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  2. Choose a present. Whoopee presents are always homemade. You might want to make a bracelet like Chloe or you could knit a scarf, paint a picture or even write a special letter like Amelia.

  3. Decorate the bedroom of the person who has done well. Sometimes we use tinsel, but you could make paper chains or use balloons. See Amelia’s instructions for how to make tissue paper flowers like we did.

  4. Prepare refreshments. Juice and biscuits are fine. Or you if you have time could use Chloe’s recipe for cupcakes.

  5. Time to party! Music is a good idea to get people in the right mood. We like playing games (charades and March of the Zombies) and we always chat about the reason we’re celebrating because that makes the Whoopee person feel really special.

  6. Don’t forget to say ‘Whoopee!’ a lot.

  7. Everybody in my family always helps to tidy up after a Whoopee (even Lucy) because that way we know that Mum won’t mind the next time we want to have one.

  AMELIA’S QUITE BOSSY INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING TISSUE PAPER FLOWERS

  1. Take four sheets of tissue paper and place them on top of each other (You can use more sheets if you want a fluffier flower but we haven’t got many pieces left in our house because Lucy used it all up making tutus for her dinosaurs).

  2. Fold in half (short edge to short edge).

  3. Starting at one of the short edges, fold the stack of paper over about 5cm, then turn the paper over and fold back in the opposite direction. Keep folding back and forth (Chloe says this is like making a fan) until all the paper is folded.

  4. Tie the ‘fan’ in the middle with a piece of cotton or string, as tight as you can.

  5. At either end of the ‘fan’ cut a rounded shape like the end of a petal, or you can cut it into a point like Lucy did because she likes spikey stuff.

  6. Open out the ‘fan’ then (this is the cool part) gently separate all the layers of tissue and fluff them into a ball-ish shape

  7. You can dangle single flowers from the ceiling by a thread or you can string a lot together with a ribbon to make a garland. Make sure you tie the thread or ribbon around the middle part of the flower, don’t use the petals – they’ll tear easily.

  CHLOE’S RECIPE FOR WHOOPEE CUPCAKES

  INGREDIENTS

  125G SELF-RAISING FLOUR

  125G BUTTER

  125G CASTER SUGAR

  2 EGGS

  FOR THE ICING

  150G ICING SUGAR

  2 TABLESPOONS OF WARM WATER

  YOU’LL ALSO NEED ABOUT 24 PAPER CAKE CASES

  Ask an adult to preheat the oven to 180 or gas mark 4. If your big sister offers to do it, you can annoy her by saying, ‘You’re not a grown up’.

  Cream the butter and the sugar in a mixing bowl (this just means smooshing them with a wooden spoon until the sugar is all mixed in).

  Add the eggs one by one and stir some more (WARNING: it’s safer to crack your eggs on the side of the bowl than on your head, I tried that once and, let me tell you, egg doesn’t make very good shampoo).

  Sieve the flour into the bowl and stir again.

  Put your cake cases into a twelve hole bun tray. We’ve only got one bun tray so that means we have to cook them in two goes because twelve cakes doesn’t go very far in my family.

  Use a teaspoon to dollop the mixture into the cases. Mum says the best way to do this is to use your little finger to slide the mixture off the spoon and into the case, that way you only get one sticky finger. I say, the more sticky fingers you get, the more licky fingers you get.

  Get your adult to put the cakes in the oven. They should be done in 10-12 minutes. You can tell that they’re finished when the tops go golden brown or, if you live in my house, when Lucy says, ‘Are they ready yet?’ for the millionth time.

  Leave the cakes to cool for as long as you can bear. An hour is good.

  Sieve the icing sugar into a small bowl. I always pretend I’m the witch of winter making it snow when I do this.

  Add the water and stir. You want the icing to be quite thick, if it’s too runny it will slide right off the cakes. If it’s really stiff add a few more drops of water, if it’s too wet sprinkle in a bit more icing sugar, but be careful – once, I kept on adding more water then more icing sugar and I ended up with pints and pints of icing (I thought it was nice on cereal but no one else agreed).

  Dribble the icing on the cakes with a teaspoon – you can use the back of the spoon to smooth it out.

  While the icing is still wet add any kind of decoration you like – sprinkles, chocolate drops, tiny sweets. I like all three together, but Lucy prefers plastic spiders.

  Do the washing up, or pay Ella with cakes to do it for you.

  Just like Ella, Candy Harper grew up in a rather small house with a rather large family. As the fourth of five sisters it was often hard to get a word in edgeways, so she started writing down her best ideas. It’s probably not a coincidence that her first ‘book’ featured an orphan living in deserted castle.

  Growing up, she attended six different schools, but that honestly had very little to do with an early interest in explosives.

  Candy has been a bookseller, a teacher and the person who puts those little stickers on apples. She is married and has a daughter named after Philip Pullman’s Lyra.

  You can follow her on Twitter @CandyHarper_