I love the textures of the different bricks and building materials, the weathered look, the moss and other [...]]]>

I must admit, since my visit to Germany in August  this year and my subsequent stay in Rapunzel’s Tower in Clarens, I am a little obsessed with castles. To be more specific, with the towers of old castles.

I love the textures of the different bricks and building materials, the weathered look, the moss and other strange stuff that grows on these walls.

It reminds me of all the stories I read as a child, not only of war and poverty, but also of romance; beautiful princesses, handsome princes, fairy  godmothers and wicked stepmothers, and always, but always, happy endings.

Even in today’s modern world, kids still love these stories. I think in a way we need stories with happy endings even if we just use it for party themes; we all have to take a break from normal living and what better way than to have a party on your birthday.

I have been trying to come up with a theme for a Rapunzel party for the last two weeks… take a look at the date of my last post… I think sometimes one of the most difficult things for a parent is to come up with an appropriate theme for their kid’s birthday party…

They grow up sooo fast; one day they like Winnie the Pooh, the next they like Spider Woman or Spider Man;  what a vast difference… from a cuddly little bear to this alien eight-legged “thing” that can climb walls and do impossibly human tricks…

and then we as parents are bombarded with stories about how bad it is for your kid to believe in fairy tales… and I must admit… these old stories are rife with crime… but maybe we should take this with a touch of salt… did the victims in these stories not always survive? Snow White awakes after the handsome prince give her a kiss…. jeez, did they not all awake after a kiss???

When we have children and raise them to our values should we not also include a little “make-believe” in our teachings?  Our responsibility lies in teaching them about the real world – to make them aware of crime and to always be on the look-out for things that can hurt them, but we should never, ever take away the “magic” element in life…

There is so much good in life, we just have to look past the bad things that happen and if it not touches our lives, teach our children to be thankful.

So hopefully, in my next post I will tell you how to organise a Rapunzel party… does any of today’s girls have these “elle” long hair… just think how much pain this girl must have suffered when the enchantress climbed up her long golden tresses – I wonder what she ate every day – sandwiches? hmm, do you know how you can turn simple sandwiches into good party food by using cookie cutters???

Last word… parties are about fun and imagination… who cares if it is true???

Have fun planning your kid’s theme party.

Oh yes… click on the image to open in a new window, right click and save to your pc so your kids can start colouring their Rapunzel Tower adventure.

Quite a few days have gone by since my last post but I think I will be forgiven if I tell you the reason for it. Since it was my birthday on [...]]]>

I know this is a site for kids party themes, but sometimes grownups can really feel like kids too when they celebrate their birthdays…

Quite a few days have gone by since my last post but I think I will be forgiven if I tell you the reason for it. Since it was my birthday on the 27th of October,  my friend from a far-far away land came to whisk me away to be “locked up” in a tower for one day and one night.

The tower is surrounded by mountains and a few kilometers from the small town of  Clarens in the Free State Province of South Africa and although there are no wild thornbushes and a forest that you have to hack through to get to the tower, the feeling of adventure that takes hold of you on the way to the tower, is enough to get you into the mood for a party.

Best of all, you don’t even have to think about a theme for your birthday party because the moment you drive through the gate and follow the winding road that takes you to the entrance to the tower YOU are the theme… a fairy tale theme for a grownup.

I was planning on having my party outside amongst the lovely red roses and other plants that grow in the garden but the late afternoon sunshine and blue skies soon made way for clouds and a few hours of rain. It fitted in so well with the fairy tale story of Rapunzel and being locked up in a tower.

However, as always with good planning, it was quite easy to take the party inside  from where we had a lovely view over the mountains whilst enjoying the simple but very tasty party food that consisted of home-made bread rolls, smoked salmon, black olives, different cheeses, crackers and dips. We also enjoyed some wine my friend brought as a gift – it is produced in the wine area of Gols near the Neusiedlersee in Austria.

If going up and down the stairs to see all that this tower had to offer, can be thought of as party games, then yes, we had a lot of fun playing hide and seek and calling each other as we  went our own ways sometimes to take a closer look at the many beautiful items in the tower. Maybe Rapunzel did not have such a bad life after all…

Taking photos was the main activity but relaxing and enjoying the view in a bath 12 metres above ground level, was definitely the highlight of the party activities.

There was no goodie bag to take home but for once it did not matter…LOL

A birthday party should be fun and spending it in such an enchanting place and being able to relive the fantasy of Rapunzel’s fairytale, has made my birthday a very special occasion.

Visit the Castle in Clarens site for more information about Rapunzel’s Tower