yup - its a dont mention the war situation here = if we ignore it - maybe it will go away!!

We have already decided no one is going to see us off so will have to give some false info and call when boarding, the worst is saying goodbye to my kids ( older ones dreading that and i know it will be very emotional )

I am hoping if all goes according to plan ( you know it wont ) we will have a late summer party and not actually have a leaving do as such and invite everyone we know,

Its a very hard thing to do and its part of the process there is no easy answer, recently went to a talk about children and change we were advised to accept the feelings they have and tell them its okay to feel like that ( when something is upsetting ) not to suppress those feelings as upsetting as they are, then to say something positive to the child, whilst your not a child i should think the same rules apply, feel sad and have a cry then look forward to what you have worked so hard to achieve, my way forward will be to book flights for my older kids so they can come out asap

its the hardest thing to leave loved ones but you will get through it,

wish you all the very best hope the next 2 weeks go quickly for you

Hi,
We've done the whole 'shall we have a party?' routine and have decided against it - money being the main reason.
However, if we were to have a party the invites were going to state 'no goodbyes or we'll miss yous'.
I just wanted people to drift off at the end of a cracking night - I was going to leave a message book out so people could write us a little note for us to read when we felt like it.
So now we're having a sunday lunch with our nearest and dearest and the 'no goodbye' rule still stands.
All the best for the next two weeks - we're two weeks behind you so I'll be watching to see how it all goes.
Nikki
xx

At our party we sent round a few address books for everyone to update, so that way we had addresses and email addresses for most people when we got out here....

We put a note on our invites that said "no presents - our furniture is all shippped" but you know what people are like....we got about 10 bottles of whisky, champers, the lot.....and we had to leave most of it behind

We also put cameras on all tables so that we had lots of photos, that worked well! Jsut a few hints for people!

One of the girls at my daughters school left last week to goto Dubai - one of the other mums organised a little suprise party for her and friends! and they all mad a video diary for her !

Mine will now be mortified if no one does that for her!!

yes your prob right, could end up looking like a panda

yes i think your right
but i decided to organise a party just to get it over with, and make it fancy dress so that it wouldnt feel emotional
add a karaoke and alcohol people prob forget why there anyway

I like the fancy dress bit great idea, how can you be upset when your falling about laughing so are you having a theme ?

no anything goes, although i am having second thoughts about my own costume i bought the the incredibles outfits for me and my husband and my 2 kids tried it on last night and thought oh dear it is like a second skin i think the sight of that would def take everybodies mind off us leaving.

You'll all be melting......we had a tartan theme where everyone had to wear tartan of some sort, there was lots of wacky clothing.....even tartan trousers if i remember right (almost wrote pants there, im so canadian)

I made banners for the wall, i found scotland flag banners in the pound shop and i made canadian ones. Even the invites had a tartan maple leaf on the front with the tartan for every province....it really was the party of the year...

Your idea is great, it will defo take folks mind off it all.....people just have to be happy for you.

i think some are thinking they will get a free holiday

ooh - dangerous!! But worth it for the effect!!

Yuppers thats exactly how it is, they forget that the flight is 500quid alone but becuase they get to stay with someone its classed as a free holiday to them.....

We have family here solid every year from June-October, and i tell ya, this is our 4th year and its driving me up the wall, you'll see more of people than you ever thought you would....jsut make sure you get a house with NO spare bedrooms

AM hoping for a house with a self contained bit downstairs - so dont have to see them or feed them etc . .