Top Tips for Children's Party Planning

Lego Party Inspiration

2012-01-27T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! It's Friday and I am sure we are all ready for the weekend. Today I have something bold and bright to end the week. Lego is still a valued toy in many households and we have collected plenty of it over the past few years. This year is all about colour so what better theme choice for a party than Lego? Primary colours of yellow, red and blue are still very popular but I know that Lego is also available in a rainbow of assorted colours. There are some fantastic ideas available from stationery designers and cake makers so today I will round up some of the best to offer you some inspiration in planning your Lego party.

Lego Party Stationery & Printables

{Anders Ruff} {Simone Made It} {Little Bug Invitations}

Great ideas for table dressing from Parties & Holidays blog.

Quick & easy treat or party favour from Flexible Dreams blog.

Stick half a small marshmallow on a large marshmallow, dip in yellow icing & draw face on with black writing icing!

This cake is easily achieveable. Bake a flat rectangular sponge that can then be cut into block shapes. Add cupcakes on top then cover in buttercream, choosing different colours for each block!

idea from Blisstree / image from Betty Crocker

{lego men crayons} {lego cookies}

{lego lollipops} {lego men soap}

Great party favour ideas available from Etsy.

I love this lego brick pinata! The full tutorial can be found on Delia Creates blog.

I really hope these ideas will help in your planning a Lego themed party. Be sure to share your photos with us if you host a Lego party this year!

Have a fantastic weekend

Zoe

Review - Carddies

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! Today I am thrilled to share with you a new product that will brighten up these grey winter days and stop your children saying 'I'm bored', or at least it will keep them busy for a little while. Also this great new toy can be packed away and taken in the car, to grandmas, to the childminders or even on an aeroplane. What is it I hear you ask? Carddies. No not a woollen garment to keep you warm! Carddies is a fantastic new toy that allows your child to play and use their imagination and my three daughters have had lots of fun testing out three different sets.

School Set

Esther and Raquel are the designers behind this great new idea and with seven children between them understand what children want and love to do. After a wet summer holiday of drawing people on the back of cereal packs to keep their chidlren amused the idea for Carddies began. Before long the two sisters had created several hand drawn sets which they soon turned into Carddies.

fairies set

In a world where children are swamped with hi-tech gadgets and toys Carddies offer them hours of fun through imaginative play and the toys can easily be packed away and taken to grans or out to a restaurant. Carddies are made from high quality card here in the UK and have eight different sets available. Although Lucy, Amber and Kitty have already made a list of other ideas for future Carddies! So it all sounds fabulous but the true test comes with the appeal to children. My daughters love making, colouring and creating, having spent hours recently making houses and clothes for peg dolls, which I promise to share here very soon. Honestly my daughters could give Kevin McCloud a run for his money with their house design skills!

family set

I will now share what my three daughters thought of Carddies.

"I liked colouring them in the best. I want a vet set and the ballerinas next please. I really like playing with the fairies now I've finished colouring them in."

Kitty, aged 5, tested the Faries set

"I liked colouring in the background the best and love the little babies in my set! I would really like more backgrounds for the house and family set, or maybe a nursery school or a farm. I would also really like a duckpond and horses with jumps!"

Amber, aged 9, tested the Family set.

"I think they are fun and a great idea. I would definately like more sets, especially a space set with a rocket and aliens and a backdrop of the moon. Or maybe a beach holiday, a circus or a snowy day. Overall I love Carddies and recommend them to anyone who likes colouring!"

Lucy, aged 10, tested the School set

knights set

Carddies would make a great activity at a party or as a gift. I also think they would make a fantastic toy for children to have at a wedding. The sets do not take up a huge amount of space when being played with so children could easily play at the wedding breakfast table.

Carddies can be purchased from their website or on Amazon.

Happy colouring!

Zoe

Marshmallow Sheep Cupcakes from Annabel Karmel

2012-01-24T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! Yesterday we shared a great guest post from Annabel Karmel with some fun ideas for party food. Today Annabel has kindly shared a recipe for Marshmallow Sheep Cupcakes that would be perfect for many party themes or for a special treat.

Marshmallow Sheep Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

125g butter at room temperature
125g caster sugar
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Quarter tsp salt
2 eggs (medium)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Marshmallow Sheep
large white marshmallows
mini white marshmallows
tube of black Writing Icing

Buttercream
100g (4 oz) butter, softened
225g (8 oz) icing sugar, sieved
1 tbsp water

Method
To make the cupcakes preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F / Gas 4. Line a muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl; and beat until pale and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl.

Beat the eggs and vanilla and add to the bowl. Beat until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until risen, golden and firm to the touch.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream, sieve the icing sugar. Beat the butter until creamy in an electric mixer, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Finally beat in the tablespoon of water.

Spread a layer of buttercream over the cupcakes using a palette knife and making a small mound of buttercream in the centre.

Cut the mini marshmallows in half and arrange them in two circles around the edge of the cakes.

Cut the large marshmallows in half. Place one half on top of the mound of buttercream for the face.

Cut the other half of the marshmallow in half again and place on either side of the sheep’s face for the ears – the marshmallow ears will stick naturally as the cut side of the marshmallow are very sticky. Arrange some halved mini marshmallows on the top and behind the sheep’s head.

Draw eyes and noses on the sheep’s face using the black Writing Icing.

Information:
Makes 10 animal cupcakes

Thank you Annabel, I will be trying these at the weekend.

Don't foget to share your photos if you make these yummy sheep.

Zoe
x

Party Food Ideas from Annabel Karmel

2012-01-23T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning and I hope you all have had a lovely weekend. I had a great time baking with two of my children yesterday and the cake tins are now full again for the start of the week. When planning a children's party the food is going to be a very important part and whilst we love to serve sugary treats at parties it is also important to offer healthy options too. Today I am thrilled to welcome Annabel Karmel to help you all with planning party food treats. Annabel has written twenty six books on baby and childrens food and nutrition to encourage young children to eat healthy food, often without them realising that vegetables are included and providing parents with quick and easy recipes. Now you can get great recipes, meal planners, shopping lists and more to your iPhone with Annabel's new app 'Annabel's Essential Guide To Feeding Your Baby & Toddler'.

Now without further ado let's find out Annabel's party food ideas.

Having your own children’s party can be a lot of fun, and as the trend for ‘Do it yourself’ is getting more and more popular, there are great ideas available to get you inspired whatever the size and budget you have. The most successful parties I have had are when my children got involved, this can take a bit more time, but they can take so such pleasure from creating something themselves and having a say in something like the theme or some of the games.

caterpillar sandwiches - image source

I think cooking parties are great, as all children love getting involved and getting their hands messy. If you are doing this you want to make it as simple as possible, just make one or two things that don’t involve too much cooking and no sharp knives! Try making different shaped sandwiches and see who can come up with the most interesting character using cookie cutters and brown and white bread.

cookie cutters from cookie crumbles

Make up lots of cookie dough (gingerbread is a nice easy one to use) and divide up balls of dough and give everyone a rolling pin and a variety of cookie cutters. Cupcakes are also a great idea for a cooking party. You can make a whole batch of cupcakes in advance and freeze them, then you have lots for children to decorate. Just put our some bowls with different coloured icing and lots of sweets to decorate, you could have themes such as animals or faces.

Jelly boats from Annabel's Kitchen- My First Cookbook

Make your life easier by not overcomplicating the food you make. Children are often drawn to the most colourful and fun looking food, which is often the shop bought brightly coloured sweeties and cakes, if you make your food as attractive and fun as possible it is much more likely to be eaten. Jelly boats are a great classic and look fantastic, why not print out a map and have them sailing on the sea as a centre piece for a pirate theme party.

Thank you Annabel for some really great ideas. I love the idea of jelly boats at a pirate party and my own children love making sandwiches using cookie cutters.

Tomorrow I am delighted to be sharing with you a recipe for Marshmallow Sheep Cupcakes from Annabel Karmel, especially for our readers. In the meantime if you are stuck for ideas for meals take a look at Annabel's website or better still try the new iPhone app.

{www.annabelkarmel.com}

Have a fab day,

Zoe

DIY - Party Hats

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you are all well. I thought today I would share a great tutorial I found just before Christmas to make some fun party hats. The great thing about making your own hats is that you can choose the colours and pattern of the hats to fit your party theme.

{Tutorial from Oh Happy Day}

So grab your scissors and glue and head over to Oh Happy Day for your party hat template and tutorial.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and enjoy all the parties!
Zoe
x

Real Party - Le Petite Prince

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you are all well. Last week the lovely Alex of The Inspired Occasion in Australia sent me an email filled with fabulous images from a Le Petite themed party she recently created for a clients son's first birthday. I will now let Alex tell you all about this party.

Our Client wanted a unique theme to celebrate her son's first birthday and loved the french book Le Petite Prince for the challenge was set for us to research and create something unique and a talking point. There were 50 guests in attendance and we started by designing an invitation to set the scene for the party, They looked so unique and were a perfect way to invite the guests!

For the party, we added in lots of elements from the book such as stars, fresh red roses, figurines and lanterns to represent space.

Starting with a colour palate of blue, yellow and hints of red we created a dessert station enjoyed by all. The stationery was designed by us and our all baked dessert items where created in-house to incorporate the colours and theme.

Items on the dessert station included cupcakes, sugar cookies, cake pops and jelly cups all appreciated by the big and small guests.

There was also a themed chocolate mud cake cake which stood centre on the table with a hand made sugar figurine of the character himself and was a big talking point of the table. A selection of colour coordinated candy also added to the theme of the table.

Each child took home a loot bag filled with candy, a Le Petite Prince colouring pad and crayons.

We created the space feel by adding a backdrop with stars and hanging blue and yellow lanterns. We also had a French themed entertainer to host the children with an array of activities, games and dance.

