My daughter celebrated her 8th birthday on Friday. We had a weekend full of celebrations: the actual birthday, a pyjama party (no boys allowed!) on Saturday and a family party yesterday.
I always feel a bit nostalgic around my children’s birthdays about the anticipation of the birth and the elation of their safe arrivals and also about their achievements to date. My daughter was determined to stay up until the time of her birth (20:47) as her brother was born at 01.35 so has already aged by the time he wakes up on his birthday.
The pyjama party went very well with lots of girly activities such as dancing, painting our nails, colouring in door hangers, making our own pizzas and watching a DVD while eating popcorn. I was pleased that there was still a request for pass the parcel, musical bumps and pin the tail on the donkey though, proving that she isn’t too grown-up yet.
My daughter decorated her own birthday cake beautifully (and did another one the next day with her cousin). But what would I have done eight years ago if I had been presented with a cake like this? What a shame – all that hard work and no spellcheck facility!
From a fantastic blog: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com
r2proofreading 
I love that eight year olds still love all the traditional party games. I’m not keen on my two little ones growing up too quickly either. My daughter’s just been invited to her first ‘makeover’ birthday party and she’s only four. I’m chuffed that she’s been invited to such a small gathering, but I have mixed feelings about the event, and it conflicts with the blog post I wrote last year after Jordan’s little girl was pictured in full glamour model slap: http://pinchypants.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/jordan-princess-and-the-false-eyelashes/