Lo Fest 2017 Part 2

Tags

Boho Hen Do, hen do, Lo Fest

Hey Strangers!!! I’ve been MIA for what seems like ages but you know I have a good excuse, being a married woman and all!!

Life is slowly returning to normal and I have the last prep post from the wedding series all ready to go but I realised that before we get on to wedding I need to finish telling you all about my amazing hen do.

I’ve just read through part one, which you can read here and am smiling ear to ear!!! What a flipping amazing weekend it was!!

So… Part 2…. After the late night festivities we all appreciated a lazy start to the Sunday… The day began with an amazing alfresco shower experience staring out over the beautiful countryside!! Incredibly special, then it was campfire breakfast time to rid any fuzzy heads and we all returned to the gorgeous outdoor chill out spaces…

First up was a must for any proper party… pass the parcel! haha!! The girls had filled this parcel with the cutest little bohemian trinkets and presents… and as it always seems to happen with pass the parcel everyone took home a little something special.   

After the parcel had shed it’s last layer the girls bought out all the crafty fun which they knew this little creative geek would love… We decorated pebbles with mendhi designs and my toes became the focal point of a macrame how to lesson!

Whilst all of this was going on Mumma Lo pampered all the girls to an amazing Indian Head Massage!!! Ultimate chill day!

After more games, lunch and a chilled afternoon in the commune it was time that these festival babes donned their gladrags and obviously took the hen do compulsory selfies!!

Knowing how much I love a good meal the girls had booked us all into the Amazing Pig on the Beach.

We had the most amazing meal and it was such a glorious end to one of the funnest weekends of my life!!!

It goes without saying the food was divine and I can’t wait to go back one day with Maxwell!! We returned in a massive thunderstorm which illuminated the yurts in a spectacular nighttime light show and we all fell asleep full of good food and good wine and happy thoughts!!

And there you have it…. The next morning we packed up camp and cramped more stuff into 4 cars then humanly possibly, tears were cried as we said goodbye to the best group of girls imaginable!!!

Coming home to my boy I talked his ear off about how wonderful my girls are and how loved and spoilt I felt! What a blooming amazing Hen Do… Roll on Lo Fest 2018!!!! ❤

 

Lo Fest 2017

Tags

best friends, Boho Hen Do, Campfires, hen do, wedding

So…. it’s time to tell you about my amazing, once in a lifetime, unforgettable Hen Do…. Lo Fest.

I should start by telling you that I wanted a low key affair, a few of my best girls, a few pretty things to photograph and definitely no typical pink fluff/willies/L plates etc etc.

Onion (MOH) and I started a pinterest board way back when with some ideas; boho dinners, flower crowns, tipi’s, henna… you get the feeling…

Luckily a few of my other best girls got involved too and the secret squirrel club was born. These ladies, took my ideas and ran with them… what they created was a weekend I will never forget, one that I will treasure forever, one that was SO PERFECT I just can’t describe.

So instead… I’ll show you…

The weekend started before I even arrived; Anna, Chloe & Mumma Lo headed down to our awesome base, Brickles Camp, loaded with more bohemian goodies then you could find in a gypsy bazaar. Borrowed, brought and loaned treasure was crammed into 2 small cars all set to transform Brickles Yurt Camp into the bohemian oasis that was Lo Fest. 

For me, the butterflies set in and my Hen Do officially began as I sat front seat, blindfolded in my best buds car, the chinking of bottles and excited chatter of directions being whispered down the phone. Car honking and giggles from Nat in the back seat we clearly turned off a main road and onto a bumpy dirt track… I’m not gonna lie, at this point I was getting a little nervous… As the car started slowing down ‘I wish I was a Punk Rocker’ started blaring out, a song that always gives me goosebumps (Uni Fashion show moment) I was helped out of the car and led, still blindfolded along a definite dirt track… At this moment, my blindfold was whipped off and before me stood the most gorgeous gaggle of babes in front of a HUGE Lo Fest banner tied amongst the trees….

At this moment butterflies flew away and excited eagles took their place, emotion and the biggest grin know to man took over and it sunk it that it was finally here, my hen do!!!

After tears, the biggest of bear hugs all round and being handed my VIP festival lanyard, my Lo Lo Girls took me on a grand tour of our camp…

Our home for the weekend consisted of 3 gorgeous yurts… 2 bedrooms and a lounge/kitchen/commune. The centre piece of the camp was a campfire surrounded by handmade wooden benches… Nestled out the back was a little outdoor kitchen and open air bathroom. Yay! The girls had set up two chill out areas, a cosy plush cushion and throw strewn snug under a gazebo and a beautiful bohemian gypsy tea table set up surrounded by vintage rugs and cushions… heaven!!!!

