Four kids in the house means we do celebrate a fair amount of birthdays – every year.
Every month. Paul & Paula share some great party themes and ideas. Recipes that please a crowd and are to prepare. We love to celebrate!
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22.12.16
Ninn Apouladaki
Ninn Apouladaki is a French brand that creates extraordinary masks.
Influenced by Slavic tradition with a vibrant homage to nature. Wear them to parties, give them as a little {special} gift or use them the same way you use jewels.
For some extra fun for your little one’s next birthday dash – get a colouring set and let the kids colour their own masks using some creative skills.
The brand was launched by Ninn and her husband Guillaume. The first mask was designed with their wedding in sight and the idea of seeing their guests celebrating with art like masks. Read more
The couple is based in Marseille, France and opened a workshop-shop in the Saint-Victor neighborhood. If you are around you must find it!
Besides the masks, Ninn Apouladaki also creates stationery, sacred herbs, tote bags and paper lanterns.
The t-shirts show the characters you know from the masks and are true eye catchers. I love the delicate illustrations!
If you are looking for something fun, different and very dreamy – this is your thing.
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06.12.16
Gifts for Tweens {ideas 2016}
Gifts for Tweens
– Romy is 9 1/2 now and I can see that her interests and taste are changing. This time before they become teenagers. This time where they are not children anymore… too old for toys and too young for boys… or at least not interested at all in our case.
And I love this. I love the talks we have now. Her curiosity and personality that takes more and more shape.
When your kids were small / below eight you were usually confronted with many shops, things, toys, accessories and more. Probably more than one can need and digest. And then the overwhelming kids world starts to fade. There is less and there is a little gap for these cute 9-12 years old. But there are great things!
Here is my list of great gift ideas that I would buy without a doubt for my own tween. Read more
1. Pop a bubble every day – the Bubble Wrap Calendar!
2. Linen bedding by LAB.
3. Truly organic and zero “strange stuff” products from Enfance.
4. Be Fearless – wire wall art.
5. A cool print for the teen’s room.
6. Six of Crows book set – fantasy novel loved by teens.
7. Lomo instant camera.
8. Macon & Lesquoy – find some funky embroidered jewelry to brighten up anything in seconds. So stylish!
9. Dream catcher DIY kit.
10. Gorgeous shoulder bag.
11. Truly unique rings, bracelets and more – from Nach.
27.09.16
Josephine’s first birthday
Last week was Joséphine’s BIG day. She turned O N E. Yes…. one year ago we became a family of six.
The little extra wonder that entered the world. The sunshine that makes everyone smile. The little girl that we all love!
Was celebrated!
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For parties I always love to check out Little Lulubel – Natalie has the best kits, inspiration and lots of little extras like party bags and dressing up stuff.
I wanted something a little soft and girly – the Belle and Boo kit is perfect, we just added a tassel garland {that truly makes such a great difference to the set up} and some cupcake liners.
We baked some very simple vanilla cupcakes – or better Romy did – something easy to eat and hold for the birthday girl.
See the happy birthday girl. This is her. Always happy, always smiling – pure joy, bliss and happiness. Amazing!
And that cute little pointy hat… believe it or not… she was wearing for every meal the two next days… love her to bits!
September will be a very busy for us. Our little doll will turn O N E and just a week later Leonor will turn FOUR. And she is already asking on a daily basis if the big day has come…
When you ask her about her birthday wishes you get a very long description about her cake. At the moment it is a chocolate cake with loooooots of blueberries and strawberries and cream please. On top please!
And with four kids there are many things already in the house and I thought there are surely other people in the same situation. Here are a few ideas. Just note: Leonor is very (very!!!) fond of baby dolls! (and books and puzzles)
1. Maileg Metal Kitchen . A unit with three doors, hob top, sink and draining board. There is a yellow shelf unit and a hanging rail for cooking utensils.
