My retro celebrations begin....

I would not usually make a big issue about my birthday but those of you who know me well may remember that I have a very special  FIVE O one coming up very soon. I hope you will indulge me sharing with you a few posts about  my birthday delights.

Well the day is nearly here and last Saturday I started the beginnings of my "Big" Birthday celebrations. My oldest dearest friend Karen and her Hb came over for a meal at our favourite Chinese restaurant. She had asked me if they could come over a little earlier as she had my birthday present. I was told that I just had to open it in front of her...even though it is a little early; she could not allow this to go unwatched!

They arrived an hour before we were due to go out to eat and she came bearing the most wonderful basket of gifts. Just take a look at this!

Everything was wrapped in blue tissue with gold ribbons, laid in a glorious hamper with more wonderful packaging. It was enough to make a grown (very much now) girl cry.

There was a card to open first ( I have a birthday card too which I will save for the day) and it read inside, ".. enjoy a fabulous retro birthday."

The card gave me a little clue as to what I would find hidden in my basket. Karen and I both love Ladybird books, Enid Blyton, etc etc, they are so part of our childhood. We have known one another since our earliest secondary school days and first became friends in 1972. We celebrate 39 years of friendship this September. We went to Girl Guides together, first discos, wore first fashion trends from minis to maxis and from flared trousers to the tightest fits. Our first loves were cried over and of course we met our dear Hbs. We went through all our school exams together, first jobs, our weddings, first homes, celebrated out childrens' births and more. It is a lifetime of friendship which I treasure.  

  She set out my parcels to open and I just had to show you what I unwrapped.

....on the back of this was a summary which make me smile so much. Have a read and if you are of a similar age it will ring very true to you too.......






How great is that......my children would certainly not understand it!   It was the on the back of a beautiful birthday book shown below.

And yes I even remember wearing party dresses and hair
ribbons similar to this when I was around 6-8 years old. I always remember some of the fabrics used were nylon and itchy.
It was not too elegant having a scratch in your best party frock!

I can also remember my brother sometimes wearing little clip on ties but never a jacket!

My party dress for this weekend will certainly not be yellow and I will not be wearing a pink ribbon in my hair either!

Here are just some of the wonderful presents I found in my hamper.....a real retro delight, the sweetie jar was full of old childhood favourites and it even had a packet of smarties with a "J" on the lid!
And one other of my favourites is this fantastic old retro poster from the days when we all wore "ladybird" clothes...oh my just look at the fashions!

So now I am awaiting my Big Day  and then my Party Lunch on Sunday...just to give you a peep, these are the place names I have made.They are die cut butterflies which I have stuck little sparkly jewels to.

and I have also made some gifts for everyone.....without revealing too much here before the day, these are some in their little spring organza gift bags ready to place at the table.

I shall reveal their contents in a future post, after the event. They were such good fun to make and will give each of my 30 guests a little memento of my special day.

So I will be back soon to reveal both my birthday celebrations and also my party lunch. I will take my camera with me and take lots of photos to show you. I will also raise a glass of champagne to all my lovely blogger friends out there. Thank you for reading my blog, I so enjoy your company. I also want to thank you again for all the comments you take the time to leave, they are such fun to read and are so appreciated.

Cheers!

Bye for now,

Jane x