Don't wake the baby!
Unwind on sleepless nights to a wholesome mix of parenting stories, quirky humour, and cosy crafting. A fun, honest and unscripted conversation between Emma and Elliot on non-judgemental parenting life: sit with us in the blanket fort and join the discussion! We’re not here to provide answers but to share our experiences and explore how parenting has changed. A topical PodCraft, based in Yorkshire, hand-crafted by parents... Relax, enjoy, and be part of the community.
Don't wake the baby!
Pass the Parcel | Parents discuss children's birthday parties
What's your ideal party? This is the one where Emma and Elliot chat about birthdays, from babies to toddlers—a fun topic fresh on their minds with Lilly just turning 4. They discuss games, party bags, cakes, different approaches, cost, presents, and what we did at ages 1, 2, 3, and 4. Plus, we share a poo fail story, birthday anecdotes from our childhoods, Disney trips, and 30th birthday plans. Many of our episodes focus on parenting struggles, but this episode is a relaxed journey through some highlights of parenthood - with lots of laughs and interruptions from baby Lola.
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For Elliot's creative faith projects, such as Disney Church, see here: www.kairosmovement.org.uk/digital-revolution/
Unwind on sleepless nights to a wholesome mix of parenting stories, quirky humour, and cosy crafting. We’re not here to provide answers but to share our experiences, explore how parenting has changed, and build an online community of parents for mutual support.
A fun, honest and unscripted conversation between Emma and Elliot on non-judgemental parenting and millennial-based topics, as we relax on an evening attempting an artistic or creative activity.
We are a project in partnership with The Kairos Movement and supported by The Methodist Church, of which The Kairos Movement is a part
So Emma, what's our topic for today? Kids' birthdays, what kind of parties kids do, what we've gone towards, you know, the expense and all that kind of thing.
This episode is called Pass the Parcel.
Welcome back to the Blanket Fort, the Hobbit Hole, the room of Requirements. Pull up a cushion and let's chat about babies, toddlers, and under fives. It's a fun, honest, unscripted conversation between a husband and wife, some wholesome listening to accompany you when you are up at night, or feeling lonely or stressed, or just need some escape with others who get it.
As always, we're your co-hosts on this relentless parenting journey. We have, uh, little Lily and Lola, Lily who's four, and Lola, who's six months. I'm Elliot, the boring one who doesn't have a tattoo. And I remember apparently it's the fun one because I do have a tattoo. Well, certainly our friends seem to think it's very exciting that they do.
Yeah. You recently got your first tattoo. Yes. People and especially Lily turns out very excited. Mm-hmm. Very briefly, do you wanna share what your tattoo is? Oh yeah. Um, it's some lilies and some what's commonly known as Lola Flowers. Don't ask me their fancy. I can't remember it now. Last name, who knows.
But yeah, some lilies and some Lola flowers on my arm. Very nice. For your two children? For my two children, yeah. Well, you can be the designated cool one amongst us with your tattoo over there. And I, I don't want a tattoo. I have no, no interest whatsoever. It's what I was like, oh, it didn't hurt. He is like, I bet it would.
Yeah. Well, yeah, I, I wouldn't like that, but also I just. Yeah. He's not like kind of guy. No, no kind of guy. Anyway, there's a little, little something about us.
It's parenting a achievement time, parenting achievement dime. Little segment before we begin, where we chat about what fails or stories that we've unlocked recently. Um, shall we tell everyone about the poo saga? Oh, the poo saga. I didn't even realize this could be a problem. Like, and now we're in the trenches with this problem.
It's a nightmare. So basically, I mean, it's TMI, the whole information, but if your parents, you know, you get obsessed with your children's bowel, it's gonna a, it's a whole story and conversation about, about poos. So, you know, just heads up, Lily had like bad constipation and she did a really hard poo and since then she's had like a phobia.
Of doing a poo in case it hurts. Mm. We gave her some medicine to try and help. Yeah. And it has now she's now not constipated. Yeah. But yeah, mentally she acts like every poo is gonna, is gonna be really painful. Yeah. Um, and she cries. And cries. And this is a child who's been potty trained from like 1-year-old.
Yeah. Slightly younger. 'cause we did ec from six months. Lily will cry and cry on the potty and be like, I only wanna do a wee. And I'm like, okay, just do a wee. And she's like, but I don't want to do a poo. I'm like, and she has such good bowel control. Such good bowel control is insane. Like, if she doesn't wanna do it, she won't.
Yeah. And you have to be like, please. I, I've gone down the route of like, bribery. Yeah. So, so far she's got a Tiana dress, some. Aerial shoes and it's bad parenting. Don't get me wrong. All this whole story don't, the whole thing is bad parenting. I don't pretend it's good parent. But the problem is I really tried the gentle parenting.
We like looked at a video Mm of how you try and go mo while y'all sat on the potty and you feet. Yeah, we had some, we had some guests around, didn't we? And yeah, we went off to the park and you stayed home and like. We'd gone to the park and came back. Was that an hour and a half? They'd gone to the park and come back.
She still hadn't done a P. She was just sat crying on the potty. Yeah. I'd had multiple times of her coming on and off the potty and me going, oh, don't worry. You were trying to sing her a song. Sing a song. You found some stuff online about, yeah, we watched a video about how to make. Poos don't hurt. I tried to make it funny.
I did. This is TMI. I did a poo on the potty to show that it's not scary, and she promised me if I did a poo on the potty, she would Well, did she? No, we, and you could understand all this if she was constipated and it did hurt. Yeah. But we'd actually gone past. That point. Yeah. No longer hurts. Well, we'd been plying her with this medicine.
Yeah. So they were definitely coming out soft. I know what I mean. Where I like even gave her aloid creams to make sure it's like numb so it won't hurt. So I was like, you definitely, but she wouldn't even push because she thought it would hurt. Yeah. This was a problem. She has such control that she could sit there and do a little weed.
Yeah. And then be like, I'm finished now. I don't. I'm not Do it. And we're, we can. See you need a poo. Yeah. And she was like stopping herself 'cause she was so scared. Yeah. Poor thing. It was like, so, it's so difficult as a parent, it's being in that situation. And she's crying 'cause she's so scared. Anyway, this is long story.
In the end, I came home, I had to be bad cop. Yeah. And I wrestled her onto the potty. Yeah. There was a lot of screaming, crying. Lose massive points for my gentle parenting. Yeah, not, no, definitely. This is not the way to do do it. Definitely not the way to do it, but like at that point we'd run out of options.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the problem was it worked. Yeah. Like we had a big thrashing around in a room where it was kicking and screaming. She, she is strong. She is very strong. Goodness me, Ellen. Stood up. I was in the room feeling Lola and she had a big shout. Mommy, I've done a poo. She was so happy now, now delighted.
