We are giving one lucky reader the chance to WIN £150 of Boden vouchers and two runners up will receive £50 vouchers each. For all you mums out there, why not treat yourself this spring.

COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED!

We are so excited to be joining forces with our friends at Boden once more – we all adore them! 

Whether you need a smart new shirt for your boys or have a little girl desperate for a new party dress the choices are endless!  Boden are known for their bold prints and quality fabrics and whether you are shopping for work or play they will have just what you need.

Boden offer a vast range of clothing for Women, Men, Girls, Boys and Babies so whatever the age look no further…

www.boden.co.uk

Once a true Boden shopper always a Boden shopper.

To enter simply complete the form below – COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED!

Terms and Conditions

1. To enter the competition you must be a resident in the UK.
2. No purchase is necessary.
3. Only one entry per person is permitted.
4. To enter the competition, please complete the form above.
5. The winner will be drawn by Party Pieces.
6. The closing time & date is 11.59pm 16/05/2013
7. By entering the competition the winner agrees to participate in any promotional activity or material that Party Pieces may require.
8. No part of a prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
9. Prize is not transferable & is subject to availability.
10. If an advertised prize becomes unavailable, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
11. Incorrectly completed entries will be discarded.
12. Entrants must not be employed by Party Pieces or Boden.
13. Any personal data relating to entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. Data will only be used by Party Pieces and Boden, and will not be disclosed to a third party without the individual’s prior consent. Please see Party Pieces privacy policy for further details.
14. Party Pieces reserves the right to amend these rules at any time or cancel the competition due to unforeseen circumstances. A notice will be made if this happens.

Would you like to win a fantastic break to the LEGOLAND Resort, Windsor? Enter our simple competition and you could win an amazing two-day family getaway, courtesy of our friends at Play-and-Stay.co.uk, the online family breaks specialists.   Good Luck!

We’re giving away a fabulous family break to the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort for two adults and two children. Once there you will enjoy two amazing days at the popular UK attraction.

Boasting over 55 rides and attractions, LEGOLAND welcomes a range of new and exciting attractions for 2013, including; Brand New Duplo Valley and Drench Towers, UK’s largest outdoor water play structure. The lucky winner will win 2 days entry to the Park, a fantastic overnight stay in an Adventure, Kingdom or Pirate-themed room at the amazing LEGOLAND Resort Hotel, complete with delicious breakfast. Plus you’ll have the opportunity to experience the brand new rides and attractions as well as old favourites like the LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Experience, Laser Raiders and The Dragon.

For a chance to win this fabulous family getaway, enter our competition by answering the question below.

With so much to see and do at LEGOLAND, everyone will have an amazing time at one of the most imaginative places in Britain — so go ahead and enter today — Good luck!

Terms and Conditions

1. Entrants must be 18 or over.
2. Prize is available for two adults and two children sharing a family room at the LEGOLAND Resort Hotel (or one of our nearby hotels) including two day park entry and breakfast.
3. Stay date is subject to availability
4. Maximum prize value is £300.
5. Travel is not included.
6. Prize must be taken before 31st October 2013.
7. No purchase is necessary.
8. Only one entry per person is permitted.
9. To enter the competition, please complete the form above.
10. The winner(s) will be drawn by Party Pieces.
11. The closing time / date is 11.59pm 31/05/2013
12. By entering the competition the winner(s) agree(s) to participate in any promotional activity or material that Party Pieces may require.
13. No part of a prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
14. Prize is not transferable & is subject to availability.
15. If an advertised prize becomes unavailable, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
16. Incorrectly completed entries will be discarded.
17. Entrants must not be employed by Party Pieces or playandstay.
18. Any personal data relating to entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. Data will only be used by Party Pieces and playandstay, and will not be disclosed to a third party without the individual’s prior consent. Please see Party Pieces privacy policy for further details.
19. Party Pieces reserves the right to amend these rules at any time or cancel the competition due to unforeseen circumstances. A notice will be made if this happens.

Star Wars and all characters, names and related indicia are © 2013 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved.
LEGO®, the LEGO logo, the Brick configuration, the Minifigure and LEGOLAND are trademarks of the LEGO® Group © 2013 The LEGO Group.

