Real villas, real parties
Every photo here is a party we actually ran.
The quiet fear is that these are the best days we ever had, and yours will look nothing like them. So: your decor arrives exactly like the photograph. In writing, before you pay.
The quiet fear is that these are the best days we ever had, and yours will look nothing like them. So: your decor arrives exactly like the photograph. In writing, before you pay.
PiratesLeonid wanted pirates, and his parents wanted a garden that did not look like a children's party — so the captain and his first mate arrived into sage, terracotta and cream, with a white bounce castle and a clear dome packed full of balloons. There was a bubble show, and an ice-cream cart that never closed. By the end the fathers were dancing on the deck, and the birthday boy had not sat down once.
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UnicornAlisa asked for a unicorn, so a unicorn arrived and stayed — running the games, the photographs and the cake, which came out in rainbow with her name across it. Lilac and pastel ran the length of the lawn, and the cotton-candy stand had its own chef. Then the foam show took the garden, and her father came out of it wearing most of it.
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SafariEfim's family wanted safari done properly, so nothing was printed. Six animals were cut and painted by hand — elephant, giraffe, toucan, crocodile, parrot — and set against a grass wall carrying his name in gold, with a bounce castle, jungle games across the garden and balloon twisting for every guest. He turned four and did not sit down once, and his parents carried nothing all day but the cake.
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SpaceAt three, Leon wanted two things from space: a real astronaut, and a rocket big enough to get into. So the astronaut came in silver sequins, and the rocket went up indoors out of the sun, tall enough for him to stand inside — with a chrome-and-blue set outside carrying his name in metal letters. They flew it, opened presents in a heap, then took a whole tray of foam apart on the lawn above the rice terraces.
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MermaidEmily wanted the sea, at a garden restaurant with no sea in it — so we built one: a full underwater wall in pink, lilac and mint with her name across it, a giant shell to sit in, and string lights overhead for when the light dropped. A mermaid in a teal sequin tail stayed the whole party, and the four-year-olds queued for the bubble ring without being asked. Her family sat down and ate properly, which at a fourth birthday almost never happens.
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DinosaursAlvi's parents set a jungle dress code and their friends actually followed it — so the table went low beside the pool on woven mats, live ferns down the centre, terracotta linen, small dinosaurs walking between the plates. Then a T-Rex came round the corner of the house and made straight for the adults. They lined up for it holding eggs, and they are still sending each other the photographs.
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SafariAndrii's family were hosting other families, so we built two things in one room. For the children, a jungle: a life-size giraffe at the glass, a dessert table on crates, animal cake pops, a chocolate fountain. Ten steps away, a long table for the adults with candles and tropical flowers, and soft toys left along the sofa for the smallest guests. It rained that afternoon, and nothing had to move.
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FrozenLuna wanted Frozen in Ubud, which is a contradiction in terms: the whole appeal of the theme is cold, and it was thirty degrees before anybody arrived. So we built an ice corner against the restaurant's own timber — Anna, Olaf, snowflakes, powder blue and lilac — gave every guest a tiara, and brought a snow cannon. Elsa stayed the whole afternoon, children ran barefoot through real drifts of snow, and Luna kept her tiara on until dark.
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SpidermanAt three, Maxim did not want a show about Spiderman. He wanted to meet him. So we kept the decor light and put the work into the garden — a giant web strung between the trees, a flag course across the lawn, and a basket of capes and felt masks by the door so that every child arrived as a hero. Spiderman came and never left, lifting them through the web one at a time, for two straight hours.
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MinecraftAt six, Leonard knows exactly what a creeper is meant to look like and will tell you if you get it wrong — so nothing was printed. The whole world was cut and painted: Steve, Alex, a wolf, a pig, diamond swords, his name across the top in orange blocks. Then it ran the way Minecraft actually runs — towers to demolish, a water-balloon battle, a cake of grass, creeper and TNT. At sunset the foam cannon started and the parents went in with the children.
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MinecraftDanya's family had booked a beach club for the view and did not want it covered up — so the pixel-green arch went exactly where the surf breaks behind it, a creeper on one side and Steve on the other. One host ran the whole lawn: block games, races, a plank contest the older boys took very seriously, and a chase the four-year-olds could win. Seven-year-olds and toddlers ended up in the same game, and the parents watched from the shade.
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RobloxThis family were hosting adults as well as children, and did not want the usual compromise where the grown-ups stand at the edge holding paper cups. So we built two tables in one palette: the children low on floor cushions along the pool, the adults under the pavilion with candles and fresh flowers. A chocolate fountain, a cotton-candy machine, a bar making juice to order. Two proper parties, ten metres apart, on one bill.
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WednesdayAt eight, Violetta did not want the theme softened into a pastel version of itself — so it was not. A haunted house, bats, Thing and the school crest, all cut by hand, in lilac, purple, black and chrome. Capes and wands for the guests, and proper Addams eyes painted on instead of butterflies. Then a dance learned line by line and a limbo run barefoot in full costume. She would not let hers be washed off at bedtime.
