Kids Birthday parties

When I was little I wasn't allowed big birthday parties...except when I was 7. I have vivid memories because I was allowed 7 friends and my mum and sister had planned some pretty special games. There was a truth stool, a story time about a man with one eye and you had to put your hands in something (jelly) which was his eye socket. It was full of fun and magic. I want to try to give Tilly & Mima the same kind of magic. Last year for Tilly's 4th birthday I did an Alice In Wonderland Party theme birthday. 
What I figure is that really there are only a few years of fun birthdays, I'm guessing by the time Tilly is about 9, she'll no longer want magical birthdays but sleepovers.
With that in mind I'm going to make every effort to give them a great birthday but hopefully not too much cost. Tilly's birthday is not until early March but I'm planning and making now...this birthday may not cost much in real money but will be priceless with time and love.

Tilly wants an Octonauts party.
Thanks to my new found love Pinterest, I've found loads of amazing ideas for the party. One I liked was a homemade Gup A pinata . I love making things and am a dab hand at papier mache so I got to and got a large punchball balloon and started to paper over it.



As there was a pack of 10, I started to do another, not for another pinata but for decoration. I've hired a small hall for the party so there is plenty of space for the kids to play and the house won't get trashed by tiny fingers. However an empty hall needs good or at least clever decoration to get the theme across. 

The spare one is going to be Shellington...I cut up a polystyrene bowl in half and papier mache'd them for ears. I've added a nose and hair for some 3D detail. I read in a blog somewhere that if hanging something like this with string that it is a good idea to put a bottle top with the string inside the papier mache form so the string doesn't come out. 

I made the hat with a cereal box and an upturned bowl. 









I'm so pleased with it so far, I can't wait for it to dry so I can paint it.
I'm not sure what to do with it yet, I guess I'll have to add a body, a disembodied head may be a little scary for a group of 5 year olds. I think I'll make a paper body to hang (with weights on feet), perhaps kids could have their pictures taken with them.

Of course, there are 8 Octonauts....I'm not making 8, probably just the fave characters.... certainly not the Octopus head, Professor Inkling.