Countdown
t-25 – The month has finally arrived. The month of my child’s birthday. We’ve been talking about our youngest’s party for ages. She’s going to be 6 years old. Recently, she thinks she’s Totoro. She wears her onesie, night and day, and walks with her hands by her side to make it seem like she doesn’t have any. Finally, we convince her that a Totoro birthday party isn’t a good idea, and that we should keep this theme for next year. Instead, we opt for “woodland animals“. Yes, I know, there’s a whole world out there. But, as she said herself, Totoro is the spirit of the forest, and therefore she likes the forest. Great, we’ve got her on board. She even admitted that going from a Totoro theme to a woodland animals theme isn’t that different. It was all my idea.
t-25 still – As you would expect, like me, you are exhausted by all of this reasoning. So let’s keep it simple. We’re going to buy pre-made invitations, because we mustn’t waste our energy. The party is in 25 days. If you want to make them yourself, it’s still possible! However, I’m going to order mine.
t-25 later – Note to self for later: next year, try to think of everything at once and make one single order.
t-22 – And just like magic, I have my invitations. The internet is crazy! I fill them in myself because my daughter has decided to hide in her den for a long period of hibernation. I guess she’ll come out again for the day of the party. Note: the odds are in my favour – the party falls on the first day of Spring. Practical advice: always allow the possibility to change the address of the party at the last minute if you aren’t sure about having it at your house (you’ll understand on D-Day).
t-17 – I would love to hibernate myself, deep in a den. But my daughter explains to me that her den is too small, and that there isn’t enough room for two. How dare she! In a forest, there are
rabbits,
foxes,
deer,
hedgehogs,
raccoons,
squirrels,
owls,
mice,
robins,
mushrooms,
acorns,
pine cones, and much more… I do what my secondary school aged son does for his history and geography projects (I’ll make a post about this some day), and jot all of my ideas down, before making a detailed plan and then getting down to work. So, there are also
bears and
wolves. I could make it half cute animals and half ferocious beasts. I don’t know, I’m not sure…
t-15 – Armed with my lumberjack shirt and tartan shawl, I decide on which acitivities and atmosphere we’re going for, and I make my order. A bit of planning was all that was needed. It was a big fuss but finally, all it took was to be in these tartan clothes which, for some weird reason, really suit me. That makes me happy, and therefore more efficient.
t-10 – Everything is going well. I remember that I made my order 5 days ago, that my son is a teenager and seems to forget that he even has a mother, and that my daughter is in hibernation. So, I have nothing else to do but entertain myself. After a few hours of yoga, I feel in touch with the forest. I am Mother Nature.
t-7 – Prepare the playlist, print the printouts, make the list of games, write the shopping list, decide which animals to incorporate in the different games, make the party bags… Yes, I’ve decided to do them myself! When making the playlist, it seems stupid to leave out Chantal Goya, Once Upon A Time and Snow White. To get the party started, I mean. To get in the mood, and all that…
t-1 – evening in my kitchen
I dive straight into making:
* red and white meringues to make some little mushrooms like
these.
*
round shortbread, and plenty of them. Tomorrow, I’m going to
cover them in icing or almond paste to make little raccoons, rabbits, foxes and bears.
* a
nutella yule log, covered in white icing and nutella (all to fit in with my decoration and the season), as well as little icing-covered trees, animals and flowers (also to fit in with my decoration and the season).
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