Yeah. Ran in. Come look at my poo. Yeah. Isn't it big? Haven't I a good job? I was trying. I was really worried that this like thing would scar her. Yes. We really tried to avoid doing this 'cause we didn't want this to be such a traumatic Yeah. We wanted it to be like a nice experience the next poo. Yeah. But, uh, so, you know, afterwards I was just like trying to be like, I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry I had to force you. I really, I love you, Lily. I'm like, yeah, but you know, she was immediately just like, this is great. Look, I've done a poo. I've it. Thank you, daddy. I've done, I was just like, completely fine. Just, I, I was there like, I was so annoyed, drained. So I was like, I've been there trying to do this nicely for an hour and a half.
Yeah. Like I've, I've been so patient. And it just hasn't worked. And then you are there for five minutes after wrestling or on the podium and she does it. Yeah. I was just like, why? Why did I spend that long? We really hoped because we made such a big deal of it afterwards to be like, look, it didn't hurt you did it.
Well done. Yeah. Uh, we rewarded her with like presence and not stars on a star char. And even just like positive reinforcement being like, aren't you clever and you do a good job? We really thought that. Hopefully that would be next time. Yeah. She might have got a, but we've had this like two more times since then.
Yeah. This morning before going to nursery, preschool, we had exactly the same. Yeah. Goodness me. Whew. And afterwards, she's so proud of herself. Yeah. And I'm like, why? Why do we have to get to this point? I know. So now I'm dreading every time she's Jew a poo and like a dread. Of what are we gonna do because we'll get through it.
So yeah. Anyway, thats our going on at the moment. I'm sure there'll be a new struggle on the horizon. I'm sure there will. And we'll talk about it on the podcast. Hey, this is editing Elliot, just jumping in to update you. Literally two days after we've recorded this conversation, uh, we've completely switched with the problem.
Lily's completely gotten over it and is now so excited to do a poo that she does one nearly every, like six times a day, like every time she goes to the toilet. And we have the opposite problem where we're trying to, we're trying to make sure that she doesn't, you know, go every time and not force it and hurt herself.
But I think we were just so enthusiastic with our congratulating her when she was successful that, uh, it's, yeah, you know, problem solved, but, uh, created a new, uh, a new thing in the process on with the episode.
Repeat yourself for the hundredth time to your toddler, and let's jump into some conversation. I'm particularly unprepared today. I've not got any notes or any, uh, thoughts, so, we'll, we'll see what happens at the, the say stimulus. Is that the right word? Thing that Inspiration. Inspiration, yeah. Kicking us off because recently we've had Lily's fourth.
Birthday party we have, she turns four in about a week and a half or so. Yeah. Uh, in fact probably less what time this is out when this comes out is probably about when her birthday is on an undisclosed date that we won't announce. Um, and yeah, so we had a birthday party and so we thought it was a good, good opportunity to chat all about kids' birthday parties.
Yeah. Maybe we can touch on adult. Part birthdays. Yeah, true parties. I dunno stuff. We'll see where the conversation goes. Okay. Start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. So we did do those month cards, you know, six months. Yeah. Yeah. Lola, we haven't really. Done that much with, well, I've kept up trying to do That's true.
Little photos you've a good job with on. You know, I am one month old, two month old. Yeah, that's true. My parents particularly love the, oh they love it. The dates. They're always like happy sixth month birthday, Lola. They're really into dates though. Yeah. I dunno. It's just not really our thing. Well I think we're just, to me it's more like their development uhhuh.
Some are like, oh, they can do this now rather than like their age and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Obviously, like when they're won and stuff, it's fun, but you know. Mm-hmm. I mean, talking of that, I mean, that's obviously the first birthday. We, again, like we don't really market particularly. I mean, we didn't, with Lily, we could have a conversation about what we're gonna do with Lola.
Well, I think we're gonna have to with Lola, because Lily's very excited that Lola's gonna have a birthday. So. Interesting. Yeah. It's gonna be a different kettle of fish. Yeah. But um, yeah, the first one. Literally, I just invited Macy Lily's little friend. She does a week apart basically. I was like, do you wanna come round?
I've made some little, they were like avocado cupcakes, um, for the girls to have, and it can be like Lily's little party. And literally all that happened was the two babies, sating. Like these cupcakes. Well, I mean, they're one, and me and Vicki just sat chatting. Yeah. Like it wasn't particularly special.
Mm-hmm. There wasn't decorations. Yeah. I know some people go all out and, you know, enjoy it, but, and I do get it, I think people who've had like problems conceiving mm-hmm. Um, and they've really wanted, I'm not saying we don't really want our children and we do, but we haven't had that struggle. Yeah, it's true.
So I think their birthdays in some ways. Not to say we don't love them as much, but it's not as big a deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we're like, oh yeah, we, we thought this would happen. It's not quite as an emotional rollercoaster, I don't think. Yeah, yeah. Or for some people that'll be a huge deal and I get that.
I think it was something we talked about very early on, or even before we had kids, that I just, it felt a little consumerist and just like, they're not gonna remember it. I gonna say it's just that, dunno for the kid, is it? It's for you as the parent, which like I said, if Enjoy it, that's fine. There's no need really.
Yeah. To go all out for a party. We've marked it. We've had a nice little time, and then we can say, oh, you did have a little party. You had one of your friends come over. I mean, as a 1-year-old, you don't really have other friends, particularly in the same like you can't really talk or say who your friends are or, or play with other children.
Yeah. They just kind of, so, but I think this time around it will be different because Lily's very excited for Lola to have a birthday. Lily's already talking about what cake we can get her. Yeah. I've not thought of that particularly. What do you think? Do you think We'll, still like we can make a bigger deal of it, have a cake and a little party, but still probably in our house.
Oh yeah. Probably still, yeah. I don't think, we'll, maybe even just us or we invite at least, again, well once family, once, not a lot of people because it's just, it's just, you know, really for Lily's benefit to, yeah. The Lewis, I mean, this is the other dilemma, isn't it, that you have. Friends and family who may have a different opinion.
I'm particularly thinking like the grandparents are all really keen to come and be like, let's celebrate. And it's like, well, we're not really having a party. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And the same then it trickles down into like presence. Yeah. At like age one. I'm like, well, they don't really need anything.
We've got a lot of toys. Think with Lily, we literally said we don't want any presents. Yeah. Um, and I think we'll do the same this time round for Lola unless there's something in particular she needs, but mm-hmm. Because she's a second born poor kid, like. She has most of the stuff that was Lily's old stuff already with Lily, I think at when we felt our house was just full of stuff.
