My niece Zoe’s been waiting so long for her birthday. In her own words to her mum:
“Me waited for Ruby’s birthday, me waited for Christmas, me waited for Caleb’s birthday, me waited for Chinese New Year!”
Finally, finally, her birthday is here! She’s turning three and having a purple party!
Jac and I are in charge of the balloons for the party. They’re purple balloons, of course. We set ourselves up in the laundry where Jac fills the balloons up with helium and I tie each one with purple ribbon. Ruby and Zoe pull their chairs over to watch us through the fly-screen door. Apparently, it’s riveting viewing.
Purple balloons filled with helium
The guests start arriving and the kids line up for face painting.
Zoe sucks her cheeks in and sits perfectly still while her face is painted. A lucky golden horseshoe on her left cheek, a beautiful rainbow on her right. Zoe and Ruby’s friend Georgia (whose mum is the face painter) sits next to Zoe, helpfully holding the mirror. “Look, Zoe, look!” Georgia says. Zoe, deeply focused on keeping still, moves her eyes and not her head.
Zoe sucks her cheeks in and sits super still for face painting
Ruby gets her face painted too – she’s a butterfly! Both girls have purple dresses on specially for today. When we arrive, the girls immediately notice we’re wearing purple T-shirts. In fact, the whole family’s got right into the purple theme. The girls are impressed and Zoe is thrilled.
Happy sisters – Zoe is wearing her new birthday bling, including elephant and flower brooches, flower headband and various bracelets and necklaces
The girls’ dad, my brother Mark, is busy making balloon animals for the kids. He can make dogs, rabbits, giraffes, snakes and eels. He has a special technique for turning an ordinary balloon dog into a puffy tailed poodle.
My brother the balloon artist making a balloon dog
As usual, friends and family bring along food for the party feast. There’s heart-shaped fairy bread…
Fairy bread
…and lots of fresh fruit.
Fresh fruit
Puffed corn, which I can’t stop eating!
Puffed corn
And chocolate crackles, a big favourite of the girls.
Chocolate crackles made with real chocolate
The jelly shots were very popular at Caleb’s birthday party and we’ve got them again for Zoe’s.
Jelly shots
With faces painted and pony party hats on, the girls get right into the party food.
Zoe eats a chocolate crackle (the first of many!), Ruby eats a raspberry jelly shot
Jac is in charge of cooking the main course – the sausage sizzle. It smells fantastic.
Jac cooks the sausages on the barbecue
While the sausages cook on the barbecue, the kids get busy with some colouring-in.
Colouring-in session
Then it’s time for pin the tail on the pony. The girls’ Auntie Juji has drawn the pony on a sheet of purple cardboard and made it a beautiful bushy tail. The kids take turns to be blindfolded and place the tail on the pony. Everyone who has a go gets to choose a jellybean. We all giggle at the funny places the pony’s tail is placed.
Pin the tail on the pony
In the end, the winner places the tail almost in the perfect spot! Zoe and her mum present a special bag of goodies to the winner, saying “Well done!”
The pony
It’s now time for lunch! My mum has cooked up a batch of her famous fried rice noodles with cabbage, carrot and pork.
Mum’s fried rice noodles
The kids have special ’salads’ in individual containers.
The kids’ “salads”
I take a peek at one of the special kids’ salads: there’s tomato, carrot, pineapple, corn and cheese.
A kid’s salad
The sausages are hot off the barbie. There are soft fluffy white buns to eat them with.
Sausages
We have spinach, cherry tomato and feta salad…
Spinach, tomato and feta salad
…and coleslaw.
Coleslaw
The girls sit down to eat their lunch on purple plates with purple cutlery.
Daddy brings the tomato sauce
Zoe tucks in
As Zoe eats, she looks up at her purple balloon and beams with happiness.
Happiness is… eating your birthday lunch with a purple balloon tied to your arm
I get myself a plate of food including two sausages in a bun with lots of tomato sauce.
