Lisa and I have been invited to attend a birthday tea on Saturday. With it being both Easter and a tea party, you'd expect it to be thrown by a Mad Hatter and attended by a lot of white rabbits, but as it turns out, the only bunny girl in question is my ten-year-old niece, who turns eleven next week, and the person organising the event is my Mum. Who's not as mad as she looks.

We received the official gift list yesterday, which features a total of eight items, three of which had already been taken by the time we opened the e-mail. My parents have cornered the Pokemon market, while Big Sis is sourcing all the Glee memorabilia. Mainly because she already owns most of it.

So being keen to get in there before the only gift left is the BHS voucher (which I suspect might have been put on the list by her mother), I headed into Crawley town centre during my lunch break today to buy a bit of Miley Cyrus and Cheryl Cole. I felt like wearing a bag over my head so that no one would recognise me, but frankly that look has been done to death by Amelie.

My niece wanted a Miley Cyrus album and a Cheryl Cole poster. I found a Billy Ray Cyrus album and an Ashley Cole poster. I wasn't sure either would do. The Crawley branch of HMV had completely sold out of the album in question, but they did offer me this poster...


Call me old-fashioned, but I decided that wasn't really suitable for an eleven-year-old girl. It's not so much a role-model as a roll-in-the-hay model.

So I drew a complete blank. But fortunately Amelie's a lot easier to buy for than her cousin. Five minutes in Poundland and I'd got her a furry sheep mask and an Easter bonnet. That's one person ready for the weekend.