Yeah. And like, and it's got worse since then. People have two children. They know that the second one only wants the first one stuff anyway. So like Port Lily's only six months, but already she's like, yes. Lily's doll. Fun. My own toy. No, not interested. That's not the thing the big girl plays with, so I'm like, already I could tell like, whatever we get her will not be as fun as her sister's toys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I know like, other cultures celebrate it a lot more. Really? Like, yeah. Like, do you remember, um, our friends who, um, their little boy was half Chinese? Mm-hmm. They made a huge deal. 'cause remember they get to pick like, um, there's like four objects and you get to pick one. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. I don't. This is, I'm gonna tell it poorly because I can't quite remember, but like their significance or anything. I'm sure somebody who's from that kind of cultural background, I'm sure they'll know. Yeah. Don't trust anything we say, but basically in other cultures it's a way bigger deal. Yeah. Yeah.
It'd be interesting to know from others what, what they do. Yeah. With the, when their child turns one. Should we move on to age two? Sure. Yeah. This time for Lily. Just people are gonna get confused 'cause Lily and Lola are similar names. Lily, big kid. Lola baby. So big kid Lily. Um, when she was two, we quite big pie for that.
You're right. We did have quite a big second birthday, didn't we? I think that's 'cause she started having friends. Um, and I was excited. Honestly, it was mainly like a social occasion to meet up with other parents. Mm-hmm. So I could, like, I think we have. Talked to very, a long time ago, talked about this on the podcast.
Mm-hmm. Um, that I think particularly you were very keen Yeah. To throw a party and so like, let's throw a big second birthday party. Yeah. And we did like a Bluey and bingo theme. Mm-hmm. All bluey and bingo. Yeah. It was really good. Mm-hmm. Um, didn't have like organized entertainment. We just had toys around the room.
So we, um, we booked the church hall. Yeah. Um, obviously we. A part of the church and go to church. So it was quite easy to, quite a good venue for us to Yeah. Utilize. And I remember I drove over to Leeds and picked up, you did those cardboard bluey and bingo cutouts Yes. That somebody had done for another party.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I remember so many people like, oh, you're so clever making those. And like I, I was too guilty to pretend I'd made them, but they were Facebook marketplace. I kept coming to go, oh, they're from favorite marketplace. And people were so disappointed. I should have just gone like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm really talented. Well, I, it is very believable that it's the sort of thing you could have made. Yeah. Honestly, I think I could have made them. Yeah. But I didn't wanna take, I felt awkward taking gratitude for somebody else's things. Mm-hmm. I mean, they were big, big, they were big bluey and bingo cutouts.
I mean, there was one with the whole family. It was very, it was very impressive. Oh yeah. It was a good thing for the party. And then somebody got them off as for another bingo and blue party. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We passed them on, didn't we? Yeah. So, um, that was good use of, you know. We took some blue and bingo invites into nursery.
We did. And, uh, basically invited the whole of her nursery room, I think. Yeah. Because at that point, point, open invite, we had no idea who her friends were. No, she couldn't really express that. We didn't have a relationship with any other parents. No. So we were just like, well, let's just invite everyone, invite everyone an excuse to get to know everyone.
Yeah. And it was really good actually. Um, and like we invited our neighbor and we like invited them, our old neighbors 'cause they'd moved and, mm-hmm. That was really nice because we're part of the church. It didn't cost a lot of money to rent. We always do this, which is not a sponsor Morrison's party food.
Hmm. Normally always do that, don't we? Yes. I would say, I mean, we can come to this with our recent party mm-hmm. But it is more suited to like adult parties than kids parties. But yeah, we've, we've always gone down the route and maybe it's just 'cause we're like little hippie country bumpkin type people that we don't like.
Buy in. A lot of packaged stuff we tend to like, in terms of entertainment, in terms of parties, we tend to like, let's just b everything ourselves and like, yeah, yeah. Make our own food, bring our own stuff, like do our own decorations. We like kind of that personal, like, yeah, let's, if we have the time, the challenge is time.
Yeah. I always get some potty food that's pre-made by Morrison. It's like they organize it for you and mm-hmm. Just because it's easier and then you can just turn up and take it. Mm-hmm. Um, it's like cakes, you know? Um, I think with that one, we, you. Um, made I always make, made to cake. Yeah. So like you always make them for my birthday.
I always make them for the kids. Yeah. Yeah. I find it funny 'cause like I'm often the chief cake baker in our house. Oh, he's And you always a better cake baker. I dunno how I, that's some reason you do all the birthday parties. I think because I'm like the creative cake baker. You are much better at decorating than I am.
I, I can bake a good cake, but you are fantastic at making it look pretty. And that one especially was like, you'd made some blue jelly and you, it had like a, a pool. So if anyone knows the pool episode in Bluey, it was like after that one. So it was like a little beach and a pool and like we put our blue and bingo figures on the top of the cake.
Somebody's waking up. Lola, it's too early. You made podcast. Go Lola. Um, yes. So you're not grabbing the microphone. You're not, you're not. Stop that smiling. You're just smiling. And even for like each other, we make each other's birthday cakes. I don't think we've ever bought a cake. And that's not because like, I don't look down on people who would buy a cake.
It's a lot easier. I think it's nice to have like that excitement and like the personal touch. I kind of go to Lily, like, what cake would you like? And then she has like the freedom. Yes. Lola, smiley girl. Just say we're pausing the podcast momentarily for Lola to do a wee on the potty. Good job is a nappy.
Dry. Yeah. Yeah. And put it back on the Lola. Now Lola, mommy and daddy are a bit busy, so are you going to be good and play on the floor? Right. So hopefully back to the conversation, I feel like a lot of this ties into, um, you know, we're quite arts and crafty type people. Yeah. Um, if people know, like we, uh, when we started this podcast, we used to make a, um, an arts and craft.
Can you not do things that are noisy? Oh, sorry. Playing with the baby.
Uh, we used to do an arts or craft activity for each episode and we'd film it. Yeah. And it would, that's on YouTube. That's what we'd use, um, as part of this little project to, you know, each episode we'd do a little relax with a little, since having two kids with, uh, we've ditched that a little bit because it's been too much of a challenge.
Um, that's the, yeah. That, that's just fell to the wayside. But something we're still, that we enjoy doing and passionate about. Probably through this you'll see some of that in how we approach doing parties. 'cause yeah, some of that, it's just a bit of fun. Like I think we quite enjoy the, I'm quite a designer type person.
I enjoy designing invites and laying out rooms and doing colors and. You know? Yeah. I'm a creative person in that regard and, and that sort of stuff is, I find quite fun, you know, doing balloons and balloon arches and that sort of thing is, is up my street, my cup of tea. How many people do you think came to a second birthday?
