Last week I shared the invitations for Reuben’s pizza party and now I’m back to share the details of the party. I felt really blessed that coronavirus restrictions eased in time for us to have a group of up to twenty to celebrate. My parents were also able to join us (they brought up a load of grain they had sold to a local farmer), so the whole occasion felt very festive!
Reuben loves pizza, so this theme was really fitting to celebrate his eleventh birthday. He’s growing too old for cutesy party food and decorations, so I had to restrain myself a little! I went for an Italian themed table with the ubiquitous red and white checked tablecloth and candle in an old wine bottle. I also used some Italian placemats I made from an old calendar. The food was fairly simple, as pizza was the star of the show! We had fruit pizza, bocconcini, basil and tomato kebabs, lolly kebabs and a chocolate cake made to look like a pizza with various toppings.
I made the dough for the pizzas the day before the party and left it in the fridge to rise overnight. I chopped up lots of toppings and each guest rolled out their dough and created their own pizza masterpiece, which Murray cooked outside in our portable pizza oven. This was a great activity for this age group, but quite intense, hence unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of the pizza making or cooking.
I used a garland I had made for Reuben’s seventh birthday party from fabric scraps as a decoration and added in some free pizza printables I found on Pinterest. This was one of my favourite parties. The boys were so lovely and enjoyed pizza making, a game of spotlight and a few games on the Nintendo Switch.
Are your kids getting too old for themed birthday parties or do they still love them?