Once I’d got my bearings and had explored the camp it was time for the celebrations to begin… Homemade cake, mini tambourines and champagne a go go…

Once we’d indulged in some Hen Do treats we headed over to the Gypsy Table set up, goody bags in tow and all got a few more treats… Mumma Lo had made the most gorgeous goody bags for everyone… Inside were all the camp necessities you could need… a torch, a pop up wine glass, hand sanitiser, chocolate willies (haha) There was also little dream catcher rings, candy bracelets, nail polishes…. super super cute and so thoughtful… I also got a chance to finally look at and take in my lanyard… which hinted at the most fun weekend ever, at this moment in time, off ran Chloe and Anna and they returned moments later with the biggest most gorgeous looking pressies you ever did see…

At this point I need to stress again how blooming wonderful my friends are… I sat there surrounded my the best girls ever, all with the biggest smiles on their faces, all gathered together, friends old and new, to be with me, to send me off in the best way possible! Also… they may be creative geniuses… A present from Chloe came first, labeled with cryptic clue and a nod to one of our favourite cult films… inside nestled the most gorgeous hand painted leather jacket… WOW!!

Next up was a grown up version of pass the parcel… except I won every time… and I really did win… An embroidered Lo Fest fringed kimono, my own customised festival booties, the most gorgeous embroidered ‘Lo to Hyde’ sash (like seriously beautiful… Judi, Ann’s mum is amazing) a handmade macrame Veil and a hen do book overflowing so much love and happy memories. 

So…. goodies given, already feeling utterly overwhelmed it was time for the activities to begin… and boy did they begin… First up was the lovely Manraj who spent 3 blissful hours giving up all the most sensational henna designs! I have always adored Henna and have been doing it myself since I was about 13… it was such a treat to have a pro do the honours though!!

Amazing huh?!? Straight after Henna it was time for another activity and another surprise….  Out popped my gorgeous second cousin (who also happens to be getting married a day after us) and Chloe took the lead on another activity I was really wanting to do…. Gathering all the fresh flowers from around the camp Chloe helped us all design and make beautiful fresh flower crowns. Busy hands and talk turned to upcoming nuptials and comparing to-do lists and exciting times ahead…

Flower crowns in place and it was time for some lunch and the hen do classic of ‘Mr & Mrs’… Cue hilarious answers, tears of joy, bunny hop demonstrations, tears of emotion and SO much laughter!!!! haha

Shortly after that the girls sneaked off one by one for some top secret squirrelling behaviour…. about 5 minutes later…i was called outside and apparently my love of indian culture was set to continue… gone were my festival boho babes, in their place were gorgeous sari’d colourful queens ❤

Gifted with another parcel, containing my own beautiful Indian dress, Sophie then announced that the real reason for her joining us was that she was going to lead us in a Bollywood dance class!!!!!!

I’m not gonna lie… we were pretty good! haha…

Post dance class I was poured a drink and told to chill and get dressed for the evenings shenanigans… I was instructed to dress in a long black floral dress and so I busied myself getting ready. Once dressed, I was again blindfolded and lead into the commune which had been transformed into our own glitter bar!!!

The girls joined me, all looking stunning and ready for our very own white party!!!!

We got stuck in with the glitter and suddenly in walked a girl, Miss Mathis had officially joined the party!!! ❤ Fast forward 5 minutes and in walks a boy!!!! Fret not, our Hen hadn’t been infiltrated by the groom-to-be, oh no… this boy was wearing a dickie bow and was carrying a tray of bellini’s… Any boy like that was welcome to stay at my Hen Do!

By this stage, no secrets left to unveil I was allowed back outside and could admire the most gorgeous sunset, lanterns lit, candles flickering, campfire burning and the dinner table set…

First things first it was time to take some selfies… this was a hen do after all!! Out come the selfie stick, the pouts and the cocktails started to flow…

Soon after, we headed to the dinner table to enjoy a sensational Moroccan Feast cooked by Mumma Lo… For starter we enjoyed a beetroot and goats cheese stack with warm flatbread and dukka…. seriously… it was like we were in a 5* restaurant not in a field in the middle of the Dorset country side. For main course there was cous cous, spiced carrot salad, lamb kofta and Chicken tagine…. Seriously, I know every girl thinks their mum is the best cook, but this would take some beating!!!

Plates cleared… its was time for the White party to really get started….

We decamped to the campfire and what turned into the best night ever truly began.

Picture the scene if you will… take the best girls you could ever imagine, dress them all in white, a bevy of angels if you will… slightly drunk angels, but everyone knows they’re the best kind! Dress them up in glitter and flower crowns. A continuous flow of cocktails, a clear night sky full of twinkling stars, a roaring campfire, music that makes you want to dance blasting from a speaker and more love then you can cram into a campfire circle.