Rainy days will subside and sunny spells will reign (we hope). Then it’s time to dust off the barbecue and ask friends round for a party in the garden as you never know how long it will last! Beating the rain is all part of the fun at a thoroughly British BBQ…

In the summer months when we all want to be outside, barbecues are a great party choice. Why not give your barbecue a quintessentially British twist, with Union Jack party-ware and a few jolly fete accessories to boot. It’s nearly National Barbecue Week, so here are a few ideas to get you into the mood…

As the weather can be so unpredictable, the key to a successful cook-out is in the planning. Firstly, stock up in advance on all your party catering supplies so you can take advantage of dry days. In addition to themed party-ware, napkins and cups, plastic platters and dishes are great for repeated use and bamboo tableware is an eco-friendly choice as well as hardy enough to hold generous portions.

Make sure you’ve scrubbed your grill and stocked up on gas or charcoal, as well as brushing up on your best barbecue recipes. Marinade your meats in the fridge in advance to and light the coals early so you have a ready cooking surface when you want it. The oven is a great back-up, being useful for starting off the cooking of meats such as chicken, to ensure they are cooked through, as well as keeping cooked foods warm. Have plenty of salads and sides which you can prepare in advance, and keep guests cool with jugs of Pimm’s, cans of soft drink and bottles of beer from a cooler bin. For dessert, a pile of meringues topped with raspberries, strawberries and cream can’t be beaten and is easy to assemble.

If you feel like decorating, outdoor bunting in red, white and blue will give the garden an English-fete feel and won’t spoil if there’s rain. If you’re sure of sunshine or are decorating indoors, use pretty patterned fete flag bunting. The kids will enjoy making these I Love London paper-chains, for a touch of added British-ness. A few helium balloons in corners tied to weights will create an extra special birthday atmosphere, as well as giving the kids something to take home afterwards. Add foil number balloons for age.

It wouldn’t be a fete without a few games, so dot a few outdoor activities around the garden, such as a tin can alley, a fete treasure hunt game and a relay race or two. If you have a gazebo, put it up, just in case! Parasols are useful over tables of food and this candle holder will fit perfectly around the base for when night falls. Provide some emergency ponchos and make sure you clear some space inside the house for everyone to retreat into, if necessary…

Click here to shop for loads more summer party supplies.

Each spring, nature is teeming with activity and nowhere is this more apparent than down on the farm. For a toddler’s birthday party, start the day with a trip to see the animals at a local farm and then treat them to a farmyard themed birthday tea.

Able to recognise cows, sheep, ducks, chickens, pigs and horses – as well as their sounds – from rounds of ‘Old McDonald’, from toys and in picture books from an early age, children love farm animals, making a farmyard birthday party theme ideal for toddlers of both genders. Send out farm-themed invitations featuring friendly animal characters. Its hard to enforce a fancy dress code on such youngsters, but they could all be encouraged to come in their best ‘farm-style’ dungarees.

Decorate with a few Farm Friends balloons tied in corners as well as loose on the floor, which the kids can play with during the party. Give them each a helium balloon to take home, tied around their wrist. Hang a Farm Friends Happy Birthday banner on the wall above the party table, behind the birthday child, a backdrop for great photographs as they (you) blow out the candles on their cake. If they stay on heads for more than three seconds, party hats are an adorable extra.

Whereas you might want to dress up party food to suit the theme with older kids, with toddlers keep the food simple and serve fruit chunks and vegetable sticks, bread spread with jam, honey or Marmite and fruit squash. Toddlers will make a mess at the table, so it’s best to keep decorations to a minimum. Secure the tablecloth with clips and serve the food on eye-catching farm-themed party plates with animal faces on them. The birthday cake could be covered in chocolate or green icing and topped with their favourite farm animals, or try this pig cake kit – easy to assemble and sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.

If your child is much younger and you are catering to a crowd of older relatives rather than trying to engage toddler friends, then this Happy Little Farm range presents a more delicate farmyard look. Good for a girl’s 1^st birthday or a Christening, it could also work well for a Baby Shower, with its pastel hues.

For farmyard party activities, picture books, balloons, a farmyard set and your child’s toys will keep little ones very happy for an hour or so until it’s time to go home. A few dancing sessions to a soundtrack of favourite classic nursery rhymes will be popular too. For their party bag include a soft farm toy, some animal voices and perhaps a tube of bubbles.

For more ideas for farmyard party ideas for toddlers and older children, please check out our Pinterest board.