Thank you Alex for sharing a truly magical looking party. I love the bright bold colours and how you created a such a fantastic party from a childs favourite book. The cookies and cupcakes look delicious and I am sure the guests and birthday boy all enjoyed the fabulous birthday cake.

Would you like to share a real party here on Let's Plan A Party? Be sure to read our guidlines, here and send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

See you all soon,

Zoe

Photographing Children At Parties

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you all had a great weekend. Today I am very excited to welcome my fabulous photographer friend, Courtenay, to share his secrets in taking fantastic photos at your childs party. So without further ado I shall pass over to Courtenay.

So you are photographing a child’s party, well what could be simpler right! Well I guess it could be, you could do what most people do and stand back and watch what's going on and snap away, but will that get you the best results? Well it will get you some great pictures, but to get the best out of photographing children's parties you really need to become one yourself...a child that is!

What do I mean by that, well simply you need to get into the mix. Children aren't stupid by any sense of the imagination, quite the reverse in fact. They are extremely acute and sense change almost immediately, this causes extremes in behaviour from complete shyness to outright obstructive behaviour. To overcome this you need to gain a child's trust, especially when they can gang up on you in a group situation. How do you do that? Simple, become one of them! You may be a stranger to them an outsider not a parent or friend, so you need to become one of the tribe and quickly.

Put you camera gear away, in fact don’t even get it out to start with. Get down on the floor with the children get involved in their games, be jumped on act the fool take an interest in what they are doing, get involved, take one for the team! Spend this time ten minutes or so, just getting to know the children and let them get used to you, do NOT tell them you are a photographer, you are just their friend. Once you have gained their trust you are now in a privileged position, you have entered the inner circle the magic world of the child, you are one of them and you can now push some boundaries.

Get the camera out, but don’t be obvious, keep the gear simple, one camera body one lens that’s it, what ever you do DO NOT USE FLASH! Flash will put you back 100 years, you will quickly become a grown up again and leave the fantasy world of the child, you have become obvious. You need to continue to blend, and flash will just distract and ruin that special trust you have taken time to nurture. So make sure your lens has a wide aperture crank up the speed and get on in there and be one of the crowd, your a knight defending the castle right? Or a racing driver screeching round the track or perhaps a super spy hiding from the enemy (the adults in the room, which you are now not one of!), be part of that world and capture it on their level.

Thank you Courtenay, this is a great insight in how to get fantastic photographs at childrens parties.

All the images in todays post were supplied by Courtenay and to see more of his work or to book him to capture magical moments with your family or on your wedding day please visit his websites.

www.courtenayphotographic.co.uk

www.runningjumpingclimbingtrees.co.uk

www.thepregnancyphotographer.co.uk

Have a great start to the week everyone.
Zoe
x

Chinese New Year

2012-01-13T07:30:00.000Z

Morning, a chilly start here but at least it's Friday. With just ten days until Chinese New Year I thought I would share some ideas to help you celebrate. We always have a big feast of delicious homemade Chinese inspired food, which my children love, especially as they get to eat with chopsticks.

Great styling ideas from Party Pieces

Dragon themed ideas from Etsy

{card} {magnets} {cupcake wrappers} {invitation}

{dragon} {fortune cookie} {paper lanterns} {paperchain dragon}

2012 is the year of the dragon and I am sure children will have lots of fun crafting some bright dragons and paper laterns. I think I might try the fortune cookie idea this year.

Have a fab weekend everyone,
Zoe

Party Trends for 2012 - Part 2

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning. I hope you are all well and getting back into work and home routines after the holidays. As promised in last Friday's post I have more party trend ideas to share with you, this time from different areas of the childrens party industry and other party bloggers.

Lego Party Printables from Anders Ruff

I think that in the UK creative parents and party stylists alike will continue to draw inspiration from the US and Australian party markets. There is a focus on the detail, making each party unique, personal, not off the shelf and visually stunning whilst still appealing to children. Take Anders Ruff Lego party, so many unique ideas but a real hit with children as well. The wow factor is still important in children's parties.

Katie Burnett, Event Director, Les Enfants

www.lesenfants.co.uk

Spring Fling Printables from Paper & Pigtails

In 2012, I expect to see alot more of the bright, bold, and modern style party designs. While the rustic and romantic will continue to be a hit, I think that we will start seeing more mod and bright patterns, dessert tables with a graphic appeal and more simplistic elements. I think less will be more when it comes to the amount of foods presented and the wow factor will come through from the design elements like the backdrop, the paper items, the linens, and original food presentation ideas.

Kori Clark, Paper & Pigtails

www.paperandpigtailsparty.com

Little Red Riding Hood Printables from Bird's Party

I think with the prevailing global economics, customers and designers are going back to basics and creating lovely, but more "realistic" parties. The huge dessert tables and extravagant set ups are giving way to a more cosy, handmade style - from decorations to the food!

Owner, Bird's Party

www.birdsparty.com

Joanne as a pirate - Act One Parties

Looking at my bookings already for 2012 I can see a bit of a shift away from Pirates and Superheroes as top themes for boys and a move towards more Transport based themed parties. I am sure the release of Cars 2 at the cinema and on DVD last year has something to do with this move. Space and Robots seem to also be very popular and I'm sure the release of Star Wars in 3D at the cinema around February half term will perpetuate this. However I am confident that when the Aardman Animations film Pirates is released later in the year, we will see Pirate themed parties being rejuvenated.

For girls princesses will be eternally popular but there seems to be a move towards more "Fairytale" themed parties to include Knights and other non-princess characters. I am also seeing a rise in girls parties wanting to do some sort of performance which I am sure is influenced by the many talent shows they see on television.

Joanne McGowan, Act One Parties

www.actoneparties.co.uk

Tea Party from Bumpkin

With the renewed interest in home baking and decorating cupcakes I have had more requests for Cupcake Toppers, Mini Cake Bunting and custom Food Labels for the most wonderful desert tables with inventive names to go with their party theme. So I could see more Tea Parties and Teddy Bear's Picnics maybe baking and decorating their own cookies and cakes.

Catherine, Owner, Bumpkin
www.bumpkinbears.com

Elvis - Notorious Productions

Best of British…

At Notorious we feel this year is going to be all about British spirit what with the Olympics, Queens Diamond Jubilee and also clients still running on the back of the Royal Wedding. We have been asked to create many Royal Wedding parties for little girls and boys where the girls learn how to move/dance like a princess and boys learn soldier skills with inspired crafts such as crown decorating or royal crown cookie decorating led by our very own Prince & Princess.

With the Olympics coming up we are creating some sport themed parties reflecting team GB as well as other countries. Entertainment such as team games & races, learning new skills such as gymnastics & football, there is such a wide scope of fun ideas to be explored with this theme.

Strictly, X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent….

As we are in a media frenzy culture the TV shows our children watch are a huge influence on trends. With Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor & the up and coming Britain’s Got Talent we are creating some really fabulous performance parties based around these themes.

Children can learn new dance skills and funky moves with professional choreographers, vocal coaches teach favourite songs which can be performed or recorded in a studio, and we can even create full makeovers for the ultimate celeb look. This will be loved by both boys and girls.

With Britain’s Got Talent we can explore other skills such as circus skills, football freestyling, magic, different styles of dance, the list is endless..

Victoria Pearce, Notorious Productions

www.notoriousproductions.co.uk/kids.php

Utterly Scrumtious Range from Party Pieces

In harder economic climes, people are looking for ways to save so ranges that work for both adults and children are very popular. There will be many reasons for the whole family to celebrate together this year, with the London Olympics, so these ranges are perfect for large indoor or outdoor gatherings. Bunting and helium balloon kits will be at the top of the party shopping list. Let's hope for a warm and dry summer so people can celebrate outside!

Cupcakes are still a big hit when it comes to planning party food, but fun cake pops have already hit the scene in a big way and will be even bigger this year we think.

The vintage tea look will be big again, as people increasingly hold bridal showers and baby showers. Our Utterly Scrumptious Range is very popular

As ever, themes are very popular amongst children and largely depend on what's they are into at school, Moshi Monsters are big right now for example, but perennial favourites include Disney themes, Lego, Peppa Pig and Super Mario.

With the focus on sport in this Olympic year, many people will opt for outdoor parties around this theme, so parties featuring games and activities will be popular.

Sarah Reynolds, The Party Times

www.partypieces.co.uk/thepartytimes

Princess Tea Party styled by Celebrations At Home

Food presentation is gaining momentum - not just for dessert tables but for savories as well. Anything served in bite size or individual portions is a winner, especially when served in unexpected containers like glass votive holders, shot glasses, etc.

After a 2 year love affair with vintage styling, we'll see refined glamour making a come-back. Look for modern design with gilded elements, graphic patterns, and brilliant colors.

Less is More. The elaborately styled dessert tables with budgets the size of a small state will make room for "real life" sized tables with more homemade items or store bought items that the host can embelish her self.

Chris Nease, Celebrations At Home

www.celebrationsathomeblog.com

Dessert table from The Inspired Occasion

The Inspired Occasion are keen party followers and we a seeing a trend towards attention to detail, specifically dessert stations being themed around our all time favourite story books weather it be Alice in Wonderland, The Hungry Caterpillar, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Pinoccio, The Little Prince. We love making these children's novels come the life, with some parties being very specifically themed around a specific chapter, element or favourite character.

Alex Shaw, The Inspired Occasion

www.theinspiredoccasion.com.au

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped with this post. Now we all wait and see what 2012 will actually hold and if our trend predictions are correct!

Have a great day everyone,

Zoe

Real Party - Aqua, Lime & The Movie UP

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. It was back to reality in our house, with hockey practices and a school musical rehersal, but we still found time to bake some cakes and play a game of Scrabble! Today I have a a fab real party to share with you, inspired by the Disney movie, UP. I will now pass you over to Isa Maria to share how she created her sons third birthday party.

Today I'm excited to share my son Joseph's birthday party! He will be three tomorrow and at the weekend we had a small family get together with little handmade touches.

