I have a SUPER DUPER post to share with you today!

I am nurturing (ok drumming) a love of photography into my boys.

A photograph captures a moment you want to see again, that you want to treasure. 

In everyday life we take photos which make us smile, make us feel curious or make us want to share it with the world. 

I love that a picture can tell a story and the story can have a different meaning for each person that looks at it. 

These are your moments so capture them! 

I want you to join in with my nurturing of our children's inquisitive minds and enter the Kids Capture the Colour Competition, hosted by TravelSupermarket.

The first 100 bloggers to register receive a digital camera! Register your interest at kidscapturethecolour@travelsupermarket.com! 

The competition is open all through the summer to any blogger, with children aged 15 or under and a camera but you need to register!  

There are 5 category colours to enter RED, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW and WHITE.

In the words of TravelSupermarket:

"A category winner for each of the five colours will be selected by an expert judging panel made up of leading parenting and photography bloggers. Photography experts, Venture, will then choose our overall winner based on the best all-round entry."

To enter, write up your blog post explaining the five photos your child took and it would be lovely to hear about your little, or not so little ones, who took the photos!

The closing date for all entries is 9th October 2013. Make sure you register your application by 25th September 2013 by emailing kidscapturethecolour@travelsupermarket.com

Now for the fabulous bit! The prizes! 

The overall winner, chosen by Venture Photography, will receive a cash prize of £1000! WOW WEE! 

5 x Colour Category winners will win a Venture Photography Family Experience worth £500

The experience includes:

·         Fun and memorable photoshoot

A one hour unique and personal studio photo session worth £150

·         Creative image preparation

Several hours of digital work by the Venture photography creative team

·         Personal cinematic viewing

Preview of your image show in the Venture cinematic studio

·         Hand-made framed photograph

A Gallery Mini (152 x 152) framed wall product worth £350

I will be judging the Yellow category and can't wait to see how children interpret the colour yellow during the summer holidays. Will they think of sunshine, sunflowers, or sand?!

Some of your favourite parents bloggers who share a passion for photography will be judging the other categories. 

Red -  Mammasaurus Blue -  This Mummy Loves Green -  A Mummy Too White -  The Boy and Me 

This is a fantastic opportunity to get your children involved in photography. After all, we are usually the ones making them say cheese - get it yellow ;) 

We also had fun last year making up a colour chart game and I let Sammy loose with an old camera! I love that he is developing his own passion for photography.

Here is some of my own 'yellow' from the past few months. Show it to your little ones to  get them inspired! Yellow is all around us, even on grey summer days.

Happy snapping!

And don't forget the competition is open from now until the 9th October 2013 but you need to register your application by email by the 25th September. 

If you use Twitter follow along using #KIDSCTC

I can't wait to see all your entries! If you are not a blogger, why not start one?! There has never been a better reason!

Full terms and conditions can be found here. 

Parties - we all love them but we all could do with making them less stressful. 

Sometimes I find it's easier to enjoy the 'after party' which happens in our kitchen, with everyone having a glass of something lovely and discussing all the details and reliving the great times we had, more than the party itself!

A little trick I have learnt, which helps to cut down pre party planning stress, is to make up the tea in advance. 

I am not a big fan of great huge buffets, with lots of plates of the same thing at 2 feet intervals.  

I find you end up with a long queue of parents, hungry, impatient children at the party tables and wobbly plates, too thin to handle the load! And the birthday boy or girl always seems the last to eat, as the parents are busy filling up cups of squash from plastic jugs!

I love party boxes.  

Party Boxes are not expensive and super effective. A winning combination. 

They come in a variety of patterns and colours and make very child feel more special. Like they have a mini food present to open at the table. 

The best thing is you can make them up in advance. I laid them out on my office desk and filled them bit by bit, over the week before the party and added the yoghurt and "hotdog" rolls on the day! But you could be super organised and do everything that doesn't need refridgerating. 

