Gingerbread Decorating Workshop
Knowing that 'The Real' Father Christmas was going to be at Linleys I couldn't resist bringing my kids in to say hello. They were thrilled to meet him and even happier to receive a tasteful wooden present each. I was invited to host a gingerbread biscuit decorating workshop for their family day. As Linley's is a very elegant furniture store i wanted to do something stylish and design lead. Due to the quality (and cost!) of the sofa's next to us I decided to keep risk of icing and sprinkle spill to a minimum. We managed this through creating rice paper costumes for the elves and fairies. The kids loved cutting them out and colouring them in with edible food colouring pens. I then fixed them on by using the royal icing like glue. Father Christmas was thrilled with the the biscuit we made to look just like him. He also came and serenaded us with the accordion and some ancient Christmas songs. he told us he didn't know anything written after the 19th century! There was delicious cream topped hot chocolate to warm everyone up as they stepped inside the shop. All in all it was a fun event full of Christmas cheer!
Biscuit Making at Bentalls Shopping Centre
When Carousel PR got in touch to ask if we could create an Alice in Wonderland themed biscuit decorating workshop we were only too happy to help. The event was for Bentalls Shopping Centre in Kingston Upon Thames. They had thoughtfully provided it as an activity to keep the kids entertained whilst the parents were Christmas shopping. We made a variety of biscuits including; gingerbread men, rabbits, teapots, teacups, 'eat me' plaques and 'drink me' bottles. The kids were very creative and invented some characters that would need a whole other Alice adventure book to tell their stories! I'm really looking forward to returning on 16th December to fo it all over again....
Brand Activation For PlayStation
I had so much fun preparing for this cake making event. When I was asked if I could make edible lego bricks for this PlayStation bloggers event I jumped at the chance. Fondant icing is basically edible plastacine for grown ups. There is not a lot you can't do with it and there are a huge variety of molds available. I spent a few nights in front of the telly happily playing and creating a lot of bricks in different primary colours. As we thought that this brand launch would appeal mainly to boys we made sure there were plenty of football decorations and loads of blue icing. In fact we ended up with lots of girls and event more mums getting involved. The mums were particularly thrilled with the cake decorating as they didn't all want to spend the day playing computer games. As a result I met lot's of lovely new blogger mums whom I'm looking forward to checking out on social media. It really was a great product launch, as well as the cake making and cupcake decorating, there was yummy food by Pear Drop catering, fun arts and crafts, colourful golf and PlayStation games obvs. I had an interesting chat with Ellie from Scummy Mummy's (who I am a big fan of) about my one and only gaming experience. It was many years ago when I got my daughter (now grown up) a copy of a game called Jak & Daxter. I become obsessed. I could barely leave the house until I'd completed all the levels. I vowed never to play again..... She is a gaming journo and it turned out she had helped come up with the name and written the journal for J & D! She then told me that the new 'Crash Bandicoot' game, being launched at the event was made by the same people. I looked across the room and even from a distance I could see that it had the same appealing visuals. I tore my eyes away and reminded myself of the vow I'd made many years earlier. The trouble with those PlayStation games is they are just so damn addictive! I really enjoyed making the edible PlayStation logos for the kids to colour in. My job is basically creating an environment for both adults and children to play. I think we all need more of that in our life! My little girls came for the last hour of the event and had a fab time going home with fabulous Tote bags that they'd decorated themselves. We all agreed it had been a really lovely event.
Easter Weekend
The Easter holidays passed in a flurry of activity when will I learn that the word 'holiday' implies some kind of respite from the madness of everyday life? We began by visiting Powderham castle in Exeter where my older daughter is working. It is an astonishingly beautiful part of the world. I can't visit without daydreaming a life there before waking up to the fact it is just too far away. If I can ever prise my husband away from london it will be to Norfolk as that's where we grew up. I sometimes think we would have moved years ago if it wasn't for the park club. All that green space for the kids to run around in. And to be able to float on your back in a heated outdoor pool in central London is definitely worth staying for.
Anyway, I digress. Back to Easter. On Good Friday I hosted a cupcake decorating area for the family day at Lingfield park races. It was hugely popular and great fun to do. It was a 4hr round trip though and the next morning we headed to my mother in laws house in Norfolk. This would normally have been our queue to relax. However, not this Easter. My brother in law, quite uncharacteristically had taken it upon himself to arrange his mums belated 70th birthday celebration. He had booked a house for the night for the whole family and a group of close friends. For Easter Sunday! So the next day we had to drive for an hour and a half to stay somewhere for 24hrs before driving back to his mums. It was utter madness but we went along with it. (The whole thing was planned whilst I was in Mexico otherwise I could have talked some sense into him!). Anyway when we got to the hose all was forgiven. Butlers Priory was absolutely stunning and in the prettiest grounds. DGs mum was suitably surprised and absolutely overwhelmed with the whole experience. The little ones (and some of the lucky bigger ones) loved the novelty of new grounds to forage for their Easter baskets in. As usual desperate to catch the bunny chocolate handed. Then we all pitched in to create a delectable salmon super, drank way to much Prosecco and danced into the early hrs. The next morning we feasted on freshly baked croissant and browsed the papers whilst DG serenaded us with Eric Sate. We really felt we were inns home from home. Unfortunately it was soon time to go. I'm sure we will return. Next time for at least 48hrs! We briefly returned to my mother in laws house before trundling back to London in desperate need of a rest. Roll on half term!