A tailor made celebration

 As I write this we are all happily recovering from the excitement of Mum's 90th so a really good excuse for a celebration and party.

Now we do like a party with games and all that stuff, but it has to be suitable for the person actually having the birthday. As Mum doesn't manage musical bumps too well (it's the getting up after the music has stopped she says), her celebration was stretched across her big day so that it was manageable and fitted around regular meals, school times and her (and us) having the chance for a rest or two.

Month 7 - Bite 19

So, how do you celebrate? Well, firstly, as usual we asked Mum what she wanted! It required a bit of planning and conversations for each of us to sort out our parts, nothing particularly stressful. Early morning was about phone calls from each of us - not a lot of cost there, and a floral delivery. Cards were opened, children were delivered to school and then it was off to one of her favourite seaside cafes for the adults for a snack lunch.

When we got back to her place it was one or two presents and a surprise (I'll do presents in the next bite) then the setting up of the cakes before the end of the school day.

After cakes (and a return to school for one end of term treat) there was the rest of the presents and a buffet tea.

All, as I say, manageable and not too exhausting, but fun.
What would you choose for your perfect celebration day?

Month 7 - Bite 20

So just what do you buy someone who's 90? Mum definitely didn't want an expensive super one off present - she wanted the things she likes and one or two things she fancied and asked for.

Of course, we wanted to mark the day so we all provided my niece with photos of ourselves and she printed them ready for her husband to arrange as a collage and mount in a frame. My niece has arranged for this to be done by internet before and the results are great, but there was something even more personal this way and she was thrilled.

Month 7 - Bite 21

Previous big celebrations have come with big cakes - sometimes with the milestones marked by a professional creation. Those by bakers have been very nice (expensive mind), but again, this time it was far more personal as my niece turned up with 90 cakes! I don't know what time she finished baking the night before, but they looked great.

It was so good to have a variety of cakes with everyone being able to choose their favourite and have some (!) to take home too.

Month 7 - Bite 22

Then the surprises... well, they weren't extravagant. Every 'extra' present she opened was something she'll use in the coming days and weeks... The biscuits she likes from the supermarket, her preferred coffee , not to mention the bottle of sherry and the coffee shop voucher! Oh yes and the big bag of tea - well 9 teas - get it 9 teas - 9ties nineties.. Sorry I just couldn't resist that one. Not a waste of money on a joke though as they'll all get used!

It means we spent our money on treats that she likes and will use AND she'll save money on not having to buy them for a while!

Month 7 - Bite 23

Deciding on non-wasteful, yet enjoyable presents is a bit of a theme for us. This year my sister (her birthday was the previous week) couldn't think of anything she wanted so asked for a selection of items that she likes. To make it a bit different I got something for every letter of the alphabet (thank heavens her favourite crisps start with a q!) Each was wrapped (more about sustainable wrapping in another bite) and had a line of a verse (or rap I guess) so she had to open them in the right order.

I don't know what I enjoyed more - making up the rhyme (yes I did print out the whole thing so she didn't have to rely on keeping all the little bits of paper) or sourcing all the gifts - some of which needed making.. all good fun and she's working her way through using them all...

Here's one or two that I made...

So I had plenty of fun too....

Month 7 - Bite 24

And finally for this section...

The alphabet presents reminded me of the bag I did for my sister's retirement - you might like this one too...

I created a bag of presents - 30 of them as she retired at the beginning of a September. Each present was labelled with a different day of the month and all related to things she said she was looking forward to doing - I made an apron as she wanted to cook more, cookie cutters for the biscuits she intended making and so on..

Again I'm not sure who enjoyed it most - me or her!

Is there an occasion where you could try an idea like this. It does take time and planning, but no where near the cost of a large milestone present which, while nice, might not have quite the tailor made effect..

Tailor made - I think that's where I started this post!