Getting ready for an orange birthday

Luca's almost 4 and about to have his first proper birthday party. I don't know who's more excited: me or him. 

The brief that I set myself for Luca's party...Actually it's pretty much the brief I set for most things: handmade, thrifty, green and personal. Well, OK, as much as possible.

Orange is Luca's favourite colour. Has been forever. Even as a teeny toddler, he'd pull all the orange blocks out of the box and make them into a tall tower. 

So the theme is, of course, orange.

Martha et al make pompoms look easy.

They are. But by the fifth, you've had enough of all those papery layers and you start tearing them. How does anyone have the patience to do enough to fill a whole room??? This is all I've managed to make.

Move on to hanging paper garland. All I've done so far is cut the strips. You need a sewing machine to stitch them together. I still haven't taken mine out of its box. I have four days to learn how to use one. Hmmmm.

Next on my list is a number wreath. Made out of cardboard. Easy enough. The plan was to make lots of orange snails to stick onto it. But then I realised that I forgot to add simple to my brief. I'm no Martha. So I used all the bits leftover from the pompoms...

And made this.

And now for the bit I was most looking forward to. Orange yarn lanterns. To hang in his bedroom afterwards.

It's enough to make you give up making anything ever again. I've gone through two bottles of glue and a whole packet of cornflour. The garage floor is covered in sticky knotted yarn and big white blobs. The balloons that I spent ages tying to the ceiling and lovingly rubbing with vaseline popped or deflated within hours, and the two lanterns that I did manage to do. Look. Like. This. 


No, I'm not doing this again. Handmade, yes. Enjoyable? Not so much.

It's not quite going to plan (damn you, Martha Stewart), but hey, Luca's not going to care. He's already excited with the few orange pompoms and the orange 4 that we're going to tie around a tree. Cake, friends and games will make it for him. Not the image I had in my head of trees decorated with dozens of lanterns and stitched garlands. 


Do you know, I think I will hang those pitiful two lanterns. I'll enjoy the laugh, and so will everyone else.


I'll do another post soon with all the food!

Luca's party invite that we emailed to his friends

Playing along with snap it {colour}.