Ideas for Fun at Home *lockdown edition*

Hello from the depths of coronavirus lockdown, here in Auckland New Zealand!
I've been thinking of all of you with younger kids and heaving a bit of a sigh of relief that my kids are all so independant, screen-savvy and self-sufficient these days, which is allowing me to keep working my two jobs from home - mostly without too much interruption.

My lot are all giants now, aged 17, 15 and 11. See that little one in the photo above? Same height as me.
They are so far happily connecting with their friends online via PS4 live gaming and HouseParty snapchatting, but eventually they must get bored of that, right?
And there's only so many walks with the dog we they can take...

To help provide some ideas of stuff to do for fun while on Lockdown I've dug into the archives and rounded up some of my old "at home" holiday fun ideas. After all it is officially school hols here in NZ at the moment, and there's really nowhere else to be but home on Lockdown...

I have always been a big believer that there's lots of fun to be had at home...

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A Merry Heart Does You Good (like medicine)

If you've been around this blog for any length of time you'll know that in our family we've always loved to celebrate for any excuse – and sometimes for no reason.

We loved having friends over, spending time with special people enjoying an occasion together. Whether it was a Light Party, a Birthday Party, an Easter dinner or one of our famous "Parties for No Reason", we sure did love to host a gathering.
We never spent loads of money, we never parted with cash for glitzy entertainers or fancy catering.
We liked our birthday cakes a bit wobbly and homemade-looking.
We got a kick out of thinking up decorations, games and food that we could adapt and make.

More than anything, we really got a thrill out of creating an atmosphere for our friends to come and enjoy.

Even the planning was part of the fun.
As the kids got older they came up with their own great ideas for games and decorating.

Celebrating each other was a way of showing appreciation and letting each family member know that they were valued and special.
So what happened when we changed to a sole-parent family on a tight budget?

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A Magical Woodland Campfire Party

You see them everywhere on Pinterest these days: gorgeous whimsical woodland-themed parties. I've been admiring them for a while now, and when Miss Fab was making noises earlier in the year about "not having a themed party" (gasp) I pulled up this theme on my Pinterest board and showed her the prettiness. It didn't take much to convince her to adopt this as the party theme for her 12th birthday. Throw in a campfire, good friends and toasting marshmallows on a winters evening, and what could be more magical? Just to make things more enjoyable, we decided to combine with the party with Fab's friend Em, who turns 12 a few days before her. They share many of the same friends, and her mum, Mel, is one of my besties, so this was a no brainer (plus I know Mel is a whizz at campfires).

Well ahead of time we started collecting things. We scoured Ali Express, we placed our order with Kiwicakes, we pinned and gathered and foraged months in advance. Which was just as well, because a tumultuous June/July meant that party-planning was the last thing on either of our minds and we came very close to cancelling the whole thing. But thankfully, after chatting with our buddies Mel and Em, we decided to go ahead. Maybe a magical woodland party was just the antidote we all needed?

Yes it was. A little bit of woodland magic on a cold winter's night, with good friends and plenty of laughter around a campfire - what could be better? Very reviving for the spirits.

So here it is, in all it's rustic glory: our home-made take on a woodland party (with a real campfire).

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Nights of Fire and Marshmallows

One of my favourite things in the world is what we call "Fire Nights".

Basically, when the evening is fine - be it winter or summer - we light the brazier and cook our dinner over the flames. Sausages or chicken skewers, either will do.

Sometimes we have fire nights "just us". Sometimes we have friends over.

We snuggle under blankets on chairs pulled up as close as safety allows to the warm fireglow. 

We toast marshmallows, tell stories and play games like Truth or Dare or our fave: Circles and Triangles*.

Fire nights are the best. Nobody needs to be entertained, it's nothing complicated or fancy. We just hang out around the fire, under the lights. (Of course we may snap a pic or two, as evidence of fun times, for posterity, but otherwise gadgets are superfluous).

The last couple of weeks, I've been sole-parenting, with hubby galavanting in Europe (as you do). And of course, during his absence it's also been SCHOOL HOLIDAYS (best-of-times/worst-of-times).

But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do, and sometimes you just need a Fire Night, even if there's no dad around to chop wood.

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May the 4th be with You (a last minute Star Wars Theme Dinner)

You know what yesterday* was, right? International Star Wars Day. "May the Fourth be with you" and all that. It's an actual thing, didn't you know?

