Showing posts with label face painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label face painting. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 April 2014

Birthday party planning

Considering that if you add up the ages of my kids they've had 22 birthdays between them, then it's perhaps surprising to learn that I've not thrown many birthday parties for them. There has been maybe five in total and a couple of those only involved 6 or so kids, so maybe they don't even count!

It's not that I'm Scrooge, we have celebrated their birthdays, there has been holidays, family days out and family tea parties but just not many of the big, scary invite the whole class kind of party. Well, I've decided this year will be different, the kids all joined a new school last September and I think it is important that I do all I can to help them bed in, so come July I'll be throwing a party for the 30 or so kids from Miss M and Miss E's class. Thirty 5, 6 and 7 year olds - you can imagine my joy!

I've decided that if I'm going to have this party I might as well do it right and give them a real good one but not one that costs hundreds of pounds I hasten to add. I hate spending money for the sake of it and extravagant shows of how much money I can spend on a cake etc just do not appeal. So the party will very much be old school and the girls are in agreement about this. There will be a bouncy castle, craft table, traditional party food such as little sandwiches, cheese on sticks and jelly and ice cream and there will be face painting, all at our local church hall.

Oh yes, when I let myself in for it, I really go for it. I'm not one of those super talented artist types, I'm just an average mum who can just about manage a butterfly or a camouflage face but some how or the other I found myself telling my daughters I would happily paint faces at their party and I'm hoping to recruit a couple of friends to help me!

I'm kidding myself that because my kids are happy with my rubbish face painting efforts that others will be too but don't you just know there will be at least one little madam there who will tell me how bad my tiger is? So in order to try and ease the public embarrassment of my newly turned 7 year olds I have started to practise the face painting already and the girls have got in on the act too and have been practising on me and themselves as well.

I was very pleased that the premier suppliers of face paints, Snazaroo sent me through one of their party boxes, worth £44.99. The sturdy yellow box contains 20 small palettes of 3 face paints for me to use as party bag favours (I mean really, how much are the kids going to love these and just add some sweets and the bags are done, result!) as well as 10 sponges, 4 brushes, 8 x 18ml face paints, 2 x 12ml glitter and 20 invitations. There is also a clear instruction booklet included with some step by step ideas for painting faces. All that face paint will keep us going for a very long time after the party too.

We have used Snazaroo face paints before as they are water based, skin friendly and non-toxic and even my Miss E who often suffers with sensitive skin is fine with them. The only niggle I have is with the turquoise coloured face paint always seems to stain and does not wash off as easily as the other colours. Nothing too major as it will come off but more soap is required or an extra scrub the next day. Most just come off with a baby wipe which is super.

The girls and I had lots of fun over Easter painting each others faces, it is good to have a product that you can let the kids loose with and allow them to be creative. I bought some stencils and we used these too and they were great, look at the picture of the flowers on Miss E's arm. It took just moments and is really effective and the Snazaroo stencil only cost me £3.50 at the Range. I loved the high density sponges, a friend of mine recommended I cut them in half and I did this and I could hardly believe how well they hold the colour. See that rainbow I did, that was by painting it on to the sponge and pulling it across Miss M's face - clever stuff!

The brushes supplied are also really nice and don't have any shedding, they seem to keep their nice clean point and the small one works well for precision work, although I really need to practise at this and improve my steady hand!

I'm really pleased with the products I have been sent and I'd happily buy Snazaroo or recommend them as a brand as we have now been having fun with their products for at least five years.

Take a peek what you get in the party box (they offer a boy, girl and unisex box) -



Disclosure: We were sent the party box from Snazaroo for the purpose of this review but I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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Monday, 28 February 2011

How to have a Great Holiday at Home...

For the second year running I have enjoyed a holiday at home for the February half-term.  Have you ever tried to holiday at home?  I would sincerely recommend it.

What constitutes a holiday to one person is another person's version of hell so I won't be offended if this is not your bag and to be honest I would not do it as my only holiday in the year, but holidaying at home holds several benefits -
  • Comfy, warm house with all the home comforts you could ask for
  • No packing or unpacking
  • No opportunity to leave the beloved teddy at home, the kids have every toy they could possibly want
  • Wi-fi connection and cable TV
  • No massive petrol costs
  • Hot shower and plenty of water
  • Safe outdoors space
See, sound tempting? Of course it may not suit you as you might not like your house but I love mine and I especially love my big comfy bed.  So in case you do fancy giving it a go, I thought I would share some of my tips on how to have a great holiday in your own house without it costing the world -
  • Get the house fully cleaned prior to the start of your holiday.  I visualise this as arriving to a clean holiday house that I will then just maintain a basic standard of cleanliness over the holiday week
  • Keep the computer turned off during the day, so you spend the waking hours with the kids, keep away from any smartphones too!
  • Keep cooking to a minimum. We have tended to either go out or buy M and S prepared foods, that also has the bonus of keeping the washing up down.
  • Save vouchers for times like this.  We have used Tesco deals for a Pizza Express meal and Necter points for a meal at Ask. Tesco deals are also excellent for days out such as London Zoo, Chessington etc
  • See what your local extended schools service are offering.  JJ has been to a Spy School day for £1 and been to play at a local park for a couple of hours with the play rangers for free!
  • Investigate your local theatre/ cinema to see what they are offering.  We went to see Animals United with the kids for £2 per ticket.
  • Check out the local shopping centres, they often have events for half term.  Today the kids went to a free craft session and were very proud of their makes!
  • Pick up a couple of Argos catalogues and a cheap scrapbook and cut and stick 'rooms' with the kids. 
  • My kids always think it is a real treat to get the face paints out.  Here are our efforts from one afternoon.
The girls wanted to be Puppy Dogs!
Army JJ
Oh my, look what they did to Mummy!

  • Buy a couple of cheap DVD's to watch during the week.  A two pack of Underdog and Beverly Hills Chiuowa were picked up for £5 at Sainsburys.  Then some microwave popcorn and the lights dimmed and the kids think it is a real treat!
  • Get the board games out and just enjoy some old-fashioned fun with the kids.
  • Other suggestions for cheap fun at home with the kids is to bake, play with play doh, make a collage and do some sticking
  • and lastly re-discover the great outdoors, even though it is wet, windy and there is mud in abundance! My Mum has been here with her dog so we have been out walking and playing in the local parks and the kids just love being outdoors.  The cleaning up afterwards is a pain but frankly it is worth it for their joy at the time.
The week is drawing to an end and by the time you read this I will have returned home and fully cleaned the house!  Then Sunday is to be a day of joy, just my three gorgeous kiddies and me before Daddy returns home about 9pm.  It will be fab to have him back - I'm looking forward to the cuddles.