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SpyNine is the hardest age we work with: too old to find a costume convincing, too young to be left alone. So instead of more decor we gave them work — a fedora and a spy ID each, and a food table dressed as the crime scene itself, with hazard tape, a steel briefcase and an evidence file at every place. They lifted fingerprints, photographed the markers, then took torches out onto the lawn in camouflage warpaint. Nobody asked for a phone.
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BuildersKai's whole world at three was diggers, and the guest list was mostly toddlers — so everything had to be safe to climb on and interesting from knee height. An excavator, road signs and a giant traffic cone, cut and painted by hand, on an open Bukit lawn with nothing behind it but sky. A host sat down on the grass for ring toss; a giant white bear came out and was hugged rather than feared. At sunset the whole family blew the candles out together.
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CarsDaniil turned two with guests of every age in the house and a sun nobody could sit under — so the whole pit stop went up indoors, on the tiles, where everyone could sit down. A racing car built out into the room at floor height, chequered flags, a standing 2 packed with balloons. Two entertainers pitched the hour at the smallest guest: a parachute, remote-control cars with the fathers flat on the floor, and a piñata taller than the birthday boy.
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CarsMatvey was two; his guests ranged up to about nine, which is the real problem with a second birthday. So the set stayed soft — powder blue and caramel, two aeroplanes painted by hand, his name in gold script — and the entertainment went out onto the forecourt: a white Vespa, a red Jeep and two bikes, with a race number on a lanyard for every guest. The older boys rode until dark, and the set is gentle enough to hang in a hallway afterwards.
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FootballVladimir's parents had already bought the team shirts for the whole family, so we did not invent a theme — we built the stadium around the one they had. A navy and red wall with a giant foil football balanced on top, at a Bukit venue with a full pitch, a playground and a pool. The boys took the goals and did not really leave; between rounds came relays, water pistols, and a leaf blower turned on anyone who came close, adults included.
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HalloweenA room of families, children from three to nine, and parents staying for the whole evening — which is a harder brief than any single birthday. So it was Day of the Dead rather than plastic pumpkins: a hand-painted sugar skull the height of a child, cobwebs across the ceiling, white, lilac and deep purple. A host in a skeleton suit ran it, with a make-up station the mothers queued for and gingerbread for the ones who wanted to sit down. It ended with everybody flat on the floor.
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LadybugAt five, with that particular show, one character is only half the story — so Ladybug and Cat Noir arrived together and worked the crowd off each other. Her own comic panel in red, black and white, a wall of gold sequins the children could not stop running their hands down, and a red carpet laid straight onto the grass in Ubud. Every girl got a mask painted across her eyes, and when the light went the gold wall began to glow.
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L.O.L.At seven, Miroslava knows precisely which of the characters is hers and would have noticed a wrong one — so the four dolls were cut and sculpted by hand, hair and bows and glasses worked in relief, standing on the grass at her height rather than printed behind her. Long tables in white linen and hot pink with fresh gerberas, bunting between the palms, a three-tier turquoise cake, and the sea at the end of the lawn.
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1st birthdayMark will not remember any of it — which is exactly why a first birthday is not really a children's party. It is one afternoon of pictures, and a lunch his parents get to sit down for. So we kept it light: clouds of white balloons under a bright, plant-filled ceiling, Mickey Mouse in through the front door, a chocolate fountain for the older cousins. It closed with a giant bubble drawn over his mother while she held him, and that photograph is on a wall now.
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1st birthdayAngelica's family are Ukrainian and a very long way from home, and what they wanted was a wall worth photographing their daughter against. So it went up in blush under old frangipani trees in Sanur — oversized paper peonies and hibiscus, cut butterflies rising across it, eleven shades of pink in the garland, and her name in gold script in her own alphabet. A long pink table with candles for the adults, and a bubble show through the trees for the children.
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SafariFirst-birthday photographs get looked at for a decade, so the palette matters more than the theme. Owen's went up in sand, cream and sky blue instead of jungle green — a zebra, a giraffe and a gazelle cut by hand, standing in dried pampas and palm fans. A small ball pit went down on the grass, a giant character came to his height slowly, and the bubble show ran on into the dark under string lights while the adults stayed all evening.
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1st birthdayKai was one; his parents' friends brought children of four and five. So the day had two jobs — one beautiful photograph of the three of them, and something to hold the older ones long enough for the adults to talk. A cream arch with his name in gold and a giraffe painted looking in over it, kept entirely to blush, mocha and taupe. Then a magician in a mustard three-piece did a full close-up act, and every child in the villa sat still.
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1st birthdayHalf the guests were going to be swimming and the other half holding drinks, so the set had to work as the backdrop to a pool party rather than a stage nobody goes near. A sky-blue arch with clouds sculpted in relief, a turquoise aeroplane, his name in silver. Family photographs first while he was fresh — then we filled the pool with oversized white balloons, and that one decision changed every picture taken all afternoon.
