riley and the grumpy wombat event at Three Four Knock on the Door

Oh my - I am so love with this amazing store in Port Melbourne. Three Four Knock on the Door is children's nirvana - a beautifully-laid out store, packed to bliss with all things kidalicious and gorgeous - from Halloween costumes to mini wooden tree houses, kooky knitted planes (more on that plane soon) and of course - the best of the best of the best books.

shop co-owner Danielle rings up another sale

I felt eye-boggled as I entered the store, where I was warmly greeted by L-J and Danielle Lacey, owners, and my friend and creator of My Little Bookcase, Jackie Small - who had already begun setting up for our Riley and the Grumpy Wombat special event.

From the lime green balloons and miniature paper plane garlands to the tubs of pastel-coloured cordial and exquisite gingerbread cookies in the shape of wombats, planes (complete with letter R) and maps of Australia ... this was style all the way.

the creators, left to right: Jackie Small, shop owners Danielle and L-J, and me

After stuffing the goodie bags with more treats, including Jackie's extraordinary chocolate-covered wombat cookies (above), kids began arriving - and soon got stuck into making their very own wombat headbands, and folding their own red paper planes.

Jackie took the kids in a round of songs - here she is (below) driving that bus with its wheels going round and round - and then I was introduced, and off we went, on a tour of Melbourne, to find a Grumpy Wombat.

Afterwards, the kids (and adults!) indulged in the fabulous gingerbread cookies made by consummate baker L-J, and I signed some books and met the most charming children (and parents!). It was also wonderful to finally meet the lovely Anna, her husband Andrew and gorgeous little son, from Wilkins Farago, one of my fave publishers ever.

Huge thanks to L-J and Danielle for going to such amazing effort to create this beautiful event - and Jackie, too - who made decorations and went out of her way to help (plus, those cookies, oh my!).

L-J holds balloon sentry at the door