Toy Kingdom

Good evening everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely summer. Here at Les Enfants we have been busy jet setting and enjoying the school holidays, I am off again tomorrow to Bergen in Norway which I am very excited about, Helen has been enjoying the Spanish Sunshine, and Katie has been touring the beautiful french countryside. However, I have had time for one more blog post before I go..

We have been busy over the past few months researching and liaising with some fantastic children's party venues across London, so I thought it would be a good idea to showcase a new found favourite of ours, 'The Toy Kingdom' which is situated on the third floor of Harrods. 

Summer Holiday Activities

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather we have been having recently, especially whilst the kids are off school- and although they are happy to entertain themselves in the garden with something as simple as the garden hose...if you are looking for a few different ideas and activities hopefully this post will be of some help to you. 

Sweet Treats

We have all had our thinking caps on in the office this week, trying to come up with some new and different ideas for treats to go on our sweetie tables. With so much inspiration from our American neighbours we have managed to suggest a number of delicious treats to our fantastic supplier utterly charming cakes and are all very much looking forward to trying them out next week! 

I am going to give you a sneak preview of a couple of our ideas in this blog post, and if you have any further suggestions yourself i would love to hear from you!

Simple but delicious chocolate covered pretzel sticks, can be decorated in many ways to fit the theme of your party or sweetie table

Ahoy!

Last week I spent a few frantic days collecting as many ship props as I could find in order to style a photo shoot on board the HMSBelfast. The ship is permanently docked on the River Thames just south of Tower Bridge, with excellent transport links via London Bridge station which is just a short minute walk away.

We styled a nautical shoot, but of course had to be respectful of the ship, and be careful not to style the party pirate or sailor themed but instead channel a rustic, grand ship feel, to be in keeping with the ships heritage.

We set up a lovely little tea table using our own unique printables, along with our melamine plates and personalised accessories. We also set up a sweetie display using nautical themed treats and various props. The photo shoot was captured beautifully by Claudia Rose Carter.

Nautical sweetie display, all of our detail from the printables to the treats are tailored and personalised to your specific theme.

Our nautical tea table scene, with personalised napkins wraps, bottled water and party hats.

Our paper straws with our printable straw flags

Captain Noah's invitations and thank you cards

Our handmade party bags

Our main cake with anchor and rope details, and our buttercream cupcakes courtesy of Utterly Charming Cakes topped with our cake topper printables

Fantastic anchor detail on our main cake

Our personalised chocolate bars are always a huge hit on our sweetie tables,   and a lovely thing to keep to remember your childs special day

Anchor biscuits and hand painted nautical cake pops, courtesy of Cake Pop Princess

Our lovely litte 'Thank you' label which can be attached to our party bags 

If you would like any further information on this party or any other party themes that we do, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 020 8502 9988 or send us an email at info@lesenfants.co.uk,

I hope you have enjoyed this post, I certainly enjoyed styling it,

Speak soon!

Zahra Noble xxx

Pretty Printables...

We are thrilled to showcase a couple of our new printables for you that were designed last week. 

We have focused on some little boys parties this week including a fun 'cowboys and indian' theme and a 'nautical' theme party, which we used for our photoshoot this week on the HMSBelfast, in central London. 

I absolutely love this cowboy and indian theme, I have already started plannng a quote for this party with the hopes that someone will book it soon... such a rustic, different theme and suitable for boys and girls ... the party games would be great!

Our nautical themed printables were created for out photoshoot on HMSBelfast last week, make sure to check our facebook page and next blog entry for our shoot photos.

'You are invited to Captain Noahs Nautical Birthday!'

'Thank you card for Noahs Nautical Birthday! '

Rope napkin wraps

Our straw flags and sweetie signs

Our table scatters

'Captain Noah's Chocolate Bars'

'Happy 5th Birthday Noah'

We are currently in the process of creating some fantastic new printables which will eventually be available to purchase in our future online shop so make sure to keep an eye out!

Hope you are all having a good week! 

Speak soon, 

Zahra xxx

DIY Party Hats

After last weeks 'madhatter tutorial' I felt inspired to do a little research on more party hat ideas and tutorials. I love designing tailored hats for our parties, not only do they add another design element to our tea tables, but they also look fantastic for the photographs afterwards. There is nothing sweeter than a long bespoke tea table filled with children wearing pom pom party hats or lace crowns whilst eating off their matching melamine plates and drinking from their stripy or polka-dot paper straws. The children become part of the design which really makes for some beautiful photography and lasting memories..

Below i have attached a few of my favourites with links to tutorials so that you can make your very own hats! Enjoy...

These beautiful pom pom hats would look really lovely at any party. These hats are available from American retailer 'Shop Sweet Lulu' (link) however, I urge you to try and make your own- its great fun!

I absolutely love this 'sock monkey' hat. Would be brilliant for a first birthday...
Tutorial

Pretty, pretty, pretty, A beautiful design for a summer garden party, (especially now as summer appears to be on its way at last!)
Tutorial 

I love these lace crown designs. I recently made 30 for a 'Once Upon a Time' party and loved how they looked on the table and on the heads of all the little princesses
Tutorial 

A really lovely design for a cowboy and indian party, or peter pan and the lost boys!
Tutorial

These hats will make any little girl feel like a princess. An 'enchanted fairytale' theme party would be perfect ..
Tutorial

I hope you have enjoyed this post and have a lovely week!

Talk soon,

Zahra xxx

Love is in the art...