The original inspiration was the film Up which was the theme Joseph requested. He loves the film which is a great story of hope and friendship so I wanted to honour his wishes for an Up theme without having to buy lots of film merchandise.

If you have seen the film you'll know there is a house that gets lifted up in the air by a huge bunch of balloons. My Mum's friend made a house shaped cake with the two main characters from the film out of icing. It turns out she had never seen the film so she only put a couple of balloons instead of the hundreds that were meant to lift the house but Joseph didn't seem to notice.

The rest of the theme was based on balloons with a lime and aqua colour scheme. I used crepe streamers all over the place and attempted a tissue paper pom! I bought some patterned digital paper from Sweet Papers on Etsy and was able to use my circle cutter to make lots of circles out of card. Joseph helped cut them out and passed them to me to thread for garlands which we hung from the balloons. He also helped with gluing them together with a wooden cocktail stick in the middle for cupcake toppers.

We had cupcakes in polka dot cases echoing the balloon/circle theme. I also made round sugar cookies which I baked with oven proof lollypop sticks to look like balloons on string. I covered these with Royal icing in pale blue and green and dipped some in round sprinkles.

Favours were mini glassine bags full of jelly babies. Each bag was topped with a patterned circle and stuck on with green gingham Japanese deco tape. We also gave out the balloon cookies wrapped in a food safe bag secured with deco tape and mini bottles of bubbles which also tied in with the balloon theme! I removed the labels and added some more deco tape for decoration.

It was so easy to add some handmade touches to the day and it didn't take long to put together. Most of the items like the glassine bags, deco tape, circle cutter I had already but you can find similar on Etsy or most craft shops. The digital papers are so versatile.You print them out yourself on either paper or card and can print them as many times as you need. I had plans for paper chains and pinwheels but just didn't have time. The possibilities though are endless!

Thank you so much Isa Maria for sharing Joseph's party. The details are gorgeous and just shows how easy it is to create an amazing party once you have a theme, some creative imagination and of course some time.

Do you have a party you would like to share here on Let's Plan A Party? Please email me zoe@lesenfants.co.uk with the party details and photos.

See you all soon,

Zoe

Party Trends for 2012 - Part 1

2012-01-06T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you are allwell and safe after the storms that have battered the UK the past couple of days. We have accquired a couple of our neighbours fence panels but apart from that all is ok here. As we start the new year it is a good time to take stock and ponder what the new year will bring with it. This is also a time when thoughts within various industries turn to trends for the coming year. The party industry, like the wedding industry, is often led by fashion and interiors trends. So if we are seeing bold splashes of colour on the catwalks we undoubtedly would be seeing these in our party theming too. I predict that we will see lots of orange and yellow in party theming this year, especially as Tangerine Tango has been named as Pantone's colour for 2012.

image source

Another focus for 2012 is infact our fabulous capital city, London. With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June and the Olympics in the summer months we can expect some theming influence from these memorable events. Perhaps we will see children dressed up in red uniforms and busby's as they attend parties with a royal or London theme. Or maybe the glamour of diamonds will be replicated in girls dressed as princesses making sparkling diamond tiaras.

London Shopper Bag from Sweet Home London

As we all tighten our belts for another year I think our parties will focus more on what we can do ourselves. We will still be creating fabulous parties but looking to make lots of details ourselves. I also think with the smaller party budgets will see a move away from plastic toy laden party bags and I hope children will be thrilled to take home cookies they have decorated or crafty makes along with a slice of cake. Over the coming months I plan to share lots of tutorials to help you still have amazing parties and I also plan to include different ideas for party food.

image source

Now I wait to see if my trend predictions will be right! Next week I will be sharing with you the trend predictions from a variety of party bloggers and suppliers from around the world. If you are a party blogger or supplier and would like to share your ideas for 2012 to be included in next weeks post, please email me zoe@lesenfants.co.uk .

Have a wonderful weekend,
Zoe
x

Welcome Back

2012-01-04T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome back. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and I would like to wish you all a very happy new year. As we all ease back into daily routines I thought I would take today to round up the top three posts of 2011 here on Let's Plan A Party.

In third place Very Hungry Caterpillar Party Inspiration

(images credits on original posts)

In second place Monster Party Inspiration

(images credits on original posts)

In first place Woodland Fairy Party Inspiration

(image credits on original post)

I have lots more inspiration for your parties planned in the coming weeks and months aswell as offering even more tutorials to make your own decorations, invitations or party food. Later this week I will be sharing ideas from party suppliers and bloggers around the world for emerging and continuing trends in the world of childrens parties this year.

I look forward to contiuing sharing my love of parties with you this year and would like to thank you for your continued support of our blog.

See you soon,
Zoe
x

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000Z

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas from the Les Enfants team.

We hope you all have a wonderful time and look forward to sharing lots of parties with you in 2012.

Advent Calendar - Day 23

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000Z

Two more sleeps! I really can't believe the big day is nearly here! So have you wrapped all the presents, collected the turkey, made mince pies to leave out for santa? Don't panic there's still time. Todays advent treat is my very own recipe for mince pies that santa will be thrilled to eat as he rushes aroung the world on his sleigh tomorrow night.

Ingredients

250g Self Raising Flour (and extra for dusting your board & rolling pin)

125g Butter

2 tbsp Light Muscavado Sugar

2tbsp Cold Water

Jar of Mincemeat

Utensils

Mixing Bowl

Palette Knife

Tablespoon

Kitchen Scales

Bun Tin (like you would use for fairy cakes)

Round Pastry Cutter (or a small plastic cup would work)

Small Holly Leaf Cutter (or other christmas shapes or smaller round cutter)

Rolling Pin

Mat or Board to roll our your pastry

This recipe makes about 12 mince pies

1. Put your flour and butter into your mixing bowl and rub together to make fine breadcrumbs. I'm always telling my children you just need your fingertips not your whole hands to make a breadcrumb mixture! Once you think you're done give the bowl a little shake and any large lumps will rise to the top so you can rub these in too.

2. Using your fingers stir the sugar in to the breadcumb mixture. Muscavado sugar does tend to be a little lumpy so will need to be rubbed in to your breadcrumbs. For a lighter pastry try using icing sugar instead.

3. Now add one tbsp of cold water and stir into the breadcrumb mixture using a palette knife. I guess you could use a metal spoon but I have always used a metal pallette knife. Add the second tablespoon of cold water and stir in to your mixture. It may now be necessary to bring the mixture together with your hands. If the mixture is a little too crumbly add a few drops of cold water, but only add tiny amounts as this can make a big difference in the texture of your pastry.

4. Sprinkle some flour on your mat or board and your rolling pin. Take half of your pastry and roll out to about 5mm (1/2cm) thickness. Cut out as many circles as you can and put these in to your bun tray. Pop the bits of pastry back into a ball and roll out again and cut out circles again.

5. Once you have filled your bun tray with pie bases add roughly a teaspoon of mincemeat to each pie. The trick is not to overload your pie bases!

6. Roll out some more pastry and cut your pie tops. I prefer to have little christmas shapes, like bells, christmas trees or holly leaves and found my tiny cutters in a kitchen shop for about 50p each. However you can make smaller circle tops for your mince pies if you prefer. Pop your pie tops on top of the mincemeat filled pie bases.

7. Put the tray of mince pies into the oven for about 15-20 mins on 160 degrees C (that's for a fan oven), so 180 for a normal electric oven and gas mark 4. The pastry should be a golden brown colour when cooked.

(these were golden brown honest!)

8. Leave the mince pies to cool in their tray for a short while, about 10 minutes is fine, then remove from the tray and pop on a cooling tray. Don't worry if one accidentaly breaks as you get it out of hte tim and you have to eat it!

Once cooled the mince pies should be stored in an airtight container and will last for at least a week. Alternatively you can freeze them in a box or bag for a month or two.

These mince pies are delicious warm and served with brandy butter or cream.

Other ideas for your mince pies

When you have made your breadcrumbs keep a small amount aside and use these as a crumble topping instead of a pie top.

Add a small ball of marzipan to your mince pies before putting their tops on.

Add extra cherries and/or nuts to your jar of mincemeat.

Bake your mince pies open then add a circle of fondant icing as a top when the pies have cooled.

To make a bigger batch the general rules for pastry are half fat to flour, a tbsp of sugar for each 125g of flour and a tablespoon of cold water for each 125g of flour.

Enjoy!

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day22

2011-12-22T10:49:00.001Z

Three more sleeps!! Are you all excited yet? Todays advent treat will help make your Christas eve even more magical. Have you ever made reindeer food to speinkle on your lawn so that the reindeers can guide Santa's sleigh to your house? Mix a small amount of oats with some glitter and coconut and you have magical reindeer food. Anders Ruff added a free printable label for your reindeer food to their blog yesterday so you can make little packages of magic to share with your childrens friends, your nieces and nephews, godchildren and grandchildren.

Visit Anders Ruff to download and print your own reindeer food labels.

Have fun!

Zoe

Link Love - Christmas Party Inspiration

2011-12-21T12:30:00.000Z

Good afternoon. I thought today I would share with you some of the wonderful Christmas party ideas in the blogosphere. Lot's of party suppliers have been sharing Christmas inspired photo shoots on their own blogs aswell as other party blogs around the world sharing some fantastic christmas themed party ideas. So here you go, just a small selection -

Lots of fantastic ideas in this fab online magazine from Birds Party

Gingerbread Decorating Party on Celebrations At Home

Vintage pastel dessert table on Little Sooti

'Buddy The Elf' Holiday Brunch from Pizzazzerie

Winter Carnival Party from The Party Dress

I found this fabulous Santa's Sweet Shop from Love The Day on HWTM blog

This photoshoot for the North Pole Christmas printables from Anders Ruff looks so much fun

A very yummy looking Snowman Soup photoshoot from Paper & Pigtails

Delicious Gingerbread house party from The Tom Kat Studio

Have you created a fab Christmas party? Please share a link in the comments below as I woudl love to take a look.

