My Son’s 2nd Birthday: The Party

1st April 2014

A week ago today, my boy turned 2, and I have finally got the energy to write about it!

As you know, I having been preparing for it for quite some time now, so in a way I was glad the day had actually arrived.

The evening before, we had a mini birthday tea with the extended family, so I baked a victoria sponge, and got an amazing cake topper from Evergreen Body Care of my little boy.

I also got some mini toppers of the same picture, along with some batman and rugby balls, and baked some chocolate cakes with a blob of jam in each centre.
Considering I’m no chef, they all tasted yum!

My Homemade Choc & Jam Cakes

The toppers are edible, and all I had to do was email the company with the picture and it was on my doorstep days later, so I was a very happy bunny, and they added a quirky little feature to the buffet that certainly caught the kids’ eyes.

For the buffet, I bought veg and dips, rice cakes, crisps, and lots of frozen food from a couple of supermarkets to make it quicker and easier for me, because cooking, preparing myself and little man, and getting everything to the venue all by my tod was not an easy feat!

Soft Ball Shooting Area

For the party venue, I invited 6 toddlers to indoor play centre Funplex. I chose it because it’s the perfect size for a party; There are plenty of areas to play, with slides, climbing frames, soft ball shooting area and even an under 1’s section.

What I love about it, is that you can see the entire centre from wherever you are, unlike some play centres, so there’s no concern about your children running in two different directions and fear of them managing to get out of the building. There’s only one entrance and exit, and it is completely open-planned, so very toddler friendly!

My son and his friends loved Funplex, and I managed to use one of the party rooms, which was painted with various fairy tale characters, and was a good space to put the buffet, and for the adults to sit and enjoy a cuppa whilst the kids ran wild. The room also had a large window, so you could literally watch the children on the apparatus from your seat.

Huge Slide!
Great Kid Fun!

I chose a weekday morning, so it was nice and quiet- we practically had the whole place to ourselves for 3 hours!

The other mums loved it so much they suggested we make it a regular play date, as child entry is cheaper than most other centres in the area, and adults are free.

The kids had an absolute blast, and we actually stayed nearly 2 hours longer than planned, and the staff were brilliant about it! They even offered squash and plastic plates, because I had forgotten those key parts of my buffet (not bad considering I did EVERYTHING by myself this year I might add!).

I loved that all of the areas were secure and well-padded, so I was able to trust him to run around without me lagging behind him, and he really loved the independence!

My Party ‘Cups’

For the party bags, I was let down MAJORLY by the company who agreed to make the personalised chocolates for each child. They assured me the week before that the order was scheduled and would be posted out ready for the party, and then in the days leading up to it they no longer replied to me! I got a response AFTER the party saying they had made the order but it hadn’t been sent out. Due to this I no longer recommend using chocolatemadness.co.uk at all, especially when it comes to ensuring your products actually arrive for your party!

So as a last minute idea, I bought some pirate cups, hats and colouring books from the good old Pound Shop, and then added sweets, gingerbread biscuits and these cups became the party bags.

After last year’s birthday cake almost killed me, I got the amazingly talented Daisy Brydon to make the cake, and asked for it to have a theme from the film ‘Night at the Museum’ which is still his favourite film.

His Amazing Cake
Dexter

She drove the cake down from London on the day, and the parents and kids were just as amazed as I was.

It had all my son’s favourite characters: Rex, Dum Dum and Dexter being the main ones, as well as a lion and elephant.

The detail was amazing, and the chocolate cake inside was devine!

Dum Dum

Each character was edible, as they were made from rice crispies and modelling chocolate, so my sister enjoyed eating Rex’s bum the day after!

I cannot thank Daisy enough for doing it, especially as she was manically trying to finish a cake for the BBC at the same time as making one for little old us!

I would definitely recommend using Daisy if you have any big celebrations coming up, as she really does cater to what you want, and she is so lovely to talk to which helps a lot I can tell you!

Cake Maker Daisy and Me!

Overall, it was a fabulous day and the boy (plus the other 6 toddlers) all crashed out for huge sleeps after the party. I cannot forget the smile on his face as everyone sang happy birthday to him and watched him blow out his candles. I have never seen him beam so much in his little life, and he seemed so in awe that people were singing for him. Let’s just say my tummy tugged with huge, bubbly love and I had to stop my face from leaking in public!