The thing to remember with a party tea is it doesn't have to be about show casing your ability to serve up all 5 of their Five a days. You are allowed to serve sweet treats - and lots of them! It's not about a perfectly healthy balanced meal, it's about a party tea. And a bonus if you can err on the healthy side. 

My Perfect Party Tea: 

• Mini sausages in rolls - minimal effort sandwiches!
• Box of yoghurt covered raisins
• Cereal bar
• Fruit pouch
• Dried fruit stick
• Fromage Frais

I save the chocolately and seriously sweet things for a candy sweet table. But they are always at arms reach so it ends up being a free for all!

I love the American style sweet tables - you can check out my tips to perfect candy sweet table at home here. 

I am busy this week preparing for Ollie's Doctor Disco 2nd Birthday! He has just learnt to sing Happy Birthday so I can't wait to see his face beaming with huge smiles at his medical theme party!  

This post was kindly sponsored by delights  

I have become more than slightly obsessed with the American style party food tables. I love the symmetry, the precise placement of treats and the use of props to make your buffet more enticing.

It makes very ordinary food look extraordinary.

Top Tips for the Perfect Party Table:

Sketch your vision beforehand!

That way you know what you need to source and how much of everything to buy.

The danger with assembling your table on the day is that you overbuy on food and can't fit everything on the table! Unless you are a creative genius and can do it from scratch there and then!

Have a central feature. 

Start with a central focus point and work outwards. I used his initial wall letter from above his bed propped up on a toy wagon! The more personal you can make the props the better, so root through their toy boxes!

I found this ferris wheel cupcake stand and just used the wheel as a prop! 

The birthday cake would make a great focus point too. I always think it's such a shame to keep the cake hidden until it's time to sing, so show it off for the whole party! 

Create height and interest.

 If you have made beautiful cake and lollies you want to show them off! But on a flat table they can get lost. I used crepe paper to wrap up blocks of polystyrene I bought in the local DIY centre, so that I could simply poke the lolly sticks into them. Minimal effort, maximum impact!

Use cake stands and upturned baskets, I even raided the children's miniature chairs. I found one gum ball machine in a charity shop and one in the local £1 store, which were great for the grown up nuts!  

Think about symmetry.

It makes it easier to work outwards, displaying in opposite pairs. Or go completely and purposely mismatched, creating depth with taller storage jars at the back of the table and bowls at the front.

Think mini! 

Use cake cases as mini containers instead of one big bowl. Children love having individual portions and it just looks sweeter! Rigid cup cake cases work well turned upside down too as mini stands! 

Create a backdrop.

You could use garden canes to make a frame and old duvet covers are fab as a backdrop sheet. The tent canopy is actually for above Sammy's bed, but teamed with the striped fabric, made a perfect mini big top. For a cheap version use twisted crepe paper streamers. You could easily create a 5ft wide backdrop for only a few pounds. Just tie at the top and pin at the bottom.

Cover any odd edges for a clean, professional look. I used an old piece of hessian material for the tablecloth (I would always go for a paper or fabric cloth over shiny plastic - it instantly looks more expensive, when really paper is cheaper!) 

I covered the edge where the two fabrics met with a roll of paper tickets and some brilliantly effective paper fans. I stapled gunned them in place and teamed with the personalised bunting, thought it really had the wow factor. (Photo below by Emily Beale Photography.)

Less is not more!

Think colour, think props, think labels and tags! Tie a ribbon around the jar, print some little labels. It instantly creates a impression. It took seconds to add the ticket ribbons around the lolly stands and the cuddly Circus toys were perfect partners for the food itself. Have a theme in mind and then just go for it!  

And if anyone thinks it is over the top take it as a compliment! I bet they wished their party buffet looked as fab as yours!

I got such pleasure from preparing all the details and everyone noticed the finishing touches on the day.

Get snapping.

And finally - leave enough time to photograph it! I would have been so disappointed not to have got some lovely photos of all our hard work! And make sure you 'pin' your photos to Pinterest so others can be inspired.

This post was kindly sponsored by delights - the online party supplies store