For the third year in a row I have held a Make & Bake Day. The first year we had to scale down completely due to Number Two coming down with mysterious pains and having to stay in hospital for observation. The second year we had a few people cry off ill, but we had good fun with the ones who made it.

This year, however, was a resounding success. With five mamas and twelve children ranging from 5 months to 8 years old, it was going to be a bit of a challenge. But it went off brilliantly.

I have to praise my mummy buddies here. They are a great bunch. Up for everything and more than happy to chip in, bring cake, make themselves at home and make sure everyone is having fun.

Up for everything and more than happy to chip in, bring cake, make themselves at home and make sure everyone is having fun.

Because space was limited, the”bake” part of Make & Bake was reduced to cake decorating, but children love icing and sprinkles, so that was great. I started to bake some Easter Bunnies and Easter Nests early in the day in some moulds I have. Since it was taking forever, I baked the remainder of the mixture as in a swiss roll tin and cut the bunnies out by hand.

Equipped with a small sieve, coloured sprinkles, icing sugar, foil-wrapped eggs and mini chocolate bunnies, the girls put a lot of attention and effort into thier bunny cakes.

For crafts we decided to stick to dyeing hard boiled eggs and doing various paper crafts. There we let the children take the lead and that was the key to our success, I think. We had more than enough paper, card, scissors and glue for the children to cut, stick and create to their hearts’ content.  We had at least three dozen eggs and seven pots of dye.

There was coffee, tea, two types of cake, homemade cookies as well as homemade mini pizzas, water and juice all set up in one help-yourself corner of the kitchen.  Everyone treated the kitchen as if it was there own, which was brilliant. The children did their thing while the mamas kept an eye on everything, chatted and enjoyed a cuppa and some cake.

The bigger boys held off for most of the afternoon, preferring to stick to Lego and, later, playing in the garden. They popped into the kitchen now and again for provisions. But the craft bug kicked in in the end, once some of the (many, many) girls cleared out of the kitchen.

Seven thirty pm rolled around far too soon and it was time to pack the smallies up for home and bed. Laden down with coloured eggs, sweet bunnies, mini egg nests and all manner of paper rabbits, nine of the twelve children left for home.

My own three snuggled up  on the sofa in their Pjs with the last few mini pizzas while I put a bit of order back on the kitchen. Bedtime was easy. Heads hit pillows and, soon after, peace descended on the house. The kinds of peace that is best appreciated after a day of noisy, colourful, craft fun.