My plate
After lunch, the kids gather around as Zoe opens her birthday presents. Ruby’s right by her side to help. Zoe’s not about to let anyone else tear open the wrapping paper! “Only the birthday girl,” she warns the others.
Opening Zoe’s presents
But where is Caleb?
The girls’ baby brother’s been sleeping all this time! He makes his first appearance at the party with his signature spectacular shock of hair. It doesn’t take long for him to join in the fun.
Caleb at Zoe’s birthday party. L-R clockwise: Mr Bed-head; Just another day with the paparazzi; in Nanna’s arms with bread in one hand, soccer ball in another; distracted as usual
When Zoe’s mum asked her what kind of birthday cake she would like, Zoe told her she wanted a purple pony.
After much thinking and research, mum Angela found a pony cake design and template at the Betty Crocker website.
So here’s Zoe’s “purple pony”: a chocolate pony with a purple mane and tail, purple hooves and purple saddle with number 3 on it. The cake recipe came from the Country Women’s Association (CWA) cookbook, with a few personal tweaks by Angela.
Zoe’s pony cake
Zoe is mesmerised by her cake. She gazes at the pony while her dad strikes up a match to light the purple and white striped candles.
Zoe gazes at her pony cake
It’s all very exciting! We sing Happy Birthday and Mummy and Ruby help Zoe to blow out the candles.
Blowing out the candles
The girls watch in anticipation as their mum cuts the cake. “Me want the eye,” says Zoe.
Zoe and Ruby watch as Mummy slices the pony cake
The eye goes to the birthday girl, but the pony cake is eagerly eaten and enjoyed by all!
Ruby eats birthday cake
Birthday girl Zoe enjoys her birthday cake
The cake is lovely and moist. I’m sure I can taste a hint of cinnamon in it. My favourite part is the icing!
A slice of Zoe’s birthday cake
Each of the kids gets to take home a pony party bag.
Pony party bags
Ruby and Zoe get party bags too. Ruby discovers the bubble mixture in hers and shows me how well she can blow bubbles now. She’s been practising!
Ruby blows bubbles
Zoe’s had a wonderful time. “Me birthday girl,” she whispers.
The birthday girl
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the pony cake, it’s super cute. Looks like Zoe had a fabulous time!
Katie,
She had a brilliant time. It was definitely worth her long wait.
Your family sure does make gorgeous kids! Lucky Zoe got a fantastic birthday party, and such yummy food! I just wanna dive into that bowl of noodles – yummm :D
Janet,
*proud auntie*
The noodles were polished off in record time.
Such a lovely and fun post. Enjoyed it very much! Happy belated birthday to Zoe.
Cheers, Wendy.
It was all fun – party, taking pictures and blogging it.
Awww, your nieces and nephew are soooo adorable :) I love this purple party! Especially the pony cake!
I kinda want a kids’ salad.. I love corn :)
Michelle,
I know, Jac and I were all “Awwww, we want a kids’ salad too!”
No piñata? A purple horse would have been perfect for Zoe’s birthday celebration, maybe next year.
AZ,
We’re not big on piñatas here in Perth, though you can get them. All in good time. There’s still lots of birthdays to come, after all.
Aww I love the photo of Zoe looking at her balloon & smiling! Looks like a really fun party. Love the purple theme & the pony cake looks delicious with the thick frosting. mmmm cake! Happy Birthday Zoe!! =)
lesleyinoz,
I loved to see how happy she was that day. And loved being able to capture it on camera.
I absolutely adore your family gatherings! specially the birthday of the three adorable kids~
I’m a purple lover myself! maybe I could do this for my 3+ (22) nd birthday this year! haha!
Su,
Haha yes, do it! :D
What an awesome party! I got a kick out of Zoe tucking into the sausage sizzler. Caleb has the best bed hair.
Jon,
Oh yes, she REALLY got right into it. I love that she’s so used to me being there pointing my camera at her and just ignores me and gets on with whatever she’s doing. Caleb’s had a haircut now, so his hair’s presently not quite so much of a shock. I’m a fan of the shock.
