A "Big Barn Farm" Party

Barnaby's 1st Birthday party and I think I'm going to admit defeat when it comes to holding my kids' parties at the house...at least until we move.  Our garden is pretty tiny, and whilst that's ok with a few babies, it gets somewhat tricky with all the family, our growing little girl and her friends all being squeezed into an area the size of a postage stamp.  Our main issue is that we like to invite everyone! My husband has a lot of family that live near us and I know my parents, brother, sister-in-law and best friend enjoy coming...well enjoy may be the wrong word...let's face it, they don't have a choice! They are generally roped into sandwich making, table moving and drink making duty and I am hugely grateful for the extra pairs of hands! If it was just the kids coming to the parties, then I don't think our lack of space would be such an issue.  It's far easier (and cheaper) to decorate a small space but it's nice to include everyone and we like to have an excuse to get the family and friends together, so I guess from now on I'm going to have to figure out how to dress a bigger venue with the same budget...joy.

Anyway, back to the farm party and I think now might be the best time to admit that prep for this started a good 2 months before.  I know that seems crazy but I don't spend all day doing things for the party and it really needs to fit into pockets of time I get on odd evenings when the kids aren't poorly or teething, we aren't painting the living room, I'm not working or the husband isn't coming home from the pub, half cut telling me we've agreed to write the pub quiz! I would put something about my raving social life getting in the way  here, but who am I kidding?!)

As I mentioned, we held this party in our garden and put up the trusty party marquee as the weather was a bit iffy, it also gives a good backdrop and surfaces to decorate.

We borrowed some hay and straw bales from a family friend and they really helped to set the scene.

The piñata came from EBay and I filled it with streamers, farm animal printed balloons and animal masks which needed a bit of manhandling to fit in but luckily came out ok when it was pulled!

I made simple animal jigsaws by just tracing animal shapes onto card and cutting out basic jigsaw shapes, they weren't anything special but was a quick, free craft to entertain the kids as I hid them all over the garden and the kids seemed to enjoy racing around trying to find all of the pieces.

Sid the Scarecrow was made some weeks in advance over the course of a few evenings.  I ordered some cheap potato sacks from eBay and used a big upholstery needle and garden twine to stitch him together.  Tabatha helped me to pack him with straw and a few buttons and a charity shop straw hat finished him off. It was actually so simple and quick once I started it and mum gave me a hand finishing him off as I was drastically running out of time!  We mounted him on a wooden stake the night before so that he could be pushed into the grass and his head was held up (we just tied him to the wood with twine).

There were a couple of crafts for the kids to get involved with making sheep and "stained glass" chickens; I've posted a how to on a separate blog. Very simple and no messy painting.

When it comes to the food, I made very little as I have now learnt that holding the party after lunch means that no one expects to have their main meal at the party and you can definitely get away with just cake and nibbles! I learnt this the hard way, catering for the masses at my daughter's last do! So, aside from the main cake, I made marshmallow and vanilla cupcakes, some sarnis for the kids, crisps and raisins.  Recipes and how to on separate blog.

The main cake was started weeks before and I tackled each element separately.  The more you can do before, the better.  All of the animals were made from modelling paste over a few weeks and stored ready to be assembled the night before.  I just googled some pics and had a go at copying.  I also invested in a set of modelling "tools" for a couple of quid this time around (if I'm honest, I don't really know how to use them but some of them came in handy for making markings or sticking things together!) So really it's just the cakes that need baking and stacking the night before. Even that resulted in a near meltdown as the buttercream was too runny (never try a new recipe the night before!) and was seaping out of the side resulting in ripped fondant and a bloody mess.  A bit of emergency buttercream scooping and luckily a new piece of fondant and the cake was at least covered, even though it bulged at the back as the buttercream was squeezed out of the sides from the weight of the cakes...never mind, no one really noticed and I covered it up as much as I could with fencing!

I didn't have any of the unfortunate melting incidents with this one but am looking forward to that issue again when I start my daughter's cake shortly! Out come the fans and dehumidifiers!

Instead of party bags, I decided to get the walking balloons online and give those out instead.  I got a mixture of different farm animals and had them inflated in town-some odd looks when you're walking   8 balloon animals through the high street! The kids loved them and you can re inflate them.  Tabatha insisted on putting them all "to bed" at the end of the day.

Budget: well under £100 including all food, decorations, crafts and invitations.  Bear in mind, I don't have a stock of coloured card, glue, goggly eyes etc, so this stuff is one purchase for lots of crafts/parties.  

As always, thanks so much to my talented sister-in-law for some lovely shots of the party.