It was a beautiful Winter morning, with a ray of sunshine, we arrived at Lucky Bean bright and early to set up for my little boy’s special day.
Nick and I are #TeamTillack and believe in planning together for special occasions in our family, we did everything from scratch with the assistance of family and a few friends.
I appreciate the support as party planning is not easy, it was safe to say that my nerves were shot to pull off the perfect, fun party for not just my little boy but his friends too.
We chose to do a Woodlands theme for Keston’s second birthday, this is a cute theme I had wanted to do at his first birthday however we did not throw a party, we chose to go away on a family holiday and host a small birthday celebration with minimal décor.
I love everything about the Woodlands theme, the little Fox, Hedgehog, Bunny, Deer, Raccoon, Owl and the Bear and agree that they are the cutest Forrest friends.
I must have watched the classic movie Bambi about three times while preparing for Keston’s birthday, most importantly I wanted everything to be fun, relaxed and easy for parents and their kids.
When it comes to selecting the ideal venue to host a toddler’s party, I think of outdoors, play area, kids running wild to burn off that sugar rush, most important a safe environment for parents to enjoy a cup of coffee while their kids play.
Lucky Bean located in Assegay was the perfect choice to host a toddler party, they have a beautiful outdoor play area with a wide variety of kiddie activities and an indoor baby facility. A party area with supplies to accommodate the hosting family and what I love most about Lucky Bean is that the area is safe, parents are able to enjoy a slice of cake with their coffee while their little one plays freely, Lucky Bean charges a flat deposit rate of R600 to secure your booking, different rates for kids and adults will apply if your event falls on a weekday or weekend as well as the number of guests you will host at the party.
Let’s talk about food, I don’t know about you but I love good party food! Nick and I are big on snacking and because we decided to host a morning birthday party it was important for us to ensure plentiful food is served.
Chilli Chocolate Chefs are simply amazing, they are a team of amazing Pastry Chefs, and they specialize in creating decadent desserts, tasty pastries on beautiful trays, packaged for collection on the day of the event. When I contacted Chef Fathima to assist us with some delicious platters for Keston’s birthday, she felt honoured after establishing a good relationship with me through other successful events. What I love most about Chilli Chocolate Chefs is that they are Halaal and cater for vegetarians and omnivores.
My amazing Sister, Kaylee and Brother Jordan collected the platters and drove up to the venue to assist me with set up.
Chilli Chocolate Chefs platters range from R300 + and each platter feeds 8 -10 people.
We ordered two crazy chicken platters with assorted pastries that included stuffed chicken, mushroom and mayonnaise croissants, mini chicken burgers with a topping of fresh salad, open chicken and salad sandwiches, chicken samosas and grilled chicken pieces.
Lastly we ordered one vegetarian platter with a beautiful spread of vegetarian pastry delights that included, puri – patter, vegetarian samosas, chilli bites, vegetarian burgers and cheese sandwiches.
Kids can be fussy eaters so I ensured Nick’s mom baked two platters of plain sausage rolls.
Everyone enjoyed the party food, whenever I caught a moment to look around, I saw lots of happy faces enjoying tucking into their snacks and kids that were so excited to bite into their mini sausage rolls or other snacks suitable for their age group.
Décor is my favourite part of event planning, I went with beautiful lime green linen table cloths from Made by Sam, this created a luscious look to compliment the Woodlands party set up. Glass jars and cake stand is my own as I enjoy purchasing items that I can reuse for another event. I somewhat knew that what I had was not going to be enough so I visited my local plastic store and bought a few party items to compliment my set up. I purchased eight additional plastic jars with lids, brown wooden cutlery, plastic cups, plates, brown paper bags for party packs, lady bug clips and brown string. I found it is so much fun to have a little DIY included in the party décor, I spray painted the sweet jar plastic lids in Gold which gave it a rustic look, the brown paper bags, also added to the Woodlands theme and the little lady bug clips was so fitting.