With no neighbours the music was turned up loud, inhibitions were cast aside and like wild women we danced in circles around the flames. Feeling utterly free and so unbelievably happy we danced until the bar packed up and went home, we danced until we’d sung our hearts out, till our clothes were infused with smoke and knickers were burnt in the flames!

The night ended how any good campfire should end… With toasted marshmellows in the embers…

And there you have it… Part one of my hen do… of Lo Fest… I’m going to split the Do into two.. (as you do) and save the rest for another time… Till then, I’m going to go over what was the most perfect day!!!  ❤

 

 

 

A Harry Potter Hen Do Part 2

Tags

best friends, Harry Potter Hen Do, hen do, Liverpool, The Cavern Club, The Shankley Hotel

So now you know everything we had planned / prepped before hand…. Let’s talk about what happened on the actual Hen Do!

On the Thursday night on the eve of the hen do, I headed over to Becs after work & joined our bride-to-be for a chilled night in and a bit of advice on packing.

No one tells you that being a hen is an odd experience… with my hen do approaching I can completely appreciate the bizarre feeling of excitement and feeling left out! Haha… I reassured our girl and we went over what to pack, making sure she had lots in her case that made her feel amazing!

The morning of the hen and we woke excited and nervous… and made our way over to Euston to meet up with the other girls and grab some brunch. We met with another few girls and began some hen fun!!

Once on the train the fun really began, we popped some corks and played some games and started with the hen do selfies!! Be sure to check out #SnitchAndSnatch17 if you wanna see some of our shenanigans…

We arrived in Liverpool and headed to a cheap & cheerful pub for some lunch and a few more glasses of bubbles! As soon as the bridesmaids were done off we headed and set about decorating he hotel room in preparation of the arrival of our gal ❤

Fast forward 45 mins or so and after a whistle-stop tour to Ruby Blues (haha) the girls arrived and still I am overjoyed when I see the photo of Bec seeing the room for the first time!!! Yay….

First things first the sorting had to take place… as you can tell by the pics the gals found the whole thing rather amusing and after being sorted into teams the fun could really begin….

Armed with goodie bags and plenty of prosecco it wasn’t long before the bikinis were on and girls were in the tub…

The evening was spent in true hen party style, lots of alcohol, dancing, pizza, laughing, selfies, fun and shenanigans.

We stumbled into our beds happy and smiling and ready for a new day of fun!

Saturday morning and it was time to get about and about in Liverpool. Divided into our houses, a list of tasks and missions to attempt in hand, and off we headed for an hour and half of fun and hilarity.

I think it best the evidence stays a hen party secret so instead I shall move onto our Saturday afternoon activity potions making, ahem… cocktail making!

We headed to the Alchemist, and it was amazing…. We spent hours and hours making different cocktails and enjoying them too! Our lovely barman Eric was amazing and very patient with this huge gaggle of gals! The cocktails were all delicious and so was the food! If you’re ever looking to do a cocktail making session I cannot recommend The Alchemist enough…!

After that we headed home and readied ourselves for the evening… The hotel was perfect for getting ready for a girls night out! First destination on our list was Wildwood for some dinner! Delicious!!

After that we headed back to Ruby Blues, an amusing old mans bar and music spot, I think we were the youngest people in there by about 20 years but it was so funny and we had ourselves a little boogie!

After we had our fill of Ruby Blues we headed to the only destination that was on our books, The Cavern Club!! We had so much fun, it was literally the best night out I’ve had in ages!!!! We befriended the house band and got up on stage a few times to badly belt out some classics like Valerie and Proud Mary…. A pretty surreal and special moment I must admit! After a few hours dancing the night away and singing so loud we nearly lost our voices it was 2am and we were being asked to leave. A burger and a slow walk home and another successful hen do day was had!!

Sunday and it was time to pack up and head home…

The rest of the girls left after checking out but the bridesmaids hung around a little longer to enjoy a bit of indulgence. We headed down to the docks and had ourselves a lovely little lunch then went on to enjoy an afternoon relaxing in the Efora Spa.

A few hours of pampering later and a quick dash to the train and it was home time… We finished off the rest of the Hen Do book and reminisced over the best moments of the last few days!!

So there you have it…. The perfect weekend for my beautiful bestie! We literally had the best time ever…

A Harry Potter Hen Do Part 1

Tags

Harry Potter, Harry Potter Hen Do, hen do, Liverpool

Way back when Miss Rebecca Higgins first asked me to be one of her bridesmaids I was beyond excited!! Not only for the wedding, but also because I’d get to help organise her hen do!!

