I think planning your child’s first birthday party is a bit of a rite of passage – whether you choose to have a party for their very first birthday or wait until their older, it’s a bit of a milestone. I absolutely loved planning Pickle’s first baby bash – we don’t have a great deal of space at home so we chose to do two parties! One on the Saturday for our immediate family, and one on Sunday for his baby friends. I’d describe myself as fairly ‘mumsy’, so I was quite excited to host a party at home, blow up balloons, bake a cake and serve up some nibbles. It’s one of those ‘Mum’ moments that I’ve been looking forward to. And it didn’t disappoint. All the mad-rush tidying (even though the house still looked a tip!) was totally worth it.

If you’ve got an upcoming birthday to plan for, I may have just the thing to help! I’m delighted to be running a party themed giveaway. I’ve teamed up with some lovely party and children’s companies to help celebrate Pickle’s birthday with some great prizes on offer.

The Essential One

Every birthday boy or girl needs a special party outfit! We’ve been dressing Pickle in The Essential One clothes since he was a newborn, so it was with great pride that I dressed him in his very smart outfit they very kindly sent him for his birthday. It wasn’t until I sat back after dressing him and took a good look at him that it really sunk in that he was now a one year old. I surprised myself by not getting overly emotional over the weekend, but seeing him in this outfit definitely induced a little tear or two! And I swear it wasn’t planned, but LPD wore a pretty much exactly matching shirt and seeing these two together playing on the farm was beautiful. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing boys wearing braces!

Pickle in his Essential One Party Outfit

Close Up of The Essential One Shirt

The Essential One are kindly offering a choice of a boy’s or girl’s outfit (you can choose which of the two outfits you’d like and in what size – available in 0-6 years).

The Essential One Birthday Giveaway Outfit Choices

How adorable are both of these options?! Especially perfect for summer birthdays. And if you’ve never bought The Essential One clothing before, you’ll be really impressed with the quality, and it washes brilliantly.

Party Bags and Supplies

I’m not sure if it’s right to say that Pickle is a big Monsters Inc fan or if I should rather say that I’m the fan! But regardless, watching Monsters Inc or Monsters University is a fairly regular occurrence in our house. It was a no brainer for me to choose the Monsters University themed party goodies from Party Bags and Supplies for his little baby birthday bash. We received a bundle of paper plates, plastic cups, a tablecloth and filled party bags. I’d never really come across FILLED party bags before, but what a brilliant idea? The party bags are aimed at children a little older than Pickle, but one Dad in particular was very excited to see the contents! And I added a little something extra age appropriate for Pickle’s baby-friends, monster related of course.

Monsters Inc Partywear from Party Bags and Supplies

Without the starting point of these tablewear bits, I’m not sure I’d have even thought of doing a themed birthday party but it was fun to organise! I didn’t do themed food (unlike the amazing baby birthday party we went to in April which was Very Hungry Caterpillar themed!), but I did enjoy putting these two big soft toys on display.

Monsters Inc Paper Plate

Party Bags and Supplies have wonderfully offered my prize winner a whopping £30 to spend with them in their online shop. You’ll be spoiled for choice with so many bits and pieces to choose from to suit all party themes! You could spend your credit on tablewear, balloons, decorations, party bags, cake decorations… Their website is a real treasure trove.

bakerdays 

With two parties in two days, I just about managed to bake a cake for one but there’s no way I’d have been able to bake a cake for both! Firstly, I’m just not that great a baker and secondly, I was so knackered after party one that I didn’t have the energy for another round of cleaning up (I’m a VERY messy baker!). Thankfully, bakerdays came to the rescue and sent Pickle a lovely little birthday cake – perfectly sized for children – in the post.

Letterbox Cake from BakerDays

Cake in the post? I know what you’re thinking, how does it survive the hustle and bustle of our mail system? But bakerdays have mastered cake delivery and the cake arrived perfectly, wonderfully secure in a beautiful tin encased in a letterbox sized cardboard box.

