Seven

Birthdays are very important to my daughter.  I guess they are important to all children but fo her, they seem to be extra-special.

Turning six was a very big deal last year and within pretty much twenty-four  hours of being six, she was talking about being seven.

“Severrn!” This is her favourite at the moment, in the style of Len Goodman from her favourite show, Strictly.  She roars with laughter when she says it, as if it is the most hilarious thing ever.

Over the course of the last twelve months, we have had endless conversations about the party. Where it would be, what we would do, what the theme would be. She wanted a party in the garden which I had to point out might be a bit chilly in December.  A flower party was the next idea where everyone made flowers.  I was secretly quite relieved when she changed her mind.  Soft play was top of the list until she decided that soft play was for babies and she was not a baby any more. Discos and trampolining came and went and by August, I had to ban all mention of parties as she was starting to become a little obsessive about it.

Then in October, one of her friends had a Be My Bear party.  The idea is that each child chooses a teddy from a selection and you stuff them, seal them off and you have a really cute teddy bear to take home.  She loves her teddies so I knew exactly what she would say on the way home and I was right. “Mummy, I’ve decided what I want for my party.” What a surprise! I did quite like the idea and so a Be My Bear party it would be with a few friends and we would have it at home.

It would be fine, how hard would a party with a few little girls be?

I can honestly say that the subject of the birthday and the birthday party have been non-stop for the last few weeks.  At times, I have had to quite literally grit my teeth and not ask her to stop talking about it.  Everything from the bears to the presents to what colour the tableware would be (yes, really and we ended up with lilac and turquoise).It has been constant.

I am amazed that she went to sleep on Friday night as she was so excited.  Desperate to be seven, desperate to be bigger, desperate for her presents and for the party. The dress was all laid out ready and she had insisted on helping with blowing up balloons and putting up the streamers.

She woke up early on Saturday morning with the biggest smile and fizzing with excitement.  She loved her presents (mainly LEGO) and looked beautiful in her new dress.  As for the party? Well, it turns out that entertaining eight girls in the house is well, an interesting experience.  There was laughter, teddy making, crafting,lots of tears (not mine although I may have been tempted), dancing, huge amounts of mess and noise, a lot of screaming and running up and down stairs but I think it was a success. My daughter said it was the best day ever. So that is good enough for me.

We ended the day with pizza, the Strictly Semi-final and some LEGO building.  She hasn’t mentioned the next birthday yet but I’m pretty sure it won’t be long.

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