Once all the bridesmaids had joined the ‘hen do planning must have group whatsapp chat’ the discussions began and it was decided early on that Becca’s love for Harry Potter should 100% be a part of the weekend, but also that it should just be blooming amazing, lots of fun and a little bit naughty!!! haha

This excited me no end, as I too am a massive potter head! So we all went off and started thinking about ideas and where we could go and of course, good old pinterest played a huge part in the inspiration for the weekend!

I’ve made the board public now so feel free to take a look if you fancy doing something similar. We DIY’d a lot of the things ourselves to save money but there are so many resources and things out there, which you can buy if crafting isn’t really your thing!

I mixed and matched things up and customized a lot of free online downloads too to make them fit Becca’s Hen!

The first thing we had to sort was the location, the brief just said ‘a big city’, and because Becca lives in London we were thinking of Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester….

During one late night online research session along the lines of ‘Hen Do Venues for 20 people’ I stumbled across The Shankley Hotel in Liverpool and its amazing rooms!!

The hotel was obviously designed for hen and stag dos and boasted loads of big dormitory style rooms. We initially fell in love with ‘The Vault’ a huge room with bunk beds for grown ups and your own private underground bar with Jacuzzi…. Sounds good right!!!?!?!?

As fate would have it, it wasn’t available on the dates we wanted and it was also quite a bit over our budget. When I say fate, I mean it, as this meant I kept looking and discovered ‘The Laurent Perrier Suite’.

This room could have been made for us, and Becca, and the theme. A huge, indulgent room that slept 24; 12 nooks, each containing a comfy double bed and wet room behind plush gold velvet curtains all around the star feature of the suite; a huge roman bath which ran the length of the room! The sleeping nooks were split over two floors from a split staircase on the back wall and overlooked the lower level! As you came in through the huge medieval looking, vault-like doors there was also a seating area and a small kitchenette. It was perfect!! We contacted them straight away and booked it…. It was obviously meant to be!!

Not only was the room impressive to look at, it had an amazing luxurious feel to it (think hues of gold everywhere) but it also meant we’d all be together, all weekend!! Any girl will tell you that one of the best parts of a night out is the getting ready, the gossiping, the trying outfits on for approval, the doing hair for each other and obviously the vast amounts of prosecco that are needed to fuel the getting ready process.

By being all-together, it would ensure no one would feel left out or that they were missing out on some of the fun, a must have for our beautiful bride to be! The other obvious bonus to the room was that it looked like it cold have been plucked from the pages of Harry Potter; a mash up of a prefects bathroom and what I imagine the Hufflepuff dormitory would have looked liked!

So with a city and the accommodation sorted it was on to the décor, the games and the general tomfoolery!

Being a creative little sod I was in my element and now that it’s been and gone, I kinda miss my HP themed crafting evenings!! (all though the wedding has taken over all crafting evenings)

In this post I’m gonna concentrate on a few of the things we made to make the room even more special!

First up goody bags!

No good hen do is complete without a few goodies for the brides best gals. One of the bridesmaids suggested Velvet for the ultimate wizard-esq bag so a trip to fabricland and a day at my sewing machine later 17 little velvet pouches (in house colours don’t ya know) where made and waiting to be filled.

Any Harry Potter themed party needs a wand so I spent an amusing evening crafting these from wooden chopsticks, glue guns and some various spray paints/pens! The fact they were somewhat phallic also added to the Hen Party vibe too!

Being it was a hen do alcohol was also required. We brought and found a collection of various miniatures and these were then transformed into potion bottles that Severus Snape himself would have been proud of! I soaked off the labels and replaced them with ones I made or downloaded. Check out these links for some of the ones I used.

I was so happy with how they turned out and with potions including Love Potion, Truth Serum and Liquid Luck, I felt all pretty apt considering their alcoholic contents!!

We also had some sweet treats, some chocolates (incase of dementor attacks), a golden snitch (made from a good old Ferrero roche) and also some miniature boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans!! I made small versions of these by scanning in a full size box (which I brought at the Harry Potter Studios which we visited in November for Maxwell’s Birthday) and scaling it down on photoshop. These were then constructed and filled with good ol’ Jellybeans!! Cute huh!!

Also in the goody bag were Dark Mark tattoos (which I also brought from the HP Studio), A personalized champagne flute, a little deathly hallows bracelet which I made, ‘I solemnly Swear I’m up to no good’ badge (which you can get here), a lumos sparkler (get it?!), A HP themed hangover kit and some Butter Beer lip balms which I pimped!!

All of which were super easy to do, it just needed a bit of imagination and quite a bit of time! At some point, after all the weddings have been and gone, I’ll share some of the templates I made/used/created!!