Valentine Crafts

Valentines day is finally upon us. If you have been following my previous posts your house will be decorated and your party food will be prepared (perhaps..) and now your wondering how to entertain the kids, keeping in mind the traditional game of 'spin the bottle' may not be best appropriate.

Valentines day, for me anyway, is always associated with craft projects. Theres nothing like saying 'I Love You' by creating something unique and personal for your loved ones, something that money can't buy. Below I have explained a few projects for children to enjoy, and then a couple more tricky ones for you...

Beautiful, handmade, valentines bunting. With a little help from a grown up, this could make a fun Valentines day activity. Extremely cheap to create, and easy to do and once finished, your child will be extremely proud to hang this in their bedroom.
The simple instructions

Cookie Decorating.  A great party activity for your children to get creative. A sprinkle of Icing sugar,  a dash of food colouring and some small sweeties such as jelly tots, millions or chocolate drops work best on top for small children. Of course you can cut a few corners and buy plain heart cookies from any of the leading supermarket stores or you can bake your own using a heart cookie cutter.
Delicious sugar cookie recipe

Button cards. So easy to create, but really effective. Have a raid through your old sewing box and collect as many unusual buttons as possible. 

The kids can get stuck in stirring, and pouring  this sweet-smelling mixture and with just a few simple ingredients, they make a lovely little gifts for classmates!
Handmade soap recipe 

A few crafty ideas for the grown ups...

These beautiful ribbon-laced cards from Martha Stewart would make a beautiful card, or display if framed for around your home. Slightly more tricky, so I would keep this one for the grown ups.

Transfer your favourite photo onto a block of wood for a different take on popular canvas hangings. It does take a little while to do, however i managed to reduce a 6ft 6 man to tears with mine last year so I know from experience it is a great present! (see mine below)

There are plenty of written instructions on how to do this, but the easiest one is in the form of a video tutorial, 

I hope you enjoy!

Video tutorial 

I hope this entry has inspired you to get creative this Valentines day! No matter how you choose to spend it, I hope you all have a wonderful day and please let me know if you try any of my suggestions, I would love to see them! 

Lots of love and speak soon, 

Zahra xxx

Love is in the food..

Valentine treats

If you are planning a party with a large group or just a couple of children, it is a lovely idea to create your very own 'sweetie table' filled with delicious treats for your guests to enjoy. Whether you decide to do some home baking or buy in some goodies, the following suggestions may help you to decide on which treats to choose for your valentines table.

 

These chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles and edible glitter are incredibly easy to make and will look lovely on your table

Strawberry milk and love heart cupcakes.
 Get this recipe here at Glorious Treats

Choose a bottle and fill up with some colour coordinated m&m's, and then make personalised labels for each of your party guests to take home for a loving gesture.

Why not splurge and treat yourself to some incredibly delicious LADURÉE macaroons for the day?
Ladurée Online

Mini Cheesecakes with raspberry hearts
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Balsamic & strawberry butter cake topped with macaroons- stunning
Recipe from Raspberri Cupcakes

Why not display some beautiful cake pops for something different?

These cake pop wands from Cake Pop Princess are beautiful!

If you are also planning to serve a dinner plate at your party, then the following suggestions are for you.  Beetroot-based dishes could be a great option. Not only is this typically British veg incredibly tasty, but it will make any dish a vibrant pink colour, coordinating with the valentine theme. 

Delicious beetroot pasta from Abel and Cole.
I promise this dish will not disappoint!
Abel and Cole Recipe #30

Perfectly pink soup from Abel and Cole
Yum!
Abel and Cole Recipe #37

To ensure your table is as pretty as it can be, it may be a good idea to invest in some beautiful serve-ware. 'Not on the high street' have a lovely collection, I particularly like this glass dome stand for displaying your cupcakes...

I hope these suggestions have been of some help to you, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Until next time..

Zahra xxx

Love is in the air...

Valentines day is just two short weeks away, giving us enough time to decide how we want to spend the day. No matter what you decide, there are plenty of ideas out there to inspire even the busiest of people.

Whether you choose to decorate your house, hold a party, create a special card for a loved one or just rustle up some tasty treats with the kids, I hope the following entries will be of some help to you. I have searched the internet for the best ideas and will have great pleasure in sharing these with you over the next couple of days.

Valentines Party Ideas

Decoration  

With some pink streamers, a couple of balloons and some paper fans a room can be transformed into a beautiful and classic Valentines setting

This Valentines tea table is perfect, i especially love the poms poms attached to the wall!

I simple love these love heart balloons, (see link below)
http://www.partydecorate.co.uk/product-catalogue/Heart_Shaped_Balloons

With some hessian, paint, string and a glue gun you can easily make this lovely bunting which could make a lovely addition to your Valentines party, whats more the kids will have a great time painting personalised designs

However, if you feel more capable these felt heart garlands  may take a bit more time to create, but are incredibly pretty!

This beautiful valentines table has such a simple yet, beautifully effective backdrop that is incredible easy to replicate with a few envelopes, a ruler and some masking tape

 I love this idea for a photo-booth during your party, of course this requires a bit more DIY but the photos at the end will surely be worth it (once hung they can also be used for future Valentines decorations!)

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us via facebook or email (stylist@lesenfants.co.uk) for further suggestions. Over the following days I will be suggesting delicious valentines treats ( both healthy and not so much...) as well as drinks, valentines party games and ideas for homemade cards, 

in the mean time I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will speak to you soon, 

Zahra xxx