As the summer stretches out ahead, daydreams turn to events in the fresh air. Festivals are a huge part of the fun, but if you’re not up for risking the weather and pitching your tent, create a festival atmosphere at home – great for a teenager or adult’s birthday party.

Picture yourself standing there, cider in hand, singing along happily to your favourite band. Now imagine it in the comfort of your own garden, with a crowd of your closest friends and a soundtrack tailored especially (best of all, you don’t have to queue for the loo).

Fire up the barbecue and host a pot luck, to which friends can each bring a salad, a side or dessert. Set out your buffet station for everyone to help themselves, lay out some blankets on the grass and eat picnic- style. The We Love Glamping theme, eco-friendly bamboo and enamel partyware are also ideal solutions if you’re planning to on venturing further afield for an outdoor concert this summer. if you’re heading to Proms in the Park, don’t forget your Union Jack partyware.

For a big birthday or a children’s party, go to town with festival details. Designate a stage area and build yourself a bank of speakers from rows of painted cardboard boxes; the perfect place for the karaoke band to rock out with their inflatable guitars and giant microphones. Almost as good as the live music experience but less likely to burst your eardrums! Decorate a big banner with the name of your festival, to hang on the front of the stage. Decorate by stringing lanterns and bunting around the perimeter.

Pack them each a party box full of festival party food, plus a few extra treats, like novelty sunglasses, glow sticks and candy whistles plus a poncho in case of rain. Print out VIP name and photo passes for each of them, loop them with string and hand these out as they arrive, or for a larger crowd, hand out homemade wristbands – one colour for kids and one for adults. If the party music will be loud, best give the neighbours ample warning – better still, ask them along too – and make yours a daytime festival.

Organise some outdoor games and if it’s hot enough, break out the water games. Hang up a guitar pinata. The kids may want to bring tents and pitch them for a sleepover party, in which case, have quieter activities and midnight feasts handy. Falcon enamelware is hardy enough to withstand some ‘festival-style’ wear and tear as well as being perfect for hot chocolate. As night falls, suspend a glitter ball to twinkle as it turns, and have a few outdoor lights, lanterns and sparklers for extra atmosphere.

Instead of going all-out with a vintage look for your wedding reception, a few touches here and there will give it a touch of the antique without looking contrived or messy. Go over the top and any homemade, personal touches get lost, and you want these special extras to be noticed. We suggest adding a few key items as accents to crisper coloured wedding schemes in white or ivory.

Here are a few of our favourite vintage-look accessories from the Party Pieces wedding ranges to get you started.

1. To Have and to Hold Garland
This subtle and delicate lace-look garland makes a refreshing change to bunting and harks back to the idea of ‘something old’.

2. To Have and To Hold Invitation Set
Start as you mean to go on and invite your guests with these pretty, lace-look decorations. These are classicly beautiful and minimal – you can almost imagine Grace Kelly sending hers out!

3. Truly Scrumptious Party Plates
Add a touch of an antique tea set by serving your wedding cake on decorated paper plates, a change from the more formal plain crockery on your tables and much easier to carry around.

4. Honeycomb Hanging Bird Decorations
Pompoms and paper decorations are all the range  and we reckon that a few of these lovebirds strung from trees or the ceiling at the reception add a pretty touch amongst them. They could be hung above the cake table, or from the back of the happy couple’s chairs.

5. Truly Scrumptious Party Napkins
Like the plates, these will add just a touch of pattern to your table spread, when its time for dessert. Alternatively, have them to hand with pre-dinner drinks and canapes.

6. Butterfly Venue Signs
Handy and more eye-catching than a homemade version, you can keep these signs and use again and again for other parties.

7. Vintage Rose Blackboards
Use these handy boards for your table numbers, or perhaps to designate different cocktails or desserts.

8. Butterfly Paper Windmills
As well as being decorative these are fun for the kids to play with. Could be stuck  into flower arrangements or the beds in the garden to spin in the breeze.

9. Vintage Lace Party Wooden Bird Pegs
Use these to affix names to seating plans, to fasten party favour bags or secure place cards to napkins. They’ll double up as favours for kids too.

10. Vintage Lace Party Striped Paper Straws
Add as an exciting extra to pink lemonade and other fizzy drinks in bottles for kids for a retro, funfair touch. Kids love straws in party drinks!

