1st Birthday Party Report (warning, this is really long and has lots of photos and is probably really boring to everyone but me)

So the birthday party is over! It was such a big day but we had a lot of fun. Matilda doesn't seem to mind being the centre of attention at all!

Thanks to the help of a few family members I think everything from my to do list became a reality for the party. Matilda had a good sleep in the morning and was in a great mood all afternoon. I really couldn't have hoped for anything better. Even the weather was behaving and we had a perfectly clear and not too cold Brisbane winter's day.

We took so many photos - so apologies for the length of this post - but I couldn't narrow them down any further. Show and tell time...

The birthday cake - a ladybug, of course


And some cupcakes to go with - snails, flowers, gardens, caterpillars and toadstools.


Also to eat: my mum made chocolate eclairs -


Choc-dipped strawberries, provided by my sister


Lemon Tassies, recipe from here (Martha Stewart)


Cinnamon and Vanilla Madeleines


Meringue caterpillars for the big and little kids


Chocolate mousse flower pots


Plus some afghans made by one of my aunts and neinish tarts from an uncle, which I forgot to photograph.

For the non sweet-tooths -

Mushroom and herb palmiers, made by one of my cousins


Le Cachat (goat's cheese spread), recipe from an old Dish magazine and really really yummy.


Potato nests with smoked salmon and watercress


Plus lemongrass + chilli chicken, lamb + feta filo fingers, homemade sausage rolls and little mexican vol-e-vouns. Oh and we added some mini-frankfurt butterflies and sandwiches for the littlies.

To drink, strawberry milkshakes for the kids with marshmallow polka-dots


Champagne for the big kids


Then, to decorate, we set up a little play area for the children on our back verandah, complete with their food table, an activity table (for colouring-in and bubbles) and a dress up box filled with lady bug and other costumes.


Matilda had her final inspection of her special area just before the guests arrived.


We also had balloons and flowers


And a 'happy birthday' sign for the front door.



Because all the little people invited are really fairly little (the oldest is 3) we only played one party game.


We had butterfly nets to catch chocolate lady bugs, frogs and bees that were hidden while we were blowing bubbles in the back yard.




For the guests we filled the lady bug pencil cases with little goodies



Stickers, toys and some lollies.


Matilda had lots and lots of fun opening her presents and playing with her new toys (she was very very spoiled!)




She also did very well with her birthday cake, apart from grabbing at the lady bugs spots and trying to eat the candle.


Then all that was left was for us to clean up the mess.


Which 3 days later, we have almost finished doing.

Exhausting, but lots and lots of fun.