Anya's Bespoke Tea

It's not every day that Anya Hindmarch asks you to throw a tea party for a few friends in her Pont St. Bespoke store. So who were we to turn down the chance of sipping chocolate milk and gobbling ginger bread men amongst friends. Phin & Mini certainly relished the opportunity to do a spot of socialising whilst also learning and honing their leather embossing skills with the kind help of john.
Mini wore her brand new John Rocha for Debenhams floral prom dress, a birthday gift from Julie, for the event. While Phin rocked his Stella blue shorts and canary yellow baseball t and leather sandals from Mykonos.
But the main reason for our get together was a chance to create our very own personalised leather bookmark for all their daddies. We chose the leather, embossing colour and then Phin, Mini and their friends inscribed their own special message ready to be delivered on father's day.

Check out the Bespoke world at www.anyahindmarch.com for more gift ideas.
Thank you team Anya!


We had a rather lovely treat in store for Phin & Mini and their friends today. Anya Hindmarch asked me to host a tea party for a few friends

Little Boy Blue

How better to celebrate Mini's 2nd birthday party than with a huge mr Iggle Piggle cake. My cakes seem to be getting bigger each year and this one was cobbled together from three different shaped cake tins. A sour cream sponge with lashings of cream cheese frosting this little boy blue went down a storm.

Birthday celebrations

Today we celebrated Mini's 2nd birthday with a party full of swinging from Monkey bars, balancing on beams and jumping through hoops at Minis favourite hang out, Little Gym.
Not exactly the most practical for an afternoon of gymnastics but hey this is the party girl so a perfect summer party dress was a must. Hers came from Stella McCartney from Gap. I picked it up ages ago when Mini must have just been born (I got her a stone version too). I love the handkerchief hem and laurel wreath embroidery, it gives it a vintage Tinkerbell feel and the white flower wreath from JCrew is the icing on the cake.

Princess Mini & her Castle

It was another day of presents with mini getting her Jessie Doll from Papoo and her very own castle turret from Grandma and Papow. Phin and Mini promptly made it their own, chowing down on Fab ice lollies and filling it up with all their Toy Story characters and having a jolly tea party with them.
Earlier in the day Mini wore her indigo floral print sundress from Ralph Lauren which we picked up at Bicester Village and her favourite Rachel Riley silver shoes for lunch in the park with her superhero bro.

Tablecloth Toddler

I love this tablecloth top from Ralph Lauren. I dug it out from last year and I'm thrilled it still fits. White linen with pale blue embroidery, its almost as if two vintage napkins have been sowed together. We paired it with Minis new Gap denim shorts and Phin's old pale blue Bensimon plimsoles a favourite from France which we pick up from sarenza.co.uk and finally her double white bows to highlight her gorgeous curls.

Birthday girl

It's minis 2nd birthday today!!!! Yay. Can't believe she's so grown up.
We started the day on a sugar high with a home baked blueberry sour cream sponge covered in white chocolate buttons and glitter. Followed by presents which Phin took great satisfaction in helping to open.
The Peppa Pig swing and slide set from godmummy Karen was a huge hit while Phin appropriated mr. Potato head for himself.
Mini then got dressed in her new Bonpoint spotted dress from Auntie Peggy. The perfect outfit to meet Bonpoint's creative director Christina Innamorato for breakfast at Soho House. Minis BF Ray came to check out their new beauty products of sumptuous body creams and non fragranced dry body oil. And boy did the girls have fun testing the products!

Day of the Dead

Ok. So it's not actually day of the dead but Mini was given these great clips by my make up artist Hee Soo when we hung out in L.A and they're super kooky and fun.
Some people may frown on adorning their child's hair with skulls and roses but we feel Mini rocks these clips. We toned down the rest of the look with her denim Cos tunic dress and converse sneakers to let her accessories shine.
Meanwhile Phin sported a cool skater boi look with his JCrew striped tshirt with a neon lobster print. We echoed the neon by putting matching laces also from JCrew in his Vieja trainers. Whilst the tomato red elbow patches on his new CdeC hoodie from godmummy Emma gave another splash of colour. Roll on kool kids...

