How on earth do you celebrate a man who’s now turning 60 and is likely to always be the boy that will never grow up? Well if you’re anything like my family we have an affinity for certain stories, Peter Pan being one of them. It’s a story which fits rather perfectly when it comes to my Dad, Paul. We turned him into Paul Pan for the day and we all embraced our inner child. Fancy dress was of course involved we are not a family that does things by halves. My Dad was Paul Pan and my mum was his Wendy Bird. My sister (Toni) who’d came up with the idea for the celebratory day was Tinker Bell, her two boys James & George were the lost boys. My sister Saphia was a mermaid and the guys Simon, Mike & Ollie were all pirates. I was Tiger-Lily complete with feathers in my hair and a tasseled waistcoat.
We were away for a long weekend to celebrate my sister and Dad’s birthdays in Thorpeness, one of our family’s favourite coastal locations. It has a boating lake which was inspired by the story of Peter Pan written by JM Barrie. Barrie was a family friend of the landowners Ogilvie. Alongside the large main pond there are several channels with landings marked with locations you’d find in the novel; Wendy’s House & Pirates’ lair. Coincidentally this all linked very well to our celebratory day for Dad’s 60th. It started with a treasure hunt to the house in the clouds and then a row boat trip to one of the islands to retrieve clues followed by cannonball water balloons and walk the plank. We rounded off the day with a head to head battle of tug of war on the beach front, to claim the buried treasure; a bottle of champagne which we drank gleefully while watching the sea and the boys trying to search for more buried treasure.
Incredible memories were created and will be remembered for years and years to come. It was such a wonderful day and I hope you enjoyed this insight into our celebratory weekend!
