A dolls' garden party for Ava's 5th birthday!

Ava recently turned 5 -- the age where a birthday party really, really matters. We had family and friends over on the day of her birthday (the so-called 'family party'), but she was also really looking forward to the party for her little friends.

I had been really, really busy with work and all sorts of end-of-school activities, so I didn't have the energy or time to prepare anything before the day of her party. But it was all fine -- that Sunday morning, the warm sun came up (familiar?), so we transformed our back yard into a big dolls' house.

We put up the playhouse and the wigwam, and also created some other spaces using sticks and fabric. We made a dolls' hospital, a dolls' kitchen (using our wooden toy kitchen), a dolls' dressing room and bedroom (we used baskets and baby blankets to make extra beds), a dolls' play area with miniature dolls -- we even had a dolls' bathroom (the old baby bathtub and hooded baby towels came in handy here!).

It was really fun and easy to set up, and so adorable once finished! I asked all of Ava's little invitees (4 girls plus her 3 siblings of course) to bring their favourite doll, and that was all it took, really. They took over the garden immediately and had such fun.

We were lucky to have the garden that day, but of course such an idea would also work perfectly indoors. Definitely a recommendation if you have little ones who love dolls!

xxx Esther