Hey, guys. Welcome back to my channel and to a party prep video. Today, I'm going to show you
all of the prep that I'm doing from my son's fifth birthday party. He actually turned five yesterday,
and I vlogged that day, so if you want to actually see the presents he got and what we got up to on
his actual birthday, definitely go and watch that vlog. But in this video, I'm just going
to show you how I plan a party, all of the prep behind it. So I hope you really enjoy this video.
So we can have a party where we live, even though it's, during COVID times. We can meet
up and celebrate, and I thought it would also be a really nice way to meet all of the friends in
his class. He's just started school, so it'd be great to meet them and their parents as
well. So we're going the whole shebang this year. [inaudible 00:01:08] I've done a little tick list.
So if you're planning a kids' party, you can go through and tick, tick, tick,
and this is just how I do it. So the first thing is obviously to pick a date,
pick a theme for the party. So we're actually doing a Luca party because
he loves that film. I've talked about it before, but he actually thinks he looks a bit like Luca,
and he loves the movie and the whole sea monster thing, so that's what the cake's going to be.
That's what the balloons are going to be. And it's going to... everything's going to kind of be blue.
Booked a venue because I was considering having it at home because we've got quite a big garden,
but then I thought living in the UK, if it rains, then everyone's going to be in our house, and I
don't think that that's exactly what we want. So I've actually booked a little cafe just down the
road. They've got a really good sized venue, and they let it out for parties on a Sunday.
Then we invited, as I said, everyone in his class and then his cousins and a few other family,
friends to attend as well. And I've actually booked an entertainer because my friend
recommended them. So although I've never seen him before at a party, fingers crossed he's going to
be good, but it's so nice to have something or someone to keep the kids focused at a party.
I've also got someone making a Luca-themed cake because although I do bake, I'm not
the best at it, especially when it comes to birthday cakes so again, a friend of mine who
makes cakes is making this, and we've also got party favors to show you guys as well.
So the party favors are already in the car, ready to go to the party. So we got these little
sweetie jars this year. Sometimes, I make my own sweetie cones or buy them,
but a friend of ours has actually just set up a business two months ago. It's a sweet
and shake business, so obviously, we wanted to support him. So he did all sea-inspired colors
like blue and green, and then there's little sharks and fish sweets inside as well. So I think
they're going to love it. I'm sure the parents are going to not appreciate how many sweets there are,
but it's a really nice party favor. So... and they can obviously keep the little jar.
And then this morning, we had a food delivery with all of this in it. So this is what I'm going to
use for the food. I'm making up some sandwiches, some cheese, some jam as well because there were
some children with allergies or some vegan children. So I'm going to make 40 sandwiches.
Got some bagels for the adults. I've got some party rings and also some Pom-Bears to go in
with the sandwiches and some crisps for the adults and the pack of Ziploc bags actually came in 40,
so I'm literally just going to make as many sandwiches until these run out.
But today, what I really need to do is to make all of the food. So we're going to have little
pack lunches. We've got these really cute little boxes on Amazon that are green and white stripes,
so we're going to put some crisps, some party rings, and I'm going to make all of the sandwiches
myself. And then today, I'm also going to make some platters for the adults. I don't
know if anyone is going to eat, but the party timing is from 11 until 1, so I thought people
might be a bit hungry and then we've got drinks. We've got... oh yeah, I'm doing a sweet platter
as well. I actually texted everyone and just reminded them that the party was tomorrow,
and then I also texted the entertainer, the cake maker, the venue just to make sure everything
is in place for tomorrow and so far so good. Okay, so I thought I would show you the food
that I'm making for the party. Most party venues will actually want to you to buy their food or
provide the food for your party. But the venue that we hired said that we could bring our own.
So I know you could buy sandwiches or little lunch boxes, but I decided to just make them
myself. We did also think about just ordering pizza in, but the birthday boy, Jackson, he's
not a huge fan of pizza. And then I thought, "Oh, it'd be really greasy," and then we have to worry
about the delivery getting there exactly on time because the entertainer that we hired entertains
for an hour then breaks for half an hour for lunch and then you have another half an hour
after that, so it was quite a small window, so I was like, "Do you know what? I'm just going
to make them myself," and it was actually quite relaxing. I just put on some music
and made these and for the cheese sandwiches, I graded the cheese. I've done this since the kids
were little anyway because of choking hazards but also, grating cheese makes it go so much further.
So that's what I've decided to do, and I cut all the crusts off of the sandwiches and all of that.
So yeah, I'm just going to carry on making this and then I'll put the lunch boxes together.
Okay, so all the kids' sandwiches are in the fridge ready for tomorrow. So now I'm just
going to put up their little lunch boxes that I ordered on Amazon. You could get these in so many
different colors, but I thought the green and white stripe really went with the color scheme.
So I'm putting in just ready salted, plain Pom-Bears because I think every child pretty
much likes Pom-Bears. And then I'm also putting in a little mini bag of party rings as well.
