On Friday, a very special lady in my life, my Nanna, turned 80, so we threw her a party! Family & friends spanning 3 generations travelled from all over the UK to celebrate the special day. I wanted to share with you how we went about throwing a family friendly party!
Planning started in February. My Mum & 2 Aunts got together to discuss how we would celebrate. They decided upon a tea party, which was a fantastic idea.
The Venue
To accommodate the number of people wanting to celebrate the life of such a wonderful lady, we booked a church hall. We made sure this was suitable for those of us with mobility aids. We had a wheelchair user & 2 people with crutches/a walking stick, so this was an important consideration when we chose the venue. We put up treastle tables round the room & covered them in table cloths. We put smaller tables in the centre with chairs round them so people could sit & chat.
The Decorations
To brighten up the room & add a party atmosphere we strung bunting up round the room & on the tables. We had a H-A-P-P-Y-B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y banner, along with teapots, cups & saucers on one of the tables to be used as well as for decoration. We also had a wicker basked for people to put their cards & presents in so Nanna could chat to people without ending up overwhelmed by people keep giving her things!
The Food
Mum made & decorated Nanna’s birthday cake & a few of us made cakes, sandwiches & scones. We had wheat- & dairy-free cakes, as well as vegetation options. My cousin came up with the brilliant idea of labelling everything so those on special diets knew what they were able to have & others knew to be careful not to contaminate those foods with their fingers! On a basic level, it also meant that people knew what they were eating!
The Activities
To keep the children occupied & happy (as well as their parents happy!) we had a colouring table with teapots for them to colour & another with fairy cakes for them to ice. They were all so good & both activities went down really well. The kids were taking the cakes they iced round on plates offering them to people once they’d been iced!
The After Party
After we’d cleared up the church hall, a small group of us went back to Nanna’s bungalow. We had some more cake & people sorted themselves out for dinner. A pizza order was made & my Uncle made a pasta dish too. I’d packed a sandwich, but my niece, who is also dairy free didn’t have anything, so she had what she wanted of my dinner & I finished off the rest (along with cake!).
We all had a fantastic time & it was lovely to have so many people there.
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