Hello Hello!
Gosh it’s been a long time since I posted anything here. This is the longest stretch I’ve ever gone without posting since I started blogging (way back in 2013 - crazy!) and I’ve missed it!
A lot has been going on over the last few months (I’ll update you on it at some point!), and sadly my blog has been rather neglected… but I’m feeling so excited and motivated to get back into it. As usual there are so many ideas and fun posts swirling around in my head but I just need to make the time to sit down and actually write!
I figured an easy way to get back into the swing of things would be to share a few snaps from Ruby’s second birthday party. I can’t believe she is two already - it really does go by so ridiculously quickly! Here’s a post I wrote last year on her first birthday!
We had little party on the weekend at our place and kept things very relaxed, celebrating with just our immediate family. While we were originally planning to have a bigger party at a park so we could invite everyone, it all just got a bit too overwhelming so we kept things simple and had a small birthday brunch at our place instead with just the grandparents and Ruby’s aunties and uncles.
We ordered croissants, I made a cheese platter and and our families brought fruit, sandwiches, cupcakes and souffra, so in the end we actually had tonne of food!!!
It was all very relaxed and low key, except for the cake which I have to say I am incredibly proud of. I am no baker (and there are a slew of stories about my cooking mishaps that my family still like to tease me about!!) so I was very impressed that I actually managed to pull off this Princess Castle Cake!
We showed Ruby the classic Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book and this is the one she chose. The look on her face when she saw the finished cake was the absolute best and she was so cute walking to the fridge and constantly asking us to pick her up so she could look at it! (some cute videos of this are on my Instagram @laurennatalia.co if you’d like to see her reaction)
I’ll do a separate post sharing how I made the cake later (if that interests anyone) because, while it was quite involved it was really fun and not as intimidating as I had originally anticipated. A big thank you to packet mix butter cake and also to Tom’s parents for watching Ruby all afternoon and into the night so I actually had the time to make it!!
I hope you enjoyed this personal post and that maybe it could give you some ideas if you’re also planning a little kids birthday party!
My main tip would just be to do what feels fun for you - if that’s a big extravagant party or an elaborate cake - awesome, but if the idea of that stresses you out and you just want to do something super simple and easy - remember that is perfect too! As mum’s I think we put way too much pressure on ourselves and sometimes we need a reminder that all out kids really need is a lot of love and cuddles (and maybe a few birthday treat lollies ;))
Anyway, thanks for reading if you got this far and I’ll be back soon (hopefully!)
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx
Random Tip - this may already be common knowledge but for anyone wanting to buy helium balloons, just a heads up that Spotlight does them for really reasonable prices! This bunch of 5 was $10.50! For some reason I always thought helium balloons were super expensive but at Spotlight they are actually affordable… just thought I’d mention that in case you were like me and had no clue! haha :)