Have a great day

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 21

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! Welcome back to the advent calendar and todays printable treat is perfect for your bookworms. I have found lots of lovely bookplate printables that are great if you are giving books this Christmas. We are book lovers in my house and I think I may print some of these bookplates and wrap them up as an extra treat in my childrens stocking!

Bookplate from How About Orange

Bookplates from Lil Magoolie

Bookplates from My Owl Barn

Bookplates from We Love To Illustrate

Happy reading,

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 20

2011-12-20T10:25:00.000Z

Welcome back to our advent calendar. Todays treat is a fun salt dough tutorial I put toghether with my daughters for UK Handmade last year. This is a great project to make some extra decorations or name tags for the dinner table during your festive celebrations.

Ingredients

1 cup plainflour

½ cup salt

½ cup water

This recipemakes approximately 10 shapes

1. Putflour and salt into a bowl and add water slowly.

2. Kneadfor about ten minutes to form a soft pliable ball.

3. Ifdough is too crumbly add a little more water, if the dough is too sticky add alittle more flour.

4. Rollthe ball of dough out to about 1-2 cm thickness on a lightly floured board.

5. Cutshapes using biscuit cutters and place onto a sheet of greaseproof paper.Remember to put a small hole into the top of each shape if you wish to hangthese shapes onto the Christmas tree.

6. Placethe sheet of greaseproof paper onto a microwavable plate.

7. Placethe plate of salt dough shapes into the microwave on a medium high heat for 2-3minutes until the shapes have hardened. You can also cook them on a low heat for about 90 minutes in the oven.

8. Leavethe salt dough shapes to cool.

9. Oncecooled decorate the shapes with paint and glitter glue,most paints can be usedbut I use acrylics. Coat the painted shapes with a clear varnish for them tolast for next year too!

Have fun!
Zoe
x

Advent Giveaway - My Design Made

2011-12-19T13:34:00.000Z

Welcome back and I am thrilled to announce the winner of the My Design Made giveaway. I have put the numbers into Random.org nad the winner is.........................

mummy 24

Congratulations! I will now contact you to confirm your address so that you can receive your prize.

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.
Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 19

2011-12-19T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and I am sure your children are getting very excited about Christmas now. Todays calendar treat is perfect to help you keep the children amused and to divert their excitement as you spend an afternoon building your very own gingerbread house. Sweetopia is a full of sugary treats and Marian has put together a fantastic video and also a written tutorial to help you create the gingerbread house below.

Visit Sweetopia for the video and tutorial to make this gingerbread house

Have fun!

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 18

2011-12-18T10:11:00.000Z

Morning! This time next week it will be Christmas and I am sure many of us will have been up very early to the excited screams 'Santa's been'. Todays advent treat is another set of fab gift tag printables and also some pritable wrapping paper, which is great for little gifts.

To download and print this great selection of papers and gift tags visit

Domestifluff blog

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 17

2011-12-17T11:22:00.001Z

Morning! Frosty start here but thankfully no snow as yet, although my children are waiting patiently to get the sledge out to race down the fields as soon as there is enough snow. Todays advent treat is to help with entertaining younger and older guests over the festive period. Everybody loves a game of bingo and Celebrations website have some great festive printable games.

Christmas Bingo Printable from Celebrations

Christmas Trivia Printable from Celebrations

Christmas Word Games from Celebrations

Have fun!

Zoe

Countdown to Christmas - Gift Ideas for Boys

2011-12-16T14:00:00.000Z

Good afternoon. I hope you are all warm and well this afternoon. Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I haven't, still a couple of presents to order! Fear not if you are still trying to find gifts I have put together a gift guide for boys, which has been lots of fun as my own sons are now in their teens and taller than me.

{exploding chocolate frog} {harmonica} {paper models}

{Lego erasers} {twig pencils} {Gruffalo badges}

{wooden train} {stickers} {tresure chest}

{retro racing car} {car transporter} {balance bike}
{car bookends} {pedal fire engine} {giant road jigsaw}

{dinosaur costume} {cardboard fort} {racing driver suit} {wigwam}

{all about nature kit} {ruscksack} {globe} {pirate game}

I hope my ideas have helped and I am sure you have all finished your shopping weeks ago!

Have a fabulous weekend,

Zoe

Advent Giveaway Winner - Blackbird Games

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000Z

Morning! Time to announce another winner in our advent calendar giveaways. I have tapped the numbers into the random number generator and the winner has been chosen for the Blackbird Games giveaway.

Drum roll please....................................

The winner is ...............Red Rose Mummy

Congratulations!! I will contact you now to confirm your address so that your prize can be sent before Christmas.

Be sure to pop back later for my gift guide for boys.

See you later
Zoe
x

Advent Calendar Day 16

2011-12-16T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! Have you woken to snow this morning? Just incase you are having a snow day and want a snowy activity for afteryou've played in the snow with the children I am sure these snowglobe tutorials will keep you all busy. They will also last long after the snow has melted.

Penguin Snow globe tutorial from Parents

Anthropologie inspired snow globe tutorial from Whipperberry

Pop back this afternoon for my gift guide for boys.

Stay warm

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Leapfrog Winner

2011-12-15T12:00:00.000Z

Good afternoon I am thrilled to announce the winner of the Leapfrog 'My Own Leaptop' giveaway. I have again used the number generator on Random.org and a winner has been choosen.

Drum roll please.......................................

The winner is Cake Pop Princess

Congratulations! I will contact you to confirm your address so that your prize can be sent in time for Christmas.

Have a great afternoon everyone.
Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 15

2011-12-15T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome back to our advent calendar. Today I have a wonderful giveaway that will be a present that outlasts Boxing day. My Design Made take your childrens artwork and turn it into greetings cards and art prints, which means all of those precious paintings and drawings can be treasured and shared with family and friends.

My Design Made also offer a range of Colour It Yourself cards and delicious looking Cookie Cards, with plans to add invitations and thank you cards to their range very soon.

Today My Design Made are offering one of lucky readers the chance to win a £25 voucher, whcih would be a great present to give or to keep and use yourself after the mad rush of Christmas.

To win a £25 Gift Voucher from My Design Made there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Leave a comment below saying who you would send a My Design Made art print to.
Tweet "I've entered the @mydesignmade giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog."

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Saturday 17 December 2011. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Monday 19 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good Luck!

Zoe

Les Enfants Christmas Parties

2011-12-14T13:00:00.000Z

Good afternoon, I hope you are all having a fab Wednesday. I will be heading off to school shortly to help set up for the key stage one Christmas party, which my youngest daughter is very excited about. Then it's a disco for key stage two so my older two daughters have been busy last night deiciding what to wear! These are just parties in our village school and don't even compare with the amazing parties the Les Enfants team are creating everyday from now until 23 December. I am thrilled this afternoon to be able to share with you the fantastic Santas workshop parties from Les Enfants.

I am sure you will agree the sets are amazing and the details look fantastic. Children can write a letter to Santa in the postal room, visit Santa in his grotto and visit Mrs Claus in her kitchen to decorate gingerbread men. The most perfect Christmas party and I only wish I was little again so that I could join in!

Have a wonderful afternoon and I will be back in the morning with another advent giveaway.

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 14

2011-12-14T07:30:00.000Z

Welcome back to our advent calendar and todays treat will entertain the whole family this Christmas. Blackbird Games is based in West Sussex and was founded in Spring 2009 by Krysia Hudek and Terry Howe. They write, design and publish all of their own games using new twists on traditional games that can be played by children and adults alike. Todays prize from Blackbird Games is their Christmas Party Games, which is a set of five festive games for friends and family to play, offering over two hours of armchair and more energetic fun. Ideal for gatherings of between 6 and 36 adults and children aged over four.

To win the Christmas Party Games from Blackbird Games there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit Blackbird Games and leave a comment saying which game you would love to play as a family.
Tweet "I've entered the @Blackbirdgames giveway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Thursday 15 December 2011. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Friday 16 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good Luck!

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 13

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you are all well and not facing flooding or other problems this morning after the storm last night. For todays advent calendar I have a little printable treat for you all that will help in labelling all of your presents to avoid any mistakes! I discovered Wee Birdy fairly recently and am signed up to daily email updates and love reading this blog. These gift tags are very cute and you can choose which colourway you would like to download and print. Be sure to take a look around whilst visiting Wee Birdy as I am sure you will also love it.

To download these gift tag printables visit

Wee Birdy

See you soon
Zoe
x

Countdown to Christmas - Gift Ideas for Girls

2011-12-12T10:48:00.001Z

Good afternoon and welcome to the crazy last week of term and the start of the busiest ten days in the Les Enfants calendar. Katie and the team are crazily busy getting ready for some major Christmas parties and I hope to share some photos with you all very soon. The sets look amazing and any child attending a Les Enfants Christmas party is in for a wonderful treat.

Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? I haven't and yet to start the mammoth task of wrapping aswell! Nevermind I am your little elf and have rounded up some gorgeous ideas for the little girls in your life.

{Sweetie tin} {cupcake stamps} {snowflake soapsicle}

{crayons} {butterfly badge} {spotty pencils}

{animal tattoos} {stickers} {chocolate}

{finger printing art set} {make your own bunny}

{patchwork sewing kit} {felt doll kit}

{rose cottage playhouse} {teaset}

{princess costume} {wooden cooker}

{floral handbag} {Martha Aunt Eva Dress}

{Clara teaparty dress} {birdie hairclips}

I hope I have helped a little in finding something a little different.

Enjoy you afternoon

Zoe

Advent Calendar Giveaway Winner

2011-12-12T09:56:00.001Z

Hello and welcome back. I am thrilled to announce the winner of the Les Enfants dressing up costume winner.

Drum roll please................................

