Amelia’s 3rd Birthday

Last week was Amelia’s 3rd birthday with her party on the Saturday and her actual birthday the following Tuesday. I thought it might be a lovely idea to pull it all together in one post so I can look back on it and remind myself how much fun she had. 

Planning a birthday party is no joke, I did one for her 1st birthday and that was stressful but this time around she knows things. She knows what birthdays are all about; cake of course, so I felt a lot more pressure to create a day she would really enjoy. 

Deciding to have a party was a bit of a last minute decision so there wasn’t time to organise a hall or venue, it was happening at our house which was quite daunting when all of her little friends confirmed they could come and suddenly there were going to be 11 children and 19 adults in our front room. 

I hit Pinterest hard, mainly looking for cake inspiration so that I could get our order in with a local lady who is amazing! She made our wedding cake and Amelia’s 1st birthday cake and this one did not disappoint either. I was looking at themes and ideas and actually it was the cake that determined the pastel coloured theme for the whole party. 

Cue lots of pastel related paraphernalia being ordered on Amazon; bunting, balloons, paper plates and cups, birthday banners, party bags etc… there’s a lot of love out there for pastel colours so it’s actually really easy to get everything you need. 

I deliberately didn’t tell Amelia about her party until a couple of days before, I couldn’t stand the thought of her waking up every morning thinking it was her party day and having to explain it was still 3 weeks away to a child who thinks anything that happened in the past was just yesterday. 

She honestly had the best time at her party, all of her friends came, everyone played really nicely together and although some of them didn’t know each other I guess that doesn’t really matter when you’re 3. 

The ball pit which was a last minute pull from the garage was a big hit with the big and little ones.

 

 

I didn’t have any party games for the children this year, I didn’t think at 3 they would all understand and I half expected tears and tantrums if someone won and got a prize so I decided to just make it like one really big, busy play date with tons of food and a giant cake. 

It went perfectly, no one cried, no one threw a tantrum, nothing got broken and other than crumbs nothing got spilt. 

Amelia ate more from the buffet than I’ve ever seen her try, although her constant “I’m still hungry” was really just code for “When are we having the cake?” 

Amelia even got to cut her own cake; with a little help from Daddy. 

And it turns out, if you want to round up a group of pre-schoolers – just get a cake out and sit on the floor. 

We allowed her to open her gifts from her party that evening and we spent Sunday playing with them, she was very lucky and very spoilt. 

The night before her actual birthday I set up her presents all ready for her. 

It took her approx 0.23 seconds to put that Rapunzel dress on and she wore it all day. All day, even out to the pub for her birthday tea. 

Her Nana and Grandad came back over to see her which just makes her the happiest person in the world and I was determined to get a nice photo of them all together since we didn’t manage it at the party. 

Since her birthday I’ve not been very well which has meant we’ve spent the rest of the week at home. That’s actually been a bit of a blessing because she played with all her new toys and gifts. 

A week after her party I asked her what her favourite thing about her birthday was?

“The cake, and my friends all came to play”

That right there makes all the stress of party planning so so worth it. 

Rachel xx