Oh, about, I'm trying to think how many children. Was there about 15 children? Probably. I think it was more than that. More closer to 20. It was a lot of children. And the grandparents came. They did. And Godparents came. Yep. So it was, it was a beautiful summit day. It was because we did some outdoor activities too, that people can do.
I mean, that's the thing with Lily, she has a summer birthday and Yeah. So it is nice weather. It is often nice weather, which is, you know, quite nice. It'll be interesting with Lola 'cause she's got a winter birthday. Yeah. Uh, what that means for parties and stuff and, and what it is. Um, in all cases. We rarely celebrate on the day itself.
Yes. Like we've already said, we are not a big, you know, we don't have a big thing for dates particularly. And also like the children don't know the date. Nah, they don't dunno. Do they? Like Lily is already convinced because it's been her fourth birthday. She has four. Yeah. And I'm like that's fine. Think she's four.
Your fault. Like it's only a week and a bit away. That's gonna make no difference. Yeah. Yeah. So nearly all of them have been like a weekend at some point close to the birthday where we've celebrated, had a party. I think that's pretty standard. Yeah, I think, I think everybody you choose a weekend is whenever's close.
She enjoyed it a lot. Uh, I mean, again, at that age she wasn't entirely aware of what's going on or what it meant or what her age was. No, I remember she like thought the cake was very exciting. Yeah. 'cause she wanted the jelly to fall all over. Yeah. They were a bit disappointed that the jelly had stayed in place.
Yeah. And she liked, like looking at Bluey and bingo. What again, like. Hmm. She had close friends, but not best friends. So it was like, that's why there was a lot of people, um, at that age, one of the big challenges was that it's a long day. Yeah. Like, it's quite, you know, it's quite tough on them seeing all these people, you know, there's a lot of people to interact with often.
It's like. There's a lot of people she likes there. Mm. But equally it means she's splitting her energy between Yeah. A lot of different people. And it made us all laugh 'cause the kids did that typical thing where they're like all friends at nursery and then when they see each other in like the wild as such, they all just stare at each other.
Like eventually they all played together again. Yeah. But they did that thing where they're like. Why are you outside of like where I know you are. Yeah, so I think we've got some like pictures and like they, the kids do look quite bit ragged and like by the end of the day they're kind of, the faces are red and kind of tired and you know, not the best time, often the party to get like nice family photos or Yeah.
You know, that sort of stuff. I think at nearly all the parties I've done the typical dad thing of like hide at the back Yeah. And like sort out food and drink and like Yeah. Yeah. I, I'm not one for socializing. Yeah. He always shoves me out the front and is like, welcome people talk to them. Yeah. For the past two years, Emma has been saying, you know, we talk about like people at nursery and parents, and she goes, they were a Lily second birthday.
Do you not remember who they were? They were, they was so and so's mum was there. We talked to and I was like, I have no clue. No, I like. I glance around the room, then look at my feet and then I don't, yeah. Whereas it was really useful for me 'cause it gave me like context of different people and their family, so.
Mm-hmm. When I was talking from nature, I was like, oh yes, I remember from the birthday party. Mm-hmm. Um, so we focused a lot on birthday number two because we did do a big thing for it. We did. And focused a lot on it. We've also recently been to, uh, her cousin Sophie's second birthday as well, haven't we?
Yes. Um, and Lily had much disappointment because there was no pass the pass. No, pass the pass. Yeah. She's become, I think because of Bluey. Yeah. Um, rather not, not obsessed, like she's just, but really into it. She's like, well, parties have passed the parcel. Yeah. And that's like a's what a staple of a good party.
That's what the party is. Um, and it really made us laugh 'cause it wasn't until we were like in the car going to Sophie's party. She went, so Sophie gonna, I passed the parcel. And I was like, I don't know. But I mean, there's only like four kids, including Lola or maybe five kids. But I was like, not really old kids.
I don't think they are gonna have passport. So Kirsty approached it in a different way, didn't she? As a second birthday. Again, they, they don't really know what's going on at that age. So it was more like a family get together? It was, yeah, it was nice. So less of a like kids party. Yeah. And more of a, like the whole family gets together to celebrate.
So there's actually the adults outnumbered the kids. Like quite a lot. Yeah, quite a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Which is fun. It's just a different way to do it, isn't it? And yeah, no, and it was really a nice day actually. And it made us laugh though, because like Sophie just wanted to play with Lily. Mm-hmm. She wasn't interested in seeing anybody else.
Mm-hmm. Because it's her big cousin, so she kind of idolizes her. And I say that Lily really loves Sophie. Mm-hmm. So they just kind of played together. 'cause afterwards Kirsty was laughing, like was there any point inviting anybody else because like. Sophie would've been as happy just on a play date with Lily.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, we, we often on the podcast talk about the challenges and the struggles and the difficulties in life with parenting, but I feel like these birthdays, you know, they can be a bit stressful, but they're, they're one of the fun bits, but they are certainly a highlight. I think you often look back and.
Remember those moments, particularly when you're getting together with lots of people that you like to be around. Um, it's a lot of, a lot of fun. On the topic of pass the parcel, uh, what's your, what's your favorite thing to do at a party? Emma? What's, what's your ideal party? Ideal for me? Yeah. Yeah. It's a little question for you.
I dunno if I've ever got past. Are you a going out clubbing sort of girl? No. No. That's a very definite note. I think that was a very brief time in my life. Um, maybe a year. Are you, uh, like cheese and wine, like sit around drinking sort of person? Right. I'm just not that sophisticated. Okay. So I'm gonna say I don't think I've ever.
Like developed beyond like my ideal party being like a bowling party. I like was gonna say, when I think of you, I do think of like you have very childish interests. Yeah. You're a very like, playful sort of person. I'd be like, let's go bowling. And I mean, it'd be a bit more grown up. You could have beer or something.
Nice Drink and like snacks. I like fun. Yeah. And to me. Having a meal is fun, don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm. And especially at the minute. Nice little family meal going out at all fun. Yeah. Yeah. Um, going out by yourself without your kids also fun. But, um, no, I like, like something interactive like bowling or something.
I enjoy. So you'd enjoy a kids' party with past the past? That's what I mean. I, I love kids' parties because I'm told you like, I haven't matured, my dear of fun is still in that like, quite childlike thing. It's your ideal party? Uh, probably. Are you a bit more mature? Expect from me. I'd, uh, probably enjoy staying home and not seeing anyone at all.
No party for me. Thanks. No, I do significantly remember, uh, when I turned 18, my parents tried to throw me a surprise party, um, and invite loads of like different people Yes. From different stages in my life. It was a thing of nightmares. I mean, she put a lot of effort into it, don't get me wrong, like it was, uh, you know, a, a long day of all sorts of activities.
