We, or at least the kids and I, have just had our first proper English street part experience to celebrate the Jubilee.
It was pretty immense. Mostly helped by the kids deciding they were all in.
To really build the excitement, the first activity was a sewing bee to make bunting about six weeks ago. It was a great way to meet the neighbours, although technical difficulties meant I didn’t help much with the actual sewing… I left that to the pros.
At that point, my daughter’s planning for her cake extravaganza commenced. This also correlated with a lot of “Is it Cake?” watching on Netflix. To help with inspiration of course…
My son decided the day before that he’d also enter the baking competition. Said daughter was less excited with this news as she clearly didn’t like the prospect of him potentially beating her.
Much like a tv episode, there was definitely some drama – the icing didn’t line up with the creative vision, cream wouldn’t whip, multiple trips to the supermarket as there hadn’t been proper planning, but both cakes made it to the judging table (just).
My daughter was quietly delighted when she got second and her brother a ‘highly commended’.
They didn’t have time to dwell as there was also the egg and spoon race, skipping races, tug of war, dancing, and kart driving. Along with heaving tables of food.
All accounts suggest they now know all the neighbours!
Tough Mother 