Goody Bags sorted; lets talk about Décor…

The Room didn’t need much, but we did a few bits here and there…

Lindsay found and printed off a load of harry potter themed photobooth props which towards the end of the first night were brought out and amused and abused! Haha. We also did directional signposts (Diagon Alley, Privet Drive, Gringotts etc_ and I used some of my trusty Kraft DIY bunting to spell out phrases such as Muggle to Mrs, Team Gryffindor, I solemnly Swear I’m up to no good and our hilarious hashtag #SnitchAndSnatch17

Kelly and I also made loads of quite amusing Education Decree Posters using this really good downloadable template and some undesirable no.1 posters of Becca!! Haha

We also did a few signs and bits and bobs here and there, which if you’re HP fan, you’d really get and would make you chuckle!! These included:

*Beware, the stairs move (on the stairs obviously)

*A Fat Lady (for the front door)

*A moaning Myrtle (stuck on the inside of Becca’s toilet lid – haha)

*A Potions Making Station Sign (to hang above the bar)

*Plastic spiders (as in ‘follow the spiders’)

*’The third floor corridor is strictly off bounds to anyone not wanting to die a most painful death’ sign

*’Free Invisibility Cloaks’ sign

*Photos of Bec throughout her life (super cute idea for any hen!)

Urm….. and some balloons?! Haha…

All this came together to just make the room look even more magical!

Caroline also made the most AMAZING sorting hat!!! (I’ll explain a little bit more about that below) When Becca walked in to the room and saw it all for the first time her face was priceless and was worth every second and every penny!!!! So So Good!!!

The last thing we need to discuss is the games…. A hen do is not a hen do with out a bit of gaming so here goes… Here’s what we did and how we did it:

THE SORTING

Being that there was such a big group of us we thought it wise to split the group up into smaller teams, and being that this was a HP themed Hen Do the answer was easy. The girls would all be split into the 4 Hogwarts houses and we 4 bridesmaids would be house prefects!! The idea was that over the course of the weekend any good behavior (excessive drinking, impressive dance moves, winning games) would earn house points, any bad behavior (going to bed early, being sensible/boring) would loose you house points!! The team with the most points at the end of the weekend could win the house cup (aka mini bottle of champagne!!! 😉

To do the sorting we used the fab hat, which Caroline had made and asked Bernie, Becca’s lovely dad, to record a pre written script which (as if by magic) made hilarious comments and musings about the person whom it sat on and decided what house they would be in!! This was so funny and even the girls who were utterly HP clueless still found the whole thing very silly and funny!!

MR & MRS

A Hen Do Favourite!! In a book I created for Bec, We asked Edward her Fiancé 20 questions that Bec had to guess his anwsers!! I used tiny envelopes brought from Paperchase and my favourite Typewriter!!

I MUST NOT TELL LIES

A fun game of our own invention… We asked the girls to share with us a naughty/funny/saucy/embarrassing story about Becca and we may have also added in a few fake stories…. The game is simple, Becca would read them one at a time, out loud, and the girls (split into house teams) would then have to guess if she was telling the truth or not! Correct answers = house points… you get the jist!!

QUIDDITCH PROSECCO PONG

A pimped up HP hen do version of Beer Pong (with quidditch hoops made by my lovely fiancé)

LIVERPOOL SCAVENGER HUNT

This was a great way to get out and about and see all the best bits of Liverpool. Lindsay used the add called GooseChase and added in loads of funny HP/Hen Do tasks as well as some standard Liverpool-esq ones.

This was such good fun and the teams could do as much or as little as they wanted…. Fab fun!!!!

PIN THE LIGHTENING BOLT SCAR ON EDDY POTTER

An amusing take on the kids party game of pin the tail on the donkey!! Unfortunately the Eddy Potter face I’d made got a little chopped up! Whoops! Haha but we improvised and it was still very funny!!

THE NAKED HARRY POTTER CAST GAME

This was probably one of the funniest games I invented!!! Haha….. I spent an amusing evening googling naked/topless pictures of the cast of Harry potter then chopped off their heads! The game was to match the actor with the character, extra points given if you also knew the character name!!! Very funny/very childish/very hen party appropriate and thanks to Daniel Radcliffe’s stint on the stage quite exciting too!!! Haha

POTIONS MAKING

Quite simply – cocktail making/ pimp your prosecco station… We renamed some classic Prosecco Cocktails with a HP-esq title and provided all the herbs/fruits and mixers to create! Simple and obviously well used!

HEN DO BOOK

I also created a hen do book for Bec, a little tradition of mine, but this one was my most impressive/fullest yet!! I asked to girls to sent me notes/photos to include…. I also left space to put all the pics in which we’d inevitably take over the weekend and also other funny things like ‘design a dress for Becca’ and a space for well wishes and a card/letter from her mum and hubby to be!!

So there you have it!

