For the first time she could remember, my daughter’s birthday fell on a weekend. She was excited about this, but then disappointed that a) Daddy and her middle brother would be at football all morning and b) the kitchen fitter would be in and our house would be looking like a bomb-site, with bits of new kitchen stacked up in every room.
I always try to make birthdays special, but how to make it extra special after the tough month she’d had and with the house looking like a complete tip? Clearly, a special birthday was going to mean spending as little time in the house as possible.
Every Saturday and Sunday, my daughter goes to Costa for breakfast with Daddy. It’s their special thing they do together. As her birthday fell on Saturday, she decided the whole family should go to Costa for breakfast before football. Being dragged out of the house that early on a Saturday didn’t appeal to my eldest, but birthdays are family days and the whole family will celebrate!
My daughter likes nothing better than to go swimming. I’m not keen (too cold, too wet) and also don’t like to go in winter because swimming pools are a breeding ground for bugs, in my humble opinion. But maybe she could go swimming on the afternoon of her birthday?
My husband, who is not renowned for keeping surprises, got very excited about this idea and said he’d come up with a great surprise for her. Personally, I thought he’d bigged it up a bit too much. After all, it was only SWIMMING. I’m not even sure why we did it, but we checked the opening hours. The damn pool was only closed ALL DAY on her birthday. Why?
The cinema? We’d missed out during our half-term from hell. Nope, Shaun the Sheep was showing only in the morning, when Daddy and my younger son were at football. Bowling? My highly competitive daughter had got a bowling birthday party booked for the following day and had been nagging us for weeks about going beforehand so she could practise. The thought of coming last at her own party would be just too much to bear.
Thankfully, there were lanes free at the bowling alley. Which happens to be very close to Nando’s. My daughter and her brothers love Nando’s, my husband doesn’t like it at all. But it was her birthday and there was no way we could have lunch at home while the kitchen fitter was working, so she got her dream of lunch at Nando’s.
We always invite my family round for tea for all of the kids’ birthdays, but there was no way they could come round to us. Thank goodness, my mum said we could go round to hers instead. My mum had even made my daughter a cake – the first homemade cake my kids have had for their birthdays since their 1st birthdays (I was determined to make them all their very first cake).
We kept Nando’s and bowling a secret, so they were a lovely surprise for my daughter. I suspect that, due to the kitchen works, she ended up with a far more special birthday than she would have had otherwise!
March 16, 2015
Bless her sounds like she had a super day, you all did her proud. And her cake looks lovely too .
March 16, 2015
Thanks very much, she had a lovely day! 🙂
March 16, 2015
Ahh glad it was so special, and that she was better in time to enjoy it!
March 16, 2015
Thanks very much. She really was better in the nick of time!
March 16, 2015
Aw I am pleased she had a good birthday. I must admit to being partial to a Nandos myself.
March 16, 2015
Thanks very much. I like a Nando’s too! I’m not sure what my husband has against it.
March 16, 2015
How lovely! It sounds like she had a wonderful day x
March 16, 2015
Thanks very much, it really was a good day 🙂 x
March 16, 2015
Ah it sounds like she had a wonderful day. Can’t beat Nandos & Bowling!
March 16, 2015
Thanks very much, you really can’t! 🙂
March 16, 2015
Aww glad it was so lovely xx
March 17, 2015
Thank you! It was perfect for her 🙂 x
March 17, 2015
Ah sounds a fab birthday and a really lovely hedgehog cake!!! Happy birthday to your little girl xxx
March 17, 2015
Thanks very much, she had a lovely day!
My mum always used to make me a hedgehog cake, so I requested that she make one for my daughter. It was delicious! Suspect she could be making several a year now! 🙂
March 17, 2015
Love the cake! Did she get a signed skittle after her birthday?
March 18, 2015
She didn’t, that must be a different bowling alley that does that. I love the cake too – my mum always made them for me, but the kids have never had one.
March 21, 2015
Belated birthday wishes! SOunds like it all worked out well in the end.
March 21, 2015
Thanks very much! I think it probably worked out better than it would if we’d had a kitchen!