Vikings

Last week I mentioned that I had been making Viking costumes.  A friend of the children was having a viking themed party and we had been invited.  At first the children were a bit unsure, my eldest especially is neither a fan of parties or dressing up, but when I phoned to confirm we were coming I was told that everyone else who was going was really excited about the costumes they were making for the party.  So I went to our history book shelf, yes we do have one, and found our small collection of viking books and started to look at them.  By the time I had gotten to the pages about clothing the children had both joined me and started asking could we make one of these, or this, or this, the seed was sown.  I had a look through my fabric and found some brown/grey fleece that would be suitable but nothing else.  When we next went into town we bought some more fabric and ribbon.

I made three tunics, the pattern for the children's was loosely based on a nightie I made for my youngest for Christmas.  My tunic I made from scratch by taking various measurements of myself and drawing up a the shape onto the fabric.  I always sew in this way, rarely if ever following patterns, unlike knitting where I feel I have to follow a pattern.  I have been doing a fair amount recently, for Christmas presents and lately birthday presents.  I feel like I am getting the measure of my sewing machine, it seems to go 'wrong', actually that should read user error, less often.  It has made me want to do some more, my youngest could do with another dress and I have some fabric that I bought months ago for that very job, now I just need to get on with it!

I wore my tunic over a long linen skirt and linen top, my eldest wore trousers and had a sword in the loop on his belt.  My youngest wore hers as a dress with tights.  I am hoping that these can and will be used again for dressing up at home, or to other parties with similar theme.  We have been invited to a Pirate party this weekend but they have done enough dressing up for now they informed me!

Oh, and the birthday girl?  I made her one of these in red and gold.  She opened her presents in front of all the other children.  When she opened ours there was an audible gasp from the room, the best kind of praise don't you think?

Joining in with Nicole for this weeks Keep Calm Craft On, head on over and see what others have been making.

Parties

Welcome to the July edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - Celebrations cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about keeping things simple with our kids. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post.

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Picture the scene if you will, a very large room with a high ceiling, twenty or so excited children running around, the noise levels are high and in we, my eldest and I, walk to a birthday party for one of his friends the first he has attended.  To the children present this is their idea of heaven, to my eldest the epitome of hell.  It was a truly awful experience, the mother of the birthday boy could not comprehend that a child could attend a party and not want to join in the games.  We did not stay for very long.

I knew that he would not enjoy that party but he desperately wanted to go.  We had attended Christmas parties that the nursery he attended held, the first year he sat on my knee though the whole party, he was little and not yet walking.  The next year the noise and bustle actually made him shake with fear, we left soon after arriving.  Despite this when he received an invitation for the party I mentioned at the beginning he really wanted to go, the child had become a good friend and they played often at each others houses and at nursery.  It was really no good explaining to him what the party would be like, he was three nearly four at the time and he had no experience of birthday parties and could not remember the Christmas ones he had hated, my words of explanation meant nothing to him.  So we gave it a go.

We went to no parties for several years after that until he was six and a very good friend he had made invited him to his house for his birthday.  The first thing my eldest said to me was are there going to be games, even though he was very young he clearly remember the experience of the awful party.  I doubted it but did check for him, it was just going to be food and play nothing structured at all.  He loved it.  We have been to other parties since, some ok some not so, where there are games, noise or unfamiliar children he usually sits in another room on to one side often reading a book!  Luckily for us there is no longer any coercion to join in the games so he is totally accepted into the celebration whatever he chooses to do.

When he was coming up to his seventh birthday later he announced that he would like to have a few friends round to play on his birthday.  He was very sure about what he wanted for the day, no games, no singing happy birthday but he did want a cake so he could blow out the candles!   So at age seven he had two friends over for the afternoon they were the first children to celebrate his birthday with him.  He has told me that this is how he wishes to celebrate his birthday for now.  He is a winter baby so it is hard for us to go outside and celebrate as it is often wet and cold on the day.  I know that he would love to be outside in the woods or somewhere similar for the day perhaps when he is a little older we will do that but for now he is content with what we are doing.

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Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. Read about how others are incorporating simple living and parenthood. We hope you will join us next month when we discuss Money Matters!

 

• Parties - sustainablemum explains how and why she keeps her birthday celebrations for her eldest a simple affair at his behest.
• Simple Birthday Celebrations - Birthdays are kept simple at Living Peacefully with Children. Mandy shares how her family celebrates birthdays without the stress and expense.
• Countdown to a Simple Christmas - Start now to prepare your house and home for the holidays. Steps to take each month to enjoy a much simpler approach to Christmas.
• Simply Celebrate - Jorje has tried celebrating kid birthdays BIG and small... which one do you think was more simple? less stressful?
• That's a Wrap - At Parentwin, Darlena describes her experiences with wrapping gifts and how she has changed her ideals when it comes to gift giving.
• Simple Celebrations - Laura at Authentic parenting shares how her family keeps celebrations simple.