If you’re a Eurovision fan, get behind your favourite nation on Saturday 18th May and gather fellow aficionados for an evening of Euro-Pop madness, with fancy dress, food, dancing and questionable voting tactics. Complete the evening with a karaoke session of your own…

We know that when it comes to enjoying the Eurovision Song Contest each year, we’re not that concerned by the entrant with the best singing voice – it’s more about spectacle and don’t forget a large dose of patriotism!

Make the theme Eurovision Fancy Dress and assign a different country to each partygoer, or ask them to come as their all-time favourite Eurovision act. Make sure you’re asking Eurovision-philes rather than phobes. Lay the table and decorate the house in the colours of the host nation’s flag, in this year’s case blue and yellow for Sweden. Put up a big scoreboard which you can fill in with the competing nations’ official scores, as well as your own. A glitter microphone, some inflatable guitars and some glowing illoom balloons will add an 80′s soft rocker look. a few waving flags and face paints are fun for distinguishing the younger supporters. Get behind our home nations and use Union Jack partyware.

To make things interesting serve a buffet of party snacks native to your homeland or to the hosting country. Swedish party food ideas might include meatballs, gravadlax and crispbreads topped with ham, cheese, smoked fish pate and bowls of pickled vegetables. Seeing as it is a celebration, you could go all out and create a version of the Swedish party food classic: a Smorgastorta –  a savoury cake made from layers of bread that you can fill with ham, prawns, smoked salmon and cream cheese and decorate with hard-boiled egg and lots of salads. To drink, you could make up a punch – we love this Scandinavian Pop from Wayne Collins as well as other Eurovision food ideas on the BBC website.

It wouldn’t be the Song Contest without voting (however dubious the motives), so get everyone to put theirs in and hold a sweepstake for the winning nation, with everyone putting a small prize into the pot. You can follow up the announcement of the real winner with a karaoke session of your own, if you’re all feeling brave… Warn your guests in advance if this is to happen! Hand out a prize to the worthy winner (perhaps they can host next year’s party..?).

We are delighted to have teamed up with our friends at The English Cheesecake Company to offer you a taste of Summer!   The warm weather has been a long time coming so let’s celebrate it with the delicious Raspberry Split Cheesecake – classic vanilla cheesecakes with a mouthwatering fruity split topped with fresh raspberries….yummy! We have 5 up for grabs – simply complete entry form below. 

The English Cheesecake Company have ben trading for over 15 years, founded by Philip and Alan, two dessert-freaks with a passion for all things cake-shaped. Based in London, the company produces 200 different cheesecakes and cakes exploring sweet ingredient combinations to provide sensational, mouth-watering cakes that bring tears of joy to the face of anyone with even half a sweet tooth. The company started out small, pleasing one customer at a time and it has now grown to thrill thousands of sweet-toothed customers year on year with the tastiest cakes made at Cheesecake HQ. www.englishcheesecake.com

To enter complete the form below:

Terms and Conditions

1. To enter the competition you must be a resident in the UK.
2. No purchase is necessary.
3. Only one entry per person is permitted.
4. To enter the competition, please complete the form above.
5. The winners will be drawn by Party Pieces.
6. The closing time & date is 11.59pm 31/05/2013
7. By entering the competition the winners agree to participate in any promotional activity or material that Party Pieces may require.
8. No part of a prize is exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
9. Prize is not transferable & is subject to availability.
10. If an advertised prize becomes unavailable, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
11. Incorrectly completed entries will be discarded.
12. Entrants must not be employed by Party Pieces or English Cheesecake Company.
13. Any personal data relating to entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. Data will only be used by Party Pieces and English Cheesecake Company, and will not be disclosed to a third party without the individual’s prior consent. Please see Party Pieces privacy policy for further details.
14. Party Pieces reserves the right to amend these rules at any time or cancel the competition due to unforeseen circumstances. A notice will be made if this happens.

Sometimes you want to make a gathering with good girlfriends a bit special. An easy afternoon of pampering for all; manicures and pedicures, face masks and a delicious tea makes for a chilled-out bridal shower, a birthday treat or simply a thoughtful way to help a pal de-stress.

A pampering party is a great choice for a small gathering of close friends at the weekend. It should be a few hours which you ask everyone to set aside for catching up and relaxing. The best thing about the planning is that it is easy too – you don’t need to bother about decorations (though you could add a few clear balloons and a banner for a bridal shower or birthday). If you can get hold of them, a basket of of spa slippers awaiting your guests will help them to unwind.

