30 years young

My thoughts last night turned to my 30th: what to do, where to have it, who to invite, what to prepare? When I was young I adored birthdays but as I hit my teenage years I became very self-conscious and didn't enjoy the inevitable spotlight that birthdays attracted. Although I'm not such a birthday Grinch now, I still don't relish the thought of anything beyond a low skill celebration. With a milestone birthday in sight, that doesn't seem to be an option.

This year, my birthday falls on Mother's Day (very lovely, but also a very convenient excuse reason to celebrate another time- after all, everyone will surely have their own plans to celebrate and therefore be unable to attend). Because of this wonderful calender clash, Steve, Ben, Gizzy and I are escaping to the peace and tranquillity of the Lake District for the weekend- pure secluded bliss! Weather providing, I hope to fit in some walks, a picnic, a browse in a couple of the antique and vintage shops and some tasty food.



{I'm not sure I'd ever tire of the stunning scenery of the Lake District}

That covers the birthday weekend beautifully, but I still want to mark the occasion in some small way with friends and family. I've decided to invite friends for food at an incredibly cheap local Italian, Sambuca's. I'm not going to lie, the food isn't the  greatest but at £2:50 at pizza, nobody is complaining! To make the celebration even more fun I'll be sharing the evening with my lovely friend Lucy who turns thirty the month before me.

So, birthday weekend and friends sorted, the question remained- what to do with family? We had a wonderful Halloween party for family (sadly we took very few pictures as we were too busy serving soup, monitoring apple bobbing or discouraging Ben and his cousins from using our bed as a trampoline while eating jelly). Having an informal gathering at home adds some pressure (cooking, cleaning, dealing with the aftermath etc), but somehow, in my own little mind, it is a lot less pressured than hiring the venue for an event. Don't get me wrong, it's not the process of booking that bothers me, more the 'I'm having a proper event

just for myself and have booked a room for the

occasion'- yikes! No, that's not for me.

Well, that decided, I just have to ponder on the details. Invites will be home made but I don't want my mug splattered across the front or anything too faffy to create; for once, the web is uninspiring (Martha Stewart- this is the first time you dissapointed). There is also those little decorative touches that suggest a hint of celebration- although I don't want anything fancy pants, I do want to make it a bit more special than it would feel if people were just popping round for a cuppa! 

Naturally I'm drawn to all shades of blue,but as my living room is blue and the kitchen is a blue/ grey, I felt that more blue would be overkill. Silver felt a touch predictable and pink, well, I'm just not a pink kinda gal!

While perusing the web for inspiration, I found little in the way of grown-up party decor, however, I did find these little lovelies!

I'd be lying if I said I was considering these purely for Ben and his cousins.

If you have any ideas for cheap and cheerful (and not too time consuming) decorative ideas please feel free to share! x