But for me, I hate surprises. He does, he doesn't give all the surprise for like weeks leading up to it, I was, I was so stressed. Yeah. Yeah. Can imagine that. Not a good time. Yeah. Yeah. I much preferred, uh, we went on our annual holiday to Cornwall with my childhood friends and we. You know, my birthday was always in the summer, so we always used to celebrate when we were away on holiday down there.
So we did a usual like celebrating with them, just like, you know, small group of very deep personal friends. That was much more my cup of tea. Mm. Yeah. Whereas growing up I had to share my party. Well of course you've got three other sisters who share your birthday. Yeah. So I was like, it was when you were like deep and personal.
I was like, well, it's kind of personal, but it was like it's always gonna be us four together anyway. Yeah, you do. You always used to celebrate together. We did. And then you'd all invite. Your own friends. Yeah. So you have a mix of people. Yeah. Interesting. We generally all do one activity. I remember one year mum was really good and she did like whatever we wanted to do, so mine was bowling.
Oh, so you did like four different activities? Yeah. Well, no, in the end, I think me and Laura wanted the same thing. Oh, okay. So we shared our activity. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think Kirsty, Becky did something different, but I think after that year she was like, that was too much work. Mm-hmm. We're going down to like.
One thing again. Um, but like for our, was it our 18th or 16th? I think it was 18th. 'cause we could drink, maybe there was alcohol. I'm assuming we were 18. We might not have been mom hired. There was a place, if you live in Barna Castle, there was a place called the Jersey Farm. Oh yeah, yeah. And you like hide out a big hall and like they had a bar and drinks and that was great fun.
Admittedly, Laura got drunk straight away and was sent home 'cause she couldn't handle her drink. Then Kirsty got very drunk and was just sat outside kind of having a panic attack. So that meant that it was only me and Becky really, because we're the borrower people. Who lasted the whole party and enjoyed ourselves.
Yeah, the party animals. Um, yeah, the party animals who, 'cause we were mainly just eating, but it was a great time. Like there was music and we danced and we ate and we're getting on a tangent. But then as adults, we used to go to Disney. Mm. Uh, the four of us hasn't happened. Do a little holiday. Do a little holiday for like a three, four days.
Well, yeah. Birthdays are kind of a big deal in because of the four of you. Like it's often, it's like a chance or excuse to see each other to see it because you don't always meet up together in person much. Yeah. But then since COVID, it hasn't happened. Yeah. So, oh, particularly since all of you have had.
More kids. Anyway. We'll, we'll get back onto, 'cause I think we'll come back to adult, uh, birthdays in a second when we'll, we'll dive back into the kid conversation and then we'll come back to this 'cause we'll do a little circle. There's some little things I want to pick up particularly 'cause I have a, a significant birthday coming up.
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Moving on to age number three. We kind of skipped that one, so I was heavily pregnant. Yeah, we just couldn't manage it. And we weren't holiday on Wales for her birthday anyway, so we were like, Hey, we're on a holiday in Wales. We got her a little cake. We did candles, we opened some presents, kept it simple, kept it simple.
And then that was that there was no big party. Um, we felt like we'd thrown a big party the previous year. Yeah. I was particularly keen that we weren't setting a trend that like we were gonna do this every year. Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, the, it wasn't intentionally like, ah, we don't wanna celebrate her third birthday.
Mm-hmm. It was more just. Particularly 'cause you were pregnant. Uh, and just everything was a bit of a challenge. Yeah. Um, and she loved it anyway. 'cause she liked being on holiday. She liked having a little cake in the candles. Mm. I still think because she was three, she didn't, and there weren't many other kids parties she'd been to.
Mm-hmm. So like her best friend Emmy, she went to her party. She loved it, but we hadn't gone to loads of parties. So it wasn't quite as big a deal to have a party. She was a bit more aware that it was her birthday. Yes. But like, yeah, definitely. We weren't invited to loads of other friends' birthdays at that age.
No. So I think still a little below the age where the kids are fully aware and are into it and, you know, um, whereas this year, turning four. Everyone has had a party. Everyone's had a party. We have been to so many kids parties. We Yeah. I feel like we're now like connoisseurs of kids parties. Well, certainly for the under fives.
Yes. And girls. We haven't been to any boy parties. Yeah. We've not been to any boys parties. Only girls. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the little girls that have preschool do seem to go around in a little pack. They do. Yeah. They're a little gang. Yeah, they're a little gang. Yeah. Um, they don't, in a nice way, not like, you know.
Well, they don't seem to let boys in. No, it's true. Yeah. They're quite selective. Um. Right back. Yep. Just, uh, got the shopping in from, uh, been delivered. Yep. A little anecdote for you. They, uh, asked me for some idea I had to give your age because we were buying cow pole. Oh.
I thought I heard you giving my age, and then I was thinking. Well, I haven't bought any alcohol. No. Yeah, yeah. Well, you gotta make sure you're old enough to buy a cow pole dangerous cow pole. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, do you wanna describe the, the different birthday parties that lilies, uh, have been to? We, we've kind of taken turns, haven't we?
Going Yes. Normally there is a, um, a princess there who like, runs the entertainment normally. Elsa or Anna, they're the popular ones. Mm-hmm. So that seems to be. A common theme with how people have organized these Yes. That everyone's bought in, uh, these companies to run the party. Yeah. With the ladies that dress up as the princesses.
Yeah. And do games and, and like sing songs. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then there seems to be, depending where it is, like one of them we went to didn't really have much food. You had a little cake. Most of others I think we've been to all had food. Mm-hmm. Ironically, only one of them had passed the parcel because say qua of them haven't had it.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's part of the package thing that the people provide. No. Even though it's under Lily's definition of a good party, but, you know, she seemed to excuse it at other people's parties. Um, we've definitely got into this, you know, the age of, you know, buying these packages for parties and taking a whole load of kids and going and do something, whether it's a venue that you pick, like we've been to a few.
You know, a church. Yeah. Some have been like a specific venue that offer party packages. Yeah. Some are at like play places. We've been to parties at, you know, soft play centers and things like that. Yeah, true. Yeah. Um, so all that sort of thing, but that often comes with a fairly hefty price tag. Yeah. Often paying per child or Yes.
Yeah. For a group of children. Um, so there's an interesting one there, isn't it? About how, I don't know how, how much you're willing to spend on a kid's birthday at this age. Yeah. And I think I get it because I think a lot of us now A, normally have multiple children and B, we gotta to the point where entertaining the children takes quite a lot of work at this age now and it's a lot of effort to throw a party.