The winner is ....................rachdreaming

Congratulations! I will now contact you to confirm your address and your choice of costume.

Have a fab morning everyone, I'll be back this afternoon wth gift ideas for girls.

Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 12

2011-12-12T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a fab weekend. Did you host a party or go to a party? It was my middle daughters birthday party on Saturday and the melting snowman cookies were a hit, the girls all loved making them and then proudly took them home instead of party bags.

Todays advent treat is a giveaway perfect for any toddler who wants to be like mummy or daddy and have their own laptop. The 'My Own Leaptop' from Leapfrog is a fantastic interactive toy that allows you to upload personal 'email' messages for your child by simply connecting the Leaptop to your own laptop or PC with the USB cable provided. Your child can create music playlists and personalised emails from their very own Leaptop.

To win a 'My Own Leaptop' from Leapfrog there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Tell me which song your child would be adding first to the 'playlist' in the comments below.
Tweet "I've entered the Leapfrog giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Wednesday 14 December 2011. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Thursday 15 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only. This toy is suitable from age 2 years.

Good Luck!

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 11

2011-12-11T10:48:00.001Z

Welcome back to our advent calendar. I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. We are putting up our tree and decorations today, which is causing great excitment in my house. Todays treat is a couple of ideas to help you make some extra decorations for your own homes.

Take a wintry walk this afternoon and collect pine cone to make this wreath.

Wreath project from Martha Stewart

Or if it is too chilly for winter walk stay in the kitchen and bake some gingerbread.

Gingerbreadman wreath from Martha Stewart

Have fun and be sure to pop back tomorrow for another giveaway, gift ideas for girls and find out who won the dressing up costume.

Zoe

Advent Calendar Winner - Poppy Sparkles

2011-12-10T12:48:00.001Z

Hello, I'm just popping in to announce the winner of the Poppy Sparkles giveaway.

Drum roll please.....................................

The winner is .........Kelly Martin

Congratulations Kelly, I will contact you now as I will need your address so that your prize can be sent.

Don't forget to pop back tomorrow for another Advent treat.

Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 10

2011-12-10T08:00:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome back to our Advent Calendar. Today I have a wonderful set of printables for you. Party Box Design create all sorts of fabulous party stationery and other party products.

To download this and the rest of this set of printables visit

Party Box Designs

Have a fab Saturday

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 9

2011-12-09T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome back to our Advent Calendar. Todays prize is from our very own shop and I am thrilled to offer you the chance to win a choice of fancy dress costume. The Les Enfants shop has a wonderful selection of party supplies, gifts and fancy dress that have been handpicked by our team.

Apple Blossom Dress

The winner of this giveaway will choose one costume from the fantastic selection in the Les Enfants shop.

To win a dressing up costume from Les Enfants there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit the Les Enfants shop and leave a comment below saying which would be your childs favourite costume to fins wrapped under the Christmas tree this year.
Tweet "I've entered the @lesenfantsparty dressing up costume giveaway".

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Sunday 11 December 2011. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Monday 12 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good Luck!

Zoe

Advent Calendar Winner

2011-12-08T14:14:00.001Z

Good afternoon. I'm just popping in to announce the winner of the Jonny's Sister stocking kit giveaway.

Drum roll please...................

The winner is Samantha Ripley.

Congratulations! I will now contact you so that you can confirm your address for your prize to be sent to you.

See in the morning with another fantastic giveaway and in the meantime don't forget to enter to win a gorgeous pair of earrings from Poppy Sparkles.

Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 8

2011-12-08T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome abck to our daily advent treats. Today I have a special discount for you from the lovely Baby Barn. Having returned to her native Jersey in 2009, after a very successful career in fashion and beauty PR, Nicola eastwood set about creating a fabulous website showcasing soem of the best products for children aged 0-3 years. Baby Barn has become a strong brand in it's own right with fashion concious parents flocking to purchase the latest trends from various childrens design houses. Stocking some of our nations favourite labels, including Hucklbones, Nui Organics and Bonnie Baby, Baby Barn are very pleased to offer our readers a 15% off discount until 25 December 2011.

Margot The Mouse Dress by Olive & Moss

Visit Baby Barn today and use code LesEnfants11 to make the most of the 15% off discount.

{www.babybarn.co.uk}

Happy shopping!

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 7

2011-12-07T12:30:00.000Z

Good afternoon and welcome back to day seven of our advent calendar. Todays giveaway is a little treat for all the mummy's who are busy working to achieve a wonderful Christmas. Poppy Sparkles owner, Viv Smith, designs and makes beautiful jewellery that is perfect for every day and for special occassions. Her birthstone mummy necklaces are a firm favourite amongst her customers both here in the UK and around the world. These beautiful necklaces are the perfect gift for a new mother, a grandmother or an old timer like me! The simple birthstone system allows the wearer to purchase more charms everytime a new child or or grandchild is born.

Todays prize is from Poppy Sparkles Shimmer Collection, that adds the perfect finishing touch to any LBD this party season. These earrings are made using clear, black diamond and jet black Swarovski crystals and a single freshwater pearl on silver fittings.

To win the Shimmer Earrings from Poppy Sparkles there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit Poppy Sparkles and leave a comment below stating which of their products you would most like to find under your tree this Christmas.
Tweet "I've entered the @PoppySparkles giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Friday 9 December 2011. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Saturday 10 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good Luck!

Zoe

Snowman Party Inspiration

2011-12-07T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you are all warm and well this chilly Wednesday. I'm just taking a break from the Advent Calendar this morning to share some party inspiration with you, but don't worry I have a gorgeous giveaway for you later today that will make any mummy's LBD have that extra stylish sparkle.

Todays party inspiration started about two months ago when one of my daughters started talking about her birthday, which is infact not until 20th December. Last year she was thrilled that there was plenty of snow and she and her friends and brothers and sisters all had a huge snowball fight. So her idea for this year is for a snowball and hot chocolate party. Most days after school my three daughters enjoy a hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. I know it's a little indulgent but it's cold outside! With thoughts of snow and hot chocolate I was thrilled when I saw the Snowman Soup theme from Paper & Pigtails. This started my ideas rolling and soon Amber and I had lots of ideas for her party.

Snowman Soup Printables from Paper & Pigtails

Don't forget our blog readers get 35% off all printables from Paper & Pigtails in our advent calendar. (code is required)

Obviously we couldn't rely on good old British weather to deliver snow so I had to think of some alternative ideas. Perhaps we could have indoor snowball fights with rolled up white socks or cotton wool, but the Christmas tree would be up and the house decorated with our festive treasures so maybe this was not one of my better ideas!

Indoor Snowball Fight from Sweet Melly Jane

When Amber was younger she had a snowman party for her birthday, hard to avoid wintry themes when your birthday is in December. Back then her party guests were happy with white chalks and large sheets of sugar paper to draw snowmen and also content ot make cotton wool snowmen masks. As Amber will soon be nine I realised I would have to be slightly more creative.

Perhaps we could make truffles covered in 'snow'

Find the recipe on My Recipes

Even older children love snow globes

Tutorial from No Time For Flashcards

Maybe the children could try their hand at cake decorating?

Or melted snowman cookies

Ideas from The Decorated Cookie

Now that I had ideas for snowballs and snowmen the next stage was the all important hot chocolate. Winter weddings seem like the perfect place to have a hot chocolate bar but why limit this fab idea to weddings. Just as the weather turns colder a hot chocolate bar could work for grown up Christmas parties at the end of the evening or to welcome guests of all ages after carols round the village Christmas tree.

Idea from Fete Fanatic

So there we go a winter birthday party inspired by my daughter. Now just to think about food, snow cones anyone? Or maybe a snowman ice cream?

Idea from Food Create

Even if you have a child with a party close to Christmas you do not need to include festive ideas in to the plans, but I am sure you will all agree a snowman makes a great theme!

See you back here later for Day 7 of our Advent Calendar.

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Winner - The Whirlee

2011-12-06T15:01:00.001Z

Good afternoon, just popping in quickly to annouce the winner of The Whirlee giveaway.

Drum roll please...............................

The winner is Comment no.19...................nataliemay30

Congratulations Natalie I will contact you now.

Don't worry if you did n't win there are more giveaways to come!

Zoe
x

UPDATE 12 Dec - Due to the winner not contacting me I have redrawn the prize and the new winner is
toodleypips.
Please email me asap to have your prize sent zoe@lesenfants.co.uk
Thank you

Advent Calendar - Day 6

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome back to our Advent Calendar. Todays treat will help you with your parties this festive season. Hostess With The Mostess is a fab site when planning a party and have this fantastic set of free printables.

To get your free party printables visit

Hostess With The Mostess

Have fun!

Zoe

Christmas Countdown - Gifts for 0-12 Months

2011-12-05T12:00:00.000Z

Good afternoon, I hope you are all well. December has arrived and I know I really need to get organised with my Christmas shopping. Over the next ten days I will be sharing some gift ideas for children in hope that it will help you all a little in your search for presents. Today we will start with the smallest people in our lives, babies. There are some wonderful presents available for tiny tots that I am sure both their parents and they will love.

Gifts for 0-12 Months

White Rabbit Lamp from White Rabbit England

Guitar Rattle from The Grateful Thread

Hand Knitted Rabbit from ChunkiChilli

Gift Sets from BooBoo

Belle Hugs Boo Print from Belle & Boo

Mr Penguin Playsuit from Bonnie Baby

Gift sets from Frugi

Slippers and Shoes from Winnibriggs House

Hand Crocheted Baby Blanket from Caroline Watts Embroidery

I hope this has given you some different ideas. Happy shopping!

Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 5

2011-12-05T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. The Les Enfants team have been incredibly busy entertaining several hundred children this weekend as the Christmas parties commence. Todays Advent Calendar post is a fabulous Christmas giveaway from Jonny's Sister.

