Junior J's 7th

We celebrated Junior J turning seven over the weekend with a small party. We had decided to throw the party on an earlier date, so that his Godmother could attend, and I was also worried that baby might come along anytime soon! 

This turned out to be the simplest parties we've ever thrown for the kids. For those who have been following this blog for awhile, you know how we do parties: DIY decor, handmade party packs, simple games, and hearty fare. We like things simple, but the crafter in me cannot resist throwing in some decorations and DIY projects, but it's always done on a shoestring budget. I've shared about how we've learnt that parties are not just about celebrating someone turning a year older, but also about thanking our loved ones for being with us for this journey of witnessing our children growing up. 

This time round though, I was just too exhausted from the pregnancy and everything that was going on, so I had a chat with Junior J and told him that we would not be doing much in terms of decorations for his party. I felt terrible, since Junior J loves planning for parties, and has been my main helper for preparing for them, from making a bus for his brother's party to packing party packs. The boy was slightly disappointed, but sweetly told me it was ok. But he did ask if we could have party packs for his friends, to thank them for coming.

Of course I said yes to that! The boy had requested for an animal theme this round, and asked me to ask his friends' parents about their kids' favourite animals. We bought kraft shopping bags from Daiso, and he drew the animals on each paper bag, and filled each with some snacks as well as a set of oil pastels. He wasn't too sure about drawing some of the animals, so we googled for step-by-step instructions for some of them, which he followed. 

Aside from the party packs, he had one more request. Or rather, it came out as a question: "Will you decorate the blackboard wall for the party, Mama?"

And so I did.

I've been doing these blackboard birthday greetings for the past two years, ever since we painted the wall in our entryway with chalkboard paint. Little did I know how much the kids enjoyed this little gesture, of waking up and seeing birthday greetings scrawled across the wall for their party! I guess it's really these little things that matter. 

Unfortunately though, Lil J fell pretty sick the day before the party. The older two had been a little under the weather for the past few days, and Lil J suddenly worsened the night before, and was coughing and wheezing. Our hands were tied: we had ordered two large platters of sushi from Sakuraya, and we had already collected the birthday cake from Cedele. We couldn't postpone the party to the next weekend as the hubby couldn't make it, and I was worried about baby's arrival too. 

We texted our friends to inform them. One couple had a young baby, so we regretfully told them it would be safer to stay home for baby's sake. Another couple were a little worried, but did not want to disappoint the birthday boy, so they gamely said they would bring the kids. The other adults all said they would still come. We decided the best option was to ask the kids to wear masks, and our friends got their kids to agree to wear masks and make it a game so that no one would feel strange. Even Baby J asked to wear a mask, after he saw everyone wearing masks! 

My heart was so so full the day of the party. It was a smaller turn-out, but to see all our friends coming down to celebrate with Junior J, despite the possibility that they might catch a bug... that reminded me again about why we throw parties. It's about the people, and not how pretty the cake is. It's about meeting together to celebrate, and not about how nice the decorations are. (So for those who came, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can't tell you how much it meant to this little boy!)

So we didn't have games. But the kids were kept busy learning how to fold and fly paper aeroplanes (thanks to Junior J's Godfather). And they happily played together, never mind that they had to wear masks. Junior J learnt that day to be a good host. He had to serve drinks and look out for his little guests, and also learnt how he sometimes had to give in, so that everyone could feel included during playtime. I was very proud of him that day. I was also very thankful for my parents, who helped to watch out for the younger kids so that we could chat with our friends. 

We had a simple spread of sushi, fishballs and nuggets, all requested by the birthday boy. The hubby, though having a splitting headache, went out before the party to collect everything, and I was thankful for a hands-on Papa like him. Junior J got the chocolate cake he wanted too (which he reminded me had to be eggless so that his brothers could share in it too), and I made a little Perler dinosaur topper to decorate the cake. This boy has always been making Perler bead creations for his brothers, but they are too young to make any for him, so I thought I'd do one just for him for a change!

There were no other decorations this time round. No streamers, not birthday bunting, and we didn't even hang up balloons, but let the kids run wild with them. But all in all, it was how birthday parties should be: about family and friends, gathering to feast and celebrate together. Happy birthday in advance, my dearest boy!

Lil J's 4th

We had a simple celebration for Lil J turning four over the weekend. I must be getting older, or perhaps we were rather tired out this month. Whatever the case, I realize our parties are getting simpler and simpler these days, but I guess sometimes simpler is better!  I initially wanted the bare minimum for the party (food, friends and cake), since we had just come back from Legoland, and I've been exhausted these days. 

However, Junior J got all excited about preparing for the party. The in-laws were visiting, and were all ready to string up decorations (they've been so used to helping to put up streamers and blowing balloons for our parties!). In the end, we managed to pull together a simple party, and got to celebrate and had a great time chatting with friends. The kids more or less played nicely together, even though I didn't plan for games this round. So I guess we more or less fulfilled our main objective of a birthday party: to celebrate a special little boy turning one year older, and fill the home with the laughter and chatter of loved ones gathering for a celebration.

This round, we had a rainbow theme for the backdrop, with our usual streamer "wall" and balloons, and birthday bunting. However, we tried using tissue paper (from Daiso, which comes in a pack of 25 sheets of 5 different colours) for the streamers instead of crepe paper. This proved to be a lot easier and faster to put up, since you just need to cut the paper into strips and hang them up sheet by sheet, instead of streamer by streamer. The birthday bunting was from Cotton On Kids (I bought it when it was on offer), and I love how the black lettering stands out against the streamers!