[* TODAY if you're in the northern Hemisphere]

We have a bit of a Star Wars mad population, along with screeds of Jedi regalia and leftover party bits. It's been AGES since we've done a theme dinner, so I impulsively announced at breakfast that we'd be having a Star Wars theme dinner tonight in honour of May the Fourth. Woop. Excitement all round.

Of course, I forgot all about it and did nothing towards it as the day rolled on - and then the kids came home and the little guy was all, "Yay it's our Star Wars dinner tonight!" and I went, "oh bugger".

So I did what every last-minute-Larry does who has promised her kids something and doesn't want to be the party pooper: I fell back on the quick and easy options.

I dug out the light saber napkin rings I stashed last year from our Star Wars Party Just Because; I spread the table with a navy blue sheet and put Mr G's vintage Star Wars pillowcase in the middle. I dug out some gold paper plates left over from some other party. I whipped up a jug of cheats Yoda Soda (apple juice with soda water and a few drops of green food colouring) and announced that Han Burgers were on the menu.

Then I remembered that we had a tube of $2 shop glow sticks lying unused in one of my party supplies boxes... so I made these little beauties in two minutes flat:

Easy peasy! Glow sticks with a strip of silver sticky tape wrapped around one end to form a handle.
Perfect for miniature light saber battles at the dinner table...

Ah yes, there's nothing like a bit of last minute theme dinner fun (and on a school night too).

I think I started working on this at around 5 o'clock. Laid the table, made the burger patties, mixed the drink, turned glow sticks into light sabers. Then told everyone to quickly find a costume and get up to the table at around 6pm. That's all the time it took to pull this off.

(We couldn't find Darth Vader's helmet, so he looks a little weird, but oh well)

It was a bit of impromptu easy dinner fun, just because I felt like we needed something to give us a boost. Any excuse, right? It's been too long.

[Cookies 'n' cream icecream with squirty cream was the best I could come up with for dessert at short notice. Planet Hoth Sundaes? Haha]

So for all my Northern Hemisphere readers who are still in the middle of May the Fourth - why not take a leaf from our book and StarWars-ify tonight's dinner? It's super easy. And lots of fun.

P.S. My (proper) Yoda Soda recipe was featured today on a Canadian website called The Loop who have done a roundup of Star Wars themed food. Check out all the edible Star Wars coolness here.

OTHER STAR WARS FUN POSTS

• Star Wars Party
• Star Wars Party: Darth Vader Pinata
• Star Wars Party: Wookie Cookies & Lightsabers
• Star Wars Party *Just Because*

Garden Fairy Party *Just Because*

I really thought my fairy party days were behind me. After all my daughter is ten, and most ten-year-old girls have left fairies and wing-wearing far behind. But driving along in the car last week, my tall gorgeous tween said to me, "Mum remember how we sometimes do those garden parties in the school holidays? It would be so cool to have a fairy party with my friends these holidays. Like when we were little, for a laugh. It would be so CUTE!"

And then came the brainwave. She said, "We could invite some little girls! Like J! Oh my gosh, that would be so cute! Me and my friends could be the big fairies..." And off she went imagining and envisioning a nostalgic fairy party, starring her.

I couldn't not do it; I've always wanted to do a fairy party in our garden, after all (her birthday is in Winter, so her little girl fairy birthday was indoors). So we sent out a text to some friends with daughters, big and little. "Come to our garden fairy party - wear your wings!" And hoped like heck for good weather.

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Big Girls (and boys) Just Wanna Have Fun too

Our school's Quiz Nite is legendary round these parts and I've always wanted to go. Ever since I heard stories (and saw photos) of my friend Meg's team outfits, I've wanted to be on their team.

They go ALL OUT on the costuming and props. Last year they won Best Dressed. My kinda team.

So when Meg said one of their regulars was unavailable I saw our chance and took it. We were in!

This year the theme was "Battle of the Bands" and our team decided to go as 80's Rock/Pop Stars.

I knew we had to make this good if we have any chance of being invited back, so I started googling for inspiration and up popped a picture of Cyndi Lauper.

I can do that! I thought, and dived into our dress-up box.

My initial attempt was posted on Instagram - and apparently I reminded a few people of "Jem - truly outrageous". Haha, not quite what I was going for.

Our wardrobe seriously needed augmenting after Mr G refused to go as "that perv" George Michael (a costume I could have put together for him with my eyes closed). Hubby decided to go as his childhood pop idol, Adam Ant - much more complicated but I reckoned we could nail that one with a bit of help from Save Mart.

I think we managed it, don't you?

