Octonaut's to the HQ - Take II

Beau Turns 3!

After seeing his brother have an Octonaut's Party back in December, there was no denying Beau his own Octo-themed celebration when he turned 3 in January (I know I am very tardy with writing this blog post). 

After all the work that went into making the decorations for the first party, I was more than happy to get some more use out of the 3 foot high Octonaut characters and the schools of jellyfish we had made! But after all the hard work of hosting parties (Ruby Wedding Anniversaries and Octonaut Parties) I was feeling too tired for another huge extravaganza at the house. So we headed to the park, secured a cabana early and set up the Octonaut decorations around the playground.

It was fantastic. I didn't have to spend a week before the party cleaning and tidying (& cleaning & tidying & cleaning & tidying &…). The kids could run wild and they were not in fear of break anything in our house. We had fruit, croissants, cheese and an Octo-Alert cake. We had the Octonaut party game which we had created for Noah's party - "Peso's Rescue Mission" where all the kids were given "creature cards" and had to rescue their animal from a huge fishing net . Once again it was a huge Octo-success. 

We had beautiful weather and the kids exhausted themselves! Happy Birthday Beau!

A Ruby Wedding Anniversary - A Photo Essay

Way back in November, my sisters and I hosted a surprise 40th Wedding Anniversary party for our parents. We invited 30 of their nearest and dearest family and friends and created a 3 course sit down feast. For months beforehand we met and talked and planned and trialled and created dishes and scoured Pinterest and made decorations and deceptions {it is no easy feat to keep a secret from ones parents for several months}.

The theme was easy. Ruby. We added a hint of blackboard chic, and simple elegance. I created a "blackboard" poster with facts about our parents and their 40 years of marriage. The table was decorated with personalised black bonbons - which contained trivia questions, and a black and  white photograph of each guest with our parents taken some time in the last 40 years. We set up a Photo booth for the guests including some vintage frames, a few "ruby" accessories and fake mustaches for guests to don.

The tables were set up outdoors and we decorated the back yard with glass jar lanterns which my brother-in-law made. Some were dyed red and others left clear. These made the garden look truly magical. We inserted black and white photographs of our parents into all the photo frames in my sisters house, making every room a little tribute to our parents and their marriage.

The menu centered around our parents favourite dishes. Starting with a tomato and a watermelon gazpacho amuse bouche, the entree was a prawn cocktail (Heston style), the main was a slow roasted lamb shoulder, and for dessert my sister created a spectacular ice cream and affogato bar.

With a lot of preparations, I think it was an amazingly successful and special night for our parents.