layer and decided to stick it in the oven with the fan on on Sunday night. Etienne then decides to switch on the oven “just a little bit” and 10 minutes later we hear POP! and find a collapsed paper mache mess in the oven. Many phone calls later we found a soccer ball pinata at King Cake and simply spraypainted it grey. Job done.
Daniel also demanded a Star Wars outfit (that he has never ever done before) and I had visions of making Jedi outfits until 4am, but Etienne managed to hire him something. It’s apparently really a Shrek outfit, but hey. It looks Star War-ish.
I looked at this cake through a migraine haze at around midnight and all I could think was that it’s not worthy of google images as the icing wasn’t smooth enough and then I thought Fuckit, took a migraine coctail and went to bed. It’s a chocolate cake (as demanded by Daniel), my second attempt, as the first recipe was a complete flop and clearly I had never baked a chocolate ever before in my life. Ever.
The Wookie cookies are actually choc-chip cookies. I found the most amazing recipe here and I’m SO making them again, they are to die for.
Thanks to Etienne for putting up with all my angst, to Pete and Carmen for the pics, Sue for the wine (you know me too well!) and all our friends for sharing the day with us.
My party planning is done for the year!!!