Posts in Parenting
Label your jigsaws!
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Big boy went quietly over to his new (to him, I got them from eBay) set of jigsaws earlier and set about completing them, all by himself! I realised I hadn't marked them like I normally do, before I give them to him. So I quickly grabbed a pen and used different shapes to indicate which jigsaw was which. Much easier than trying to keep them in separate freezer bags which I have tried before, as they always get mixed up!

This way, it's part of the game to sort them before you start the jigsaw!

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The perfect party part 3
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The games. We had games for each of the Wonder Pets characters!

Linny's lucky dip! ( Our sand/water table filled with sawdust and stretchy, slimy snakes and lizards)

Tuck's turf of tattoos! (Cartoon animal, rub on tattoos layered on a tray of real turf)

Ming Ming's save the ducks! (A paddling pool with multi coloured ducks and matching fishing nets. Save all your colour ducks and win a Ming Ming mask)

We also had a bouncy castle, which even Granny enjoyed and Wonder bumps! Musical bumps where no one is out, the winner each round was the fastest to sit down and they won a miniature plastic trophy!

I also made, as a back up, incase all the other games failed to raise a smile to our shyer guests, some colouring packs. I stuck sticky dots on a peg and used it to hold a pizza slice freezer bag together. Inside was a cheap packet of crayons and a Wonder Pets colouring sheet, we downloaded free from the Nick Jr website. Fortunately, they all had a fantastic time, so I gave them out with the party favour bags!

But the best thing we did, was enlist the help of my sister, and paint a sky scene on an old sheet! We made cardboard buildings and then with the help of a super hero cape - the boy was flying! A few others had a turn at being a flying hero too!

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The perfect party part 2
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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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