The Belle of the Ball

The theme of Scarlett & Hattie's birthday party was Beauty and the Beast, and the girls both dressed as Belle.  Hattie is Scarlett's best friend and it was her birthday on 29th December, but her mum didn't want to do a party between Christmas and New Year and as Scarlett's birthday is on 17th January, she asked Rach what she thought to having a joint party.  It was a great suggestion as they're in the same class, so have the same friends and it meant the cost of everything was shared.

This morning we went to Pauline's to help prepare the party food and then I went to pick mum up from the station - unfortunately there were problems with the trains and I was on my way to pick her up from Warrington Central when I got a phone call asking me to pick her up from Newton-le-Willows as the train had been diverted.  It didn't take me long to get there, but poor mum was so cold have stood waiting for about 20 minutes, so I put the heated seats on full and she soon warmed up.

We had to get to the hall they'd hired for 2.30pm to set up the tables and chairs and put the food out, and at 3pm their little friends started to arrive.  The first half of the party was a disco followed by the food, and then Beauty and the Beast arrived.  They were amazing and their costumes were fantastic.  I think the highlight for the girls was when Belle (Beauty) told everyone to find a partner to dance, and the Beast bowed and asked Scarlett to dance with him, and Belle danced with Hattie, then they swapped over.

Getting photos was incredibly difficult as there were so many children, and of course their parents  who also wanted to get photos, that even when Beauty and the Beast posed for photos with every child, the huddle around them meant there wasn't a lot of room, and I had to be very quick!    But here you have three Belles and the Beast.

Once we'd helped tidy up and dropped Scarlett's presents at home, I took mum home and had a decision to make as to whether to stay the night at mum's or drive home.  I felt ok to drive and really want a free day tomorrow, so decided to head home and left mum's at 7pm.  The roads were quiet and the Sat Nav said I'd be home for 11.15pm, but I decided to stop half way to use the toilet and have a bite to eat, so pulled into Cherwell Valley service station.  No sooner had I walked in and got to the toilets than the fire alarms starting ringing and the cleaner in the toilets started waving her mop at us and telling us to "get out, there's a fire"!  The whole building was evacutated, but it turned out to be a false alarm - I'd gone back to the car and was about to drive to the next services at Oxford, but saw they were letting people back in.  So the second time around, I managed to go to the loo and then I had a Thai Penang Chicken & Rice which was actually very nice.

I finally got home just before midnight and obviously couldn't go straight to bed, so I've sat with a glass of well deserved wine while going through my photos and choosing my blip.  I'm now off to bed though and I'll catch up with you tomorrow.