Sorry, couldn’t resist. It really was a hoot, though. My fabulous niece Lauren (one of Pirate James’ lovely sisters) turned 5 and chose an owl themed party to celebrate with her family and friends on Saturday. And my clever sister-in-law Jo, fresh from the Pirate Party Extravaganza only two weeks ago, created another incredible party, with beautiful props and delicious food. Oh, and 1000 screaming little people. Ok, maybe not exactly 1000, but there were a LOT of excited girls and boys enjoying the party. Well, except for that little girl who started crying hysterically when her water balloon popped before the old school water balloon egg & spoon race even started. (Don’t worry, she recovered in time for the Musical Statues game.) Here are some pics from the festivities…
Balloons and flowers – the cornerstone of a great party…Stylin’ it up with owl party props.Fairy Bread – one of my contributions to the festivities. Just call me Nigella…The canvas (hand-painted by Jo) for Pin The Owl On The Nest. X marks the spot.After the owls were all pinned. Methinks some of the kids could see through that eye mask…Some of our cupcakes with handmade fondant owls and flowers.The fruit cups looked great, but weren’t really a big hit with the kids. This scary dragon guard might have had something to do with that though.A table of treats. Hoot hoot.Oh yes, did I mention THE CAKE?
So there you have it – an owl party fit for one of my favourite people on the planet. The best storyteller I know, an incredible little lady with crazy curly hair, a brilliant sense of humour and fun, an amazing imagination, incredible energy and such a social butterfly.
Happy birthday, lovely Lauren. And well done to your amazingly clever Mum!
And so my lovely nephew James turned 3 last week. Yesterday was his much anticipated Pirate Party – the invitation won me when the RSVP section asked Arrr you coming to my party? It was another extravaganza from the party mastermind, my amazing sister-in-law Jo. Countless hours were spent getting everything ready, with almost everything made by hand and with a whole lotta love. On a perfectly sunny Sydney day, there were plenty of cool pirate outfits, crazy pirate shenanigans and some delicious pirate food. A fitting way to celebrate the best little pirate I know – when they sang, “you are my sunshine”, I’m pretty sure they were talking about this guy. Anyways, here are some of the party pics, me hearties.
Strict entry criteria.The treasure map for ‘Pin the Flag on the Treasure’. Yep, painted by Jo.Hats and eye patches for the pirate guests.Cupcakes from the high seas.The awesome cake.Arrr, there be the cupcakes, jellies (in a pirate ship), chocolates and cake.Amazing, huh? Yes, ok, I made these chocolate guys – under direction from The Boss!Bags of loot for all of the little pirate guests.
They had me at the name Smellies Clothing. And the tag line – interactive t-shirts – was so full of possibility. A t-shirt that could hold a conversation, perhaps? Or play fetch with a stick in the park? Not quite, my friends, but still AMAZING. The ranges include Colourchange (Hypercolor-style, they change colour with touch and body heat) and Glow In The Dark (um, yep, these ones glow in the dark). Oh, and just one other range of interactive t-shirts…SCRATCH N’ SMELL T-SHIRTS.
A popcorn scented shirt? Yes please!Ah, chocolate.A festive twist.And a healthy option.
Unfortunately, they only come in little people’s sizes at the moment, but I reckon if we start an EverydaySparks petition, we might just be able to push for the production of adult-size scratch n’ smell t-shirts. The only problem I can see is if people try to scratch you while you’re wearing it. I distinctly remember fights over scratch n’ sniff stickers back in the day, when people would sneak scratches and sniffs, reducing the powers of your magic stickers and resulting in tears. There was an irresistible sort of urge to scratch them, which wouldn’t be so great when they’re in t-shirt form – if you were wearing your Smellies t-shirt on a crowded train, say. Or at a job interview. Or on a blind date. But otherwise, love your work, Smellies Clothing!
All of these pics are from their website and you can check out the ranges (and the very reasonable prices) from this unique Australian company here.
As always, EverydaySparks takes no responsibility for any harm, addictions, or resurfacing childhood memories that result from this post or any purchase that you or your loved ones may make from Smellies…
I do love a good acronym. Especially when it lumps a whole category of society under one blanket, as if they are identical. Like those young, urban, professional ‘YUPpies’ or those double-income, no kids ‘DINKs’ or, possibly my favourite, those pesky ‘KIPPERS’ – kids in parents’ pockets eroding retirement savings. Anyways, I was delighted to read in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday that there is a category just for me (and quite a few of my blog readers, that I know of) – I am a PANK. Professional aunt, no kids.
