THE FIRST PARTY

I felt so awful yesterday that I regretted having organised today, but the reality was fab - better than I could possibly have hoped.

Alice has been thoroughly spoilt with lots of super pressies - a fabric Noah's Ark, musical instruments, bath toys, a towelling poncho, pots of bubbles, several lovely books (her absolute favourite), Duplo, peg jigsaw and even a noisy tool bench (I was chuffed that she received what some may consider to be a 'boys' toy!) The pressies were very generous and Alice will have lots of fun with them, but what makes me most happy is that everyone who was here today managed to buy wonderful things for her that she'll really enjoy and it's the care and thought that created these gifts that warms my heart. Thank you for all her lovely pressies.

I took the easiest options for preparing the party tea, buying lots of ready made goodies and nostalgic party foods. (This menu will be repeated on Monday, so if you're coming then tea might be familiar!) We had guacamole with bread sticks and veggies, sausages, mini spring rolls, vegetable crisps, cheesy puffs, sweet tarts, party ring biscuits, happy face biscuits, midget gems, shortbread and a pile of fairy cakes (not quite so impressive as the Salsa Twins monkey faces). The fairy cakes were quite an achievement, I know that they don't look that impressive, but they survived my oven (the thermostat's gone so that's a milestone) last night, but I managed to ice and decorate them this morning with Alice at my feet (the biggest challenge of single parenthood so far)!! One God-father stated it wasn't a proper party without jelly and ice-cream, luckily both were ready for 'afters', unfortunately the jelly was child-friendly and contained not even a drop of vodka! The magnificent T also surprised me with a birthday cake, thank you.

The candles are all significant, 4 around the 'Pile' - 1 each for Grandma and Grandpa (sitting on the stars) and for her birth parents in China, all very important people in Alice's life but at the same time they're strangers. The 'crayon' candle is for Alice's 1st year, the crayon candles were bought 4 years ago by Grandma, for me, but never used, I wanted to use them this year and I like the connection.

It was a small gathering, 3 out of 4 of her Godparents, 2 other special grown-ups and 3 children. It worked beautifully, enough people to have several conversations happening but not too many to be overwhelming. A very special afternoon, the stuff of happy memories, thank you.