Yeah. You know, to be able to case someone, not in mean, but to, they're kind of not passive. Mm-hmm. But they don't expect as much entertaining. Mm. Whereas I feel like at um, four, they're used to quite a high level of entertainment. Yeah. So you kind of do need to have. A thing. Yeah, A thing to do. A thing to do.
Yeah. And it's become big business, hasn't it? Like Oh, it has. Yeah. All these venues we go to, you know, all these, uh, activities and days out to these Yeah. You know, whatever it is. A farm park, a funny little place. Some, you know, nearly all of them offer birthday packages, you know, come, bring a group of children, come and have your party here.
They've got a little space where you can go and sit and have food. Whoa, love.
She's just trying to put the whole packet of these, uh. Melty sticks on a head. Here you go. And I even, I even find myself looking like when we go to a place and they say they do parties, I'm like, oh, how much it, Hmm. Is it an option? Yeah. Yeah. They, they know their market. Yeah, definitely. You know, we're busy, we're tired.
Yeah. Just, yeah. If you can hire somewhere that can just put it on and take the stress of your organizing everything, doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can offer the food and the cake and Yeah. I can see the appeal of doing all that. Certainly. Yeah. And definitely a lot of her friends are, and this is the other thing though, isn't it?
Like Lily's now very aware all her friends have had parties. Yeah. And what that looks like. Yes. And there's like. Almost as parents. A bit of pressure then. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, ah, how do we match up to everyone else? Yeah. What's your party gonna be like? Do we feel pressure to throw a party to pay all this money for a party?
Mm. How good are the party bags? Yeah. Just like, oh, there's a lot of compar. And I like, I wasn't going so this time. Um, this party, we did a squishy party. Mm. Um, so we got our local lady from a shop called Painting Pots who does squishy parties and she comes along and everybody gets, makes squishy. So we've done something quite different from Yeah.
From at least what we've experienced everyone else doing. And do you wanna explain what a squishy is? Ah, so I mean, if people don't know, let's pretend you do. I forward the pie. I had no idea what push was that's so popular nowadays. Um, just, you know, he's just, he's not with the times. Um, I'm not with it.
I'm a old man, so Yes. So they're basically these, I can't remember, I explain what one is. It's like a fluffy toy. A big this in a kind of rounder shape. Yeah, a big squishy toy. Big squishy toy. And they're called squishy. Um, they're normally animals. Sometimes they're food. It's a very old thing. They have a particular like look and style, don't they?
Where they're like, they do, yeah, like a big egg. Yeah, but it has, like, I wouldn't be surprised if they or, or originated from Japan or somewhere. Mm. Like, I feel like that's probably where their style came from. Um, once again, we've, I've no clue and I can't be bothered to look it up. No. Yeah. Basically that we had a squishy party because my main thing was I was tempted by the EL parties, but I looked into it and I thought it was quite expensive.
Um, and also a lot of it. Made the child be the center of attention. Mm. And Lily is not the best at being having that much like attention put on her. She's very sociable, but she's not. Yeah. And she's happy, like at other people's parties generally. Sometimes she needs warming up, but generally she's just happy participating.
Yeah. But not having the limelight on. She don't wanna be at the. Front? No. Um, so I remember when I was thinking about parties, I was like, what could she do where she could be involved? But it's not too much attention. This is when you're a good mom. 'cause you've catered the party specifically to Lily. And it's hard 'cause Lily loves frozen.
Oh, she does. And like the temptation would be to do it. And I also worried that she'd been to like four or five other parties that were like. Almost, you know, cookie cutter in what they'd done. Mm-hmm. You know that she would then think when we were saying your birthday party. Yeah. She would think it was gonna look exactly like that.
Yeah. Well that's what I kept saying. 'cause she kept saying, is Cinderella gonna be there? And I was going, no, there's gonna be no Cinderella, but it's helpful 'cause we're going to Disney at Christmas. I kept being like, Christmas, you'll see Cinderella. Yeah. This isn't that occasion. But no, she really enjoyed it.
And once, like I explained, she's not, she's like her parents, she doesn't like surprises. Mm. So I did this whole of. This is the squishies you'll get to choose from. It's the lady from painting pots. You know her, she's gonna come, there's gonna be these things. Um, and then she's really excited. Yeah. Because she knew the venue, what was happening.
Mm-hmm. She requested a ballerina cake. Yeah. Because she loves ballet. Yeah. Um, we did have a general kind of princessy pink theme. Yeah. Um, 'cause she's very into all that as much as. All of our efforts in a young age to be a lot more gender neutral and be like, you can like lots of other things. She's a very girly girl.
She's a definitely a firm girly girl. Are you trying to do a poo? Uh, yeah. Can you put her on the potty? Sorry. This whole podcast is gonna be us putting her on the potty.
Okay, back again. Hooray, poo dealt with promise. Hopefully that's the last talk of poo in this podcast.
So you made another cake for Lily's fourth birthday. Do you wanna talk about that? I did. That was a ballerina cake. Um, and it was pink with sparkles. Mm. And a ballerina on the top. And most notably, we had parcel. The parcel. We did have past the parcel. Lily was very excited. She was, I, uh, made it with Lily's help.
Lily was very excited. A big question on everyone's minds. Yeah. Did you do lucky Dad's rules? Um, no, we didn't. Ah, we did have a better prize in the middle, but there was a prize in every layer, whereas the, I think the British way particularly is like a middle ground isn't, yes. Put a present in every layer.
And it isn't only have one layer in the middle, it's have little token, like little sweetie things. Yeah. Token gift in each layer. But then you still have a bigger present in the middle. Yeah. Did that work okay? Yeah, it did. Went down very well, actually. Mm. She really wanted to win it 'cause she knew what was in the middle.
Ah, yeah. Um, who did win it? Uh, Jim on, ah, Lily's boyfriend. If people don't know, she is a, I mean, not serious, but she's got a little Polish boy that she says is her boyfriend. Um, but I could tell, like when I was like, it's the last layer I could see her face, like, and I holding it for slightly too long and I wanted, she be like, you're not, you're not gonna win it.
It's your birthday. Somebody else has to win that. And they all were really good. Nobody was really sad. Good. Good. But he got the main prize. Yeah. Like it all worked well. Well, well, I can't even remember what was the main prize. It was, um, top Trumps, but they were like squishy related. Oh yeah. Yeah. That was it.
It was a good one. Fitted with the theme. Went with the theme. Mm. It was a hilarious, it was that typical thing where it started fairly tame. Everyone was kind of, again, a little unsure of each other. Yeah. Even though Mo like 80% of people knew each other Yeah. Because they were nursery friends. But then slowly as the afternoon progressed, uh, things got a bit wilder.
