Celebrate with a Play Chest party!
I’ll hold my hands up. I’m not a natural when it comes to organising children’s parties…
You might think that by the time we’d welcomed our third child into the fold that, somehow, I’d have fathomed what was required to make a children’s party a success. But, the answer is NO! As the words, “Mummy, can I have a party?” were uttered by whichever child was soon to be a year older, sweaty-palm-syndrome would take a hold of me and the dread would set in. I’m not one of those Mums who’s at ease devising party games and I struggle to choose a winner amongst the sea of ‘pick me, pick me’ faces hopping excitedly in front of me. Oh, and I’m a useless baker of cakes. Shop bought all the way, I’m afraid – please don’t judge!
So, when our youngest turned three a few weeks ago, I was quite happy to let the whole party idea go under the radar. Until, that is, the older siblings got involved and the seed was sown that a party would be a ‘brillliant’ idea. Oh great. Except, amazingly, that’s just what it did turn out to be – properly great. Why? Because, I devolved all responsibility and used the party rental service Play Chest to help me out.
We looked at the company’s website and decided the Pre-school Tee Pee party would be the most suitable party for us. I signed on the dotted line and within a few days, a pack of Tee Pee themed party invitations and envelopes were posted out to us, ready for me to put in the various trays at my daughter’s nursery. Brilliant…and stress-free so far!
Three days before the party, a DPD delivery driver turned up at our house with a huge black box. Packed inside was literally everything I needed to host the party; from tablecloths, bunting, balloons and unicorn napkins/plates/cups (you can specify the theme!) to a wonderful array of toys, books and, of course the Tee Pee’s themselves.
We rented our local village hall for the party as the weather was unpredictable and the tee pees take up a fair amount of room, something to bear in mind if you hold a similar party. Setting up was quite fun actually; my husband was on Tee Pee erecting whilst our two boys unboxed all of the lovely, immaculate wooden Hape toys from their boxes (everything is cleaned and sanitised before shipping) and started to set them up. Our daughter tried (and failed) to blow up the balloons. Once set up, the village hall looked brilliant; we had skittles, hoopla, hook the duck and numerous musical instruments and shakers and rattles for the party goers to play with! We loved the fact that the wooden toys can be used time and again, and there wasn’t any plastic in sight (aside from the balloons and the plastic, re-useable tablecloth).
For parents with older children, Play Chest offer LEGO® themed parties, Karaoke parties, Nerf themed parties, Princess Tea Parties, Retro games and so many more. It’s probably no surprise to learn that Play Chest's LEGO® themed party is their most popular and includes up to a massive 15kg of LEGO® - approximately 1000 pieces! My husband has vowed that organised parties will be our default go-to for every birthday party henceforth!
Each child left the party happy (and exhausted!) with their own certificate to say they’d been a great Tee Pee party participant – they LOVED the certificates, more than my party bags *sigh*
The day after the party, the trusty DPD driver came and collected the big, black box – ready for it to be prepared and sent off to the next soon-to-be-a-year-older pre-schooler.
If you’d like to explore the Play Chest range visit, https://www.playchest.co.uk/
