Last week we celebrated the Queen’s Birthday at Maraetai Beachlands Kindergarten.

This is an annual shared lunch with whānau and children that everyone enjoys.  The children make fascinators in the morning using all sorts of wonderful crafts such as flowers, netting, sparkles and gems which they wear when they meet her majesty. The children also like to make her cards and little gifts.

The children also bake her a birthday sponge cake and decorate it with cream, icing and candles. When our special guest arrives, the children are so excited to see her. We all curtsey and bow to greet her and then head outside to light her candles and sing Happy Birthday.

Once the Queen has been served, we enjoy our lunch. Over the last few years we have had lots of parents keen to volunteer to be the Queen with some even going to the extent of hiring costumes for themselves and their children. This year we had our student teacher step in.