We’ve been to a lot of Christmas parties organised by the various charities that have helped us along our journey as a heart family but the one we were invited to last year topped them all – the annual children’s Christmas party at 10 Downing Street. We were invited through Jessica’s community nurse who worked for the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, a charity which helps support children with life-limiting conditions.
With Jessica being a little over two years old and Sophie just six weeks, it was really just Mummy and Daddy who were excited about the prospect of a Christmas party at 10 Downing Street but we hoped to be able to take plenty of photos for them to see later on. Jessica was full of smiles on the journey on the tube whilst Sophie mostly slept all the way there. It was so exciting to be admitted into Downing Street and go through that famous door (naturally we had to pose for a few photos standing outside!). Dick and Dom were just behind us as we came in and were happy to pose for a photo with us once we got upstairs.
Up the famous staircase with the photos of past Prime Ministers and into the Pillared Room which along with the Small Dining Room and State Dining Room was decorated for the Christmas party with lots of balloons and polystyrene snowmen. Jessica promptly made a beeline for one of the snowmen and made off with his hat! There were various people dressed in costumes, a children’s disco in the Pillared Room and craft activities for the children in the State Dining Room. Once we had returned Mr Snowman’s hat, Jessica enjoyed running around with the balloons and was having a wonderful time.
Midway through the party, the Prime Minister came in to say hello to the families and children. One of the older children, Olivia, had taken quite a shine to baby Sophie and wanted to follow us everywhere. Her mum wanted to try and get a photo of Olivia with the Prime Minister and it seemed the only way to manage this was for me to follow David Cameron around the room with Olivia following behind us. I am sure the Prime Minister must have thought I was a very strange woman trying to stalk him because he turned around a couple of times and looked right at me with a somewhat perplexed expression but thankfully we managed to get the photo for Olivia’s mum without being asked to leave!
The highlight of the party for me was shortly afterwards when the stars and pros from Strictly Come Dancing came in to meet the children. Hubby and I met each other through the university ballroom dancing society and are huge fans of Strictly. The celebs and pro dancers were all very friendly and baby Sophie got a lot of attention from the female celebs and dancers, getting to have cuddles with Abbey Clancey and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. We had quite a chat with Brendan Cole who was very friendly and the stars were all quite happy to pose for photos too. Later that week, we were very excited when Sophie Ellis-Bextor mentioned on the Saturday night show that she and Brendan had been to the Downing Street Christmas party and had had cuddles with a six week-old baby called Sophie – and then there was a video clip of Sophie Ellis-Bextor at the Christmas party cuddling my little Sophie. Six weeks old and making her debut on national TV!
After meeting the Strictly stars, it was time to go and see Father Christmas who had a Christmas present each for the girls – a lovely stuffed unicorn for Sophie and some books for Jessica.
It was such an amazing experience to have been able to attend the Downing Street Christmas party and one that we will remember forever. It is such a shame that the children were too young to be able to remember it but we will tell them all about it when they are older (and we have the video clip recorded to show Sophie too!)
It looks like a fabulous party and even thought they were too young to appreciate this amazing experience it looks like you have some great photos to share with them
Lovely story and a great way to endorse all your charitable efforts
Popping over from #SundayPhoto
Thanks Tracey – it was such an amazing experience and lovely to revisit those memories again x
Wow, what an amazing experience, and you have wonderful photos to remember the day by. Loved this post 🙂
Thanks Sara, it was an amazing experience, felt very lucky to have had that opportunity 🙂
Wow what a fantastic thing to have done! You will be able to tell the children all about it when they grow up. Lovely pictures
Thank you – it was a fabulous experience 🙂
What a fabulous memory you have, it’s a shame that the girls were just too young to remember it but it looks like you’ve got lots of photos taken to remember your visit and help them remember it too! I bet you were gobsmacked when you saw Sophie Ellis-Bexter holding your Sophie on national TV! Popping by from Magic Moments.
It was an amazing moment – we’re big fans of Strictly anyway so it was lovely to see our little one there on screen! 🙂
What a fantastic experience and lots of lovely photographs to remember it by too
Thank you – yes was fabulous and so glad we have the photos to show the girls later on 🙂
The snowmen are so cute! I probably will play with that hat too if I was there haha! and forget to return it to the snowman.. he’s cute anyway. :>
Great post! ♥
Thank you – Jessica loved the snowman’s hat – she did also steal the orange that was the snowman’s nose at one point as well! 🙂
Oh wow, check you guys out at your all-star studded party! Looks like you had a great time! x
It was an amazing experience, we really enjoyed it 🙂
Oh wow! How amazing! What a great party! So good that you managed to get so many photos to be able to show your girls….
It was an amazing experience – so glad we’ve got lots of photos to show the girls too 🙂
Wow what an amazing experience! Lively and how cool that Sophie was on tv at 6 weeks old! Lovely post and great shots 🙂 xx #magicmoments
Thank you – it was awesome and so lovely to see Sophie on TV too! 🙂
Wow what a fabulous experience. It looks like you all had great fun #OrdinaryMoments x
Thank you – yes, we had an amazing time 🙂
Oh wow what a fantastic party and such fab photos with all the celebs x
Thank you – it was a wonderful party and we had an amazing time 🙂
Such a wonderful story! All the faces say it all!
Thank you – it was a wonderful experience and we had a fab time 🙂
Hahaha I love Jessica’s red cheeks!
Lol, thank you – she does have lovely rosy cheeks 🙂
I’m not Mr Cameron’s biggest fan *coughs* but what a great post!
I’d have been tempted to draw a moustache on Maggie Thatcher’s picture as I went up the stairs lol
A fabulous experience – one to remember! X
I’m not either and my view hasn’t changed as a result of meeting him! Lol at drawing a moustache on Maggie Thatcher – that would have been funny but might have made my stay at the party somewhat short-lived! It was an amazing experience though! 🙂
Wow what an experience! Love the girls’ matching outfits and your festive red wrap 🙂 xx
It was an amazing experience – I loved their little tartan dresses as well – Grandma has bought them new ones for this year so they still have matching tartan dresses! The wrap was my Kari-Me sling – seems a long time ago that Sophie was small enough for that one to be comfortable! 🙂
What incredible memories! That family photo outside the iconic door is great! The girls will be so proud when they grow up. x
It was amazing – the photo outside the door was my Facebook profile picture for months! So glad we got lots of photos to be able to show the girls when they are older x
sounds like an amazing party and although the children may not remember it you have som fab photos to be able to show them one day! #magicalmondays
It was fabulous and we had a wonderful time, so glad we got so many photos to help us look back on it 🙂