I’d spent a large part of the week asking the weather gods to be kind

and to give us good weather – no rain

and kind they were.

In fact they delivered us a really hot day, which was a bit more than what I’d asked for

but there was no rain.

The week leading up to the party had been full of preparation

but come Saturday it was all about the food

and by that night I could hardly  move.

Remind me of this, the next time I tell you all I am planning a large birthday party, okay.

I must have been very out of practice.

I’d forgotten how much you hurt by the end of it all.

Anyway on Sunday morning we all got up early to decorate and do the final food preparation.

When I say we, I mean, our family plus some of the big kids’ friends who had kindly offered to be a part of my small party army.

The fairy grotto came together nicely.

The front part of the yard has lots of trees and is very shady – perfect for fairy hollows,

which we created by stringing up mossie nets

and  laying down lots of blankets and pillows for the fairy princesses to relax in.

I made up fairy lemonade (lemon juice, sugar, water, frozen strawberries and lemon circles and ice)

and hulk juice (pineapple juice, fizzy lemonade, lime cordial, condensed milk, water and ice) for the super heroes.

They were both a big hit

but we also provided bottles of water and lots of ice for the kids because it was so hot.

We made up loads of fruit sticks (which the kids ignored).

Note to self: children won’t eat fruit at a party, unless they are Ivy.

We had a cupcake station

where the kids could come and decorate their own cupcake before eating it.

We’d cooked and frozen the cupcakes beforehand, so they were ready to go on the day.

The girls loved it.

The boys (aside from Noah the cake hound) needed alot of encouragement.

The boys spent most of their time in the super hero lair.

The bunnies didn’t seem to mind all the supermen and spideys climbing up and down as they captured the fairies and took them to the lair.

We only played two games.

Pass the parcel -

we had two separate packages, one for boys and one for girls.

We had way too much food.

Alot of the kids wouldn’t touch some of it when they found out it was gluten free,

which was a shame

but they all loved the mini pizza breads and the sausages on a stick (we didn’t tell them they were gluten free too, we just quietly told Ivy she could eat them).

The super hero biscuits and the fairy wands went down well.

One of the things I learnt while running the party was that I had to let go of alot of stuff.

I couldn’t do it all (and I knew it)

so I asked the kids if a couple of their friends would be willing to come along to help.

I had two manning the cupcakes

AJ and one of his mates were security on the jumpy castle

and one of the girls is so very talented with face painting, so she did all of that for me

and I had to hand my camera over sometimes too.

That was really hard but the teens all did a fabulous job of capturing some of the things I wouldn’t have been able to.

a fairy princess has been captured by the super heroes

We had lots of free play.

Some of the fairies went to relax in the fairy grotto,

others played with some of Ivy’s toys we had placed around

but most ran themselves ragged in the jumpy castle.

We had a treasure hunt (one for heroes and one for fairies)

and there were kids running all over the yard, following clues and working out where the treasure was.

I think that was my favourite part of the day.

I’d worked really hard on the clues

and the fairy princesses loved their glitter

and the super heroes loved their kryptonite.

After that came the insanity of gift opening.

Oh. My. Goodness!

Ivy and Noah were given so much stuff.

It was beyond amazing.

Note to self: next time remind the parents – just a small gift, if they are going that way.

In the end Ivy was almost lost in the packaging and the paper!

Noah was completely overwhelmed.

I talked to them later about donating some of their things to people who were not as lucky as they were

and they handed over some of their gifts.

I was proud of Noah too for giving Mal some of his new matchbox cars and some of his lego so they could play together.

It’s so hard for Mal to get his head around sometimes but because of Noah’s generosity, Mal coped very well.

After that came the cakes.

Please forgive my bad photography.

I was, by that stage absolutely exhausted and I couldn’t hold the camera straight to save my life.

Noah’s cake was a rainbow cake,

which was one of the things on my 40 before 40 list – to make one from scratch.

I was really proud of how it turned out.

Ivy’s was of course a princess castle, that she had come across when she was sick and surfing You Tube one day.

It wasn’t perfect but she thought it was great.

It was also made from scratch and totally gluten and lactose free.

I didn’t tell the girls though.

They all enjoyed it just the same.

We sang the happy birthday song twice – once for each child (very important when you are a twin that you are treated as an individual too)

and then, as has become tradition in our family, Ivy and Noah (and Gran) sang the thank you song back to their friends.

The twins’ (fairy) godmother made the two hour trip up and brought the most amazing homemade jelly cake.

It was to die for.

It was also gluten and lactose free.

We had school friends and family.

Friends who share a special bond with Ivy

and

A special family member who came all the way  from Chicago and  spent the day with us too.

Even though we had two themes at the one party, it worked.

We tended to keep the boys and girls separated for games

but they were all really well behaved and played so well together.

After that, it was all over.

The kids handed out the party bags, the fairy dough and super hero slime

and a balloon to their friends.

Ivy and Noah thoroughly enjoyed their day, despite the heat

and I think the other kids did too.

Noah said, it felt like Christmas and I think that sums it up nicely.

I hope it was a party they will remember for a long time.

The pair slept like logs that night

and just quietly, I did too.