Tucked away in the Dorset countryside a team of talented seamstresses create the wonderful letter cushions that have become synominous with Jonny's Sister. These cushions come in several sizes and make the perfect gift for anyone, young or old. However Jonny's Sister also have a wonderful selection of bunting, soap, wooden letters and numbers and many more personalised products.

Jonny's Sister recently added some make your own kits to their product range and todays prize is their Christmas Stocking Kit. This is an easy sewing kit, all you need to do is cut out the shapes from the pre-printed fabric, sew along the dotted line, cut out your felt letters and stick them on. This project is suitable for children aged 5 years and over and would be the ideal project for your child to create an heirloom to be cherished.

To win the Christmas Stocking Kit from Jonny's Sister there are two things that you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit Jonny's Sister and then leave a comment below stating which of their products you would like to find under your Christmas tree this year.
Tweet "I've entered the @jonnyssister giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

This giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Wednesday 7 December 2011. A winner will be choosen using a random number generator and will announced on this blog on Thursday 8 Decemeber 2011. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good luck everyone! And pop back later today for some gift ideas for our under ones.

Zoe

Advent Calendar - Day 4

2011-12-04T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend. Todays Advent Calendar treat is from a wonderful jewellery designer. Chambers and Beau make beautiful personalised silver jewellery that will be treasured forever.

Jewellery designer and mother of two, Amy Elson, launched Chambers and Beau in 2008 with the desire to create beautiful heirloom jewellery. With over ten years experience in the jewellery industry, designing for many commercial brands, Amy saw a gap in this niche market and becoming a mother gave her the opportunity to start her own business. Chambers and Beau jewellery really is the most beautiful gift and they even have a fabulous collection just for the men in our lives. This month saw the launch of Chambers and Beau in John Lewis, which is a very exciting venture.

For one week only Chambers and Beau have kindly given you, our lovley readers, 10% OFF their entire website. To ensure you get this discount please use the code LESENFANTS10 which is vaild until 11.59 pm GMT Sunday 11 December 2011.

Happy shopping!
Zoe
x

Advent Calendar - Day 3

2011-12-03T07:30:00.000Z

Welcome to day 3 of our Advent Calendar. Todays prize could leave your little ones in a spin! The very kind team at Mookie have given us the fantastic Whirlee as a prize for todays giveaway.

All toddlers love a ride-on toy, but they are not mummy's favourite when they have to carry them home from the park! That's why everyone will love the new super-light Whirlee from Mookie as it weighs just 865grams and also features a stackable design - perfect any anytime, anywhere. Another fun feature of The Whirlee are the 360 degree caster wheels for children to speedily spin and whirl!

To win The Whirlee from Mookie there are two things you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Leave a comment below why The Whirlee would be the coolest present this Christmas.
Tweet "I've entered the @Mookietoys giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

The giveaway will be open until 11.59pm GMT on Monday 5 December. A winner will be chosen using a random number generator online and announced on this blog on Tuesday 6 December. This giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Good luck everyone!
Zoe
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Advent Calendar - Day 2

2011-12-02T07:30:00.000Z

Welcome back to our fabulous festive advent calendar. Today I have a very special offer especially for you, our lovely readers. Paper and Pigtails design the most amazing party printables and their blog is one I reguarly read so I was thrilled that Kori wanted to be part of our Advent Calendar.

Snowman Soup / Hot Chocolate Printables

Paper and Pigtails digital designs are the perfect fit for many party themes. The printables will add that extra special touch to your parties wherever you are in the world.

Woodland Fairy Printables

From her studio in sunny Florida Kori uses her passion for graphic design and art to create fantastic party designs. After several years in corporate design Kori discovered the wonderful world of parties and there are many happy customers that are thrilled that she did.

Vintage Bi-Plane Printables

From today until 22 December you can have 35% off all purchases of Paper and Pigtails printables, using the code LesEnfants35

Click here to start shopping

Paper & Pigtails

{website} {etsy} {facebook} {twitter}

Advent Calendar - Day 1

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000Z

Good morning and welcome to our offical countdown to Christmas. The Les Enfants Advent Calendar is bursting with prizes, special discount codes and free printables to make your festivities even more special. Every day between now and Christmas Eve we will be bringing you an Advent Calendar post so be sure to visit as we don't want you to miss anything!

Todays giveaway prize is courtesy of a fantastic stationery design company, Anders Ruff. The Les Enfants team love the amazing designs from Anders Ruff and their printables are perfect for last minute party organising. The American duo of Maureen and Adria met at a preschool open house and soon realised that their love of paper, parties, art and design would be the perfect starting point for a printable graphic design business.

The Prize

Todays prize is perfect if you didn't quite manage to organise your advent calendar in time for the 1st December! Anders Ruff are offering todays winner the option of two printable advents calendars. The winner will be emailed the printable file of their chosen advent calendar.

To win one of the advent calendars from Anders Ruff there are two things you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit Anders Ruff and leave a comment below saying which of their design you want the most.
Tweet "I've entered the @andersruff giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

This giveaway for the advent calendar will be open until 10pm GMT tonight (1 Dec). A winner will be chosen at random and announced on this blog tomorrow morning (2 Dec). This giveaway is open to everybody, anywhere in the world!

Good luck everyone!
Zoe
x

Christmas Party Clinic

2011-11-30T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you are all well on this windy Wednesday. Today I would like to open up the Party Clinic again to help you all with your Christmas party and family get together dilemmas. The Les Enfants team are here to help you all with your festive celebrations. So if you want new ideas for party games for all the family or quick and easy decoration ideas or party food suggestions for young and more mature taste palettes I am sure we can help.

image source

All you have to do is leave a comment here on this post and I will post the answers next Wednesday.

***************

I also want to share some fantastic promotions from our blog sponsors to help with all your Christmas shopping.

15% OFF everything for TODAY ONLYUse code XMAS

25% OFF everything until 4 DECUse code MONMD25A 40% OFF Limited Edition, 25% OFF All other Adult styles, 15% OFF Miniuntil 1 DECUse code LD03

Happy shopping! I look forward to answering your questions in the Party Clinic.

Zoe

The Little Ark - Giveaway Winner

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000Z

The numbers have been put into the random number generator and drum roll please............

The winner of the Ronald the Rabbit chair from The Little Ark is..............

Comment number 26...........Emily

Congratulations Emily, please can you email me zoe@lesenfants.co.uk with your address and I will arrange for The Little Ark to contact you regarding delivery.

Don't worry if you didn't win this time, we have some fabulous prizes in our Advent Calendar which starts on Thursday!

See you all soon,
Zoe
x

Countdown to Christmas - Letter to Santa

2011-11-28T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a fab weekend. The excitement is starting to mount in my house as it gets closer to starting advent calendars and now less than four weeks until the big day! Yesterday I sat with my daughters to write their letters to Santa and will be popping by the post office for stamps to ensure these Christmas wishes reach the North Pole in plenty of time. Have you written your letters yet? Here are some great sets to help make it even more special.

Santa Wish List from Mrs L Cards

Letter to Santa from Three Little Monkeys Studio

Printable Santa Letter Set from The CreativiDee Workshop

Letter to Santa Kit from John Lewis

There are also some great free printables available or maybe your child would like to just write a letter and draw a picture to send to Santa. My daughters like to send him pictures aswell to 'cheer him up as he's working so hard'. Just remember to send your letters before 14 December to get a reply from the North Pole.

Santa

Santa's Workshop

Reindeerland

SAN TA1

Did you enter giveaway to win a Ronald the Rabbit chair from The Little Ark? Check back later today to find out if you have won.

See you all later,

Zoe

Real Party - Fairy Party

2011-11-24T21:26:00.001Z

Good morning, I hope you are all well. Today I am thrilled to be sharing a real party with one of my favourite themes, fairies. Alison of Alison Lawson Cakes created this fabulous party for a friend recently and as a mother of three boys she was more than willing to indulge in the fairy theme and of course the pink palette. I will now hand over to Alison to share the party with you.

A bit about me I am married to James. Before having my three beautiful boys (Fergus -5, Harry - 3 and Tommy - 1) I worked as a Primary school teacher. Now, I work part-time from home designing cakes and parties, whilst looking after my gorgeous husband and little boys.

Party Details Theme – Fairy Frolic!

Decorations We kept things rather simple. The key decoration here was the ‘Fairy Garden’ dessert table. We did use pink and white balloons in the house, which looked lovely. I also sourced a gorgeous bunch of pink blossom (the perfect pink) from my friend Camilla’s garden – looked lovely in a vase with the party favour boxes.

Food/drink

Fairy Dust Marshmallow Pops
Marshmallows on sticks dipped in white chocolate and covered in pale pink glitzy sugar dust!

Tinkerbell Cookie Wands Vanilla Shortbread star shaped Cookie Wands iced in pink fondant. Dusted with pink shimmer ‘fairy’ dust! Tied off with gorgeous ribbon!
(Presented standing on a white box)

Make –a-wish Cupcakes
Vanilla cupcakes iced with a vanilla swirl. Personalised cupcake toppers in the colour palette to match invitation. (Designs include fairy picture, fairy castle picture, 3, Happy Birthday and Georgeous Georgie!)

Fairy Bread (essential at any fair dinkum’ fairy party!)
Fairy Bread cut into the shape of flower blossoms

Georgie-corn Popcorn in white paper cones. (Presented standing in a white box)

Fairy Nectar and Pink Fairy Nectar Little recycled bottles filled with water or and pink lemonade. Gorgeous pink and white paper straws.

Magical Strawberries
Fresh strawberries on sticks dipped in white chocolate. (presented standing in a white box)

Fairy Garden RollsNo party is complete without sausage rolls!

Favours I used gorgeous pink and white striped Sambellina brand favour boxes. Inside the boxes – gorgeous vanilla cookie wand with pale pink star tied off with ribbon, bottle of fairy crystals, pink musk sticks and a personalised chocolate bar.

