SWISS FUN - Ugly Sweater Party Invitation

do your worst
 
This will be the 4th year we throw our jumper party. It is by far the easiest and most fun event of the year. All you need to do is:

1. Invite everyone to come dressed up in their worst. 
2. Serve Christmassy drinks and snacks and 
3. We have everyone bring along a gift to play Secret Santa Swap! 

#Christmas #uglychristmassweaterparty #christmasiscoming

SWISS FUN - Halloween Craft Party

crafts and the dark arts

On Saturday, Bailey and I hosted a little Halloween craft party with her friends. It was such good fun and we did all sorts of activities. We carved pumpkins, make mini mummy and cat pinatas out of toilet rolls, but my favourite was baking a brownie cemetry complete with skeletons rising from teh dead and BEWARE sign posts from lolly sticks.

 

SWISS FUN - Ugly Sweater Party Save The Date

things are gonna get ugly

This is going to be our fourth year hosting an Ugly Sweaer Christmas Party, and the stakes are high! We've sent the Save the Date out early this year so that everyone has lots of time to go all out with their jumpers!

SWISS FUN - A Halloween Craft Party

halloween craft party

Found a very cute invitation for Bailey's Halloween Craft Party from Belle and Boo. Looking forward to planning a morning of some spooky fun and games and crafting a few "bad" things...

SWISS FUN - Oktoberfest

oktoberfest

Last month I shared all of my Oktoberfest plans and today here are some of the snapshots from the party. It is such a great theme, afterall you can't go wrong with beer and bratwurst!

MY TOP THREE PARTY TIPS
1. Get all your food from Migros: they had all the authentic sausages, mustard, brezels and apple struessel. I even ordered premade rotisserie chicken from their catering side too.
2. Get to aldi early September as they had great deals on stein glasses and proper German beer.
3. Our party got rained on, luckily not rained out as we bought three tents from Coop Bau and Hobby, and they were inexpensive and easy to assemble, take down and store - for next time! 

SWISS FUN - Illusion Space Exhibit

illusion space

We popped into Metalli Zug this afternoon, and were pleasantly surprised to see a great exhibition that is on in the main court. It is a series of optical illusions that one stares at and then things get all wonky. The real cool ones must be the two illusions that have created on the floor that you get to actual be a part of for a great photo opp.

SWISS FUN
Illusion Space Exhibit
Zug Metalli Shopping Centre

 

SWISS FUN - Photography Classes

photo school

Last week I started a class to learn to take professional photos with Carolina Caruso. It was only the second lesson today, but already I have learnt so much. Here is a little peek of one of the shots I took (unedited - will be learning all of that tomorrow!).

SWISS WORDS - German Word of the Week

blau tisch* 
GERMAN WORD OF THE WEEK

For my Oktoberfest photoshoot table, I laid out some hessian table runners and then hunted as far as possible for anything that was blue. Unfortunately, I didn't have the exact blue, so instead I combined all different blues, that way the overall look was okay, and not one blue item would look out of place. 

 

For the napkins, I used an idea I found on a German webiste: giant pretzels for napkin rings. 

For the place cards, I recreated the look of the Karanval Lebekuchen Hertz (Carnival Gingerbread Hearts) you often see at German Autumn Fairs. Using my chalkboard pen I dotted around the edge of heart chalkboard tags and wrote the name inside. These I then tied around the neck of bottles of beer. 

More details tomorrow on the centrepieces and that awesome hat idea I spotted on Debbie's Cookkstudio.co.za website. 

*Blau Tisch = Blue Table

SWISS FUN - Oktoberfest Fun

fotozeit*
It is always fun to have a designated area for fun photos - especially as most Oktobefest parties strongly encourage guests to dress up in traditional Bavarian clothing. Here I just tied some balloons to a chair for the photo spot...

SWISS FUN - Oktoberfest Invite

oktoberfest

This year we didn't host our traditional summer party, but in a way I am secretly happy as I get to for the first time host an autumn one. And what not a better way than to have an Oktoberfest! Here is the invitation designed by Amanda and already I have so many cute ideas to share this week that I had tested out before in a photo shoot last year...

SWISS FUN - Heritage Day That Never Was

braai day

Liam just crushed my party plans about having a proper Braai Day in Switzerland on Heritage Day as he is actually away in South Africa. But the invitation Amanda designed is just too good not to share.

SWISS FUN - Back to School Breakfast

good luck!