I didn’t think I would find such adorable items at a plastic shop that assisted with my party set up.
I also managed to find a little Fox from Miniso Galleria, that I used for the set up and gave to Keston as a cuddle soft toy.
Candy table and baked goods!I love when kids say give me all the candy, cake too!
This makes my heart so happy to see all the kiddies and their parents enjoy the candy and baked goods, although we purchased most of the candy from Makro as their quality of sweets is excellent and well-priced. We enjoyed that our family came together to prepare baked goods for Keston’s birthday party. Our candy included a variety of marshmallows, chocolate eggs, loli-pops, chocolates, blueberry balls, jelly sweets and sour worms.
Baked goods included flings, home-made donuts coated in green coconut for a greenery effect by Nick’s aunt, traditional fudge baked by my amazing Sister Kaylee, vanilla swirl cupcakes with a lady bug decal on each and 30cm chocolate, triple layered sponge Woodlands themed cake designed by the amazing Tania from Tania’s Cakes for All Occasions.
Party Bags! Created by Nick and I on the night before the actual party, we filled a brown paper bag with crisps, juice, candy and chocolate. A Fox sticker and lady bug clip was added to each bag for some creativity.
Party Stationery! The beautiful Beth of Dear Ariah Stationery gifted Keston birthday party stationary, she created everything from scratch after I sent her my mood board from Pinterest. I simply was responsible for the printing of the beautiful stationary.
What I love most about Beth is her creativity and kindness, she goes out of her way to accommodate her clients as a working mom to her gorgeous little girl, three – year old Ariah. Beth created Keston’s invite, welcome board, animal water illustrations, food labels, stickers and thank you notes. The beautiful stationary complimented the theme so well and is so gorgeous, I have decided to place some of the framed water illustration designs in Keston’s big boy room.
Lastly what is a party without fabulous juice! We purchased assorted kiddie branded juices and a few soft drinks for adults. Lucky Bean provided tea and coffee for free!
Lucky Little ZA, Robyn is such a star, she is a super mom boss and graphic designer.
I contacted her last minute to assist with a Fox tee for Keston, she worked over night and sent it a day before his party. Robyn and I have developed a good relationship and she is our trusted tee designer since Keston's first birthday.
Totem Teepee, a big thank you to Tammy who came with her boys and a fabulous Woodland themed Teepee, we placed all the gifts inside it.
My heart is full, I saw my little boy’s face light up while running and playing with his friends,
I was so surprised that he actually sat at the table on his little chair eating his flings with his little friends. I turned to some of my mommy friends and whispered am I seeing correctly, our kids are sitting and eating together, something we don’t see busy toddlers often do as we constantly have to chase them to eat or sit down. Something that wasn’t planned turned out so well, Keston and all his little friends eating together at the table.
I am so grateful to each parent that drove their little one up to Lucky Bean to celebrate Keston’s birthday with us, time is so precious in this busy life and I treasure the people that give my family moments of their valuable time.
Keston was graced with so many beautiful gifts, we did a clean out of all his old toys (gently used) for a kid’s orphanage close by, my Dad dropped off the donated goods and it was an emotional experience for him as many of the kids had never received a toy of their own.
We are so blessed that we are in a position that affords us to provide for our Son’s needs and care.
After Keston’s amazing Woodlands birthday party, he enjoyed a three-hour nap.
Until next time, Love & Blessings
Lana T
Thank you to the amazing party suppliers!
Lucky Bean www.luckybean.co.za
Tania Cakes for All Occasions 083 236 6682 / www.tanias.co.za
Chilli Chocolate Chefs @chilichocolatechefs / www.chillichocolatechefs.co.za
Made by Sam @madebysam
Lucky Little ZA @luckylittleza
Dear Ariah Stationery @dearariahstationery
Totem Teepee @totemteepee / www.totemteepee.com
Makro, Amanzimtoti 0860 600 999
Crazy Plastics, Amanzimtoti 031 904 377
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