Planning a birthday party for Lego boy was harder than back in the UK… there is no hire of a soft play and let them sort it out! Oh no! There is also no family to help out. 😦 In fact this being the first celebration without loved ones from back home I was a bit apprehensive but also determined to make the most of Lego boys first summer birthday.

We had been to one birthday party a few weeks back where they had a slippy slide. I had not seen one before but basically its a giant inflatable slide that you attach a hose to the top.

Lego boy had loved it so after finding out who they hired it from we booked it for the party. No insurance forms, no hire agreements just a couple of texts and I handed over the cash to a stranger just out of town. All very relaxed, maybe to relaxed as I wondered if I had been conned. Everything is organised on word of mouth, there is no google reviews for anything!

Next was the food, we had invited pretty much the whole neighborhood so decided to offer snacks during the day and then a BYO braai (that’s what they call a BBQ here) in the evening. I wanted to do cupcakes…. but they don’t sell cases instead I made honey flapjack (I really confused the kids by calling it flapjack though cause that is what they call pancakes!).

Lego Boy asked for a starwars lego cake… in the past I would have bought “ready to roll” icing and dutifully copied something of google. But here there is no such thing as “ready to roll” icing or food coloring so instead Lego boy got a butter iced cake with a number 5 made from chocolate chips. I was really nervous about showing him the result of weeks of sourcing ingredients and hours trying to master the electric cooker. It was nowhere near as visually impressive as I wanted but it was the best I could do. I had no reason to be nervous though as Lego boy beamed when I showed him. A couple of minutes later he asked “can I put my minions on it?” So two minions out of breakfast cereal (yes they still do that here) finished off the cake.

We also had to make our own pop corn, burgers and decorations… you certainly have to be more created and inventfull living here. But sure enough it all came together and the slide turned up.

The party was a great success, loads of people turned up, the slide was not empty from the moment it turned up at 10 till it went at 6. (Our garden turned into a swamp… it would have been far worst if wasn’t designed for Zambian tropical rain. )

Lego Boy had a great day and although we greatly missed family and friends from back home (especially when it came to tidying up 😉 )  we all relaxed enjoying good company and good food!