Kids parties have changed since my day!: Part 2

So what did Josh get?

Joshua had initially wanted a "numberjacks" cake, however there was no "numberjacks" themed party packs on any of the party websites I used; such as partydelight.co.uk or partyparade.co,uk.  So in the end Josh decided on the octonauts, in doing my research for how I should decorate the room and what I needed to purchase for the small event that had begun to escalate, to something much bigger than I had intended; I became intimidated and anxious, as I noted earlier.  

Kids parties had really changed since my day.  They had now become an big extravagant affair, almost like a wedding, way outside of my budget.  Which my husband had suggested should be £20, clearly he has no idea about children parties.  Here are some of the octonaut parties I found, which put the fear of God into me (although technically it was already there).  So, what did my son get in the end? He had  a normal children's party, with cake, snacks, pizza ,party bags and juice for the kids.  Ham, cheese, dips, humus and bread for the parents (which most didn't eat).  My nephew complained that he had come expecting chicken and rice.  I had a whole load of games arranged including a pinata, pin the tail on the donkey, musical statutes and pass the parcel.  

I had over thought and over planned the day, nineteen 4 year olds, some were younger and a few were older; couldn't really play the party games I had planned.  They struggled with 2 games of pass the parcel, the prizes were given away as gifts and  the music for musical statues wasn't loud enough, above the din of 19 children and their parents.  In the end the children ran around in the garden letting off steam, playing with balloons, in the tent and eating snacks and pizza.  The mothers' kept telling me how brave I was having all these kids in my house, that just made me more nervous.  Nevertheless, that was unwarranted, once they started eating they were fine.  The bulk of my eldest son's school friends left after 2 hours, whilst I was feeding the baby and they didn't even get cake or to bash the pinata.  Nevertheless the smile on my son's face was priceless, when blowing out his candle and his feedback on the party was "Fun!"

Thought I would share this inspirational website with you!

10 Absolutely Amazing (but totally doable) parties