SIXTEEN! I can barely believe I am the mother of a SIXTEEN year old. I know all parents say this but I honestly don’t know how we got here so fast.
I think COVID somehow accelerated things, because it really doesn’t seem that long since she was starting high school, and now…well now she’s getting her GCSE results this week!
I feel incredibly lucky to have such a hardworking, helpful, kind, resilient and loving SIXTEEN year old. She deserved a lovely party with her friends, so that’s what she had.
She wasn’t interested in anything with tons of people and really just wanted her very closest friends to celebrate with her, so we planned an outdoor sleepover and garden party.
The accommodation
We booked a bell tent to be assembled and decorated for all the girls to sleep in. I booked a company called Lavender Events weeks and weeks before the party. I paid a deposit, checked back with them three weeks before and again a few days before.
Despite all my checks, the day of the set up they let us down. No tent, no sleepover, no focal point of the party. Any parent who has had an entertainer not turn up for a party will sympathise. I honestly don’t know how some business stay open when they behave like this.
I spent several stressful hours trying to find another company but everyone, unsurprisingly was fully booked. A friend of mine then found The Adventure Tent on a Facebook group. I contacted them and they had one tent left which they were able to come and set up in time for the party. They saved the day!
This company were helpful, professional, thoughtful, reliable and the attention to detail was fantastic. The tent looked amazing in the day and at night was illuminated by fairy lights, just perfect, and my daughter was thrilled.
The decorations
The bell tent was decorated beautifully by The Adventure Tent. Around the garden we used bunting and paper flowers and the finishing touch was a giant rose gold numbers balloon from Party Save Smile, experts in party supplies and venue decorating. These guys stock and deliver over 20,000 fantastic party supplies UK-wide, so if you need some decorations, check them out.
This arrived inflated in a giant box and remained inflated for 10 days!
You could of course go with flower arrangements as well, birthday flower delivery in London have some lovely ideas.
The entertainment
We booked a hot tub for the girls to enjoy with a company we have used many times before. Brighouse Leisure are 100% reliable punctual and fairly priced and their equipment is always clean and well assembled.
We set up an outdoor cinema for the girls using our projector and a white fabric screen. They had speakers set up with a playlist they’d all contributed too.
They also enjoyed a camp fire after dark, toasting marshmallows and making smores.
The food and drink
We set up the BBQ for the girls, as well as snacks and movie night sweets and popcorn. They had a mocktail making area, where they enjoyed making a range of delicious concoctions.
It was a great couple of days and the perfect sweet 16 for my very sweet 16 year old.