Both of these products are also quite good in terms of allergies, so being an allergy mom,
I was thinking about that and obviously, I asked everyone before the party if they had any special
dietary requirements. But also, these little boxes, the good thing is that they didn't really
get damaged. So I managed to save so many of them, and I can probably use them again
next year. Anyway, that's all laid out. I'm going to leave that there overnight
and then put them all into the car tomorrow. And then I'm also going to make some food for
the adults. I don't know if this is necessary, but obviously, I didn't really think about it,
but I booked the venue exactly at lunchtime. So I was like, "Oh, I'd better provide some food
for the adults." So we had crisps, obviously we had Coke, Diet Coke, and drinks like water.
And then I was like, "Oh, maybe I should make some bagels," so I made 10 cheese and chutney bagels,
10 cream cheese and salmon bagels, and then 10 ham and sweet [inaudible 00:07:52], I think it's
called? I just put tiny bit of that in because Matt was like, "Oh, plain ham is too boring."
So I made 30 bagels in total and obviously, we've had the party, so I can tell you that every single
one went. They ate all the food, and then I also made a sweetie platter that you may recognize.
Okay, so I'm just going to arrange the bagels. But for the sweetie platter,
I shared this in my party hacks video. I think it was titled Party Hacks: How to Feed a Crowd
on a Budget. So this is so simple, literally. You can't get it wrong. So I just bought
some chocolate pretzels, some Biscoff, loads of different treats, some little meringues,
strawberries, and mini donuts. And then you basically just arrange them
on a platter or a plate like this. And so many of you guys loved this in that party
hacks video and have been recreating it and tagging me on Instagram. I actually
found the inspiration for this on Pinterest, but it's really simple and all of this went as well.
Obviously, some children were coming up to where I put the adults' food and taking bits as well.
But yeah, I did bring some backup and put some more out when things were going as well. But yeah,
it just goes down really well. It's just obviously simple things, but it looks all nice when it's
arranged together. So I kind of just put the biscuits together and then any gaps I just
filled in with these little mini meringues, and I obviously made this the day before and put it into
the fridge with cling film over the top of it, but it actually stayed... it traveled quite well,
so it kind of stayed looking like this and yeah, everyone seemed to really like it.
So now that all the food is done, I also made up a box of emergency things and extras,
so we've got extra crisps and biscuits, scissors, tape, a lighter, obviously a little five candle,
and I also had five sparkler bin bags as well and table cloths that I'd ordered for the tables
and extra balloons, extra banners, everything else that you're going to need. And luckily,
we didn't forget anything, but I should have maybe brought one more bin bag.
We're also taking this tin drinks bucket. You may recognize this from other videos of mine,
but we're going to just stick ice in that with all of the adult drinks.
And this is obviously the morning of the party. So now we're going to pack this up.
So we've got the sweetie things in that box, and the boys we're so excited, really happy to help
as well. They love being involved in the process of getting stuff ready the party. And then when we
get to the venue, they love to help decorate the tables and lay everything out. They really do feel
like a part of it, which is really cute. We also got all of the drinks out of the fridge and packed
that up and that is everything that we need. So then, I'll show you the venue in a minute.
When we got there, we got there an hour before the party, and the entertainer arrived and
started setting up. This is him. He's called Joe Bananas. We also had someone make this
balloon arch, so this was not me. This was a local company that I've used in the past,
and she made this beautiful Luca balloon arch. Matt was there supervising. And then yeah,
as I said, well, we got this big five, so she does these Perspex numbers filled with balloons.
And then because I said to her it was a Luca theme, she ordered a shark, she ordered a fish,
she ordered this hammerhead shark, and she said, "I couldn't resist this little jellyfish as well."
So we were really pleased with how it looked. You may have seen this on my Instagram as well.
And then we just laid out all of the drinks and all of the food for the adults as well with some
plates and stuff. And then the cake was actually delivered to the venue the morning of as well,
which was great because I didn't have to transfer it. Another friend of mine, she
makes the best birthday cakes and look at this. It was just incredible. She's called Cutaslice
on Instagram, and she's brilliant. Just the venue that we've booked. It's a little
cafe near our house. So we've just set up the tables. The balloons are being done over there,
looking amazing. Yeah, we've got a big long table down here for all the kids
and then we've done a big kids table over there, so that's where you and your friends can sit,
yeah, there. And then outside, there's more seating. So we think the adults might want to
hang out out here because it'd be away from all the music and entertainment.
And then we've also got this little park area, and you can see the farmer's fields,
so that's the park there, so if there's any little ones, they can obviously go in there. Matt's just
setting up the drinks. [inaudible 00:12:54].
You've got the... what is this? The steel thing? Ice. So we've got Coke, Diet Coke, water for the
adults, and then all the bagels that I made and everything, we're going to lay out somewhere.
It actually traveled really well in the car, didn't move or anything, so that was good.
So yeah, we're just going to put the table cloths on, get everything sorted.
So excited. The cake's arriving in a minute.
One, two, three, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday
to you. Louder.
Happy birthday, dear Jackson. We've got a secret candle blower out.
Happy birthday to you. Don't worry, you won't be invited next year.
Make a big wish. Yeah, there we go. Hip, hip. Hooray.
Five years old. So hopefully, you can see
that Jackson really enjoyed his party, and he got some amazing presents from his friends. This isn't
a normal type of birthday party that he's used to. Obviously, we haven't really been able to
like last year, but we did a big birthday for Fraser and Caleb when they turned five,
so of course, we wanted to for Jackson as well. And he really did love it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you soon. Bye, guys.