Pickle's BakerDays Cake

Your very own bakerdays Letterbox cake will be making it’s way to you as well if you’re the lucky giveaway winner. You can choose from a vast array of designs on their website, and personalise the design too! We went for a lemon cake and it was delicious – it had this lovely curd on the bottom of the cake which helped offset all the icing. I’m not a massive icing fan but if you do like icing – this is the cake for you!

Yummy BakerDays Cake

Chalkboards by Hand

Now this is a very special prize indeed. My friend Sam is the very clever woman behind this lovely business, handcrafting the most gorgeous of chalkboards – perfect to use as party decor, especially as it serves as a wonderful lifelong reminder of exactly what your child was up to on their birthday. Her range of designs is amazing, and each one is unique – no two orders will ever be the same.

Chalkboards By Hand

Sam will design and create one of her A3 boards for you, customised to the theme you’d like and what kind of details you’d like to include. She’ll talk you through the process and stay in contact with you to ensure it’s exactly what you like. Do check out her work on either Facebook or Instagram and be sure to enter the prize draw if you like what you see as her order book is currently closed so this is the only way to get yourself one of her beautiful creations.

Sweet E’s Party Shop

I’ve been a huge fan of Sweet E’s Party Shop since we received our lovely pom pom garland (which hangs gorgeously around his framed portrait of Clarence), and I was thrilled when Debbyanne sent Pickle a special painted wooden number for his birthday – I thought my request for a Monsters Inc themed number might be a step too far, but it didn’t phase her at all and how GORGEOUS is the result?! A Sullivan coloured number with a Mike Wazowski ribbon – perfect.

Wooden Number from Sweet Es Party Shop

Sweet E’s Party Shop have kindly offered to paint a personalised wooden number of the winner’s choice as part of my birthday party giveaway. Have a look on Facebook and Instagram to see what kinds of designs she’s done previously to give you some ideas of what you might like for your little one!

Get a Little More Vitamin Drinks

We all know that birthdays are a good (or should that be bad?) excuse to eat your body weight in unhealthy food: sweets, cake, ice cream… they’re all so wonderfully tasty but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been worried about what Pickle has eaten this weekend. Even if you’re planning to treat your tot to a few extra bits of food or treats they might not usually have over their birthday week, that doesn’t mean they should go without vitamins. Get More Vitamins have just introduced a new range of fruit water drinks enriched with vitamins aimed at little ones: A Little More Vitamin drinks.

Vitamin-Water-for-Children

They are offering a supply of the full range to my winner – perfect to serve at a party to make sure the children are getting at least some good stuff inside them!

Live to Sparkle Wine

And finally, something for the adults! Because let’s be honest, it’s not only hard work putting together a party, but a whole year of parenting is worth celebrating. Live for Wines have a really special range of wines, including a range inspired by vintage sweets which I had a taste off at the Blog On conference in Manchester last month. Wine that tastes like pineapple cubes or strawberry bonbons?! YES PLEASE.

Live to Sparkle Wine from Live to Wine

You could use this prize of a bottle of pink fizz as a toast during your party, or keep it to yourself for a post-party treat! However you choose to drink it, the bubbles will definitely get you in the celebratory mood.

The Prize:

So in summary, this amazing prize bundle includes:

  • A children’s party outfit for 0-6 year olds from The Essential One
  • £30 credit to spend at Party Bags and Supplies online shop
  • Letterbox Cake from bakerdays
  • A3 personalised chalkboard from Chalkboard by Hand
  • Wooden decorated number from Sweet E’s Party Shop
  • The range of A Little More Vitamin drinks
  • A bottle of Live to Sparkle wine

So, good luck! The giveaway will be running until 11.59pm on Sunday 18th June 2017, and there are plenty of ways to enter below, including a daily bonus entry to help improve your chances. Please read the full terms and conditions as invalid entries won’t be considered. UK entrants only.
Children’s Birthday Party Prize Bundle