Some of the things I want to do as part of this project are to do with the idea of growing up. Remember that time l tried coffee?
But this one was the complete opposite. I wanted to do something where I could feel like a little kid again. I used to build dens all the time, and would happily play in whatever sleeping bag, blanket construction my dad had built. So I wanted to tunnel my way in to denial of growing older, and into a blanket fort. I messaged two friends asking if they wanted to construct a blanket fort, watch films and eat food. I got two words in reply: Hell yes.
We took over my lounge for the day. We spent an hour arranging sofas, pillows, and blankets to make the fort. My dad, who is just a big kid at heart, got involved and got us some rope to wrap around the sofas to hang some blankets off. Where there had once been pillows and confusion at what to do with them, was now a magnificent fortress, with plenty of supplies. Supplies being cheese, crackers, cookies, chocolate, pie and popcorn. Oh and some fruit because we're healthy.
I initially just wanted to have a day of watching films, but when the idea of building a blanket fort popped in to my head I decided to have a film day in the utmost of childhood comfort. Most of the film choices, though a couple of Disney films were included, were not a U rating.
We ended up watching a bizarre mix of Woody Allen, Wes Anderson and Disney, which to be honest is a pretty good reflection of our friendship in the sense that our conversations can go from literature we're reading, to seeing how much cheese we can eat. If you're really interested, the films we watched were: Rushmore, The Parent Trap , Hannah and her Sisters, Moonrise Kingdom and The Emperor's New Groove.
The day itself was just so lovely. It was most the surreal thing to be eating popcorn, watching Woody Allen, sat inside a blanket fort. I didn't really expect it to transport me back to childhood as much as it did. Perhaps it was helped by the entrance of the den - to get in or out, I had to crawl.
We were all so comfortable and content. I hope we can make it a tradition to build a blanket fort because it's simply, well just that, simple. It was such a relaxing, and easy way to spend a day. If you ever find yourself not knowing what to do on a lazy day, I highly suggest finding a couple of blankets, and friends to build your own fort.