Having read my friend’s post yesterday (you can see it here) I felt a little bad for glossing over my own partner’s birthday and especially his party. I have been telling myself for the last week or so that I should write up a proper post for it, but just never got around to it.
So here I am, making the effort!
Wednesday 20th March was Chris’ birthday. The girls and I bought him an iPad – it was just first generation and second hand – along with a case and bag for it. While the kids were at school for the day, myself, Chris and our friend Adam, all went along to Damons for lunch. I cannot express just how much I love Damons. It’s a little expensive, but on your birthday you do get to eat for free. Also the advantage of going at lunchtime is that the combo platter (the choice I nearly always go for) is about £3-4 cheaper, than it is in the evening. In truth, if you didn’t order a drink it would probably be far more reasonable (£3.50 for a coke!).
After lunch we went to Doddington Hall Farm Shop. I knew I was cooking for ten people on Friday night and I just wanted to check out if there was anything quirky or interesting I could add to my already planned menu. We had to park in the overspill carpark which was incredibly muddy, but otherwise the trip was fun. I didn’t end up buying anything for Friday night, but I did get some nougat for Chris and some biscuits for the girls.
We headed home to get ready for the small tea party we were having that night. The girls had been at school all day so hadn’t really seen much of Chris, and my mum wanted to come over and give him his gift and wish him a Happy Birthday. As such we’d picked up a few bits from Iceland’s party food section, and this is what we got ready. At 3.30pm I collected the girls and brought them home, before heading out again briefly for their Parent’s Evening. I was back around 5pm and that’s when we had the tea party, along with the small chocolate cake we’d got free from Damons!
However the tea party was only short, as Chris and I were going out to see The Rocky Horror Show in Grimsby that night and we needed to leave around 6.30pm. Sadly the show itself was very lightly booked, I think only 1/3 of the seats were filled. The show though, was amazing. Despite the small audience, it was a noisy audience and Chris and I were lucky enough to be sat on the second row (perhaps in this situation, a little too close). Oliver Thornton, who played Dr Frank N Furter, was amazing. He totally stole the show for me. Other great performances were given by Roxanne Pallett (who played Janet) and Kristian Lavercombe (who played Riff Raff).
I have no idea if this video will work, but trying to embed it here so you can see how awesome the show was!
Anyway it was a great night but a long drive home when we were both feeling pretty tired. All in all though I think he had a pretty good birthday. However it wasn’t over there, as on Friday night we were to be having an Alice in Wonderland Murder Mystery Party and I had been planning this for ages.
The Murder Mystery we used was one we found online. You can see it/buy it here.
Having done almost one murder mystery a month for the last year, we have definitely come across some good games and some bad games. Obviously you never really know quite what you’re getting until you do it, but I have to say, this one got a big thumbs up. Some of us were dubious because we were playing characters already created and/or acted. All previous games had just been a case of being your own version of a rough character synopsis. However it went really smoothly and I’m pretty sure everyone had a good time.
![]() |
My partner Chris as the Mad Hatter |
As always, I was running last minute with all the finer details and printing out the murder mystery booklets. This means I have no pictures of how the room looked, the effort I went to for the table or even the food. However the room really did look amazing (thanks to Adam and Chris for decorating it), the tables were two long ones placed together to make it look more sort of jumbled and the food was all Wonderland themed. I’d spent two weeks looking around Charity shops and had a great collection of cups and saucers for everyone to drink out of, Chris had even bought me a teapot which I strangely love. The tablecloths were floral, I completely forgot the floral napkins, and each cup and saucer had a teapot shaped tag on it with their character name on it.
I served a starter of Cheshire “Cat” Cheese Fondue, followed by Queen of Hearts Pasta (two ways, one with cream and bacon, the other with tomato and chorizo) and Caterpillar salad. Finally for desert there was a choice of Chocolate Bread and Butter-fly pudding or White Chocolate “Rabbit” Creme Brulee. Though the pasta hearts got destroyed in the re-heat and the cheese fondue melted a little lumpy second time around, everything went pretty well. I always think afterwards that I could have done it so much better if I’d just…. but then I remember these people are all my friends and they don’t care. And they shouldn’t, its right. Because I know its the getting together that counts.
Obviously I’d baked a cake – it had taken me most of the week on and off – but everyone was pretty full by the end of dinner. However I was fairly proud of it and everyone seemed keen to take some home (read: keen or maybe just forced) along with the cups and saucers that I was definitely forcing them to take.
I’m pretty sure the evening went well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. In hindsight I’m definitely disappointed that I didn’t get more pictures of the final details, but I suppose the important part is that it looked good right there and then in the moment.
![]() |
A few pictures that show off the room |
It’s my birthday next and I can’t wait to organise my own party. There is a post about that, scheduled some time this week. I have a bunch more things I want to update about, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what spare time I get this week, especially with another busy one planned. Until then…