It sounds like it'll be a fabulous party. Though, don't be surprised if some of the kids are more interested in anything other than what you've planned! ;) Thus far I've been lucky enough to find goody bags that aren't "marketized" but it seems like it's harder to find that stuff and you never can at Toys R Us. I think the stuff without characters tends to be more expensive, too. Go figure.
Anyway, great idea about slowly dolling out the gifts and, yes, here it is Lightning McQueen.
xo
ps Happy Birthday to your not-so-little-anymore man and Happy Birth Day to you.
hi there! i owe you email -- a thank you for your thoughtful ideas/notes about my piece. i'll get there. je te promets (i promise you).
thank you for your heads up about the kids ... good grief, our house is so tiny that there's just not space to do anything other than ... well ... in this case it'll be all about the trains. fingers crossed it holds 'em for at least a little while. i have no idea where we'll eat sandwiches and cake. i suppose we'll just have to sit inside the track! maybe it'll be a nice day and we'll be able to crowd into our little garden (they call it a jardinet. isn't that a sweet little word? the reality is a miniscule little garden space -- barely enough to qualify, but it counts! and it really does, you know, because private outdoor space is hard to come by here.). well, one way or another, it'll all come off. and i imagine the mouton will have a fab time no matter what. it'll have to be better than last year -- last year his birthday happened the day after mr brico was told that he was being let go. i was a
( ... )
it's really a travesty, isn't it? essentially every reasonable sized city has a grande surface with megaplexes like ikea (tho' honestly not all the cities have ikeas), more distinctly french things like leroy merlin (and that's pronounced the french way! like le-roi mer-lin. y'know?), darty (french home appliances store), and, frequently, toys 'r' us.
i spent about the first year here in bordeaux in blissful ignorance. and then, when we moved into this teensy maison and had to furnish it, we made our way to ikea and voilà! toys'r'us! in all honesty, i try to avoid it at all costs. but there's a funny thing about french toy stores. in downtown bordeaux there are a variety of toy stores. there are a few deluxe old-fashioned type toy stores which carry lovely and irresistible wooden toys. these places are expensive, often terribly twee, and typically carry toys that look much better than they actually play, if that makes sense (tho' they do tend to have good puzzles at the particular one i'm thinking of). then there are a few places
( ... )
Azur and Asmar
anonymous
November 30 2006, 19:04:37 UTC
Thank you very much for your nice comments about Azur and Asmar. I guess you saw it at the London children's festival. I was very happy to present the film in this place for its first show in England. The attention was cheerful and convenial. This festival is great! There will be an english version of A&A! Michel Ocelot, the director is now in New-York to present it on a festival, in its french version.
Happy birthday and best regards!
Anne-Lise Lourdelet-Koehler (Background director of A&A) alk_aa@voila.fr
Re: Azur and AsmarremfranceDecember 1 2006, 08:54:48 UTC
hi there,
in fact, i live in bordeaux (france) so i saw Azur et Asmar there. but i'm delighted to hear that an english version will be available so my friends back in the states can enjoy it! as is always the case with films, i'm really pleased that i know french so as to see the movie in its original language. it was really a startling experience, that movie. neither i nor my husband knew anything about the film (and we haven't seen Kirikou, so we didn't know anything about the director either) and we weren't even planning on seeing a movie. but one sunday a couple of weeks ago the weather was so dreadful that there seemed no point in trying to do anything else. we chose Azur et Asmar on a whim. and all three of us (myself, my husband, and my little boy) were transfixed!
Lightning McQueen! I am having a hard time imagining a French Toys R Us, I confess. But, yes, it's hard to get away from the super-branded birthday stuff (I generally order mine online, but even then...) Do you want a US dvd version of Cars? I'll send you one.
Your party prep sounds just fine! In my experience, it's mostly about the cake + running around on a sugar high, so between the baking & moving the furniture, you've got everything covered. I am impressed with the ambitiousness of the color-coded trains! My only suggestion would be that maybe you could construct some of the giant track before the party to give them a concrete idea of what the activity is, & then sort of play it by ear re: kids wanting to get in on the building, because that's going to be a lot of track pieces + a lot of kids to manage all at once mid-party. (I say this as someone who fails dismally at track building except for slightly wiggly circles; big fish can get really into it if he's in the right mood; miss fish just waits for the track to be
( ... )
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Anyway, great idea about slowly dolling out the gifts and, yes, here it is Lightning McQueen.
xo
ps Happy Birthday to your not-so-little-anymore man and Happy Birth Day to you.
Reply
thank you for your heads up about the kids ... good grief, our house is so tiny that there's just not space to do anything other than ... well ... in this case it'll be all about the trains. fingers crossed it holds 'em for at least a little while. i have no idea where we'll eat sandwiches and cake. i suppose we'll just have to sit inside the track! maybe it'll be a nice day and we'll be able to crowd into our little garden (they call it a jardinet. isn't that a sweet little word? the reality is a miniscule little garden space -- barely enough to qualify, but it counts! and it really does, you know, because private outdoor space is hard to come by here.). well, one way or another, it'll all come off. and i imagine the mouton will have a fab time no matter what. it'll have to be better than last year -- last year his birthday happened the day after mr brico was told that he was being let go. i was a ( ... )
Reply
Reply
i spent about the first year here in bordeaux in blissful ignorance. and then, when we moved into this teensy maison and had to furnish it, we made our way to ikea and voilà! toys'r'us! in all honesty, i try to avoid it at all costs. but there's a funny thing about french toy stores. in downtown bordeaux there are a variety of toy stores. there are a few deluxe old-fashioned type toy stores which carry lovely and irresistible wooden toys. these places are expensive, often terribly twee, and typically carry toys that look much better than they actually play, if that makes sense (tho' they do tend to have good puzzles at the particular one i'm thinking of). then there are a few places ( ... )
Reply
I guess you saw it at the London children's festival. I was very happy to present the film in this place for its first show in England. The attention was cheerful and convenial. This festival is great!
There will be an english version of A&A! Michel Ocelot, the director is now in New-York to present it on a festival, in its french version.
Happy birthday and best regards!
Anne-Lise Lourdelet-Koehler (Background director of A&A) alk_aa@voila.fr
Reply
in fact, i live in bordeaux (france) so i saw Azur et Asmar there. but i'm delighted to hear that an english version will be available so my friends back in the states can enjoy it! as is always the case with films, i'm really pleased that i know french so as to see the movie in its original language. it was really a startling experience, that movie. neither i nor my husband knew anything about the film (and we haven't seen Kirikou, so we didn't know anything about the director either) and we weren't even planning on seeing a movie. but one sunday a couple of weeks ago the weather was so dreadful that there seemed no point in trying to do anything else. we chose Azur et Asmar on a whim. and all three of us (myself, my husband, and my little boy) were transfixed!
Reply
Your party prep sounds just fine! In my experience, it's mostly about the cake + running around on a sugar high, so between the baking & moving the furniture, you've got everything covered. I am impressed with the ambitiousness of the color-coded trains! My only suggestion would be that maybe you could construct some of the giant track before the party to give them a concrete idea of what the activity is, & then sort of play it by ear re: kids wanting to get in on the building, because that's going to be a lot of track pieces + a lot of kids to manage all at once mid-party. (I say this as someone who fails dismally at track building except for slightly wiggly circles; big fish can get really into it if he's in the right mood; miss fish just waits for the track to be ( ... )
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