Mad Hatter's Party

We had a early birthday party for my nearly 9 year old today. It's been a huge weekend as he also had his Confirmation and First Communion on Saturday night. At his request it was a Mad Hatter's theme, and he got to wear his brother's bookweek costume (as was the plan all along). I was determined to keep it all pretty low tech, and the old classic, the egg and spoon race, was a highlight!

Decoration wise, the thing that I was most happy with were some VERY simple flowers made from tissue paper and florists wire. I now have a whole bouquet of them left over - love them.

This was the before photo of the cake. Definitely looking more 'safari hat' than 'mad hatter hat'. But the top was a chocolate shell with lollies inside. So this was the 'before' shot -

And here's the 'after'.

It was modelled on a Donna Hay spaceship cake, and while mine looked supremely dodgy and not really mad hattery at all, the kids loved it. The hammer was a big hit anyway (no really, it was!).

And because I'd over committed myself in my head, these lovely double-decker chicken sandwiches (also inspired by Donna Hay, and my nod to having some slightly healthy food) only got made because the very lovely Whitney came over and made them for me (she did lots of other very helpful stuff too! THANK YOU SO MUCH WHITNEY!) - 

The goody bags were put together late Saturday night. And Number 1 Son took on the job of decorating, running a scavenger hunt, and even got in and ran musical chairs and musical statues after the cake was demolished. He was a huge help and I didn't end up feeling like a performing clown, like I had after J's party two years ago.

So, we're 3/4 of the way through our 'birthday season'. One more to go in October. But now, to sleep. Goodnight!