Birthdays

1 loaf of fairy bread
1 packet of iced arrowroot biscuits
10 bags of lollies
30-odd cupcakes
1/2 batch of coconut ice
1/2 very large birthday cake
20 green jellies
5 litres of cordial

This is what 19 kids can get through at a 6 year old's birthday party. And all of it green. It was a green party - green colour, green ideas.

And what happens immediately after you have 19 kids in your backyard? It buckets down of course.

And what do you do when it buckets down? You play pass the parcel.

This was actually really successful. I drew the line at prizes for every kid both on sanity and green grounds. Instead, we had cards at each layer (on the backs of outdated business cards) with instructions for each kid to do something - sing a verse of "My Highland Goat", swap places with someone whose name starts with M etc. Any time a kid looked like a deer in the headlights at the prospect of fulfilling the task, we had the whole group do it. There was much hilarity.

The cake request was for a frog - green colour, green idea. Since I am no cake decorator, we flicked through a book looking for ideas, and this was the frog that resulted.

Another popular event was bobbing for apples. This was how it began.

And this was how it ended.

I'm not sure any of these kids' parents will let them come back to my house...

In an attempt to dry them out, they belted a pinata for 45 minutes.


As you may have noticed, we made it ourselves. Possibly with more structural integrity than was good for it. This was our first attempt, we might get it closer next time. Although I am very proud of the fact that no matter how much we belted it, it didn't fall down. The kids themselves managed to dent it, but it took Crash, Ed and Sol (2 adults and a 15 year old) to smash it apart. Then there were kids and lollies everywhere! And they were all just a tad shattered. I also need to learn the right kinds of lollies to put in them....

The other really cool thing was the presents. Every kid made some effort to do something green. Homemade paper and cards. Painted newspaper. The cards were gorgeous, I don't think I'm buying any more cards for kids' parties - the homemade ones are way cooler.

And one very inspired mother wrapped the gifts in the pre-school artworks of her kids. Truly brilliant.

It was exhausting, but it was a great party. 19 tired, wet, filthy kids left at 5pm. It must have been good.