A few hints and tips of you’re thinking of planning a HP Hen Do!! I hope you find this useful!! I post the actual pics separately as I think this post has enough content!!

 

A Vegan London Do for Adele

Tags

Ethos Foods., Hackney City Farm, hen do, London, London Fields, Twigs, Vegan, Vegan Hen Do, Zigfried Von Underbelly

This year, without a doubt, is the year of weddings…. and with weddings come hen dos… I have been on 2 amazing Do’s this month and have mine to look forward to next month! eeekkkk

The first Do of the year belonged to my lovely friend Adele who is getting married to Chris in May on Spitbank Fort in the Solent…. I can’t wait!! It’s going to be a fab day and if the Do was anything to go by we’re all going to have a great time and eat very well.

The Do was organised by my Bestie Anna and the other bridesmaids and for the weekend shenanigans we headed to London. Anna and I headed up early so we could decorate the Air BnB and get everything ready for the arrival of the Bride-To-Be.

Anna had made sure that there was lots of chilled fun and vegan food and I must admit it was one of the tastiest Do’s I’ve ever been on!!!

After an exciting Drive through London (over Tower Bridge I might point out) we arrived at our converted Vicarage and set to making the place fit for the weekend. It was a gorgeous find which was 2 conjoined flats, the master suite a mezzanine floor over the central living space so it was ideal for decorating!

Anna and the girls had organised some super cute touches like a personalised set of Pjs for Mrs B to be, vegan sweeties on everyone pillows and photos from throughout Adele’s life!

On arrival after the grand tour, we all got changed into our Pjs and settled in around the huge kitchen table and had an amazing vegan feast of curry followed by a raw berry cheesecake!!! (I told you we ate well!!) After some impressive dance moves and quite a few drinks we all retired to our rooms and called it a night.

The next morning, the sun pouring in through the vicarage windows we woke and had another amazing meal prepared by Anna, homemade Banana Bread, cashew mascarpone cream, berries and honey…..

Once dressed and fed, we headed out into the London Sunshine and checked out Broadway Market which was bustling and bursting at the seams with delicious food and wares….

Once we’d had a stroll about and ohh’d and ahhh’d over the the many cute dogs and puppies which stopped us in our tracks every few minutes we returned to base camp, got set and headed into central London. The destination was Ethos Food, an amazing vegan and vegetarian restaurant where you pay by weight eliminating waste and meaning each person can have just what they want. The food, the staff and the general atmosphere was amazing and I can’t wait to take Maxwell back here at a later date! The food was amazing and the girls had also made everyone a little goody bag full of treats and treasures!! Adele was also gifted a fab handmade veil and sash! ❤

Once we were all fed and Adele had seen her book and enjoyed a tear jerker of a letter from her hubby to be it was time to move on again and off we headed to Escape.

This was such fun. we weren’t allowed phones or cameras inside but the aim of the game was to steal the crown jewels and break out of a vault in an hour! Divided up into groups of 4-6 it was a great was of bonding and team building and was such fun! I’d never done one before but totally would again!!

After that it was back to the Vicarage and we started getting ready for the evening out. I left my camera at home for the evening as it’s not the easiest to transport. We headed to Zigfrid Von Underbelly in Hoxton Square for dinner and cocktails then headed onto a club later to dance the night away.

The next morning we were up early to pack up the house and our cases and sore heads in tow we headed back to Broadway Market to have an amazing breakfast and cafe come plant shop Twigs! Anna had booked us the big table and we all enjoyed an insanely good asian inspired breakfast of rice waffles with a selection of toppings; I opted for bacon, egg with a  miso / peanut dressing which was delicious! So much so I came home and tried to recreate it the following week!

Over breakfast we also played Hen Do favourite ‘Mr & Mrs’, once the plates were cleared we headed back out into the sunshine (seriously we had the best weather) and headed to Columbia Road Flower Market. Anna who used to live around that area was great and showed us all the cute side roads and best spots…. Most of the group opted out of the hustle and bustle of the crowed main street but I headed in, camera in tow and enjoyed the crowds and gorgeous blooms! Out I came the other side with a beautiful selection of flowers and joined the girls in an ice cream cone!

The last port of call for our weekend was Hackney City Farm which is as it suggests, a quirky inner city farm. We conveniently timed our trip to enjoy some new farmyard babies including a couple of teeny lambs and the cutest little goats!!!

