A blaze of light hit home this weekend

A well overdue BBQ dazzled in a blaze of light here on Saturday night. It was the first non-children’s Birthday party we’ve had since Alice was born (she’s coming up two in February).

With summer officially a month away, and our spring being a seasonally typical windy and wet one, we sent out the invitations to neighbours and friends, in the hope that our ‘Bright Light Party’ would indeed be a bright one.

Morning drizzle cleared to leave bright blue skies and a radiant sun. Sophie was delighted to wear her ‘Snow White’ dress (check out her new smile… another tooth fell out… this time, she got to keep it!).

Our neighbour very kindly put up his amazing lights to set a great party atmosphere.

Charlotte and Sophie decorated cup-cakes, leaving plenty for their friends to decorate as well.

Streamers tied around the house and on candle sticks symbolized ‘Maypoles‘.

Alice made rainbow folk.

Charlotte and Sophie created paper lanterns and Alice said, ‘Wow! Pretty!’ as they were hung up along the hall way.

We lit candles and blew them out on a cake laden with strawberries – the fruit of a sweet summer. We sang out in hope of a great summer.

The children danced with sparklers…

…and to the modern day beat of a technological drum (!) care of PS3 Dance Party! There were a few traditional drums and percussion instruments being given a work out too.

Up in Charlotte’s room, the furniture was pushed out, a rotating mirror ball strung up and lighting affects added to make for a dream dance room. We hardly saw half the children. They were happy dancing away with glow sticks and glow rings in the ‘disco room’, with drawn curtains making it very atmospheric!

In the garden younger children ran happily on the grass, playing on the swings, looking for fairies, blowing bubbles and playing with the play-dough.

Alice thought the pumpkin was a hoot and kept laughing at it saying, ‘Apple! Apple!’ (as it reminded her of this YouTube video: The Annoying Orange – which Dan and the girls found and I can’t really watch – I told them it might scare Alice off eating fruit! Thankfully she still eats plenty of fruit and just laughs. No nightmares either – yet!).

Anyway, after we told her it was a pumpkin she soon learned to call it by its correct name but the ‘p’s sounded more like ‘f’s – oops!

Poor Alice, she had been up at 6am and taken a mid-morning nap, so it wasn’t long after the guests started to arrive, around 5pm, that she needed another nap!  As I chatted to friends and found various serving cutlery, plates and glasses from my over-crowded drawers and cupboards (I really need to reorganize them!) Alice fell asleep in her buggy, in the kitchen! Everyone partied around her, whilst she slept on oblivious to the hum drum of happy merriment.

She woke up an hour or so later, in time for the cake, missing the main event. She was so dozed and over-whelmed that she clung to me like a capuchin monkey!

After a little while she found her feet again… and a cupcake.

It was a wonderful party. New friendships were made, acquaintances became friends, children played together without need for introductions. It all flowed so easily, thanks to great friends all making it so easy; bringing salads , gorgeous cupcakes, food and drink. It really hit home to us how fortunate we are to live in such a warm, wonderful and friendly community.

The post party clean up felt surprisingly effortless, with Alice, Charlotte and Sophie partying on happily whilst we cleared up the debris. They fell asleep quickly and happily at 10.30! Charlotte had a friend to sleep over too.

No chance of a lie in the following Sunday morning though… 7am they all woke. We were greeted to blue sky and felt happy tired as we looked through the photographs.

The bright light is definitely shining in our home and the BBQ will definitely see many more evenings of merriment this approaching summer. Friends who couldn’t make it were in our thoughts and we shall look forward to seeing you soon x

Happy Beltane to the Southern Hemisphere and wishes for a great summer and Happy Samhain to our friends and family in the Northern Hemisphere, where we hope your candles burn bright and keep you warm through the winter!