joseph's 7th birthday party

yesterday joseph and his pals hit up the local timezone for his birthday party. when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday this year there was not even a moments hesitation before he yelled timezone again! well. that makes it easy for parents. until we booked just hours before the perth lockdown was announced. yikes. they were great to deal with though, we just pushed it back a week so he could hand out invites when school went back and that was heaps of time!

oh my goodness. i always forget just how loud little boys can be, until there is a bunch of them in the same place with computer games added to the excitement. it was insane! but watching them was hilarious... all us mums got such a laugh out of it - and all of them declared that it was the best party that they had ever been to!

he even let madeline invite her friend madison along too and she was loving having someone her age there too. they were hooked on the virtual reality and screamed their heads off along with the ride

and did some biking together lol

what a bunch. i am thankful over and over again to live in western australia where we remain reasonably unaffected by covid and don't have it ruining everything for us. i mean, i don't think most of our friends around the world would be able to do this, or anything like it, and if they were, it would be masks on at all times. ugh.

being that lockdown was only a few weeks ago and then another week of masks after that, i tried to be covid restriction friendly with the snacks at the party, even though they hadn't specified that i needed to do so. all packaged, in their own bags so they didn't even have to share. winner. plus there was a lot less prep and cost involved than my usual spread!

and this cake. oh that cake. i asked him what he wanted so that lovely aunty jenny could get to work, only he was insistent that he wanted a caramel mudcake from woolworths. that was it. his only request. so i got creative. i had seen this hack on the internet and it's so easy that it's ridiculous so that was the order of the day. two caramel mudcakes, stacked, mouth cut out (and eaten by happy kids) lol with chocolate fingers all the way around for a border, a filling of yellow smarties and half a giant marshmallow coloured in with a sharpie for his eye. probably the easiest cake of all time, not going to lie.

and he loooooved it!

party done, cake cut... 

happiest kids, "goody bags" items chosen from the prize store with the preloaded points you get as part of the party pack

and amazing cookies from aunty jenny to take home too. thank goodness that's over for another year! 

a gaming birthday party for joseph

this is the happiest six year old on the planet. yesterday he and seven of his friends (and believe me i love that he included his big sister and two of her friends (that are his friends too) as part of the seven) had 2 hours to game their butts off at the local timezone. it was seriously all his dreams come true in a single day.

he and madeline even dressed the part - they were so excited, it is seriously all i have heard about for weeks on end. joseph loves computer games and he had been asking me since before his last birthday if he could have a gaming birthday at timezone, but last year we thought he was still just a bit too young. this year he was totally ready!

joseph and his little bestie charlie ready to rock the place.

joseph and the birthday squad - i meanly made them all squish up and smile - straight after getting their instructions, before i would let them start, because i knew i had no chance of getting them all in one place again haha,

this game was the favourite of the day i think - joseph and charlie played it time and time again, best bit was - it actually shot real water at the screen to fight the bad guys.

he played some ball with dad...

and once the party room was available i got set up inside. i had ordered an awesome mario and luigi pack online, but it got way delayed and didn't make it in time so i did the best i could with what i could find... red and white spotted plates and green and white spotted serviettes, which looked like mushrooms and fitted the theme perfectly. thank you big w!

we also had mushroom cookies made by my clever friend jennifer at baked on benrua - and yrllow mystery box goodie boxes, printed onto heavy paper and cut and taped into place...

 then filled with gold coins (of the chocolate variety!) just like in the game. well done mum, well done.

joseph and his mates - all super stoked to be there!

i also made these mushroom cupcakes - super easy just green icing, some white chocolate melts and a marker to draw the eyes on the side. i was the happiest mum on the planet - when i showed the first one to joseph, he was so happy he actually did a little dance on the spot. day, made!

i must admit though, the easiest bit of the whole day was the cake. he insisted on having an icecream cake, which i had planned to make - only to find out that the freezer in the timezone party room was really tiny and wouldn't hold a home made one. so... that idea went out the window. instead we went to woolworths the day before and chose one he liked, then i left doug with the kids and slipped out downstairs to grab it right before it was time to get it out and ready. mario and luigi toppers from mcdonalds happy meals last year? done done and done. and he loved it!

our big six year old. 

cake with mum and dad. he was seriously so happy with the day and kept telling me all that night about how it was the "best party ever" and how he wants exactly the same thing next year. ha. okay. let's wait and see.

and just cause he's cute - here's a photo of alexander enjoying his big brothers party. 

best. day. ever!