Birthday Boy

What a busy weekend! Christopher had a lovely birthday, and his party went off without a hitch in the end. Six children was a nice number to have; they all played really well together with no squabbling or fighting (which makes a refreshing change). I decided that they were probably still a bit young for full-on party games, but luckily the weather brightened up for the afternoon so they could play in the garden.

The party tea seemed to go down very well. I decided against making the usual sandwiches as, in my experience, they make a huge mess before remaining largely uneaten. Instead, I made a huge tomato-and-cheese pizza and cut it into squares to eat cold. The menu was, thus:

• Pizza Squares
• Cocktail Sausages
• Cheesy Bites
• Raw Carrot & Pepper Sticks
• Grapes & Raisins
• Salt & Shake Crisps (sans salt)
• Dinosaur-shaped Chocolate Biscuits
• Marshmallow Top Hats (see below)
• Birthday Cake!

Marshmallow Top Hats

These are a family classic, and a party favourite from my childhood. Particularly favoured by my brother, I now make them for my boys as a party treat. 'Scotbloc', or cake covering, is the taste I grew up with, so that's what I use. You can use proper chocolate if you'd rather.

100g chocolate cake covering
12 marshmallows
12 Smarties

Melt the scotbloc and pour a little into the bottom of each of 12 petit four cases. Place a marshmallow centrally in each and dab a blob of chocolate onto the top. Fix a Smartie to this and leave the top hats to set.

We've got quite a lot of bits left over, but as Hubby is on leave for a while from tomorrow, he'll find something to do with it all, I've no doubt.


All in all, a great day for all of us, and a pleasantly old-fashioned birthday party. I suppose I try to base the parties I give for my boys on the ones I remember, full of love and laughter, from when I was a child, but I don't think that's any bad thing. I've been warned, by friends with older children, about the competitive kind of party-giving that seems to take over once children are at school, and which seems to say much more about the parents than the children. I loathe the whole idea of it: 30-plus guests, a fortune on 'entertainment', professional caterer-standard food and party bags to rival the goodies given out at the Oscars? Not if I can help it. Sorry, rant over.

Enjoy being 3, my darling Christopher. Mummy xx