Oh, they got wild. Uh, by the end they were like running around. Like, I, I dunno what Just like, like they were high on sugar and just running aimlessly whacking the, the people that were leave running the party with their squishies. With their squishies. I mean, what, what's more fun really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was hilarious.
But yeah, like lots of high energy. Um, so yeah. Good, good fun. Got lots of lovely little videos from, from that that we can look back on to celebrate, uh, her party. Yeah. I keep watching back. This is 'cause I'm like a sentimental creature, like when they all sing Happy birthday. Oh, because it's so cute. Um. And then I try to blow out the candle and cousin Sophie blesses trying to help blow out the candle.
Yeah. The kids can never blow out the candles, can they? And it's so funny 'cause like they're doing the same faces They're blowing Yeah. Where they're going and like, not blowing out, they're like blowing up their own lip. It's, yeah. It's like when you try and get a kid to blow their nose, like it's very hit and miss if they can actually do it or not.
Got it. That was something we did, um, particularly different from some of the other parties. We did keep it fairly small. We did. Yeah. So once again, that was catered to like. Lily doesn't like too many people. Mm. Um, not too overwhelming. Yeah. So what, there were like 12 or 13 of her little, um, kind of toddler friends.
There was 12 of them collectively. Yeah. So like 11 friends, then a few siblings. Yeah. And then, uh, the parents and mums that came along with them. Yeah. Um, and it was a nice, nice number in the hall there. It was. Yeah. The, I think the biggest one we've gone to was the one I took Lily to, uh, which was like, there were like 40 kids.
Wow. A lot. It was like, it was big. It was like, it was very chaotic, but like I was impressed how well they managed to manage all the kids. Um, let's touch on presence again before we move on. Yes. Um, so we talked a little about at one we were kind of a bit anti presence. Mm. Um, uh, this time, yeah. I mean.
People were very good. They're very generous. Very generous. Um, they have been ever since we had the second birthday party, actually. Yeah. Yeah. Um, people are really, generally very, I mean, we do live in a ancy fancy area. We do. Yeah. Um, and we've got some lovely friends and I. Lovely people at nursery and preschool and yeah.
So I was, you always wonder whether you're gonna get like the same presence, how well people gonna know your kids, whether they're gonna know their interests. We only had a few people ask about ideas, but yeah. Do you wanna say what we got Lily? We got her a Cinderella outfit. Yeah. Um, Lily has a lot of dressing up dresses she loves.
If anybody knows Lily, it is rare she is not in a princess dress of some sort. Yeah. Um, but she's very particular, it has to be very accurate to the film. Yeah. Um, we're slowly collecting them all, building up her collection of sector and then she'll go out of them. We'll be back to stage one. That was really good.
I'm very excited because we're beginning to get into the phase of enjoying Lego. Yes. And so we got some Lego toys, which was a bit fun. I mean. I have a massive back collection of Lego from when I was young and also as an adult collecting. I, I love a bit of Lego, uh, but of course my stuff is all, uh, you know, boring boy Lego and Lily wants princesses.
We didn't even consider it. Really? Yeah. And then when she started getting into Lego, she was Lego. Lego. Um, she was complaining de and she was like, why is there no pink bricks? And he was like, oh, um, no there isn't. And he's like, where's elta? Yeah. What also amused me is that she was insisting that she had to have a party back At her own party.
Yeah. Yeah. Really? Because you're gonna get a lot of toys and she's going, I want a party bag. Yeah. And i's so sweet. Okay. Then we'll do, she's been carrying it around all week, this little party bag, and she's so from her own party. Good. Because she was so excited to help set stuff up. So she was excited to help me do the party bags.
So I would, we, we had vastly underestimated how much. Time and effort it was to actually decorate and set up when you've got two kids to look after at the same time. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I went down a bit early with Lily and she was so good helping me move chairs and tables about and bringing stuff in from the car.
She was excited and like running around, but not like. Yeah. Not disruptive. Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah, she was really good and she'd been like drawing pictures that she wanted us to put on the wall at her party. Yeah. It was very back collection of, yeah. Pictures she'd drawn over the last like three, four months.
Mm-hmm. Every time she'd draw and she's like, I want take this to my party. I wanted to separate my party. You're like, oh, great. Okay. So we had a big wall where we just pinned up Lily's, yeah. Pictures, which felt a little like self-indulgent and a little, mm-hmm. Egotistical, but you know, it's what she wanted.
It's her party. I mean, we debated about like, even if we were gonna do party bags, 'cause again, it's like, it's another expense and faff on. Yeah. But, um, yeah, we did do it in the end. I think we just, we really catered it to what Lily wanted. Yeah. Which I know some people, like kids can't always get what they want.
Mm. But I'm also like, she's mature enough now to like have a set idea in her head of what. To her makes it a fun party. Yeah. She chose which friends were invited because obviously she chose those friends. We had a limited number. We just asked her, who chose like the theme? Yeah, like a lot of stuff. She, she had a say in you sometimes forget she's only like a 4-year-old.
Like she's, so, she's sometimes like, so. She can express herself like a 6-year-old sometimes with like the Precisely she was. Yeah, we were, she discussing other day weren't, we were saying before we were parents. When you thought of like what a 4-year-old was, you thought they were so little. Yeah. Whereas now like in my head I'm like, oh, four's quite a big girl.
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Um, I mean this one particularly, we were like, this is a kid's party and we did like treat it as such. So again, quite in, in the opposite way to the sort of like family, get all the adults together, party like this one particularly, we didn't invite any additional adults, so even as far as like even the grandparents didn't come to this one.
Yeah. Because we were like, well, there's nothing for you to do. 'cause it's literally, it's just the. It's a kid's birthday party and I get, it was always more stuff to help organize or activities. Mm. But because it's kind of all done for you, I'm like, we can separate separately with them and do something more suited to them.
And particularly in our context, both the sets of parents, they don't live around the corner. No. Yeah. They have to like drive an hour, hour and a half to get here. Yeah. To like just come stand in a corner at a park like, you know. And Lily wouldn't, it'd be nice to see 'em, but it would, in a nice way possible.
Lily wouldn't give them attention because she'd be running around with her friends. Like, yeah. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's not quality time that you could have as a quality occasion for another separate birthday celebration. Yeah. So yeah, just how we approached all that. Um. There we go. That's probably just a bit of a summary of what happened.
Oh, I was gonna mention, it was very sweet that like all week Lily's been taking different presents into to preschool for show and tell. Oh. She for show and tell. She and also the other kids in preschool have been taking their, they squishy squishies in Yeah. For show and tell from Lily's passing. Yeah. No, that's been really sweet.
