Yes, you did read that right!  It’s really just about being prepared and knowing what you can purchase from the shops.  I didn’t spend a fortune on food, I didn’t spend hours slaving away in the kitchen, I like to keep it real.  I #dontstressit like that.  My parties don’t ever look like something off Pinterest, but my kids have never complained, they always have loads of fun, eat lots of food, and are exhausted by the end of the day – just how it should be.

It was my son’s 3rd birthday, and Mother’s Day.  It was a day to reflect on parenthood and I always think about my son’s entrance into this world.  He didn’t come into this world easily, he was 4.5kg (10lb), deflex (forehead first), and, posterior. It was the most traumatic thing we have ever gone through, he screamed for the first 8 weeks of his life (until we figured out he was lactose intolerant and basically allergic to my breast milk).  Nobody can warn you about motherhood, can they? It’s one of those things we figure out along the way…

We are an additive-free family because we’ve seen first-hand the health implications that come with eating food packed full of harmful numbers and unpronounceable words, but that doesn’t mean our lives are boring, tasteless, weird or coo coo.

In fact, we have found that living an additive-free lifestyle means we eat a larger range of things, we don’t go without anything and we are all living our best lives possible because of it.

But I have to admit, that when I first looked into additive-free eating I was worried about birthday parties. These are such a fun occasion and I didn’t want to ‘ruin’ the fun by being ‘that weird mum’!!

Well, I am proud to say that I have mastered the party food and all that goes with it…let me share my menu with you.

Now, onto the menu…

  

On the BBQ my husband cooked:
Banana’s Wrapped In Nitrate Free Bacon (recipe in our cookbook, Everyday Additive-Free Camping Edition (coming soon), and Satay Chicken Skewers

The Cake!

Okay, I might be able to cook a mean cake, but I am NO cake decorator!!  I would love to outsource this job but I can’t find a cake maker that uses additive-free products – so to all the cake makers out there, there really needs to be a market for this!  I’d be your first customer 😊!

 

I used the boiled chocolate cake recipe from Sweet Heaven, then covered the top with white icing.  I simply decorated it with Paw Patrol figurines and my boy loved it.  His little face lit up and he was so so excited.  Those moments are just priceless, aren’t they?

The Decorations

 

 

 

 

I want to give a shout-out to this lady at Mad Hatter Parties because she went over and beyond her customer service for me.  She doesn’t know I run a blog so it’s not like she did it with the hope I’d share her business, she just had the best customer service I’ve experienced in a long long time.  Thank you, you made my son’s party that extra special.  Please, if you’re on the Gold Coast and need party gear check this small business out.

The Party Bags

 

 

 

In the party bags, we gave each child a notebook, a pack of pencils, a Twix bar and Malteser packet.  I had all intentions to make playdough but I just ran out of time.  It was actually really cute watching all the kids draw in their books, no one had a whinge that it wasn’t packed full of lollies.

Well, I hope you get a bit of inspiration on how to create an additive-free birthday party and we’d love to see photos of your next party.  Feel free to share photos in our Facebook Chat Group.

Much love,
Jo x

UPDATE

It’s been a number of years since my son’s third birthday and since then we have released a dedicated party edition cookbook with over 80 recipes for foods, snacks, themes, cakes, party favours, and more… all additive-free of course! So, head on over to our website and check out Everyday Additive-Free Party Edition to grab your copy.