Rainbow birthday pinata fun!

We had one more surprise at the end of the party, the pinata.  I had to buy the rainbow pinata by Sunnylife (one of my favourite brands for rainbow stuff) from Paperchase (another favourite shop for bright colours and rainbows)!  I hung it from our banister on landing above the stairs so it could swing and still be secure and not damage anything.

Twins rainbow afternoon tea birthday party

I organised a rainbow afternoon tea party for the twins' 4th birthday and loved it so much! 

I was especially proud of my rainbow jelly!  I managed to find all the colours except blue in Tesco and ordered Jello from amazon to complete the stripes.  I filled some wine glasses and my Tiki Head glass with the extra layers which added more decoration and colour to the table setting.

Trampoline party at Fun Abounds

I'm ashamed to say this was our first visit to Fun Abounds in Uckfield!  I have always fancied taking the kids but their special toddler sessions always landed on the wrong day/time for us and so we just never went.  Luckily we were invited along there for a birthday party recently and had an awesome time celebrating the twins' friend and having lots of bouncy fun!

Party planning for the twin's 4th birthday - Rainbow Tea Party with balloons!

We had planned to take the twins away for their birthday this year, we were thinking Disneyland Paris and thought we'd go early to see it all done up for Halloween!  We were just going to have a small party on their birthday when we came back.  We've never been before but I can't wait to take the twins.  My only visit to Disney was as a 14 year old in Florida which was amazing so I can't wait to take K&P!  We booked that week off but after the stress and then relief of Nik's exams which are now finally over, Nik suggested we ask his parents to babysit for a few days and we just go away on our own this time (not to Disney, we'll wait for the kids to come to that one).  We're just going for 4 nights as I have my first exhibition at the end of that week to prepare for which is exciting too!

So, the twins's 4th birthday party plans...

We've decided this year we wanted needed to organise a much smaller do than last year.  I was exhausted after all the Halloween efforts for their 3rd birthday and this year has been intense already with various hurdles and knackering month after month so we're having a small tea party at home.  I decided the best way to invite guests would be to ask the twins who they want to come.  It's their perfect guest list as they obviously just listed all the friends they see often and consider their best friends so we are inviting 6 friends who will hopefully be able to make it, perfect to fit round the table without too much chaos as we already have 8 chairs.

Even though it will be small, I'm still excited to plan it and will of course be having a rainbow theme!  Rainbow fits so well for twins who are like chalk and cheese with very different favourite things, they do both love bright colours and it's gender neutral which makes me happy anyway.  They do both love balloons too so for this year's entertainment we have hired a balloon twister who does a whole show with balloon magic tricks and models and makes it all fun so I'm pretty sure they will LOVE that!

I've already got paper plates and matching napkins, etc. from Sainsbury's with a gorgeous rainbow balloon design which is perfect!  I also have the bunting and wrapping paper (I even framed a gift bag I love it so much)!

I can't remember if I already bought the above invitations but these ones below were on sale in Paperchase so I got a pack of six, I love the pop-up design.

As for food ideas, again, plenty of inspiration on Pinterest and I'm aiming for simple but tasty and pretty!  I love the healthier ideas of veggie pizzas and coloured popcorn but of course some sweet treats too like rainbow cupcakes and jelly but I'll use a mould and do one big one rather than use more disposable plastic.

I will definitely be doing rainbow fruits again too like I did for their Naming Ceremony in 2015 although probably not a full on rainbow cake again - I prefer to aim for taste and that cake wasn't the best to eat despite looking awesome!

Capture from Anna's lovely video of the Naming Day.

And for a bit more fun, I've bought a rainbow pinata and I like the idea of a homemade DIY to give as party favours like this dyed pasta jewellery making idea or a rainbow wand maybe.  I also bought these pretty crackers from Paperchase which come with stickers inside which I know the kids will love, why should crackers just be for Christmas?  ;)

I can't wait, I think they're going to love it!

Halloween Party Ideas

For the twins' 3rd birthday I wanted to have a Halloween party for them.  I'm a big fan of Halloween and love all of the decorations, games, fancy dress and food ideas so I did loads of research in advance, mainly on Pinterest, and came up with a few favourites I wanted to do.  I hired a local village hall in Maresfield to keep the inevitable mess out of my home and had a great time making and baking for the big day.

Twins' 3rd birthday cakes - recipes and decoration - Pin it do it

I thought I'd finished writing this last year but apparently not!  I've just added the photos so here it is in time for this year's Halloween if you're after a spooky cake idea.  Sadly I don't really have any "during" photos as it was a bit frantic the evening before their party!!

For weeks before the big day, carrot cake was requested by the twins for their birthday cakes this year.  There was a last minute change from one of them suddenly wanting chocolate cake and so the two cakes this year were decided.  I had already chosen a design to go with their Halloween party theme and hoped to make two monster cakes much like the one I saw on Pinterest but as separate cakes.  I asked them which colour monsters they'd like and orange and green were the final choices.  (Perfect Halloween colours too!)