My backyard was seized by pirates this afternoon…Preschool pirates that is, the cutest kind! In celebration of my fifth child’s fifth birthday (wow, that’s almost a tongue twister), we hosted a pirate themed party for Luka and his friends. Party games, a jumping castle and colourfully decorated table laden with favourite party fare made for a fun filled afternoon. 

Oh, and as for the cake? Well, it had to have the Jolly Roger in keeping with the theme, carefully cut out of fondant. I used 16 Flake chocolate bars cut into irregular shapes around the edge of a 26cm round cake to resemble the roughly hewn side of a ship. The base was Luka’s favourite – moist coconut sponge filled with fluffy freshly whipped cream and smothered with chocolate buttercream icing. This was a very simple cake to create which was just as well because at this time of the year, I am always running late! 


 The trick to catering for kids is to make the food bite sized, appealing and easy to handle whilst wielding a sword, balloon, wand or wings in the other hand, depending on your chosen theme. Today I served up my best ever chocolate brownies presented in a pirate treasure chest; lemon-lime cupcakes with vanilla buttercream; plump strawberries; “X” marks the spot jelly cups (always a winner) and my sister-in-law Lily’s superb caramel slice which was snaffled up in record time – always is. Rather than add to the concentration of sugar, a large dispenser of cold water is recommended over any high energy cordial. Try to balance out the sticky sweet offerings with fresh fruit and a selection of popular savouries, like freshly baked pizza and home made sausage rolls from scratch which I also included today. 


A children’s party is definitely NOT the time to showcase your own creative flair with quinoa or your personal love of lentils. Although your children may eat this other people’s children most likely won’t, so take a deep breath and prepare a party style favourite spread for a successful event. What’s the bet you end up hooked on the buttercream icing?! I made myself stop after a single cupcake…so addictively delicious. 

It’s been quite a day for parties because this morning I took Luka and his sister Sofia to a “Frozen” themed party in our neighbourhood. Despite the theme, Luka insisted on wearing his newly acquired “Ironman” outfit from his Perth based Grandmother. So amidst the delicate aqua coloured party food laid out by Isobel’s mother Terri, there is my son racing about in his fiery red get up. Boys! I had to take a photo of the pretty party cake (pictured below) before it was devoured, because so much effort and planning had gone into it. Beautiful.

Luka’s friend Isobel was beaming with delight at her Frozen birthday cake.

After the last little (now tired) pirate had left, and the outdoor deck swept clean of cake crumbs, we sat down to a dinner with our extended family and Godparents. It was a lovely way to share stories, laughter and conversation over a couple of slow cooked sweetly spiced lamb shoulders, a simple garden salad, my mother-in-law’s apple cider vinegar potato salad and her ever popular finely shredded cabbage salad. After all the excitement and all the gifts and all of the wonderful food, it didn’t take much before my little pirates – especially Luka pictured below with me – were tucked up in bed and asleep.