You’ve got the most adorable nieces and nephew, I really love reading your posts that include them. What a lovely looking party, it’s not over the top at all as some people seem to do with their kid’s parties, and yet it looks like it will be totally memorable for them. And what a fabulous cake! Any chance I can get one sent over here for my birthday? ;-)
Thanks, Caro. I like working on these posts too. And I love following them around, talking with them and taking the photographs.
I hope you weren’t too disappointed there was no pony cake sent over for your birthday! ;)
Heh, no, not disappointed. :) I’ve told Craig he has to make me one next year.
That’s a fantastic party! Your family certainly knows how to celebrate a birthday :)
Maureen,
That we do! :)
Awesome party! Lucky kids. :)
Btw, is Ruby’s. Zoe’s and Caleb’s mum baking another bun in the oven? If so, yay to more birthday parties and family gatherings!
Chen,
No, there’s no bun in the oven…
Happy birthday, Zoe! :-) Yes, I remember your mentioning she’d awoken the morning after Ruby’s birthday party wondering if it were her birthday. And poor Zoe’s had such a long wait!
Love the purple. My fav colour as a kid. The flowered hairband Zoe wears is especially pretty — just like the birthday girl! All the kids as adorable as ever.
The individual “salads” for the children; what a nifty idea! As for the “fairy bread,” is it spread with honey? I’m thinking that’s what is making the sprinkles stick to the bread. Like that too. And the spinach, tomato and feta salad looks so refreshing. There’s a popular salad in the States which substitutes freshly sliced strawberries for tomato, and has a slightly sweet dressing to go with.
The sausages look yummy. Can imagine the aroma. Gosh, I’d be tempted to eat one anyway. :-\
Mark’s balloon animals are cute and the cake Angela made is so well done. It’s terrific seeing such love and attention lavished on children; every child should have such celebrations and family time. :-)
Cindy,
Some people make fairy bread with butter, some do it with icing. Pretty sure these were spread with butter.
Mmm, I like strawberries in salad. At a cafe I used to work in we had a Thai chicken salad dish with marinated chicken, lettuce, cashews, beansprouts and a delicious dressing. The element that surprised everyone was the inclusion of fresh strawberries in the salad.
I have a soft spot for your family gathering posts. It’s very heartwarming to see how close your family is. :) I think I started reading your blog right around the time Zoe was born and now she’s 3! The kids have grown so quickly… time flies. Yummy pictures of the food, as usual (btw, is puffed corn similar to corn nuts?)! Happy belated Birthday to Zoe! :)
Row,
I love being able to look through the old posts and see how the kids have changed and grown.
I don’t think they are like corn nuts if the picture of corn nuts in Wikipedia is correct. :)
I really admire all the effort Mark and Ange put into the munchkins’ birthday parties. Loving the themes, the special little kid-friendly touches and of course, the food. Especially Ange’s gorgeous cakes! Sausages and noodles and nibbles for a birthday party are perfect, and that pony cake is so cute. I like the rather thick layer of icing on top and can see why it’s your favourite bit. :)
Dea,
Oh yes. I always go for a piece of cake with a decent amount of icing on it. An end piece if possible! :)
Hi TFP,
I always enjoy reading your family posts! Appreciate you strong family bond. Purple is my favourite colour too! All the decorations, food, cake and the kids – everything looks fabulous. I just love Caleb’s hair :) Though living half way round the globe, these family gatherings make me feel very much part of your family. Thanks for sharing! Belated Birthday wishes Zoe!
EN,
My pleasure!
Hi there cant beleive it my little girl is also named zoey spelt with a y is having a purple party her dads name is mark also and she owns the exact dress as ruby how crazy is this :-)
kim,
Haha, that’s a bit of a spinout! How about this. I have an auntie whose name is Nancy and has a daughter named Anne-Marie. When I was a teenager, new neighbours moved in next door, and the lady became friends with my grandmother. The neighbour’s name was Nancy and she had a daughter named… Anne-Marie!