Oscar has turned 4 this year (he's beginning to call me "Mum", instead of "Mummy" and it makes me feel VERY old!) and we throw him a little party every year to celebrate. This year we knew would be tough because he has his own tastes in things now and knows what he wants and more importantly what he doesn't want! So it was hard to try and think up ideas for his 4th.
I had vaguely heard of Party In a Box from their big brother company, Timeless Toys. I had seen various things up on facebook which had me intrigued, as it's not really something I'd heard of before, so when I was asked to review a Gruffalo themed party, who could say no?!
Oscar loves books, in particular The Gruffalo so I knew this would be a fun thing for him.
Party in a Box create the perfect party package for various ages, with various themes, so I know it's something I could use time and time again as Oscar gets older and as his tastes change.
The first thing we received was some invitations to send out. Unfortunately they arrived quite late in the week, so I was unable to send half of them out and could only hand deliver the rest in case the mail was slow, which was a shame because Oscar had great fun writing in them!
Then, three days before the party, the BIG box arrived. I was so excited, I had to make sure I opened things carefully in case anything broke! All in all, there was three huge boxes in the one mahoosive box!
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The first thing out of the box was a polystyrene and marzipan cake! Unfortunately Party In A Box had had some troubles with sending out the cakes previously and they ended up in their final destination, smushed to smithereens. Their genius idea was to send "cake pops". Aka, cake on a stick! And then stick them into the big polystyrene cake. I thought it was a great idea and it looked good too as it was very unique.The cakes were only slightly damaged on arrival, but no so much that you would notice if you were about to bite into it. (It was just my scrutinising eyes -.- ) They were personalised too with "Oscar", "4" or Gruffalo pictures which I thought added an excellent touch. (The cake is not included price per guest.)
The cakes tasted okay. I wasn't overly impressed as it was mostly very sweet marzipan and only a little bit of sponge so not many of them were eaten, and because of the hot weather, the cakes started falling off the sticks! Luckily I had bought another cake for the adults which a couple of the kids tucked into so they didn't miss out.
The next box out was of the accessories. This included, *takes a big breath* Gruffalo themed; cups, plates, napkins, tablecloth, banner, balloons, a packet of party games, thank you cards, and a pre-wrapped Pass the Parcel game!
The accessories were all very good quality and included everything I would need to decorate the party. I have an awful memory and I'm pretty much guaranteed every year to have forgotten something, but being sent everything in one box just put my mind at rest, knowing I didn't need to remember anything else! The only thing I had to remember to bring was the party food, so it made life much simpler.
Last out of the big box, was the party loot bags. As we had one cancellation late in the week, I nicked one for myself to have a peek at. The loot bags included, sweets, a wooden pop up animal, a wooden game, a Gruffalo biscuit and a gruffalo badge. Oscar enjoyed opening his and still plays around with his little wooden animal.(despite the fact we bought him a BIKE!)
But the piece de resistance, was Pass the parcel. The only downside was there was a party game included where you had to put little dares on paper such as "walk like a Gruffalo" in between each layer, but as it came pre-wrapped we weren't able to play that part of the game. However, everyone enjoyed themselves anyway, with one of the daddies playing the music, the kids (and a couple adults!) sat in the circle and every time the music stopped, everybody cheered and got really excited.
At the end, the birthday boy got to open the final layer to find a really cool 24 piece Gruffalo puzzle. He was very excited! Him and his best friend got onto it quick smart!
All in all it's a very good package which made my life a lot easier and included everything I'd need and everything Oscar wanted.
*some children not photographed due to not wanting pictures posted online*
*I received no financial reward for this post, although I did receive the Gruffalo package box for review purposes. All opinions are my own and have been in no way influenced because of this*
** These photos curtosy of Party In The Box.
