Styling: Alexis Teasdale
Photography: Lauren Trompp
The Party Weather Queens were good to us this year! We had the best, sunshine-y winters day for our sports-loving four year old.
First things first, location!
I knew just the place. The Bartley Room at Rushcutters Bay overlooks the cutest, picket fence lined oval on top of a small grandstand. Sporty to the max. The room itself is just the right size for a kids party and comes pretty much empty aside from a few tables and chairs. Most halls for hire have oodles of random stuff on the walls and things stored in corners. This is a lovely, light-filled space with wooden beams begging for bunting.
Next up, entertainment! If you can afford it, some kind of entertainment for kids, whether it’s a face painter, balloon twister or magician, is a massive help. It gives the party some structure and means the parents can actually breathe for a few minutes. Maybe.
I used the absolutely brilliant Marky Mark from The Jumping Beings to run a little sports clinic and games. He had come highly recommended by so many parents, and now I know why. Along with an assistant, Mark entertained 30 kids ranging from 2-6 years old and judging by their screams of joy they loved every second. Best. Idea. Ever.
It’s always handy to have little water bottles for the kids, even if it’s not hot. But with a sports theme and running around, it’s essential. I got mini bottles from Woolworths and covered them in sweat bands. It’s also good to have a pen on hand so you can write kids names on their bottles.
Once I had the venue and entertainment booked, it was onto my favourite bit… decorations!
And boy did I go at it this year. With our big interstate move just two days later, I did actually try not to go overboard with ‘stuff’ (not sure how well that went #cantstopwontstop.)
I focused on a few main elements to start.
The kids Team T-shirts.
I loved the idea that all the kids had a tee with their name across the back so they looked like a team. I picked up plain white ones from KMART ($2.50 each!) and used sticky-felt from Spotlight to spell out their names on the back. This meant the parents could peel off the felt later and still use the tee. I strung them around the venue like bunting so it doubled as decor.
Indoor sports area
We had quite a few little kids a bit too small for the sports clinic, so I created an area for them indoors with astroturf, some blow up ball chairs from KMART ($8 can you cope!) as well as a mini basketball hoop and super cute soft sports balls from IKEA.
The party table
I was smart this year and didn’t attempt to make the cake. With all the packing I was ignoring doing, I knew if I tried to make one the night before, I may well completely lose my mind. So I called my girl, the ultimate cake wizard SweetMamaCakes (remember the magic of my baby shower cake?! That’s her too.)
I asked Leane if she could make an AFL footy cake to feed about 40. She created THIS:
A masterpiece! It even had the pebbled leather detailing on the ball. And trust me…truuuuuuust me, it tasted AMAZING. It was enormous and there wasn’t one tiny smidgen left behind.
Also on the party table was some fun sports-themed food. I tell ya, that was NOT easy to come up with. Eventually I found the super cute mini basketball hoop idea as well as the mango cup idea on Pinterest and then found that Oriental Trading have a downloadable version of the basketball cups! Then I whipped up the jelly and found the little hot dogs from Bakers Delight. Add some half-time oranges and the snacks were ready.
Behind the table was this fun plastic backdrop. I stumbled across it online, it’s supposed to be a photo booth backdrop. As I do, I didn’t take much notice of the measurements. And it was NINE METRES LONG haha. So it wrapped behind the party table and all the way around the room. Bonus!
The grass-like table cloths are also plastic and pretty fun. We inflated the foil sports balloons with a little tank from Spotlight. I got some of that super basic plastic bunting (I normally haaate the plastic kind, but it had a certain sports-day feel to it) and it was so light I could just lightly stick it to the beams.
Craft station
Not all little ones like to run around outside so it’s nice to have a spot where kids can sit and craft. My kids are never still enough long enough to enjoy these corners, but you’d be surprised how many are!!
The footy banner
YEP!
Of course the banner idea came after the whole ‘I’m trying to go low-key for this party’ vibe. Ha ha. But really, once you know there are kids size footy banners out there, HOW do you resist? Milestone Banners were great, it came wrapped up and you just need lightweight poles from your local hardware store. The kids LOVED IT.
Party bags
What to put in them! I try not to go all-lollies because you know what kids are like at the end of a party (scary). One year I did just big bubble wands because I thought I was being clever and avoiding the sugar, but the bigger kids missed the lollies (nice try Lex!), so now I do half sweets, half fun. These ones featured a soft ball, a mini trophy, a little soccer ball maze game, a Freddo and mini bag of jelly beans.
Lastly, I’m so grateful to photographer Lauren Trompp! She captured all the fun, hilarity and details of the day so beautifully. It’s pretty much impossible to snap and host a big party, so if your celebration is a special one, I highly recommend hiring a photographer. Plus you have great photos to send as a thank you!
Annnnd, done! What a day. I wonder if Teddy will remember this one? I definitely will.
Hope you enjoyed!
Love,
Team Teasdale