And there you have it…. From there we all headed home and what a brilliant weekend!! A huge well done to my girl Anna and the bridesmaids for organising such a fun and hen orientated weekend! I know I had an amazing time and I’m pretty sure Mrs B to B did too!!! ❤

 

Hen Do; Times Two

Tags

bachelorette party, Bride, Bride to be, celebrate, craft, Girls night out, Girls on tour, Goody bags, hen do, Hen Do Activities, Hen Do Book, Hen Party, Hen party bags, hen party book, hen party games, holiday, Hot Tub, party, Sant yago, Santander, southsea, Spain, Vodka Jelly, wedding

Continuing on with my wedding season series of blog posts and I can finally talk about my beautiful best friend; the brand new Mrs Lindsay Mathis DeBohan and her glorious hen dos!!!!

The wedding (and I’ll do a post on this soon) was sensational, and believe me when I say this special lady deserves only the best, so here goes: two hen do’s….

Together with Lindsay’s collection of beautiful bridesmaids a fabulous foreign affair of a do was organised, I’ll get to that in a bit…

Chloe and I offered to organise a local do for all the family and girls that couldn’t attend the main do. Now I’ll put this out there now; it was all a little last minute, haha…. With just over a week to go we were given a list of names and a rough idea of a plan from our laid back bride-to-be….

List in hand, and mobile in the other I started calling round venues to see if anywhere could squeeze in a party of 20ish for the following saturday night, many said no, but luckily one of my local favourites, Sant Yago (where I had my 30th coincidentally) said they could squeeze us in! Hurrah… So a plan began to take shape….

We kept things simple and asked all the chicks to wear black and the bride-to-be; white. Red lips were a must all round and this simple ‘theme’ meant all could take part with little effort/cost but all looked and felt fantastic!

We all know Do’s can get pricey so we were determined to keep things as cheap as possible so no one felt excluded. We asked everyone for a set amount up front, Sant Yago offered us a glorious 7-part tapas selection which was absolutely scrumptious and in addition to this we purchased couple of bottles of prosecco for the table and used the leftover kitty to sort the goody bags and decorate the tables to make it as special as possible.

There was lots of hand made touches and I think this is what people really appreciated… It meant no more money, admittedly quite a bit more time, but the results were lovely and went down a treat! I must admit, I was in geeky organising heaven, creating invites and everything to match!

Chloe and I came up with lots of cute ideas for the goody bags (thank goodness for pinterest)… We used the bags as place settings/hastag details and included champagne bubbles, gold striped straws, jelly heart sweets, a ‘single ladies’ ring, a red lippy (to paint the town red), a paper rose hair clip and some key to happiness cards…

Of course we made sure the Bride had the best goody bag so a few extra special items were included to up the ‘sauciness’ and ‘wedding’ factors (aka some red sequinned nipple tassels, must have willy whistle, ‘L’ Plates, a garter and a veil…. well it was a hen do!)

During the evening we all played a few games; organised by us and also the Mother of the Bride. These were great ice breakers and ‘getting to know you’ type games which were really fun… A saucy pass the parcel and impromptu ‘Like a Virgin’ sing-a-long!!

The food was consumed, lots of cocktails enjoyed and laughs had…. The night ended up in the classic hen do destination of POP World…. which couldnt be more perfect; cheesy pop and cheap drinks…. We danced into the wee hours of the morning, and left shoes in hand with a happy tipsy hen! Job done!!

The Hen Do (part 2) was equally as fun, a group of 10 of us packed our bags and headed to Spain for a weekend of (unexpected) sun and glitter…. lots and lots of glitter!

The destination was Santander, which I confess I knew little about, but actually, it blew me away…. The apartment was nestled into what could only be described as ‘a ‘volvic’ landscape! Rolling hills and mountains with a farm just below us, it was stunning a not at all what I’d normally associate with Spain.

Glitter was the inspiration for the first night out so after a beautiful day lounging in the sun/hot tub in a glitter, photo and colourful decorated luxury suite we donned our sequinned best, covered our faces with sparkles and headed out to the bemused Santander town (turns out Santander doesn’t really do ‘big nights out or dressing up)

After a traditional tapas all squished into a tiny bar, we headed to the square for a drink and then went on to locate the only nightclub this tiny town seemed to house! The rest of the evening was a whirl of dancing, huge cocktails, ace of base singalongs and reflecting the discotheque lights from our sequinned outfits.

I should also mention now that I also made Lindsay one of my Hen Party Books (which I also made for Anna last year) This was an utter labour of love and I think may be my best yet! Page upon page of photos, games, memories and fun to be had… I photographed all the pages so I will post these all in a separate post for those that are interested!)

Our second day was spent enjoying the hot tub and the in house spa with a few drinks…..

Later in the afternoon we headed out to the beautiful Santander. It really is a beautiful town, we took our time strolling round the sweet streets with an icecream and enjoying a bottle or two of wine over looking the beautiful sea. As it was our last night we were determined to find somewhere special…Luckily we discovered the most incredible restaurant which was amazing! if you ever find yourself in Santander you must visit Bodega Cigalena, I promise you wont be disappointed!!

