Garden party

The flowers were in bloom and the breeze was light, so we headed out to Edinburgh Gardens bright and early on Saturday morning to claim our own little picnic place inside a pretty ring of old trees. I was hosting a birthday party for my good friend Tonia. There wasn't enough room in our home, so I thought a spring garden party would be just the thing instead.

And it would have been, if only the late October weather hadn't gone all contrary on me and dipped its toes into positively Antarctic temperatures. Good Lord it was freezing out there! By nightfall we were chilled to the bone. When I got home, I stood under the shower until the water ran cold, just to try and thaw out.

But even these dismal conditions didn't stop Tonia's friends from joining us in the park to celebrate her birth. And let's face it: good company, flowing champagne in vintage saucers, plentiful cupcakes and other sweet things, plus a good dose of bubbles and party poppers, can turn even the coldest of afternoons into a fun afternoon.

I have to say a special, warm and bottom-of-my-heart grateful thanks to my parents, who happened to be visiting this week and ran themselves ragged helping to make Tonia's party a success. Please come back and visit soon, Mum and Dad, I promise that next time, I will look after you!

Some details:

* Giant, round balloons from Lark (weighed down by adorable old garden gnomes, and decorated with homemade garlands inspired by this tutorial) * Bunting painstakingly cut out from old clothes and put together (with staples because I didn't have needle and thread in my house) by my Mum * Teacups mine and Mr B's (we are old ladies) * Beautiful beverage dispensers hired from Leo & Bella (they are also for sale) * Vintage typewriter for the sign, mine (it was my grandmother's) * Vintage camera, my Dad's (it was his first camera, as a little boy) * Assorted cake stands, plates, champagne buckets etc, mine and my parents' * Sublime strawberry-ricotta layered birthday cake, decorated with wildflowers, from Sweet Source * On the menu, home-made: lemonade, pomegranate iced tea, two types of chocolate cupcakes, two types of vanilla cupcakes, iced vanilla biscuits in hearts and bluebirds, almond peach pie, chocolate-coated strawberries * On the menu, from the shops: champagne (lots of it!), spinach and fetta quiche, sun-dried tomato and goat's cheese quiche, Turkish Delight, marshmallows, macarons, melting moments, fresh strawberries

Extra ideas I didn't get around to carrying out:

* Hanging sweet jars of flowers above the tables * Digging out an old gramophone for music * Finding a second vintage typewriter, so people could type birthday messages for Tonia (that was Em's idea. Neat huh?) * Putting out little stands of parasols for shade, or extra blankets for warmth, or both * Remembering to put the fresh mint leaves in the lemonade

Happy birthday Tonia. I love you my dear, crazy friend!

Pop-up picnic

I am throwing a birthday party for a friend and, since spring has so gloriously sprung in Melbourne, I thought I'd make it a picnic. But not just any picnic. I was thinking I'd put on an outdoor high tea.

I will bake little cakes and ice little biscuits and serve scones with jam and whipped cream, and make little sandwich fingers with the crusts cut off. I will set out a big bowl of strawberries. I will haunt the beautiful blog of hello naomi for more inspiration.

For drinks, we'll sip champagne from old-fashioned glasses, slurp homemade lemonade from striped straws, and I thought I'd get around the no-access-to-electricity-and-no-use-of-open-flame-in-fire-season hurdle to serving tea and coffee, by mixing up a big jug of sweetened iced tea instead.

Originally, I wanted to hire a trestle table and some chairs, and go all-out, as though we were in an outdoor restaurant. Jordan of Oh Happy Day hosts pop-up dinner parties for her friends like these, and I find them so inspiring I've always wanted to try something similar myself.

But I want to surprise the birthday girl, so I've only told her the party is a picnic, nothing more. And I love her dearly but she's a bit of a scatterbrain. I couldn't trust her to turn up on time or stick to specific guest numbers, and it's not exactly easy to find an extra chair and an extra set of specially-ordered vintage china if your fancy dinner is in the middle of a field. So both formal seating and hot food are out.

Instead, I figured I could bring along a table just to set out the food, then spread blankets all around so that we are all one, big picnic together.

I also thought I'd get hold of half a dozen of these beautiful big, round balloons, make some sweet tassles to fancy them up, and peg them on string to the ground, to kind of mark out our picnic area.

I wanted to string bunting or little lanterns from a tree, but thankfully I had the foresight to case my probable venue the other day, and realised the branches of the trees in that park were much too high for me to reach!

What else should I consider? I'd love your ideas and suggestions.

UPDATE: we had the party at the end of October. Photos and details here

ps. Oh how I wish I had the budget to bring along Betsy the caravan to my picnic. Wouldn't you agree?

ps2. Are you ever to old to need your mum & dad?

ps3. A free book! And I'll send it to you by old-fashioned post!

Favourite things - for the child and childlike

Author George MacDonald once said, "I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." Isn't that a lovely statement? As a person who is closer to fifty than five but clearly still rather immature, it is nice to know MacDonald was writing for me. I have been trying not to flood this blog with overkill about the pending arrival of Baby B. But, today, I have indulged in some treats. Not for children, necessarily, but for the childlike among us. Happy Friday.

1. Yarn trail Jordan from Oh Happy Day made this yarn trail for a children's party, an idea I totally plan to copy for Baby B in a few years' time. But I think it has the potential for so many other lovely applications. Like a path to a romantic dinner. Or an interactive art installation in a park. Or a surprise party for a friend. What would you do?

2. Flying people Pretty much every child I know would love to imagine themselves gently sailing skyward clinging to a big balloon. So this is another idea I'll chalk up for future birthday parties. But the original idea was from a wedding, and I can imagine it working for so many other occasions. I first saw it on Happiness Is, then followed the link to this tutorial.

3. Edible crayons Behold: crayons that draw just like normal crayons, but are completely safe and edible. The base is made from ingredients like freeze-dried corn, peanuts, bee pollen and dried bananas. A mixture of healthy nuts, seeds, dried vegetables and fruits is used to create the different colours. I'm ready to place my order. Dear Luxirare, I wish to order one for baby, and a couple of boxes for the grownup pantry. Seen first on this fab blog.

4. Bedroom decor When I saw this post on Etsy I had an "Oh, swoon" moment. It's a "get the look" shoot like the ones you usually see in fashion magazines. (You know, those Celebrity-X-was-seen-walking-through-Tribeca-looking-glamorous-and-if-you-just-buy-this-list-of-items-from-Target-you-can-look-the-same pages?) I don't like those. But this is altogether different. It's a guide to decorating children's bedrooms to reflect their personalities. Though I confess I look at these and think, what about my bedroom? (The two shown here are "The artist" on the left and "The bookworm" on the right.)

5. Puffed pancakes Growing up, special treat breakfasts in our family were always croissants (warm from the oven and sweetened with jam), and French crepes (smothered in lemon juice, sprinkled with sugar, then rolled up). Both of these foods still say "celebration" to me. I'll definitely be keeping this tradition going for Baby B, but I'm also putting these puffed pancakes on the party list. They just look like a celebration, don't you think?