At last….he’s here….and we wanted to celebrate! 🙂 

Perhaps we’re crazy planning a party for 40 people with a 2week old baby. Perhaps even more crazy for intending for it to be a summer ‘GARDEN’ party (we do live in Blighty after all! :-/)….BUT…we survived! Actually, more than just that, it was the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of our little prince. 

With Colin’s side of the family residing in Scotland, and mine in Wales, it was an ideal opportunity to introduce him to his great grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins and future BFF’s. Seeing the look on my grandparents face the first time they set eyes on him was just magical. Archie was so excited, running about telling everyone he was the big brother. All the girls wanted a cuddle from the tiny man, we felt so lucky to be able to celebrate him in that way.

We knew it was ambitious to pull everything together amidst the newborn haze but where there’s a will there’s a way, and I’m so pleased we did it. We would definitely recommend a little welcome party (of any size) for all new parents to celebrate the arrival of their little ones. We’ve made some really wonderful memories. 

Both Archie and I are winter babies, and Colin is very early spring (which translates to ‘rain’ in North England) this usually makes birthday party planning a little challenging….there’s only so much you can do in the rain and cold. Needless to say when we found out that Oliver was due mid-summer I was thrilled!!! How lucky he would be to enjoy a lifetime of birthday garden parties, BBQ’s, camping, festivals.. and how much fun would I have organising all of that, until he’s old enough to tell me to butt out of course! 

We knew we would be super busy those first few weeks with a newborn so started planning way back when we were a few months pregnant.

We wanted the day to feel totally relaxed and informal but still special enough to be a celebration. With 10 children and 30 adults of all ages, we decided to keep it simple with a laid back ‘picnic’ theme. This way the food could be prepared in advance, leaving us free to enjoy the party too. We were praying for great weather (it was early August after all) so we felt extremely lucky (and jammy!) waking up to 24 degree heat and blue skies the morning of the party.

Invites from Zazzle

We bought 4 wooden picnic benches for the seating area and dressed them simply with pots of fresh lavender (Archie’s favourite).

We covered the seating area with pretty white festoon lights ready for sundown.

We served the food in a small marque to keep it cool and bug free. The patio area was dressed with white cotton bunting and the tables were covered with white table linen. 

With 10 children attending, we needed a shaded area to keep them cool, so used a big white umbrella and some picnic blankets on the floor. This way they could crawl about and spread out their toys.
Archie already has a big wooden play area which kept the little ones busy.

We hired glasses from Waitrose for free (it’s a great service!) and filled big metal buckets with ice to keep the drinks cool.
We got through A LOT of prossecco, this seemed to be the tipple of choice. We also served jugs of Pimms, red and white wine and beers too. 

For our late lunch buffet we had big trays of finger sandwiches (which saved on loads of dirty plates and cutlery) with traditional British fillings, open lettuce bites, mini quiche, crisps, nuts etc….
I wish I had taken a picture of the food all laid up, it looked so pretty, but it was gone too quickly for me to snap it….maybe that’s no bad thing!

Then came desert…. We served homemade cakes, mini tarts, pots of Eton Mess and cute chocolate filled plant pots for the children (they LOVED these!).

When the sun went down we served a big cheese board with plenty of local chutneys and crackers.

There was actually loads of food left over at the end of the night, but as my step dad always says…”better to be looking at it than for it”.

At dusk, we let off a sky lantern to celebrate little Ollie. We each made a wish for his future and let it drift off into the sky. Despite everyone shouting “Ahhhhhh it’s going to hit the tree!!”, it was really magical and Archie absolutely loved it!

We stayed out late, wrapped up in blankets and listening to music, until most guests left around midnight. Almost all of the guests had stayed in local hotels, so we invited everyone over for a relaxed breakfast the next morning. 

We covered our kitchen table with pastries, bagels, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt and Colin cooked some bacon and sausages. Guests stopped by for coffee and breakfast throughout the morning, giving us an opportunity to thank them for their gifts and say goodbye properly.

Looking back at these pictures now, they hold such happy memories. 

Although we were completely exhausted after it, we’re really pleased we did it when Ollie was only 3weeks old. He’s grown so much already and it really felt like we were gathering to welcome him into our wonderful families.