Yeah. Oh, and so many of the parents. Um, they were like, oh, she's like, loves the squishy, she's been taking it to bed. And I was like, it's so nice. They got something from the party that's quite like loved, you know? And it feels special. It was nice. There was something they could take away with them. Yeah.
But this is why I didn't wanna do party bags. 'cause I was like, they're already getting a squishy Yes, a good point. But Lily was adamant at party you have party bags. Yeah. That was her thing of a party. You have pass the parcel on, you have have party bags. There you go. I feel like it's very reminiscent of like the nineties style parties, isn't it, that have kind of come back in and like they have Yeah, it's, it's what you know, it's what we, we liked.
So it's what we replicate now. There we go. Well, let's move us on and touch very briefly at the end here. Back, back into the conversation about us as adults. Yeah. As our, uh, now we're no longer having little kids parties in the nineties, but we're having, we don't really have parties anymore, but no, we, what do we do to celebrate birthday?
We said, didn't we? Um. You often meet up at Disneyland with your sisters? Yeah. We haven't done for the last like three, four years though. Well, the last one was probably your 30th. Yeah. Where we went For your big, you you. Oh, that's true. That's only like two years ago actually. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to Disneyland for my 30th, which is this summer.
Um, well, you asked what I wanted to do for my 30th it, and I basically was like, I wanna go on a boat. Yeah. Um, so we did, originally I was going, oh, let's have a big party, like a boat party. You know, it was like, I don't want other people. I was like, you're gonna invite other people on the boat. Yeah. Like originally my idea was like, oh, we could go like, I don't know, uh, hire a big.
Boat and go on like a trip or something. Like a canal or something? Yeah. Canal boat. Yeah. Go like around the Norfolk Broads or, I dunno, something. Uh, I mean that since we've had a second kid, I mean, this was a conversation we had like two or three years ago, um, is basically become completely impossible. Um, but we're still, we're still doing boating.
If you don't know, I'm a big, I'm a big boat boy. Big boat fan boy. I love. I'm not, I'm not picky. Not picky. Any, any boat will do. I like a, I can sail. I like a kayak canoe. I like a good row. I got a row boat. Uh, just get, get me in the water. I want, I wanna be on the water. And, uh, so where there's no people, uh, I want my family to be there though.
But you've take taken me away for a, a lovely little extended weekend. Yeah. You found a place. You've booked where we get to stay in a boathouse. Yeah. And, uh, go boating on the private little lake that's right on our doorstep. And which is gonna be fun. Fun. Little weekend away. Yeah. You wanna tell them?
This is such an Emma thing to do. So I booked it about two years ago in preparation. Said how prepared I've been. Yeah. Emma's very open. Paid for all. Yeah. Um, I was like, oh, better. I think it was only this year I was going Better, better re-look at that and just check all the details. Couldn't find the email anywhere.
We, we were discussing it a, a few months back and we were like, well, we know we're going to some like. Lake thing about house, kind of private state thing. Like neither of us could remember what it was called, where it was. And I kept being like, oh, it's fine. I'll have it in my emails. Could not find it in my emails, could find a screenshot I've taken.
But the screenshot didn't say where it was. It showed the amount I paid and said like, if you have any questions, please call this number. Anyway, I was in hysterics and I said, what is it? And I was like. I can't really call her up and go, where the hell are you? Who, what is this thing we booked? What My booked?
I have no idea. I was like, that'll be really embarrassing. Um, so luckily I ended up, I'm not sure we found it. We found out what we booked, but we were, yeah, we were like, a whole day we were in hysterics. 'cause we were like, we've booked this thing. We, we we're gonna have to call 'em up and be like, can't remember.
I don't know what a book, where it, how to find it. Where is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So if anyone knows me, that's just generally what I'm like. Mm-hmm. I'm a, you know, young little boy, just turning 30, just turning. Day. Yeah. At least I'll be in with the 30 gang now. You will? Yeah. All our friends, or I'm all friends.
30 gang. Like the last people to turn 30 feels like to me, at least I know most, most other dads seem to be celebrating their 40th this year, so. Yeah. True. You know, I'm just a little duckling trying to keep up with everyone. So we've certainly done, uh, the opposite thing where we've booked a very adult type thing.
Yeah. And, uh, we'll see if the, the kids manage and have a nice time, it'll be nice. They'll enjoy it. There is a play park there. Mm-hmm. So like if all always fails, daddy can go boating. And when we all take them to the play park, you know what it's gonna be. It's gonna be like pouring with rain probably.
Duck in this little cabin. I keep dreading that it's gonna rain the whole time and then I'm like, I'm gonna be like you get out on that wall. I like good morning for us to be here. And then the kids were going, although Lily really wants it to rain at the minute. Um, if people in the UK it's been really nice.
Well they've probably, by the time this comes out it won't be. But for the past few days, Lily was so excited 'cause it was meant to rain yesterday. Um, and she kept going and I can jump in the puddles. And I was like, yeah, yeah, you can. Did it rain? No. Now she's desperate for it to rain.
So there we go. That's all about birthdays. I rather jolly episode. Yeah. I quite enjoy talking about it. Yeah, it's been nice chatting with you. I was trying to even remember what I did for my birthday. It wasn't that long ago, but my memory's like. Not what it used to be. I normally do a theme for your parties.
Did did we have a theme this year? I, we did a Oh, we did. It was a studio Ghibli party. Yeah. I did a studio. Ghibli party. Yeah. It got cake was really impressive. I made a totoro cake. It was, how could you fake? It was, you forgot to don't tell anyone that. It was a very impressive cake. Yeah. This is all Studio Ghibli.
If people interested, we can add a photo at some point. It was really good. All your presence were on the same theme. If you don't know what we're on about, don't worry. Most people we talk to don't seem to know what Studio Ghibli is, so I didn't think it was as niche anymore, but clearly it is clearly is disappointed in people.
That's why I am Japanese anime. Yeah. Uh, like cartoon things, you know, 'cause Emma's such as a kid at heart from a big kid. Well, thank you for joining us today in the conversation. Sorry, I'm running outta steam now. I'm getting tired. Yeah, it's the end of the party. Everyone's packing up and going home down.
Yeah. Lily's gone off in the corner to sit by herself. 'cause she's parked. It's been a long day. There's. It's rather anticlimactic ending. Um, go take your party bag. Yeah. Here's your party bag. Be gone. Thank you for coming. Come again next time to the party. Well before, uh, Lola s Nogs. The microphone Let's, um, wrap things up.
God bless. Sleep well this has been Don't wake the baby. Don't wake the baby. Relax. Now, ironic now that Lola always wakes up halfway through our recording.