We then got home to find Uncle Rich and Auntie Nat had bought him goldfish and put them in my lounge.
Errr thanks for more daily chores for me to attempt to do guys, especially when my son killed one of their fish a few months ago by lobbing toys into the tank!

To get them back, here were some flattering shots of them just to give you a good laugh!

Overall, it was a day filled with wonderful memories, and I would definitely like to do the same activities and food for him next year!

For the purpose of this post, I was given these items to review. No payment was received for this post, and all opinions are honest and my own.

21 Comments

  • Anonymous

    1st April 2014 at 10:46 pm

    Looks like a lot of FUN! Happy birthday Chunk #magicmoments

  • Claire

    2nd April 2014 at 6:18 am

    He certainly did!

  • Charly Dove

    2nd April 2014 at 9:02 am

    Oh wow that's a birthday and a half – it sounds like it was brilliant. Lovely post, thank you for sharing with #whatsthestory

  • Unknown

    2nd April 2014 at 12:46 pm

    Sounds like a lovely fun birthday.
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids

  • Nishana

    2nd April 2014 at 12:46 pm

    Happy birthday Chunks. May life brings you all happiness and laugher. Glad that you both had a fantastic day.
    #creativechallenge

  • Ruth

    2nd April 2014 at 1:02 pm

    Great idea for party bags in there!

  • Caroline (Becoming a SAHM)

    2nd April 2014 at 2:06 pm

    Happy Birthday Chunk! Looks like it was a fab day and love the idea of having his face on the cakes! Very cute! Sounds like a lovely birthday party for him. Thanks for linking with #creativechallenge

  • Hannah

    2nd April 2014 at 6:22 pm

    Funplex sounds great! And what a busy birthday he had!

    Thanks for linking up to #TWTWC xx

  • Unknown

    2nd April 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Hi! We've nominated you for a Liebster Award! http://www.twicethemum.com/2014/04/liebster-award-twice-mum.html

  • mumturnedmom

    3rd April 2014 at 12:12 am

    What a fabulous party! It sounds like Chunk had a wonderful day x #CreativeChallenge

  • Zena’s Suitcase

    4th April 2014 at 8:23 am

    Wow! That sounds like a fab party, and Funplex looks like a great place to visit! #pocolo

  • Kim Carberry

    4th April 2014 at 10:21 am

    That sounds like a great party!! I hope Chunk had a wonderful day x

  • Unknown

    4th April 2014 at 9:51 pm

    Happy Birthday Chunk. What an amazing party you put together for him – I love the Funplex, it looks fab. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x

  • rachel @ activities4kidz

    5th April 2014 at 7:01 am

    Looks like you had so much fun. Shame about the chocolaye company but sounds like you did a brill job of organising it all. Kids parties are hard work!

  • Unknown

    6th April 2014 at 8:58 pm

    Wow,what an awesome cake! Good job on the party – that slide looks like kids heaven. #pocolo

  • Jaime Oliver

    6th April 2014 at 11:34 pm

    wow that cake looked amazing!!!!!!!!

    thanks for sharing and linking up with #MagicMoments x

  • Honest Mum

    9th April 2014 at 7:58 pm

    Oh wow fab cake and awesome day! Thanks for linking up to #brillblogposts please do link back or add my badge! Thanks!

  • Lucie Aiston

    23rd April 2014 at 3:33 pm

    Wow what a birthday!! Looks like so much fun! Childrens birthdays are so very tiring though!

  • Tracy Nixon

    25th April 2014 at 4:11 am

    Ahhh lovely photos – looks like you all had a fab time!

  • Michelle

    23rd July 2014 at 12:31 pm

    Aww it looks like you all had a lovely time. I live the cake and top toppers thanks for linking up #GoldenOldies

  • A Review of Birthday Parties at Funplex in Brighton. – Single Parent Pessimist

    5th March 2020 at 2:10 pm

    […] at Funplex in Brighton. My son turned five last week (where has the time gone?!) and after a successful party at Brighton Funplex three years ago, I decided to have it there again this time. A lot seems to have changed for the […]

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