This was the perfect end to a beautiful ‘do’ celebrating my beautiful best friends last days as a Miss! Everything about this place, the decor, the staff, the food was just perfect!! After food was finished with we decided to head back to the apartment to enjoy the rest of the booze and the hot tub!

Now I ask you to picture the scene, 1 balcony, with 1 hot tub designed for 4…. add those 4 girls, a heart shaped dish of vodka jelly and a makeshift bar… then add 6 more girls…. you get the picture, it was like drunk hen soup and it was oh so funny…. little did we know that the real laughs would come when people started getting out…. a sudden drop in the water level and the remaining chicks (myself included) we suddenly blasted with huge jets of water…. I still giggle when I think of it, it was without a doubt the funniest moment which I will treasure forever!!!

The morning after saw 10 slightly pink girls head home with glitter still in their hair and all very much excited for the big day! Cheers to you Mrs DeBohan… what fun we had! ❤

Jet setter

Tags

Blogger, hen do, holiday, Italy holiday, jetsetter, travel blog, travel bug, traveller, travelling, weddings

It’s been a bit quiet over here, but I have a good excuse I promise!

I’ve had a week to recover now, but basically in the last few weeks I have visited about 10 different cities in 4 different countries, 2 separate weddings, a hen do and an exhibition thrown in too for good measure!

It exhausted me to just write that sentence so you can only imagine how I’m feeling right now/why it’s taken me a week to compose this post!

My love and I aren’t huge travellers, through no other reason then we’re normally just a bit too skint to indulge in abroad vacations. However this year, and the month of May in particular, has been the most travelled month of my life… we saved our pennies, packed multiple cases and crammed a lot in those 2 weeks….

Our itinerary went a little like this….

Between 14/5 – 19/5 We travelled from Southampton, to Amsterdam, to Rotterdam, back to Amsterdam for a day trip then returned to Southampton via Amsterdam again…

After a 6hour Uk stopover, our next holiday took place between 20/5 – 26/5. We left Southampton in the early hours, headed to London Stanstead, flew to Brindisi (Italy) drove to Spongano (our home for the 5 days holiday), explored all over Southern Italy, drove up the southern eastern coast to Bari and returned to Stanstead…

I then had a 2 days, 1 of work, 1 to wash & repack then, after a daytrip to London to see the Savage Beauty exhibition on the 29/5 it was back home, then back to Stanstead again, a quick flight to Santander for a weekend, back to Stanstead and finally returning home.

Home sweet home.

It was so much fun… many laughs were had and memories made… we even came back with euros to spare which was a huge bonus!

I thought rather then cramming the whole month of May into one mammoth post, I’d split it up into separate posts, maybe a country a post?!

All I can say is its good to be home….

NB: Photo taken at Bari Airport after a busy 10 days.

 

Hen Party Book

Tags

craft, hen do, Hen Party, hen party activities, hen party book, hen party scrap book, hen paty games, scrap book, wedding

So last week (my how time flies) two of my best friends got married in a beautiful outdoors ceremony in Dorset (I’ll do a post on that later)

Before the big day came the big hen do!!

I was asked by the lovely bridesmaids to help organise the creative side of things, a job right up my street!

The bridesmaids Adele, Emily and Jazz did a fantastic job organising the do, we were heading to Brighton for a stay in the iconic bell tents courtesy of The Bell Tent Company. We also hired a tipi incase the British weather decided to rear its ugly heads…. luckily after morning torrential downpours, the afternoon was perfect, glorious sunshine and clear blue skies.

As well as arranging a couple of games I also decided to make my friend, the bride-to-be, Anna a hen party scrap-book.

She’s always been a fan on mine and Maxwells scrapbook so I knew she’d love it, plus I’d made one before for another besties hen and it went down a treat!

As well as lovely memento of the weekend which she could treasure forever, it would also house all the games and activities…

I tried to do some research on other hen party books but didn’t find much that was inspiring… google images was helpful for a few ideas as was good old pinterest so I thought once I’d finished the book I’d do a post on it and upload all the pics to pinterest to inspire others!

If you like what I’ve done, please let me know, or even if it’s inspired you… Someone mentioned I should make them for others, which is a possibility! If this is something that interests you leave a comment and we can discuss!!

Inside the book were the following pages:

* Photo pages * messages from friends * irtinary * list of hens * games * date night suggestions * draw a penis page * A-Z’s * Places for keepsakes * letters from loved ones * design a dress * activities * memory pages *

Well I hope you enjoy…. I sure enjoyed making it, and the bride to be certainly loved it!

well…. what do you think??

Here’s a pic of the beautiful Anna with her hen party book…