We had decided to have Conrad’s first birthday party in our garden, which we knew would be a bit of a gamble – our garden is fairly big and we think it pretty presentable, but if the weather turned out bad, we wouldn’t be able to squeeze the amount of guests we had in mind into our house… And the weather kept us on our toes, spitting with rain all through the morning. As there was nothing else we could do at that point we just went ahead with arrangements, and, as it turned out, it stopped raining after lunch and the garden dried up surprisingly quickly!
My brother Carl-Fredrik had come over to stay with us for Conrad’s party and actual birthday, and he was busy helping with preparations before our guests arrived; as was Ian’s sister Wendy, who arrived around noon. The two of them being around to help us prepare, at the same time as we needed to give Conrad and his sister attention, made all the difference and Conrad’s Mummy and Daddy felt much more relaxed about the whole thing than we had expected!
Our guests arrived, a mix of family and friends with children. People seemed to be enjoying themselves: lots of toddlers running around playing with toys (some of which intentionally put in the garden by us, some not…) and grown-ups chatting away. Our youngest guest was little Kyla, only 4 1/2 months old, so Conrad wasn’t the youngest, although most kids present were 2 years plus.
The party was scheduled for between 2 and 5 pm, so at around 3pm we invited people inside to help themselves to the buffet, and then about 4pm it was time for cake. I’d made the latter myself – baked the cake the night before and decorated it the same morning with moral support from my brother. As it was the first time I’d baked an ‘English-style’ birthday cake complete with buttercream icing and sugarpaste, plus used writing icing, I’d been pretty nervous about it. But it felt important for me to bake Conrad’s first cake myself.
When most guests left at around 5pm, Conrad’s farmor’s cousin Rita with husband Clive and daughter Alison stayed on, as well as Ian’s sister and parents and my brother, of course, for some pizza and ice cream. Conrad seemed to be enjoying all the attention, and he behaved so wonderfully all day, being all smiles, and not fazed the slightest by all the people bustling around him all afternoon. He got so many presents, which we decided to open the following morning. (Need I say that the wrapping paper and boxes – at least initially – turned out to be more interesting than the presents themselves…?)
Gabriella