DIY Projects All of the printables for cupcake toppers, chocolate label, dessert table labels with a bit of help from my sis. I am getting better at this though, and intend on doing the next design myself!

Vendor Credits
Cake, printables, cookies and party food – Alison Lawson Cakes – www.facebook.com/alisonlawsoncakes
Photography – Alison Lawson
Sweet Style - Party bags, lolly jars, green and white spotted cupcake cases, pink and white spotted plates. Www.sweetstyle.com.au

Thank you so much for looking, and I hope you enjoyed my little ‘fairy’ adventure.

Wow this is such a cute party. It has also made me very hungry and I would now love some fairy bread! I love hte mix of green and pink, which suggests little fairy houses on the woods.

Have you created a party for your own children or for a friend? I would love to share it here on the blog. Please send me an email zoe@lesenfants.co.uk with details of the party and a selection of images. I look forward to hearing from you.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Zoe
x

Countdown to Christmas - Advent Calendars

2011-11-23T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, can you believe it is now only eight days until our children can start the proper countdown to Christmas? We have a tradition in our house to make an advent calendar and we try something different every year. This year we are inspired by the Maileg calendar with little stockings, bags & envelopes and with the help of my daughters I hope to make our own version.

Calendar Garland for Advent from Sisters Guild

There are some fabulous advent calendars available that are a far cry from the licensed character ones filled with horrid chocolate. Many you can fill yourself with little treats for your children, so I would make sure you buy yummy chocolates and treats incase you need a little advent treat too!

Personalised Christmas Advent Calendar from Tillie Mint

Advent Calendar from Dots & Spots

Advent Calendar Peg Rail from Folly & Glee

Advent Village from The Contemporary Home

Perhaps you would like to have a try at making your own advent calendar but prefer a kit or maybe your children love colouring, so would love the advent calendar from Usbourne.

Make Your Own Advent Calendar from Buttonbag at John Lewis

Advent Calendar to Colour at John Lewis

Maybe this year you would like to try making your own advent calendar? Several matchboxes decorated with pretty paper or painted each with their own number makes a good advent calendar. Or try making your own crackers using cardboard tubes wrapped in crepe or wrapping paper, numbered 1-24 and neatly crisscrossed to make a small stack. Another idea is to make a twenty four little stockings, from felt or fabric, numbered 1-24 and hung from a line of bakers twine. Here are a few more ideas for you to try!

Baby sock advent calendar from Martha Stewart

Stocking Advent Calendar from Canadian Living

Papercone Advent Calendar from Hi Sugarplum

I would love to know if you make your own advent calendars just like I do with my children. Let me know in the comments below! Also if you try any of the ideas to make your own please share some photos with us via email or on our Facebook page.

Have a lovely day,

Zoe

Baby Shower Inspiration

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a good weekend and lots of fun if you were hosting or attending a party. As promised today I will share some ideas for putting together a baby shower. This type of party is still a relatively new idea here in the UK so I have found supplies for a baby shower to be quite limited. But fear not a little imagination and a search on Etsy have drawn some stylish ideas for hosting a baby shower.

Gorgeous baby shower stationery & printable from Etsy designers.

{'Oh Deer' Invite} {Little Peanut Invite} {Damask Printables}

{Ladybird Invite} {Little Birdie Printables} {Winter Woodland Invite}

Perhaps the planning will be easy as the mum to be already knows if it's a pink or blue baby but if you don't know yellow seems to be a popular colour theme. Another popular choice is to have an afternoon tea party, just like the parties shared by Samantha from Tea Party here on Friday. This is a lovely theme for a baby shower as the it offers stylish indulgence for the mother to be and her guests. A tea party can easily be hosted in your own home or garden, just as most baby shower themes could.

Cakes & vintage crockery are a must for afternoon tea!

{Cupcakes} {Crockery}

Just as any party, decorations can make a stylish addition to the venue and you could really have some fun with tiny baby bootees used to hold placenames, banners made from babygro shapes or building blocks decorated with pretty papers as a centrepiece.

{Babygro Banner} {Crocheted Bootees} {Building Blocks}

A few fun games can add to the fun at a baby shower. Maybe have baby photographs of all the guests and see who can get the most correct matches. I love this idea I found on Etsy for playing Baby Shower Bingo!

Baby Shower Bingo

I think the most important thing to remember is that this party is to spoil the mother to be, indulge her with delicious food, fun and gifts.

Have a fab start to the week,

Zoe

Real Party - Baby Shower

2011-11-18T08:36:00.000Z

Another week seems to have zoomed by and I am sure you are all looking forward to the weekend. Today I have a real party that is a little different to our normal features. Baby showers are proving more popular here in the UK and there are some lovely venues that specialise in tea parties for baby showers. The real party for today is from a lovely venue in London that is perfect for holding a baby shower. Tea Party specialise as the name suggests in tea parties in their private tea room in Finchley. I will now let Samantha, the owner of Tea Party, tell you a little more about baby showers in her tea room.

Tea Party loves holding Baby Showers at it’s pretty pink private tea party venue. It’s really girlie so mum’s to be find it a super choice for their celebrations. Bit like a Hen Party, it’s mostly arranged by friend’s, but sometimes the lady herself.

Having afternoon tea can be themed pink or blue, pink & blue and yellow gets a big mention too...we do try to accommodate any special requirements & tastes.

There are always gifts to be opened – my favourite bit...I love to see everything being opened and baby games are played too. I just can’t believe how inventive some people are, I’ve picked up some great ideas along the way, so people are can ask my advice.

Guests are also able to bring their own bubbly, but generally the ice cool lemonade is enough and are the mountains of dainty & delectable finger sandwiches...a real tea party feast!

Thank you Samantha, it looks like a very beautiful venue. I am now hungry having been looking at all this delicious food!

Please join me back here on Monday and I will share some ideas for styling your very own baby shower. Don't forget to share your own baby showers with me zoe@lesenfants.co.uk

Have a fantastic weekend

Zoe

Real Party - Minnie Mouse

2011-11-16T07:30:00.000Z

Good Morning! I hope this post finds you all warm and well, it's certainly turned chilly here. Today I am delighted to share with you a party from the Les Enfants team. Charlotte has been very busy and I was concerned she may see pink spots before her eyes whilst preparing this Minnie Mouse party.

Pink was the main colour for this party, in two different shades.

Stripey paper straws and pink and white cups add to the impact of the pretty table.

The tissue paper pompoms make great centrepieces sat in cups on top of a wide satin ribbon.

White paper napkins were wrapped in a strip of spotty paper and topped with a spotty flower and Minnie Mouse silhouette.

Each of the tiny white chairs were decorated with a Minnie flower.

I love these spotty balloons!

Charlotte used printables from Photo Designz on Etsy and then created everything else herself. Aren't we lucky to have such a creative team member! The children had a wonderful time, most importantly the birthday girl.

Have you created a Minnie Mouse party recently? Be sure to share a link below. If you would like the Les Enfants team to create a fabulous Minnie Mouse party for your child please email the office info@lesenfants.co.uk

Enjoy your day!

Zoe

Giveaway - The Little Ark

2011-11-14T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Katie and the team have been busy creating fabulous parties again this weekend and I am looking forward to sharing the Minnie Mouse party here on the blog on Wednesday. In the meantime I have a wonderful giveaway to share with you all today.

The Little Ark make beautiful handcrafted furniture for children. Every piece is made to high standards by British craftsmen and made to order to allow the customer to personalise the chairs and tables as they wish. As their name, The Little Ark suggests their furniture designs include various animals and I assure you that you will want to have them in twos as they really are fantastic.

All of the chair designs from The Little Ark can be personalised with your childs name and there is a choice of five colours available for each piece of furniture. However you are also able to purchase a blank, unfinished chair of you choose to paint the chair yourself. All of The Little Ark's furniture is made from sustainably sourced timber.

The Little Ark have very kindly offered to give one of you, our very lucky readers, the chance to win a Ronald The Rabbit chair. This chair will be supplied to the winner in a pure white colourway, which is currently not a colourway offered by The Little Ark. Ronald The Rabbit measures 585mm deep, 350mm wide, 600mm high andthe seat height is 300mm. This fabulous little chair would be perfect in your childs bedroom, in their playroom or the lounge or infact any room in the house.

To win this chair there are a number of things you can do to enter.

In order for your entry to count you must leave a comment below. Please leave a seperate comment for EACH action you take.

Visit The Little Ark and leave a comment below saying which animal would be your childs favourite choice.
Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this competition post.
Tweet "I've entered the @TheLittleArk giveaway on @lesenfantsparty blog"

Competition is open to UK residents only and will be open until midnight on Sunday 27 November 2011. the winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on this blog on Monday 28 November 2011.

Good Luck!

Zoe
x

Real Party - Tangled 4th Birthday

2011-11-11T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you are all well today and I'm sure glad to get to Friday. The Les Enfants team are incredibly busy with preparations for Christmas parties and much more besides, including a cute Minnie Mouse themed party. Remember to get in touch with the London or Manchester offices to book for Christmas, there is very limited availablity now.

I am thrilled today to share a fabulous real party, inspired by the Disney movie, Tangled. Brigett, of Perideau Designs, contacted me a couple of weeks ago to share her daughter, Kendall's fourth birthday party. Inspired by the scenes in Tangled when Rapunzel & Flynn are having fun in the centre of the town, Brigett set about creating a party to remember.

Brigett designed all the party stationery and favour bags herself. However she found the menu more of challenge as the food available at Street Fairs tends to be fried and Brigett didn't want to be stuck behind a fryer for the whole party. Although she managed to enlist the help of her sister who did a short stint frying and the guests enjoyed doughnuts, popcorn, pretzels and churro's.

Brigett also designed the cake but it was made by Dee's One Smart Cookie. Here is the reason Brigett choose Dee's - "Dee and I are on a first name basis since I’ve become nearly a weekly customer picking up allergen-free (delicious I might add!) cupcakes for all of the parties Kendall attends. Dee’s cakes are just as outstanding and she never fails."