Have a chilled bottle of bubbly at the ready, to pop when guests arrive, as well as hot drinks and an interesting cordial to drink with sparkling water. Designate a few areas around your living room for each treatment; a table for your ‘nail bar’ with a selection of varnish shades, cotton wool and polish remover, bowls of warm water to soften hands and some clean hand towels; a seating area with mat for pedicures; plenty of clean flannels in the bathroom (or gently warm damp ones in the microwave to wipe away face masks). Hydrate everyone with jugs of water infused with ribbons of cucumber, sprigs of mint and lemon rind.

Nobody is going to want to ruin their newly-polished fingernails fumbling with fiddly controls, so make a playlist of fail-safe background tunes in advance. Your favourite box set or a film playing on the telly will also make for a relaxing session, though you might just prefer to catch up with one another. If this is a Bridal or Baby Shower, you might have a few activities – or gifts – up your sleeve.

To keep facemasks from cracking, manicures tidy and the mood relaxed, put out a buffet tea spread of easy-to-manage finger sandwiches (we love cucumber, cream cheese and mint) and small snacks, prunes wrapped in bacon on sticks, madeleines, pastel macaroons, chocolate dipped strawberries and dainty cake pops. Serve these on cake stands, platters and Truly Scrumptious plates on kitsch floral doilies. Offer guests a variety of teas as part of their detox.

Send your buddies off after the party de-stressed and rejuvenated, with a sleepmask, a soap or hand cream as party favours. These cotton towel fairycakes are great! If you prefer, ask them to stay longer and host a film night, with popcorn in cartons and a takeaway. This is a great theme to incorporate into a teenage girl’s birthday slumber party and here are some pamper party supplies and ideas for younger spa-goers (without the champagne, naturally).

For more inspiration, check out our Spa Tea Party board on Pinterest.

If there’s a Star Wars fan in your house then you’ll know that 4th May is Star Wars day; a great excuse for throwing a party for your space-mad loved one, using Star-Wars Clone Wars party ware and intergalactic inspiration. 

Invite friends to ‘Join the Force’ and encourage them to come in fancy dress as their favourite character from the series (with a little imagination a cardboard box would transform a little one into a great R2-D2). We love this Princess Leia outfit!

Decorate the party with a starry night scene setter, illoom balloons and hanging star decorations on the ceiling. If you can make the room dark then create a space atmosphere using glow in the dark star and planet stickers. Create the entrance this other dimension with a sparkly hanging door decoration.

A glow stick lightsaber at every place is a must at a kid’s party table. You could make the table-top itself into the bridge of a space station using kitchen foil and coloured pieces of card for your control panel.

Instead of the risk of experimenting with new party foods that kids may not like, give the food imaginative titles, this will liven up their favourite things; try ‘Ham’ Solo sandwiches, asteroid pizzas and meteor burgers. Party drinks can be renamed too; Skywalker Sparkle, for example.

Here are some party food ideas to fit the Star Wars theme:
Serve raw veggie sticks, or chocolate-dipped breadsticks scattered with popping candy as lightsabers
Create a Dagoba swamp green jelly bowl with a few jelly worms set within
Make a Chewbacca chewy chocolate cereal cake
Recall that famous Princess Leia hair-do with a platter of Chelsea Buns
Place a green apple with Yoda ears in front of each plate
White marshmallows could be Stormtrooper helmets

If the cake is round, decorate it to look like the Death Star or cover with green icing and add ears for Yoda’s head. For a quicker fix, a rocket-shaped cake kit will do the job nicely. Decorate the cake with angel flame candles and sprinkle with popping candy. Add Star-Wars figurines on top.

There are plenty of out-of-this-world party games for the kids which you can tailor to fit the Star Wars party theme. For something different, devise an assault course through the house for everyone to capture the Death Star, with foam rockets and Star Wars character targets (you could print these out beforehand), finish off by destroying a goodie-filled Death Star piñata (paint to disguise a round football one). They can pin the ears on Yoda and navigate an assault course to become a Jedi knight. Have some bubble mats they can bounce on, as if they’re in zero gravity.

Send them all off with Star Wars party bags filled with rocket party balloons, rainbow dust straws, glow sticks, star stickers, stationery and glow in the dark ceiling stickers that they can gaze at in their beds before they drift off and dream of a galaxy far, far away.