Moshi Monsters 5th Birthday Party at Moshi HQ

So. Long time no post, and I'm definitely missing my blog! The run up to May and June are always mega busy for me though, seeing as they are my girls' birthday months. There's parties and presents galore to organise.... and this year we've had a Holy Communion and Ballet Show thrown in the mix right at this time too! Plus of course I am now a working mum again (part-time, ahem) so time is tight all round sadly.

That said, I just wanted to quickly drop by and tell you all about how lucky we were last week. We were super excited to receive an invite to the Moshi Monsters 5th Birthday Party at their snazzy new HQ in London.

OK, so it meant a late afternoon train and tube trip into the big city on a Thursday after school (when Tamsin should really have been rehearsing for the aforementioned ballet show, sorry teachers!), and a late evening to bed, right in the middle of Holy Communion preparations, but we knew we couldn't turn this opportunity down.

So off we toddled with our invite, with plans to meet Daddy in town, and the girls were as good as gold for mummy all the way there.

Moshi HQ was host to a busy, exciting and at the same time very laid back party. Perfect for the children. We started off with amazing face painting, moved on to cupcake eating and milkshake drinking and followed up with playing with some micro Moshis and the new playsets. We grabbed Moshi balloons, hung out in the tree house room with Moshi beanbags to lounge on and had a quick interlude for meeting the larger than life Poppet and Katsuma dancing to the DJ. Tamsin then found the swirly slide (yes, really, in an office!), which goes down a floor to where the giant ball pit is - we almost lost the girls in there! Next we went back for some Moshi tattoos followed by more mini hot dogs which seemed to be constantly circling the room along with some other great snacks, and then we tried out the dark room to show off the UV face paint in its best light (or dark...). In there was an air hockey game, which Sasha would LOVE to have at home, so it would have been rude not to... Next we helped colour in the Moshi wall and signed the outline of a number 5, popped into a Moshi photo booth then watched the artists do quick-fire sketches of all the Moshlings. Finally we gazed at the fabulous 5th Birthday cake and raided the pick and mix sweetie table which had been laid on for all - oh and we picked up a box of popcorn for the trip home!

I'd forgive you for thinking I was crazy, taking our autistic girl along to such an event. I just want to highlight what a huge success this all was for us. On another day, in a different mood, it could have ended so differently. But this time we were lucky, and thrilled!

In a busy, bustling environment which was assaulting all of our senses, Sasha managed to remain calm and enjoy herself. She did ask to leave 3 or 4 times, but unusually we managed to quickly persuade her to stay each time. Her biggest achievement was waiting over 20 minutes towards the end of the party in a non-existent line (i.e. a group where other children constantly tried to push in - boy, did I have to be on my toes there!) for Miss Ballooniverse. Sasha REALLY wanted that balloon. She nearly gave up a couple of times, but amazingly persevered - there's not much that she ever wants that much! Miss Ballooniverse (see her Facebook page here) was indeed very talented, and both girls were delighted with their creations which we managed to get home in one piece without popping, yay!

So a huge thanks to Moshi Monsters and @SeventySeven for the party invite but also for creating a fab brand and products that my girls love.