Caramel Carnival

One of our favourite boutiques, Caramel in London's Notting Hill hosted a children's tea party in aid of Natalia Vodnianova's Naked Heart Foundation Charity. Eva Karayiannis the owner and designer behind Caramel designed a beautiful Cashmere crochet dress. Made in Nepal, it takes five days to make with the proceeds from the dress going towards Vodianovova's charity which aims to create playgrounds in the most impoverished areas in Russia.
Mini of course was head-to-toe in Caramel wearing their linen print pants, floral blouse and acqua cardigan topped off with her new Rachel Riley silver shoes that she's utterly obsessed with. Phin was wearing his dark denims from Caramel with his new neon yellow cashmere sweater and blue chambray shirt both by JCrew. Both looked scrumptious and both had an amazing time.

Caramel Carnival part II

Eva Karayiannis surpassed herself with the decor at her party. She flew the caterer in from Florence who made the sweetest moustache shaped cookies and individually decorated spoons for each child to take home. Green tea and fruit juice was served in enamel mugs while the kids were entertained with a guitarist and sticking leaves and multicoloured animals onto a wall mural. Needless to say my kids had a ball.

Birthday Bonanza

Mini is reaping the rewards of Phins birthday as she gets to cash in on playtime with his gifts. Woody rides in the shopping cart while buzz whizzes round the kitchen in minis kitty buggy.
Today was a day for vegging at home, mini finally fits her Stella for Gap flares that i bought her so many years ago. They remind me of my original 70's flares and matching denim jacket I wore at her age. Phin meanwhile is showcasing his new J Crew grey worn sweatshirt which comes complete with ready made holes and paint stains. That's designer fashion for you.

Party at Duxford

Ava and Annabel celebrated their birthdays in the glorious Oxfordshire sunshine. Phin kept in character all day, even on the bouncy castle and bucking bronco whilst mini was Ava's shadow in her classic smocked party dress and lalaloopsy doll.

Accessorise to the max

We all know mini has a bit of a bow habit. Or rather it may be me with the accessory addiction. She's garnered quite a few bows in her few years. Some bought by me from my favourite bow haunts Marie-Chantal and ilovegorgeous as well as inheriting quite a few from her older cousins. And now mini's hair is longer we've taken to H&M's extra small elastics in neon brights for her pigtails as they don't snag her fine hair. The one thing that's tricky is how to display them, the smaller ones work well pinned around a postcard but for the larger ones I decided to put my old Netaporter ribbon to good use. Tying a loop at one end to hang around a notch we just clip each bow down the ribbon. The thick grosgrain fabric is perfect for keeping them all in place. And now we're assured of picking the perfect bow each day.

Bonpoint Belle

It may not be Minis birthday quite yet but she's already getting spoilt. Auntie Peggy has chosen the prettiest outfits for the occasion of her 2nd birthday. A tomato red polka sundress and matching bikini, a mushroom broderie anglaise skater skirt and matching linen tank and then some gorgeous liberty print and glitter hair clips and all from Bonpoint. Heaven.
It's just such a shame the rain refuses to let up but that didn't stop mini wearing her new duds with the help of a poloneck and tights. Now let's hope the weather gets better asap.

Yoda strikes Back

Another day, another gift, another costume and thanks to Grace & Alice Phin is now proudly able to morph into one of his heroes.
I was greeted this bank holiday morn with the wise master himself and off we went to celebrate cousin Oscar's 5th birthday with the fantastic Sharky & George. His appearance as the Jedi master was a tad shocking for some little ones as was cousin Ed whose spandex power ranger costume caused Mini to scream in alarm.
To the rescue came big cousin Rebecca who looked after Mini in her Gap silver polka dot dress to perfection. And finally laden with bulging party bags (Sara you out did yourself) and swords we headed home totally pooped.