5 party nightmares!

Children's parties are always stressful. Luckily wonder bears have never had a party disaster, but there have been some hairy moments for some of the parents! Here are our top 5 'we can look back about it and laugh now' moments over the last couple of years.

At 5. The birthday child goes to bed.

The little girl was so excited about her 5th birthday party, she woke up at 4am. By the end of her party at 6pm she was upstairs in bed. She still had a lovely time, and luckily her guests were so enamoured by their new bears they didn't mind the hostess retiring slightly early!

4. The keyholder is on a hen weekend.

The day before the party the mum phoned the keyholder at the local community hall to ask when she can pick the key up. Her husband answers the phone saying she is on a hen weekend and he didn't have a clue where she kept the key. Luckily, she answered her mobile to tell him, apologised for forgetting all about it and all was well!


3. The change of venue

We used to host parties at a local venue. Once they cancelled less than a couple of weeks beforehand, after all the invites had already gone out. Luckily we found an alternative venue, the very considerate mum let all the guests know and a great time was had by all.

2. The power cut!

A Sunday afternoon in January, a party at 3.30pm. We arrive at the birthday girl's home to find there is a power cut. We just about manage to stuff the bears with a few tealights and solar fairy lights to help in the fading light!

And our number 1 party nightmare - the no oven kitchen.

We have a party in the village hall. The parents arrive with a pile of frozen piza and chips to find there is only a microwave in the otherwise well equipped kitchen. An emergency trip to KFC follows - with only one pizza microwaved for the child who didn't like chicken!

Please DO NOT WORRY - all these parties had a happy ending and happy children...sleep well!


Look out for our new Wonder boxes - a fanatastic party in a box to take away at least some of that stress!
www.wonderbears.co.uk

Have you ever had a party nightmare?

DIY parties - a mum's view

Thought I'd share this lovely letter from a mum - DIY kits are a very cost effective option and Wonder Bears post out to all over the country!


Hi Jo 
I just wanted to say thank you for making Lou's birthday a hit!! 
She and her friends had a lovely time. 
After hunting around the house for their special friend, they then decorated the bags to take their chosen friend home in. We then played pass the parcel and the winner received a dress for their bear. Of course the children were very excited by this time, so it was time to get down to business. They made the bears come to life by filling them with fluff to make them perfectly squidgy. I followed your advice and had a “kiss and wish” ceremony, when they the put the heart into their bear. The wishes are a secret that only their bear knows. They then named their teddy, dog, horse etc. and wrote out the birth certificate with all the necessary details. Some of the characteristics were genius!! 
So, what next? Well, all the children and their bears had a teddy bears picnic and snuggled down for a movie before the party games started. One of Lou’s friends was unable to attend so we packed up her bear to take away. It is lovely to think that she didn’t miss out. 
I have to say that each year her parties tend to get me a little anxious but this year it was very relaxed and I would certainly do it again. One of Lou’s friend reported to her mummy that “that was the best party ever”.
Thank you so much for helping me with all the ideas and I will be in touch again soon, probably to buy an outfit or two for the next party. Now even gift buying will be a breeze.
Lorraine (Lou’s mummy)

Hollywood themed 11th birthday party

I blogged earlier in the year about my son's jungle birthday party, so I thought my daughter's recent 11th party might be of interest too!

As as we love Wonder Bears, my children do like a change occasionally, and I love the challenge of planning something a bit different.

The invitations were VIP passes, laminated and threaded onto ribbon with the instruction of a glamorous dress code. The girls all wore them when they arrived, and the passes were checked by the bouncer on the door.

I bought a 'red carpet', Hollywood wall banners, dangling decorations and table confetti all from ebay for around £20.

We interviewed the girls as they arrived and walked up the red carpet!

In true Hollywood style they had a 3 course meal, before retiring to have fun with a karaoke DVD.

The girls then had a sleepover, one or two wonder bears made an appearance too!

Hope you enjoyed reading about the party!

www.wonderbears.co.uk

The next Mr Bond...?

The name's Bond. Wonder Bear Bond.

Six packs aren't very cuddly - Wonder Bears are!

Order your own Wonder Bear Bond for £19.95 plus postage, email joanna@wonderbears.co.uk

www.wonderbears.co.uk

Wonder bear takes control of the remote control....

Lenny Lion, Wonder bear, Izzy Koala, Cheeky Monkey, Lily Bear and Liam the tiger enjoying a bit of a duvet day on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Wonder bear has had a busy couple of weekends - happy birthday to Lucy, Jessica and Madison!....Think they would all agree he deserves a rest!

Don't forget outfits on sale at www.wonderbears.co.uk

Where's Wanda?

Wanda the Wonder Bunny at Blackpool Tower

Wanda was sent on her travels with instructions to look after her, pass her on to a new family and send in a picture to wonder bears HQ. We were delighted with the first two photos!

Wanda enjoying some crisps waiting to watch King Lear performed at Rendlesham Forest.



Wanda was passed on to a new family at Birmingham services...we hope they get in touch soon and let us know where Wanda has been wandering!


Will Wanda get in touch? Watch this space (keeping everything crossed!).


Thanks to the Boast family for the lovely photos!

www.wonderbears.co.uk

Jungle Party

Despite organising wonder bear parties, I still love organising my own children's parties. this year I decided to give my son a break from Wonder Bears and he had a jungle themed party in the garden.

He made lots of signs and helped prepare some of the games. Here is Henry just before his friends arrived wearing his hat ready for a jungle safari!

We ordered jungle party plates, napkins and party bag things from Amazon, but made lots of the games and signs ourselves. Below you can see is 'fishing' for jungle money using a chopstick, a piece of string and a magnet. The jungle tokens all had a paperclip attached. 

The snakes were hidden around the garden and were quite difficult to find. Other games included obstacle course, colouring jungle pictures and pin the tail on the monkey. All prizes were 'jungle coins' which could be exchanged at the jungle cafe for sweets ready to take home in the party bags.

The Jungle tuck shop also served 'jungle juice' to thirsty jungle adventurers.

Now, I am well known for my kitchen disasters, but thought I would attempt a jungle cake this year. Ok, it it a bit of a wonky 6, but was quite yummy and had lots of chocolate buttons round the side to cover the really dodgy bits!

If Henry and his friends didn't already have an abundance of Wonder Bears they could have had monkeys, tigers or lions as part of their jungle adventure, from www.wonderbears.co.uk

All in all a rather fun party! Hope it has given you some ideas....