I found Cyndi's tutu for $6.99, a silver leopard print top for $5 and the red wig for $4.99. Corset, belt and beads all from my dress-up box. Adam's wig was originally all braids (which I cut off leaving just a few strategically placed ones); his jacket was plain black but I added the gold ribbon (double sided tape) and the cape was $2.99 - all from Save Mart. Add a bit of white face-paint and voila, Adam Ant.

 We had a great laugh, and true to their rep, our team went all out...

Left to Right: Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Adam Ant, Joan Jett, Willie Nelson, Siouxie Sioux and Madonna.

The very creative Joan Jett went all out with our table props, which included a gold lame tablecloth, flamingo and pineapple (Miami) paper staws, a (fake) box of Miami Wine Cooler and a diamond studded mirror with some icing sugar... (you know what that was meant to be right?)

We were finalists in the best team costume. (A Mariachi band won the prize, though some totally unbiased byanders said we were "robbed").
Boy George won best Male costume.
Cyndi Lauper got an honourable mention (finalist) which kinda made my day.

As for the actual Quiz? Weeeeellll.... we DID get a prize - for coming second to last. Ha!

But winning doesn't matter (as I tell my kids) the main thing is that the big girls and boys

all had LOTS OF FUN!

(and looked amazing too)

P.S. You can follow me on Instagram if ya want

xx

School Holiday Fun: The Book Party (with free printables)

Any excuse for a party, I say, and School Holidays is reason enough.
It's become a bit of a habit, throwing an impromptu party-for-no-reason when school is out; a chance to gather friends, and kids-of-friends, eat food and drink coffee. We've had themeless parties-for-no-reason, a Lego party, garden parties and last school holidays, Book Club: Kids Edition.
This led me naturally to the idea of throwing a Book-themed party this time. Invite the kids to dress up, and the mums to bring book-themed food. What could be simpler, right?

I have to admit, I had fun coming up with the ideas, and was pleasantly surprised how fun and easy this theme was. It might be that I went a little overboard...? (No, surely not, Simoney! that doesn't sound like you at all, did I hear you say...)


The Book Party Decor was super easy. I used what I have plenty of,  i.e. books of all shapes and sizes. My best bit of inspiration was trying out the idea of books as bunting. I tied up some strands of (strong) string, hung up a range of small books and VOILA! Book bunting...






For the table, I laid out thin paper-backed picture books and covered them with a $2 white plastic tablecover. Too easy, and cute.

The food was the fun part. To make sure that nobody missed the book-association, I made little labels...

The labels were made ahead of time: black paper stuck onto old business cards, with a mini picture of the relevant book stuck on it. I wrote the food's title with chalk and then sprayed each one with hairpsray, so the chalk didn't smudge. (Mini Book cover printable is at the bottom of this post)







But what you really want to see is the food, right??!

MR HAPPY COOKIES (from Mr Men books): plain packet biscuits topped with circles of rolled out yellow fondant; the face drawn on with chocolate squeeze-tube icing.
TRUFFULA TREES CUPCAKES (from The Lorax): a squirt of green buttercream on a choclate cupcake, topped with a wafer tube and a ball of candy floss (held in with a toothpick)
OREO SPIDERS (from Charlotte's Web): Oreo cookies split in half, with slivers of licorice poked in for legs; the Oreo gets sandwiched back together and squirty tube icing eyes applied
CHEESE TOUCH CHEESE N CRACKERS (from Diary of a Wimpy Kid): cheese and crackers!
MAX'S JELLY BOATS (from Where the Wild Things Are): blueberry jelly set in cups; a mandarin segment spiked through with a toothpick and a paper triangle.
CATERPILLAR GRAPE SKEWERS (from The Very Hungry Caterpillar): green and red grapes, on a skewer
SCRAMBLED SNAKE (from The Gruffalo): Home Brand Sour Worms
RINGS (from Lord of the Rings): Burger Rings! (could also use Cheezels)
EDMUNDS TURKISH DELIGHT (from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe): Turkish Delight. From a packet.

[books and christmas lights provided a cute background for the food on my hutch dresser]

There were so many bookish food ideas, most of them so simple (and I've always wanted to try making these Truffula cupcakes). I collected all the ideas I found on a Pinterest Board if you need more inspiration...

To drink we had NIGHTLOCK BERRY PUNCH (from The Hunger Games) and LASHINGS OF GINGERBEER (from Famous Five; grab the free printable labels below).

There were no book games or activities (though I did briefly consider a Book Quiz); this is not a birthday party after all. It's a chance for the mummies to get together and drink coffee while the kids rampage through the house with their friends on a rainy day, where they might otherwise be stuck inside, bored.

