Alternative birthday cake ideas

It can be pretty stressful getting a childrens birthday party organised, before you have even thought about the cake. There is never enough cake to go around at the end of the event, or worse your choice of design gets criticised.

We came across this great American website and have already used it for 2 kids birthday parties in 2 different ways! With one of the parties we decided to make the cupcake decorating a part of the party - we simply baked 36 cupcakes and got plenty of decorative pieces for the children to use. The second party we baked and decorated the cupcakes all by our selves (ok with a little help from some smaller fingers). Not only did this make life a little easier when it came to getting the party organised, but it also made the children much more involved in a core part of any birthday celebration!

Bored of cbeebies?

Sometimes the tinkling of cbeebies is the very last thing that any parent needs to hear, and the very one thing that a little girl or boy needs to hear. We found this free colouring pages website and it really has worked a treat.

It's not like a normal colouring book as children are still interecting with a computer and the web, so hunting down the perfect picture is still teaching as well as entertaining and then when printed the 'old school' fun begins!

Cabin bed or bunk bed?

That is the question, especially when there are so many different types of cabin bed and bunk bed available today, gone are the days of a simple one up and one down bed!

Cabin beds are especially invaluable in smaller childrens bedrooms as they lift the childs bed off the floor creating more space for activities underneath. Play curtains are widely available, transforming your childrens bed into a playhouse or mechanic's workshop. The benefit of these is that they can be easily untied to be washed, or when your child outgrows them.

Consider a cabin bed with bedroom furniture tidily tucked away underneath the bed to make even more of the space in your childs bedroom, some cabin beds have everything you could ever wish for cleverly tucked in underneath.

For smaller children, cabin beds are not ideal - it is a long way down and it's understandable why some parents feel uncomfortable putting toddlers up there especially. Childrens bunk beds are versatile in a very different way. They are ideal for families that might have other children coming to stay, or for children that are particularly fond of sleep overs! Bunk beds are also available with a double bed on the bottom, or even a sofa - making this an ideal bed for children closer to their teen years.