My boy
turned two recently and we had two birthday parties for him – one at home and
the other in school.
Last year due to some unforeseeable circumstances, we had to forgo plans of having a birthday
party for him. I was really upset over it but in retrospect, I think it was for the better.
If we had
celebrated last year, Kenan would have been too young to really appreciate or
understand what’s happening (and he had not even started walking yet!). This
year, he really enjoyed playing with his friends and had just as much fun huffing
and puffing away at the candles!
Planning the Parties
It may
sound surprising to you but I really had been stressed over the party
preparations. I was lost for ideas and had to trawl the internet for
inspiration.
First, they
say you must have a theme, because it would then guide you in decisions about
the venue décor, birthday cake, goodie bags and so on.
I thought about
it and decided on ‘My Favourite Things’. Kenan’s favourite cartoon character is
Mickey, so we used Mickey as the theme for décor and goodie bags. Next, I used
his favourite soft toys as design of his birthday cake.
Secondly, you need some entertainment for the
kids, and this was the tough one. The kids’ wide age range (from two to primary
school children) made it almost impossible for me to have something for
everyone.
In the end,
I settled for entertainment for the majority of the kids (two to six). I rented
toys for the younger ones and bubbles for the older kids. In the end, almost
everyone played with everything.
Initially,
I thought of getting a balloonist but since we didn’t have a lot of children, I
decided not to have it. But we had helium balloons as part of the décor and
some children including Kenan had fun playing with them.
By the way,
we were busy entertaining guests that we almost forgot all about taking photos!
Thankfully some guests who took photos sent them to us (thanks cousin! thanks
Angie!).
Mickey is Kenan's favourite cartoon character so we used it as the decor theme and for the mini cupcakes, which we got from Wicked Oven. Sam, the mumpreneur was really nice and gave us Mickey cupcake toppers and stand.We ordered two flavours: chocolate cheese and banana walnut brownie, which our guests really liked.
Rented the kitchen set and teether-tooter which were a hit with the little guests. We also bought bubbles for the children.
Continuing with the 'My Favourite Things' theme, we used Kenan's favourite soft toys for the cake from Cake Avenue. See how realistic the figurines turned out to be! The cake was probably the highlight of the party! It only comes in one flavour - chocolate fudge (when I first found that out, I thought"Huh? No choice at all?!"). But let me say it's one of the best chocolate fudge cakes I've had - moist, rich and with just the right amount of sweetness.
When it
came to the school party, it was a breeze in comparison. The school has
guidelines regarding birthday celebrations which can be summarized as “Keep It
Simple”. And that’s what I did (plus we had about just half an hour for the
celebration): all I did was to order a cake and prepare the goodie bags. After
all, it was just for his class (which is less than 10) and not the whole school
(thank God!).
Party Planning Tips:
1. Plan early
I know this is common sense but if you’re like me who has a tendency to get
things done at the last minute, it creates unnecessary stress.
2. Same age
If you can,
invite kids who are about the same age as your child as it makes for easier
planning when it comes to things like activities, games and even the goodie
bags.
3. Rent toys
Rent toys
for the kids, but not as a party package – that way, you stretch the dollar by
getting to keep the toys for a month (the normal duration for toy rental) after
the party and your kid can continue playing with them (so make sure they are also
toys your child likes). I find that kitchen set is a good option. Just take
precaution against losing any of the small parts or risk paying a penalty. What
I did was to take out some of the smaller, easy to misplace items and add in
some of my boy’s toys e.g. food (at least I don’t have to pay for it if they
get lost).
Kenan playing with the balloons and toy after the party
4. Assign photographers
When it
comes to photo-taking, rope in family members/friends who are photography buffs
(I think two is a good number) and assign them as photographers. Then you can
fully focus on entertaining the guests and don’t have to worry about not
capturing the funny/heartwarming/once-in-a-lifetime moments. You may like to
get your photographers gifts for their hard work.
And I'm sure you will have more party planning tips. Please do share them with me so the next time round, it will be less stressful for this mommy! Thanks!
Vendor Listing*:
Birthday
cake with soft toy figurines by Cake Avenue
Toys from
Rent That Toy
Balloons
from Kidz Party Store
Food by EatzCatering
*Please note
that the above is purely for information, I am not endorsing any of the vendors nor do I get payment in any form for listing them.
On 2 Feb 2012: A note on cakes
Just thought I'll share this experience. At Kenan's school party (where we had the Winnie the Pooh cake), and at another kid's birthday celebration (cake from a different shop), we realised while it's nice to have the cute cartoon characters which the kids love, cutting through that icing sheet wasn't easy. For us, even sticking in the candles was a challenge, despite having candle holders. The top layer was really hard, so in both cases, we ended up removing the icing sheet. But guess that was fine, as no one was interested in eating it. I'm not sure if all icing sheets are just as hard. So this might be another consideration when you order your child's birthday cake.