Can you figure out who they are dressed up as???

So at out school holiday book party we ate book themed food, drank book themed drink, and hung out with our friends while the rain fell and the wind blew. It was loud. It was crazy. It was messy.

But it was so much better than being stuck inside on our own.

Have you ever thrown an impromptu party? You should try it sometime. It's fun.

FREE BOOK PARTY PRINTABLES
If you want to host your own Book Party, here are my printables to help you get started...
[Right click to save images to your computer then print, trim and use. Both are set up on an A4 page]

[mini book labels]

["lashings of gingerbeer" Famous Five soda bottle labels]

• More parties here on my Party Index Page

School Holiday Fun at Home *Ideas for the Housebound*

Autumn. School holidays. What a combination.
The weather is likely to be dodgy at times and unless you’re heading off for a tropical island holiday or have bottomless pockets, you might find yourself stuck at home with kids who are bouncing off the walls, driving you nuts while the rain pours down.

I've dug into the archives and come up with some wet day holiday fun ideas you can do at home. Here's a few of our favourites...

Have A Lazy Pajama Day with Family Brunch
Declare a Pajama Day and stay in your PJ's all day. Make pancakes for a relaxed family brunch. You can make pancakes from scratch or use the easy shake-em-up bottled kind. Get the kids helping, set the table fancy, put out loads of toppings; then sit down and eat brunch together. Then slob out and have a cosy Movie Marathon while the rain falls down and the wind howls.

Make a Movie

Getting the kids to come up with their own movie will keep them occupied for a while, thinking up a script, characters, costumes and “effects”. Use your ipad or camera-phone to film the masterpiece. If they're old enough, they can even film it themselves; Miss Fab and her pals have made a couple of DIY epics on her camera without any assistance. If inspiration is lacking supply the kids with a theme: Noah's Ark, Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears are all movies we've made when the kids were little (flippin' hilarious).

Camp Inside
Put up a dome tent in the lounge and play games like Trouble, Snap, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes and (our favourite kid-friendly game) MONOPOLY EMPIRES. You can even spread out a rug in front of the tent and have an indoor picnic by the fire/heat pump. Or use blankets and sheets, string and pegs to construct a hut, then pile up the cushions and watch a movie from inside it.

Have a Movie Marathon
You can't beat a movie marathon sleepover – drag mattresses into the lounge, string up some Christmas lights and settle in to watch movies back-to-back. Check out my movie reviews page for kids and family movie recommendations. If nothing on that list appeals, can I heartily recommend a "Back to the Future" marathon? Great family viewing - just a few minor curse words dotted here and there and a few PG moments which if you know the movies well enough you should be able to guide your kids through, but apart from that they are a great laugh, perfect for a Movie Marathon (for older kids).

Have a Theme Dinner
Raid the cupboards and find stuff to have a dinner party on a Theme. Our favourites have included an Indian Party and a Spanish Party; a Fancy Dinner , Middle Eastern, or Chinese ones. You can spend the day planning, decorating, researching ideas on the internet and getting things ready. Also loads of fun are movie theme dinners where you can eat themed food and then watch the movie e.g. Star Wars, “Brave”, Toy Story (Pizza Planet) etc. Invite friends to join you, or just keep it in the family.



Throw a Party for No Reason
Raid the cupboards and find or make food to hold an impromptu party; Homemade Lemonade, mini meat pies, muffins, iced cookies, popcorn, fruit, and icecream sodas have all featured at our impromptu parties. You can get the kids to do face painting, dress up, do silly dancing or play Singstar or Buzz.

Invite other house-bound friends over for even more fun – make a wet-day into a celebration; the more the merrier. You can even theme it, like we did for our Impromptu Lego Party. (One of our Rainy Day Parties was featured last week on the Parenting Magazine blog - woop)

Just today I hosted a Book Club Party - Kids Edition. Everyone brought books to swap (two piles: "books to borrow" and "books to keep"); the kids rioted played while the mums had coffee and ignored the screaming nattered. It was completely mad but awesome, and everyone went home with some new books.

Photo Scavenger Hunt
And if the sun comes out? A photo scavenger hunt. All you need are a few photo-taking gadgets and a simple list. Offer prizes for the best photo in each category, then go on a walk around your neighbourhood to see what you can find. A nice way to let off steam after being cooped up inside (wear gumboots for some puddle jumping while you're at it).

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So there's a few ideas to help you survive the rest of the school holidays (and the cooler season) without going stir crazy.

Got any other bright ideas? Share them with me below...