Happy birthday to us

Children’s parties have changed from my day. In the 1970s, we were happy with a few sandwiches, a dish of jelly and a slice of birthday cake. Maybe a round of musical bumps or entertainment by Smartie Artie. As tweens, we could choose a handful of friends to take ice skating or the cinema. 

With two children under 11, I marvel at the children’s party ideas on offer. Your offspring can create all manner of things — from slime and bath bombs to lollipops, sweet trees and tie-dyed t-shirts. Or they can hop on a customised gaming bus; tackle a muddy obstacle course; learn self-defence or cheerleading or pack food parcels for those less fortunate than themselves at the Gift warehouse. For my daughter’s ninth and son’s 11th birthdays we tested three party ideas:

Sleepy Teepees

A relatively new party in town is the customised sleepover. Girls and boys from seven upwards can sleep in cute individual tepees (inside their home) or larger bell tents (in the garden), for a festival vibe. Claire Greenleaf, of Sleepee Teepee UK (the company spells its name with the extra e) dreamed up the idea for her daughter’s sixth birthday party — or rather, her daughter did. “She asked me for a sleepover party, so I bought a few teepees. By the time her party came, she’d changed her mind, so we never used them.”

But a friend asked to borrow the tiny tents and, after lending them to a succession of friends, Greenleaf launched a new career, making and hiring the tepees. They are super-cute, with colourful decorations and strings of matching bunting. She now offers more than 20 themes, from Glam Golds to Cool Caribbean and Sleepy FC. 
 
Kitty loves unicorns, so for her birthday Greenleaf and her business partner, Sarah Lloyd took their cue from that. They unpacked six tepees, adding mattresses, piles of cushions  — some covered in crowd-pleasing flip sequins — fairy lights, bunting, soft fleecy pink rugs and white faux fur rugs. Each girl received a unicorn design t-shirt in white and shimmer pink, plus enough bath bombs to sink a battle ship. In short, a little girl’s dream. The only thing guests needed to bring were their PJs and a pillow — although I suggested they also bring a duvet to snuggle up in, as the evening had a nip in the air. 

After a pizza supper and birthday cake, they changed into their new t-shirts (big enough to be nightshirts) and settled down to a film. When I finally told them it was time for lights out, on went the fairy lights and little moon-shaped lights to allay any fears of the dark. Once settled, they slept well. 

The parties work well for children from about seven upwards, although I did spend much of the night comforting two little guests who could not sleep but did not want to leave and risk missing out on the fun. In the morning, guests snuggled up in their tepees and chatted, breakfasted, then left with their bath bombs; sleep masks and personalised t-shirts. 

A fabulous idea for the pre-batmitzvah age group and a great get-together for a batmitzvah girl and her mates. Boys love it too — my son was a teensy bit envious. The Rolls Royce of sleepovers! 
www.sleepyteepeeuk.co.uk

Claire’s Braiding Bar

Hair plaiting has also become a whole lot more fancy since I was young enough for braids. The fashion is huge in simchah circles, with many batmitzvah girls opting for colour-coordinated extensions plaited into their hair, or ornate braiding. We invited Claire Kent of Claire’s Braid Bar to the sleepover. Like Greenleaf, she also began her business by chance. “I was studying for my doctorate in psychology but had to give it up after a year when we moved into a house that needed gutting. There was no way I could do my doctorate too.” 

She deferred her studies, and found more and more people were asking her to braid their daughters’ hair. “I’ve always done braiding. My mother was a nurse who worked nights, so I’d do my sister’s hair. I have three girls myself  and I’m always doing theirs too — for gymnastics competitions and for school. People would ask me to do it for the PTA or just for parties, so I thought I could make something more of that.”

She runs braiding workshops for mums and has a braiding studio in her (now redecorated) home. “Girls come to me or I go to parties and batmitzvahs and braid — often while other activities are going on.” 

Arriving early to do the birthday girl before guests arrived, Kent set up a mini station with braiding bits, mirror and hair products to tame even the most flyaway hair. Kitty had chosen pink and blue extensions, which Kent incorporated into Dutch braids that ran nearly the entire length of her back, leaving my daughter constantly swishing at every passing mirror. She had the rest of the girls done in under an hour, leaving them party-ready and sleepover chic. Another winning idea, most suited as an add-on to other activities or beforehand, to get party-ready. 
www.facebook.com/clairesbraidbar

Go Ape

Not to be left out, my son Barney tested a Go Ape party for his 11th birthday. We chose the Adventure Course at Wendover Woods in Hertfordshire — ideal if you have guests of varying heights. Children need to be taller than 1m to ascend to the high rope course. There are two circuits — the first, more solid and not too swingy base rope; the second with no side supports and more scope for dangling. “You’d need a bit more ability to do the second circuit,” manager Dan James had explained when I booked. “Once they’re up there, they can do the courses as many times as they want.” 

It was a beautiful autumn day and the leaves were all shades of russet and gold. Not that the children, in a state of high excitement, noticed. They were too busy clambering into their harnesses and listening to the safety announcements from their leaders, who also checked they were properly clipped in. Before going up, the children got to try a low-level walkway, to see how it would feel up above. Then they climbed the wooden stairs to the first course. 

My son was around the first course in minutes, haring the zip and then back up to do the more advanced course. Most of his friends were similarly fearless, but one boy (M) was nervous and refused to go on. As the children had all been clipped onto the overhead cable in a queue, those behind him had to reverse and unhook so he could go to the back of the line. He re-hooked, but remained reluctant to take the plunge. 

The staff looking after us — two 20-something boys — were super-kind; persuading M he could do it and cheering him on, but at one obstacle he insisted he didn’t want to carry on. Jack, the helper, climbed up and coaxed M around the entire course. The wonderful pay-off was that, having navigated the course once, M returned to do it all by himself (to his friends’ cheers) and also managed to whizz down the ziplines time after time, having taken 15 minutes for his first leap. Amazing for his self-esteem. 

There is a zipwire at the completion end of both course. The children had a full hour to get around the two loops. Up to ten children can go up at a time, at 15-minute intervals, and it was lovely to see the children working together, encouraging each other and helping each other out. 

It was freezing standing there, though, so I popped over to the new café (added as part of a £4.5 million makeover last summer) for a cuppa and a sneaky sandwich. Once we had got the boys all down, we used the semi-open den (bookable by the hour) to sing happy birthday and share out cake and nosh (after giving out hand-wipes).

This was a great party idea for older children, as it could be run without grown-up assistance, although my husband had to be present as the “responsible adult”. Janes had promised it would be “brilliant for building confidence” and “allow them to be adventurous while also doing some problem solving” and it was. The guests had a fantastic time — and they were away from screens and  having fun in the forest for a few hours. It was so much fun — I’d love to do it myself. c
www.goape.co.uk