Yesterday was the first day back at school for Zara and Bailey and to wish them lots of luck, I set a special breakfast table. In German culture, mushrooms are regraded as good luck - they are especially used in decoration for New Years. I had purchased these mushroom party goodies from Krima und Isa a while back, so it was the ideal fit for yesterday.

The collection included paper napkins, window stickers (that I used to customise my S&P Red crockery), paper bags and place cards. 

My favourite ideas included:
1. I found mushroom themed postacrds, and wrote each of teh girls a special good luck message.

 
2. The Maileg breakfast set I bought years ago was the best buy, as the little cup makes up teh stem of a mushroom, and the top of the mushroom when turned over is an egg cup, and Bialey loves boiled eggs!

 
3. The mushroom placecards were placed three in a cup with some bubble gum, and the girls had to write 3 goals they have for the new school year.

In the rush of getting ready for school I didn't plan a special menu, luckily I was the only one who seemed to notice, everyone else was happy with cereal, toast and tea. Next year, I will be sure to up my game - but so glad I set the table nonetheless - the girls loved it!

SWISS BUYS
Krima und Isa from Tischbarteater
Maileg from Scan Wohnen

SWISS FUN - Bailey's Cat Birthday Party

are you kitten me?

No jokes, Bailey is turning 8 this time next week, and we are excited to be handing out her Kitty Cat party invites tomorrow. The theme of the party is all about cats, and I love this fun invitation especially how we popped the invited tied up with wool into a fresh milk bottle!

Stay tuned for all the other fun themed goodies, games and little gifts...

SWISS FUN - Shadow Show

night time shadows
SWISS FUN

A fun activity for the evening for little ones still up past their bed time. To make shadow puppets, cut out the printable party animal silhouettes and tape to bamboo skewers. Peg a white sheet in front of a bright lamp or torch, and have guests proceed to recreate stories of their adventures and dreams. 

 

 

SWISS FUN - The Chocolate Game

the chocolate game
SWISS FUN

My favourite party game ever! Players sit in a circle around a wrapped chocolate bar. Each participant rolls a die in turn. As the die continues around the circle, a player who rolls a six shouts "SIX!". They then have to dress up by putting on a few items of clothing before attempting to eat the chocolate bar using a knife and fork. The die though continues around the circle until another player gets a six, and the player in the centre has to stop and it is the turn of the new player to try and eat the chocolate. The object of the game is to eat as much chocolate as possible!

SWISS FUN - Swiss National Day Games

stalk the lantern
SWISS NATIONAL DAY GAMES

Best played at night, a lantern is placed in the centre of the campsite guarded by a player. The rest of the players need to make their way to the lantern without getting caught. The guard tries to spot the other players as they make their way to the lantern. 

SWISS FUN - Swiss National Day Games

be prepared
SWISS NATIONAL DAY GAMES

A natural setting offers a dynamic, ever-changing canvas for your guests to explore and observe. This will keep them occupied most of the time, still it pays to be prepared by having a "go-to" bag of tricks and get your little campers earning printable scout badges at the same time. 

BUILD A CAMPFIRE 

GO ANIMAL SPOTTING 

PUT UP A TENT 

PLAY BOARD GAMES 

TAKE A HIKE 

SING CAMPFIRE SONGS 

 

SWISS DIY - Free printables

(click, save, print) 

SWISS FUN - Swis National Day Games

capture the flag
SWISS NATIONAL DAY GAMES 

Divide guests into two teams, each with a flag and the object is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base. Enemy players can be "tagged" by players in their home territory; these players are then, depending on the agreed rules, out of the game, members of the opposite team, sent back to their own territory, or "in jail". 

SWISS FUN - Swiss National Day Games

i spy with my little eye
SWISS NATIONAL DAY GAMES

Have one player choose an object that is visible to all the players and says, "I spy with my little eye something beginning with ...", naming the letter the chosen object starts with (e.g. "I spy with my little eye something beginning with T" if the chosen object is a tree). Other players have to guess the chosen object. An alternative version is played where the colour is given rather than the initial letter (for e.g. "I spy with my little eye something green"). Add binoculars for added fun! 

SWISS FUN - Swiss National Day Games

nature scrapbook
SWISS NATIONAL DAY GAMES

Make a list of treasures to find - all with different colours, shapes and sizes - and go on a nature walk of discovery. Give each guest a blank notebook and pencil, and encourage explorers to sketch, write or make rubbings of found objects. Glue or washi tape objects like leaves or twigs to a page. 

For a twist, try playing the alphabet game by finding a natural object that starts with each letter of the alphabet. For a modern variation, give each child a disposable digital camera so they can take photographs of the objects.