The party food. I set all the little tables and chairs on the stage in the hall. I used plastic miniature garden fencing, wedged into pots of play dough, to pen them all in!

I used this great wipe clean vinyl, from Dunelm Mill with a pattern of grass and straw for the tablecloths! We had printed labels for the food tables with Wonder Pets inspired anecdotes. Wonder Water, rescue rice cakes, lovely life rings, amazing animal biscuits, Tuck's shop and pet's popping corn! I also made mini club sandwiches with a layer of cheese and ham, held together with tiny flag cocktail sticks! Super sandwich stacks!

I found brightly coloured pet bowls to use as snack trays and bought Wonder Pets edible rice paper cake toppers from a cake store on eBay, which I used on yoghurt coated rice cakes, homemade chocolate lollipops and stuck a couple around the base of the cake!

Spotty sticky dots livened up some fibre planting pots from B & Q, which became snack pots full of popcorn and bear shaped crisps. It was so much more fun letting them all have a little pot to themselves, rather than all grabbing for a giant bowl with sticky fingers!

The inserts to hanging baskets made great serving bowls, which I lined with a polka dot napkin.

We had a tuck shop, with brightly coloured buckets and spades and little clear plastic bags that the children and adults could fill with sweets and then stick a label with the turtle character on, to keep their sweet treats safe! My favourite was the lolly trolley. I put a piece of florists oasis in the boy's mini wagon and stuck different lollipops into it at different angles!

Traditional party food served with an animal twist!

I made individual place settings so the children would have something to look at whilst they waited for their parents to fill their party plate up from the buffet. I painted mini circular oasis, then poked in a mini windmill, paper straw with a marshmallow on top, a flower cocktail stick and a super hero lolly. I used these great printable capes from Zakka Life!

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This is post one of... I am not sure how many, I just have so much to share! Post 1

Big boy's arrival

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We hired the local village hall and filled it with streamers, balloons, bunting, bows and a bouncy castle!

We had the magnificent edupet for an hour and a half of pure toddler bliss, holding and learning about a menagerie of animals, ranging from a 3 ft green iguana, python, baby barn owl, hedgehog, ducklings, chicken, tarantula to hamsters, a chinchilla, mice, rabbits and guinea pigs. They had almost the same amount again in insects, lizards, rats and gerbils. This was only half their collection too, the rest were at home! You pay per child and it is a totally hands on experience. It certainly went with the Wonder Pets theme! My husband even conquered his life long fear and touched the snake!

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Inspired by the latest Cath Kidston catalogue, which featured a Jubilee trifle, I concocted these sweet little Jubilee nests, which as soon as you crack into them, resemble an Eton mess! Hey presto - my Jubilee mess! My basket of goodies - meringue nests, squirty cream (for white), strawberries (for red) and blueberries (for blue) and your toppings.

I made chocolate crowns from a mould I bought, cheap as chips on eBay and patriotic sprinkles from Hobbycraft. I melted a bar of chocolate in the microwave for a minute and a half then set it in the fridge for a few hours. One bar made 6 crowns.

Slightly crush your blueberries with a fork to stop them rolling off the meringue. Add thinly sliced strawberries, a squirt of cream and add your topping!

Kids and adults will love them and you could make mini versions, if you chopped the top off the mini meringues you can buy in a pot. Making meringues not my strong point!

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