The cake looks amazing and I love the large plait flowing down the tiers of the cake. The sunflag banner around the tables was designed by Just A Little Favour and the sun flag banner above the food table was designed by L'il Bumpkin.

The young party guests had fun bouncing around on a bouncy castle and had their faces painted and all put a painted handprint on a blank canvas which now hangs in Brigett's daughters bedroom.

The favour bags that Brigett had designed for the party came in handy when the sweets fell from the pinata, shaped like Pascal from the film, brought from Birchangel.

I'm sure you will all agree that his looks like a fun party and shows perfectly that choosing a film theme does not necessarily mean using the liscensed party goods available. Again a little bit of imagination goes a long way! Thank you Brigett for sharing this adorable party.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend an please get in touch if you would like to share your childs party here on Let's Plan A Party.

Zoe

A Personalised Christmas

2011-11-09T07:30:00.000Z

Good morning, I hope you are all well. I cannot believe it is now less than seven weeks until Christmas. My children have written their lists and I really must start to get organised. I am sure many of you are also starting to think about presents and with so many beautiful personalised gifts available from fabulous desinger makers here in the UK I thought I would put together some ideas for you today. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some fabulous present ideas to help you in your search.

Stocking from Retreat Home ~ Sack from Laura Windebank Design

Stocking & Sack from Milly & Pip

1st Christmas Star & Heart from GiddyKipper

1st Christmas Plate from Bluebell Create

1st Ceramic Christmas Bauble from Sioned ap Gareth

1st Christmas Babygro's from Tillie Mint

1st Christmas Fairy Print from Lizajdesign

1st Christmas Photo Album from John Lewis

Oak Rope Swing from Sitting Spiritually

Handpainted Wooden Door Plaques from Moobaacluck

Vintage Heart Necklace from Hurleyburley Junior

(All of above can be personalised with your childs name)

Many of the products featured today will need to be ordered very soon to ensure they are made and sent to you before Christmas, so don't delay order today!

Take care
Zoe
x

Real Party - Robot Birthday

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000Z

Good Morning! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and enjoyed any fireworks parties. Today I am thrilled to share another real party from one of our readers. Robots make for a great theme and when I received this party in my inbox I knew it would offer lots of inspriation for you all. So I will now hand you over to Maria, from Etincelle Creative Studio to share how she created the robot party.

This Robot party was to celebrate my client's first son Oliver's fifth birthday. He chose the theme {Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was his next best wish} and we started working on the party three weeks before the chosen date.

My client gave me guidelines such as the color scheme {navy blue, orange and light blue} and her wish was to have handmade pencil cases as party favors. There were twenty children attending the party.

I started with gathering ideas and inspiration on Pinterest which I then sent to my client {you can check my board here}. The second no-brainer was to source on Etsy for the party set and eventually the pencil cases.

We both fell for Jayme's robot invitation in her shop jaymemarie. It was easy to ask her to change the robot main body color into navy blue to suit our theme better. I also proposed to create a robot photo booth + a robot centerpiece and the birthday boy loved both ideas!

The banner being in a bright orange I quickly decided to use a navy blue background {a piece of cotton fabric} to have it pop out and then brought table clothes in the other matching two colors of our theme. I also visualized a three-dimensional display on the main table and got foam cubes that I covered with orange paper. We displayed the candy jars and birthday cake; it was really nice and relatively easy to make as well.

The party was supposed to take place on Sunday late afternoon but one week before the event we had to change the date {ahh!!} and set it to Saturday morning instead. Oliver's mum and dad had the BRILLIANT idea of having a birthday-brunch and they worked out a splendid menu: NYC Bagel Factory bagels filled with salmon/ cream cheese, omelet/ sausage sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, croissant, plain bagels with different type of spreads {jam, peanut butter...}, fruit platters, cupcakes and birthday cake were all on the menu. We limited the candies to gum bears, chocolate pills and lollipops. As drinks there were apple and orange juices + water, and the parents were delighted to have fresh cappuccinos/ espressos or lattes to start their day {coffee machine worked marvels}.

I had prepared a craft kit for kids to enjoy at any time during the party; a robot on a stick super simple to assemble. Just pre-cut the square/ rectangle shapes in foam, add one chenille for the arms, a pair of eyes and a wooden "ice-cream" stick in a transparent plastic bag. You will only need glue and markers on the day to assemble your robot and "decorate" it and possibly some guidance too.

We didn't find anything suitable on Etsy for the party favors, and I suggested to my client that I could make them myself. It was a bit time-consuming to find the right fabric, I ended up buying it online at Fat Connection and I found an excellent tutorial on Pinterest; it took me 9 hours to complete the twenty pencil cases from start to finish.

The birthday cake was from The Patissier, a locally-grown patisserie in Singapore. The base of the cake was a delicious strawberry shortcake and the top a cute little robot matching the one on the invitation and edible as it was made of fondant.

Oliver's dad organized some games with prizes and the children enjoyed playing at the nearby playground as well.

Thank you so much Marie for letting me share this here on Let's Plan A Party. This certainly looks like a fun party! I love the colours and as a parent the thought of excellent coffee and sausage sandwiches for a childs birthday brunch is too good to be true!

Would you like to share a childrens party that you have created here on Let's Plan A Party? Please get in touch zoe{at}lesenfants{dot}co{dot} uk

Take care
Zoe
x

The Party Clinic

2011-11-04T07:30:00.000Z

Last week I invited you all to ask myself and the Les Enfants team your party planning questions if you were struggling with something whilst planning your next party. I had planned to answer the questions in todays post but it seems you are all very organised and there are no questions to be answered! So instead for todays post I would like to share with you an invaluable resource in planning a party. Bridgett of Perideau Designs created this great party planning printable when she was planning her daughters party, which I will be featuring on this blog in the next couple of weeks. So pop over to Bridgett's blog and download your own party planning checklist, which I am sure will be invaluable, especially in the run up to Christmas.

Click HERE to get your own Party Planning Checklist

Whether you are struggling with ideas for games, party food or even a theme why not leave a question in the comments on this post and the Les Enfants team will be happy to help.

I hope you all have a fab weekend and stay safe and warm if you are heading off to a fireworks display.

Have fun,
Zoe
x

Ballerina Party Inspiration

2011-11-02T07:30:00.000Z

Morning! I hope you all had a spooky Halloween, I had so many trick and treaters that I actually ran out of treats! Thankfully there were no nasty tricks discovered in the garden this morning. Now spooky season is over I thought I would create something pretty for todays post.

There is something magical about ballet, the way the dancers manage to cast a spell over the audience and take us in to a world of make believe. Perhaps it is this spell that makes most three year old girls want to be a ballerina. I know I loved ballet classes when I was little and my own daughters have all at some stage loved the idea of being a ballerina. Also the storybook mouse of Angelina Ballerina has captured the imagination of little girls as they practice pirouettes across their living rooms all over the world. I recently read Ballet Shoes by Noel Steatfield with my eldest daughter and loved the story as much now as I did as a young girl.

So for todays post I have some inspiration to help get you started in planning a pretty pink ballet party for your own budding ballerinas.

{Ballet Tutu Invite} {Ballerina Invite} {Twinkle Toes Invite} {Printed Tutu Invite}

Perhaps you would like to make your own invitations from pale pink card cut into the shape of ballet shoes. There is also a good selection of invitations available in shops and on the internet. My favourites have to be the beautiful tutu invites above from Aimes Design, I'm just not sure how you would get them into an envelope?

Plush Parties have everything you need to make a beautiful party.

This printable set from The TomKat Studio is perfect for a ballet party.

This table setting from Le Petit Party certainly has the wow factor!

I love the large fan circles in this display from Pizzazzerie.

(see below how to make them)

Tissue paper pompoms would make pretty decoration for your ballet party or large paper fan circles made with pretty paper.To make large pleated fan circles you willneed two sheets of giftwrap paper, roughly A3 in size. Place one of the sheets facedown on yourtable or work space and fold over a 2cm deep strip across the width of the paper. Turn the paper over so the right side is nowfacing you with the folded end closest to you fold back another 2cm strip. Continue to do this for the full length ofthe paper making a concertina. Now fold the pleated paper in half, creasing thefold firmly. Secure the crease with apiece of plastic covered wire and then open out the two halves. With a gluestick run down the length of theouter strip of one half then fold the pleated paper in half again to stick thetwo halves together. You should now havehalf of your pleated paper fan! Repeatthese steps with the second sheet of giftwrap. The last step is to run a gluestick down the outside edges of one ofyour semicircles and stick to the edge of the other semicircle, to make acircle. This can now be hung from the ceilingor stuck to a wall behind a dessert table.

Image credit Kellie Spicknell

Last week The Dressing Up Chest hosted a party for their photoshoot and I'm sure you will agree their tutu's are beautiful. They are designed and made in the UK by The Dressing Up Chest team and would make a great costume for your little ballerinas.

Macaroons from Bobo

(image credits Bobo/Claudine Hartzel)

Towers of pretty pink macaroons will delight your guests.

{Tutu Toppers} {Cupcakes & Popcorn} {Ballerina Toppers}

Cupcakes topped with ballerinas and tutu's would be perfect for this theme aswell as a dessert table with pink popcorn, tutu or ballet shoe cookies and delicious pink jellies.

Party games can be ballet themed takes on traditional games, maybe pin the ballet shoe on the ballerina, musical pirouettes but be careful nobody gets too dizzy! Perhaps your little ballerinas would enjoy creating a ballet show for when their parents arrive to collect them. Another idea would be to contact your local dance school to see if they offer ballet parties, teaching basic steps to budding ballerinas.

Most importantly, have lots of fun!

Zoe

PS Have you hosted a ballet themed party? I would love to share it here on the blog, please email me zoe{at}lesenfants{dot}com