Let's celebrate!

Two years ago Bianca's birthday party ended up being in hospital. It was just after she was diagnosed and I'll never forget when she turned to me asking "but Mommy, when are my friends coming?" She was going to have a pretty cool birthday party with her friends, but unfortunately Leukemia had other plans...

Today (Saturday) was such a blessed day for us. We had Bianca's 6th birthday party today. I know it is about 2 weeks before her real birthday, but we figured with winter coming and the fact that many of the kids in her group at school have birthdays around the same time, better have it early. Initially Bianca thought this was just a party, but we explained that this is her birthday party even though she isn't quite 6 just yet, that she would have a birthday cake and friends and that we would all sing happy birthday. We chose the Ivy Cottage for Bianca's birthday and the theme was Fairies - no surprises there. Terence and Caitlyn stayed at home because Caitlyn is a bit too young for this venue, but we'll do something on Bianca's birthday where Caitlyn can join in too.

The Ivy Cottage is such a great venue. Our house is way too small and with it being winter, we really do need something that has some indoor options. I've written before about this venue and how it looks like this magical fairy garden. It has all sorts of hidden fairies and interesting things to discover. And today we had Bianca's party there.

I have to say I'm really proud of the cake I managed to make. I'm not very good at cake baking and decorating and my friend Mika kindly let me borrow some of her cake decorating things. Twice before (when Bianca turned 3 and 5) she also wanted a fairy birthday and for both these parties she had a mushroom cake, so I wanted something that was different this time and not too complicated. So I searched around for examples and managed to put this together:

What I like about it is that it is a garden cake and so I was able to pretty much put anything into this garden. I managed to buy the little fairies, and turned my garden cake into a fairy garden. It was hard work though and I worked all the way until 3:30am this morning to finish it (thankfully Terence let me sleep in this morning).

At the party they had face painting and dress ups. Here is Bianca with some of her friends at the party all dressed up:

The kids went on a treasure hunt and they were so excited each time they found a clue.

They wrote little letters for Pooh Bear and posted it in a special magical post box and when they weren't looking he came and left them a little letter too. As Bianca explained to Terence afterwards "Pooh bear is real, daddy, he sent us a letter".

They decorated a little shaped cookie which they could all take home and they had a wishing stone ceremony where they each got a wishing stone and some magical sparkles. Bianca explained that you need to put it under your pillow when you go to bed.

And of course special party food on a beautifully decorated table. Bianca loved sitting in the special chair.

Then it was time for presents. Bianca got such cool presents and tonight and tomorrow she'll be writing special thank you notes.

So a perfect venue for a perfect day, they did all the entertaining and the clean up afterwards and the parents got to enjoy a cup of tea and good conversation. It was truly a magical day for all of us!