Ellen had ambitious plans for Ben's birthday party this year.
Fed up with other snobby Mums at the Nursery booking out large Village Halls and entertainers to celebrate their little ones' birthdays, she decided to do the same and booked out Parkside Village Hall in Ampthill for the afternoon.
Pencilled in for 1.30-3.30pm on Saturday afternoon, we sent out invitations to Ben's friends at nursery based on a list of his best mates as recommended by his nursery carer 'Mr Tom'. The guest list had about 12 names on it and we had confirmation that 8 kids plus parents would be attending.
When the big day arrived, we were up at working day time and in full swing with the preparations.
We downloaded music for the pass-the-parcel event on an iPod, enveloped the parcel with layer after layer of wrapping paper, made dips, salads and other nibbles too. After loading the car full of food, drink, plates, cups, napkins, balloons, banners, cleaning materials, i-pod, sound system, camera...let me just catch my breath....ah, that's better....we were ready to go.
Weather fine, sunny and a hint of warmth, we pulled up at the Village Hall.
It was an unimpressive relic from the 1970/80s with interior to match. The toilets and other areas took me back to primary school! However, it was more than spacious enough inside and we had all we needed facilities-wise.
Before long the kids and parents started filtering through the front entrance and generally looked lost until they were greeted. And before not much longer, all had arrived and were mixing and mingling with drinks and nibbles with kids playing together nicely.
I kicked off proceedings in the main hall with a game of pass-the-parcel.
Playing a selection of songs ranging from 'I Am The Music Man' to 'The Birdie Song', I tried to keep a beady eye on which kids had won each round to avoid the unhappy scenario of empty-handed kids crying their heads off, or worse, brawling with each other over the presents.
It all passed calmly and enjoyably and, no, we hadn't fixed it so Ben would win. The prize - a stylish stair 'slinky' that Ellen picked up from Wilkinson's - was scooped by blond-haired Jake.
We then laid out the food and drink on a large table by the main hall while the entertainer took over with the kids and earned his £60. That he did, loudly and actively, and the kids were enthralled with his range of activities, including penalty shoot out, obstacle course, throw-the-sticky ball-at-the-giant-dartboard, space hoppers for all and more.
He stayed for an hour and we unveiled the birthday cake to a hungry crowd shortly after.
It was a delicious brown chocolate sponge and cream cake iced ornately with the features of a monkey (how appropriate) and surrounded meticulously by a range of jelly sweets and sweetie bananas.
Ben didn't hang around when the cake arrived with candles on top. He inhaled so deeply he almost fell off his chair before blowing out the candles in one big puff. Then we did what all adults do at that stage - snatched the cake off the kids and went to carve it up.
Gill and Barry sprinted back to the kitchen like a pack of hungry wolves and had it sliced up in no time and we all tucked in and had a general chat about kids, careers, the weather - you know, the usual topics.
Before we knew it, it was 3.30pm and time to say goodbye to Ben's chums.
The time had whizzed by and we gave Ben his party bags to hand out to each of his mates as they left - not least, his 'wife' Gracie who'd turned out for her celebrating husband in a striking red polka dot dress. Ben kissed his other half goodbye and the hall fell quiet again.
Poor little Ben was upset it was over. A quick hug later and he was okay again.
We were really glad Ben had enjoyed his little birthday party. Ciaran had too in his quiet little way, but Ellen and I just had to glance into each other eyes to know we felt the same way - let's chill out now!
A back garden party next year methinks.
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