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1st birthdayAlvi's parents wanted Totoro, which only works if the textures are right — a printed backdrop would have looked like a printed backdrop. So the wall was built in dark moss with everything standing off it in relief: soot sprites, giant red toadstools, Totoro under his umbrella, his name on a carved wooden sign, and a whole tree made out of balloons. Then a giant green bear walked onto the lawn, and Alvi went straight up and put his hand on it.
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UnicornThis was a swimwear party — children in and out of the pool all afternoon — so nothing could depend on them being dry, dressed or indoors. A pastel unicorn set in lemon, mint, blush and grape, with a white bounce castle beside it so the lawn stayed in one palette. A unicorn in rainbow tulle pulled them off the castle, and the bubble show closed one bubble at a time over soaking children, finishing in a sheet of flame across the tray.
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MermaidTwo-year-olds and the Bali afternoon do not mix, so Katya's sea went up indoors on a marble floor: a sleeping octopus, a jellyfish and a turtle painted in powder pink and lilac, with corals cut in white and mint standing free, and her name and age across the middle in her family's own language. Sequin-draped plinths for the photographs, face painting for the older cousins, and a show they watched with popcorn in both hands.
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SafariFelix's family were bringing grandparents and a photographer, so the set had to carry a proper family portrait rather than just entertain for an hour. A living green wall with his name in gold, and a tiger, a zebra and a giraffe painted at full size standing out on the grass in front of it. Barrels to sit on, cup towers to kick down, running games. When the bean bags came out they lay down in front of the tiger and the bubbles drifted over them.
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SafariTwo children turning five, one party, and adults who were staying for a real dinner rather than standing about with paper cups. So the jungle went across the full width of a beachfront lawn — five animals at life size, both names on the set, and a rescue shelf where every guest chose an animal to take home and name. On the other side, the grown-ups were served at a low table dressed with jungle florals as the reef broke behind them.
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SpaceIvan turned four with guests from two to nine and their parents standing around the edge — so the programme was built to break that edge down. Saturn over the arch, a rocket on the grass, and a green three-eyed alien that every small child went to first, with rice fields behind all of it. A host in a silver sequinned spacesuit ran a limbo bar hung with hand-painted meteorites, then a tunnel game the mothers and fathers were made to run through.
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SpidermanFive is the last birthday at which the character can be entirely true, so everything was built to protect that. A comic-book city in red, black and yellow with his name across the top, a mask painted on every guest before he arrived, and a venue with a knotted rope web strung through the playground. Spiderman worked the lawn — then took a run at the web and went straight up it. Six boys stood underneath with their mouths open.
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FrozenIvy was three, with a newborn brother in the family, so the day had to be short, calm and mostly photographable. An ice palace in white and the palest blue with her name in dotted lilac, snowflakes cut in relief, bare trees and a little picket fence. Elsa, Anna and Olaf were built solid at her exact height, so she could be photographed as one of them rather than in front of them. She wore her own Elsa dress and took nothing off.
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ChallengesAt eight they stop wanting to be told a story and start wanting to win something in front of their friends — so this party had no theme, only a format. The game props were built by hand so that nobody had seen them before, and run in rounds with a standing that changed every time, because as soon as one child is clearly winning the rest stop trying. Then the sound system came up under the bamboo roof and the whole group learned a routine together.
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NeonAt nine there is no character left to hire and no theme they will admit to liking. What still works, completely, is being shown something they cannot explain. So: warpaint they chose themselves, then a science show on the lawn with fog rolling knee-high and a frozen rose shattered in mid-air while Mark stood there holding a burger. After dinner, a performer drawing shapes in the dark with light. Nine-year-olds do not applaud, but nobody spoke.
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Foam partyThese were parents who had already done the decor-and-cake version twice, and wanted something their children would remember physically. So the balloon work stayed deliberately soft — peach, nude, stone and cream with dried palm through it — and the foam did the rest, reading white and gold in low afternoon light. The children were in it before it landed. Then the adults stopped filming and got in wearing exactly what they had on.
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Foam partyFor the age where the word party has to mean something closer to a club, this format is built entirely out of light. The cannon went into the middle of a dark lawn at an Ubud hotel, with the whole area lit magenta, ultraviolet and cold blue so that every piece of foam catches colour on the way down. No arch, no name board, no theme. It ran until they were exhausted, and they posted the whole thing themselves.
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Bubble showTwo two-year-olds is not the same brief as one: anything they can hold has to exist in duplicate, and any activity only one can do at a time ends in tears. So the bubble table went in low at toddler height, with a wand each and no waiting, under a pastel cluster in mint, blush and cream with a gold 2 standing in it. Then giant bubbles across the grass, and both girls lifted up to reach the same one.
See the whole party ›Real reviews from English-speaking parents, published with their permission.
“In the photos and videos you sent during planning, everything looked really cool and fun, but in reality, it was just spectacular.Maiia said it was the best party of her life. She asked if we could do it ‘at least once a month’. All the kids, and there were over twenty of them, joined in every single activity.”
What is on the quote is what turns up. If a booked item is missing, we refund the price of that item.