A proud PANK – last Christmas, my nieces and nephew made these giant gingerbread people.
Apparently, we PANKs are “a high-earning and fast-growing group of women who advertisers have identified will be among the most generous gift givers this Christmas”. In fairness, as I’m not working full-time at the moment, I’m probably more of a SPANK these days (semi-professional aunt, no kids). Whatevs, according to a PR lady from a global firm that published a report The Power of the PANK, as quoted in the article, ”PANKs have time, income and a passion for purchasing for the kids in their lives. It’s a perfect marketing trifecta”. Oh, Leslie Gaines-Ross – if that is your real name – I am so much more than a perfect marketing trifecta.
Slurpee PANK
I’m in good company – apparently that report stated that “one in five women in America are PANKs, with an average age of 36.” And we even have our own website: SavvyAuntie.com was developed by Melanie Notkin in 2008 for ”cool aunts” and ”any woman who loves a child-not-her-own”. Uh huh. I had a look at the website, in the name of research, and must confess that I couldn’t get past the homepage. To me, being an aunt is my favourite thing in the world and somehow, it is the thing that I am probably best at – without study or guidance or even good role models from childhood aunts. I don’t feel that I need a list of suggested “stuff to do” or things to “learn and share” or a place to connect with “people just like [me]”.
Cupcakes by PANK (the sheep and the chickens)
Different strokes for different folks, but as an aunt, I keep it pretty simple. I just show up, prepared to act like an idiot, and I tell stories, get down on the floor, give piggy back rides, spell words, play Wii games (badly), sing, dance, chase, colour in and generally pal around with the little people who are amongst my best friends in the whole wide world. They don’t care that I can’t sing or dance or juggle. They like that I’m silly and funny and able to help with their homework and rhyme words like Dr Seuss. I watch soccer and tennis and dancing, listen to singing and re-enactments of events at school, jump on the trampoline and play totem tennis. I share the excitement of a new toy, app, book, certificate or previously undiscovered ability. I am (mostly) still greeted like a rock star when I appear at the door or in the school playground (at pick up time, not to hang out at lunchtime), which doesn’t happen when I show up at the office or the dentist or the supermarket.
PANK breakfast – chocolate pancakes with melted marshmallow
So, to the marketing gurus no doubt plotting on how to best target us PANKs and relieve us of our professional or semi-professional cash, just remember that there are lots of different types of aunts out there and most of the PANKs that I know are about the fun of spending time with our little friends, not about spending bundles of money on our little friends. That being said, my eldest niece becomes a teenager at the end of this month, and from then on, I suspect the rules of the game may change quite a bit…
For now though, let us PANKs, SPANKs, PLANKs and PRANKs of the world unite and say a big woohoo for Aunts. Woohoo!
(Oh, and the Sydney Morning Herald article about PANKs is here if you’d like to read it.)
You may know that we are about four weeks into the 7 Eleven Slurpee promotion – 13 Flavours in 13 Weeks. Some of my nieces and I have taken it upon ourselves to try as many of the 13 flavours as we can get our hands on, after school on Mondays. This week though, I went to visit a friend and so the Slurpee Run has been postponed ’til Wednesday afternoon. Today, the official Slurpee site revealed the flavour for this week and almost everyone in our family is excited. It is the one we had been hoping for – Sour Cherry.
It’s amazing how life throws you little signs – this is a sign to me that the week ahead is going to be a good one. I’ll be away for the next three Mondays as I am heading over to the States for Thanksgiving, so we were wondering if Sour Cherry would make an appearance before I left, or if the girls would have to save one in the freezer for my return. And here it is, like a ‘bon voyage’ message from the Slurpee gods. Who must know that I’m heading to east coast USA, where they’re predicting even more storms to roll in this week.
Anyways, my dear old Dad and I went to their local Slurpee outlet to try it this evening. Our verdict: top notes of cherry, with a hint of sour-ness and a undertone of cola, all in the form of a cup of icy goodness that is just the thing on a hot Sydney day. To be fair, it was never going to live up to the hype that we had created around it, but as the kids say: whatevs. Our Slurpee Gang is all about trying new flavours and drinking out of brightly coloured straws, getting brain freezes and laughing like nutters as the sugar rush hits. Ah, this is the life!
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