2. Mini kit dodo – little baby doll in her sleeping nest. Great for traveling!
3. This deluxe pop-up version of Baum’s timeless classic The Wizard of Oz celebrates Oz’s 100th anniversary.
4. Soft glow in the dark pillow lamp to cuddle or to hang up as a real light bulb.
5. Pony necklace !
6. Paper Doll Blanket is a keepsake quilt, a doll, and a toy all rolled into one. This blanket comes with one dress and matching hair accessories. The bottom of the blanket has two large pockets for storing her extra outfits. Such a cute idea and something a little different for little mini mamas.
7. Fruit Blender Set with a detachable jug, 6 sliceable fruits, a play knife and 2 wooden tumblers, it comes complete with removable toppings. Miss Leonor loves smoothies. Very often she asks me to make a smoothie with her. This would be a great addition to the play kitchen.
8. Handmade doll. Truly unique dolls, shaped and sewn by hand in France.
9. An amazing 2m long and 15cm wide tricycle cardboard puzzle!
10. Portrait wooden toy. Super wooden toy to make different faces….
22.06.16
Craft Birthday party
I actually did not really plan to write a post about Romy’s party but then I thought that it might help a few of you…
Why?
Romy turned 9! Yes N I N E! Big girl nine years old {to be very honest she did not yet actually… she will in 3 days and the party was that early because school ends in the beginning of June and to make sure most of her friends could join we planned it a week end before the last week of school}
We talked about this party for some time already, ideas came and went away, lets do this, maybe not… back and for… nine is not small, nine is not big girl, slumber party is an idea but most of her friends are not “ready” yet… until I suggested the idea of a crafts party. We brainstormed a little on what we could do and boom! – done… crafts party it is. She loves to make things! Always busy drawing, cutting, creating…
This is why I decided to write this post… maybe you are in the same situation… and maybe you think about a crafts party but need actual ideas of what to do… and you know what? This is genius because you can tick a lot of {party} boxes at once…
Let me tell you:
We decided on four activities for a 2h party:
* Tie Dye / Batik a white t-shirt
* Paint a canvas
* Peg doll kit
* decorate cupcakes
Which means:
* party favours are what you make, so no need to fill little bags and think about those as well
* cupcakes are the birthday cake
When I realised all this I thought – best idea ever! Haha!
And wow, the girls really loved it. Everyone enjoyed making “things”, chatting, laughter… brilliant.
We decorated a little, set the table and put together a kit for every guest. A white t-shirt, a canvas frame, a peg doll kit and a cupcake ready to decorate. We also put some ropes and elastics on the table for the tie dye part. Some napkins, cups and drinks. That’s it! Easy.
The Birthday girl also had a candle in her cupcake.
When everyone arrived, we served some drinks and started. I explained how the tie dye would work.
Before I already prepared the dye in the bathroom {we had pink and navy to choose from}. The girls started to prepare their shirts and once ready we put them in the dye for 30min.
After that we took out the canvas frames, colours and put lots of bowels with water on the table and the girls started to paint.It was fun to see how they just started to chat and paint. And what funny topics they had to discuss…
Once they finished their paintings we put them by the window to dry and took out the little peg doll kits {by my friend Clair from Craft Make Play}. These are cute and quick to put together.
After that the shirts were ready to take out. I rinsed them a few times {while the girls were still crafting} and then we cut the ropes and discovered what patterns were created. That was so much fun!
The shirts then got a little tumble dry and went straight to the dryer to make sure they were ready by the end of the party.
And we went back to the kitchen. Now it was cupcake time. In the morning we baked some simple vanilla cupcakes and prepared the {simple!} frosting. I put all kinds of deco stuff out, the girls took turns with the frostings {you can buy easy kits in the supermarket} and then decorated their cupcakes… when everyone was ready we finally sang a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY, lighted the candle and they enjoyed their cupcakes.
There was a little time left {I was more worried we would never finish on time} and Romy wanted to play “spin the bottle” to receive her gifts.
And voila… the party came to an end, the shirts were dry, most of the paintings were dry and everyone left with great souvenirs and smiles…
During the week I could see the girls in their shirts at school. Success!