Again, we had our usual chalkboard birthday greeting. Lil J wanted a dinosaur party, which surprised us as he isn't too keen on dinosaurs unlike his brother. But we went with his request, so I drew in dinosaurs, and we had dino cake toppers and party packs.

For the party packs, we did something similar to what we prepared for Junior J's 6th: Kraft paper bags from Daiso with backgrounds painted by Junior J, and Perler bead tags (again, assembled by Junior J).

We filled them with crayons, stickers (both from Daiso), and some munchies.

Junior J started freaking out before the party, because he realized that I had randomly matched the dinosaurs to the bags. According to him, there were only volcanoes and flowers in the Cretaceous, so those paper bags with volcanoes and flowers painted on them had to have Cretaceous dinosaurs matched to them. So he sat down and made more dinosaur tags hours before the party, so that everything would be accurate. Thankfully, we managed to shuffle the dinos around and he only needed to make one more!

Food-wise, we catered a popiah and kueh pie ti set from Old Long House Popiah.

We also bought curry puffs, fishballs and other finger food from Old Chang Kee, and the in-laws helped to make konnyaku jelly and cut fruit.

The cake was one of Lil J's fav. He doesn't get to eat much store-bought cake, since he still has an egg allergy. We recently discovered that Cedele sells an eggless truffle cake, which is pretty yummy, so we bought one for the party. We dressed up the cake using Perler bead dinosaurs. Junior J made a dimetrodon for Lil J, as he said it was one of his brother's favourite prehistoric creatures. We couldn't find a bead template for that, so he created his own design!

All in all, it was a simple, homey affair. But one filled with fun, laughter and lots of love. :) Happy Birthday, my not so little Lil J!

PS: You can read all our party posts here. 

Junior J's 6th: Chocolate cheese cake (and the food)

We really racked our brains to think of what food to order for Junior J's party this year. We wanted something different from the stuff we've been ordering for parties (we've done sushi, DIY popiah, and Peranakan for previous celebrations), and something that Junior J liked to eat. In the end, we went with Poulet, since we loved their chicken, and Junior J especially loves the mash potato there! 

Poulet does not do delivery, so we ended up ordering the food the day before, and hubs picked it up just before the party. Their chicken is really yummy, and we also ordered ratatouille and mash potato, and made our own salad. We also served fruit and konnyaku (made by my mum) for dessert. 

The cake was quite a headache. Junior J wanted something with chocolate. We wanted to get something egg-free so that Lil J could also eat the cake, but egg-free cakes are quite rare. This round, I didn't want to spend too much money on the cake, so in the end, I opted to make my own. I was really nervous making it, since I am no baker. Half my bakes turn out disastrous, so much so that my boys would politely decline, and say they do not want to eat them! 

I found this recipe for a chocolate cheese cake that seemed doable, and we did a test run with a smaller cake. The boys loved it, so we decided to go with it.

However, Junior J was rather perplexed: why was the test cake rectangular? Aren't birthday cakes supposed to be round, like in all the pictures in books? (I had used a Pyrex baking dish for the test cake.) I also didn't have a springform pan, and wasn't too confident in getting the cake out of a regular baking tin intact. So I rushed down to Phoon Huat to try to get a springform pan, only to find out that they were sold out. So I ended up just using my square baking tin for the cake. My tin was too large, so the cake turned out really thin, and I was wondering if the candles we had bought (from Daiso, don't you just love these?) would hold up in a cake that was just an inch high! 

Thankfully, the candles did hold up. However, we found that you have to be really fast when lighting these, and you can't leave them burning for too long, since these are pretty small and melt really quickly. We ended up with wax on the cake, but it was easy to flick the bits of wax off.

Another thing I realized (on the day itself!) was that I didn't have any suitable plate or base for the cake to rest on. In the end, I used our cheese board, as it was the largest flat surface I could find in the kitchen. 

All the crazy scrambling seemed to pay off, since Junior J loved his cake (even though he had already been eating slices of our test cake for a few days before the party), and our guests said it was yummy. Now that this has worked out, I guess I might just have to make the cake for the boys' parties from now on!

Junior J's 6th: Party packs

I was really stuck with regards to Junior J's party this year, since his requested theme of sea reptiles was a tough one to prep for. In the end, we decided to just go with an "under the sea" theme for the party packs, since his friends probably wouldn't be familiar (or interested) in those sea reptiles anyway.

So Junior J got down to making these sea creatures from Perler beads, using this template to make the octopus, crab and turtle. He then made the fishes by referring to pictures off Perler bead packaging!

We bought kraft paper bags from Daiso (these are made from thicker craft paper, which don't tear so easily), and Junior J painted the bags using watercolours. 

We finally filled them up with various goodies: a fishing set (from Daiso, don't you just love that place!), nougat, sweets and raisins. The fishing set is pretty nifty: there are floating as well as sinking fish. The boys are still happily playing with theirs!

Weekend Wanderings: Junior J's 6th

We celebrated Junior J's 6th birthday over the weekend, with a very small party with family, Junior J's godparents, and our church cell group mates. This round, we kept things really simple, as the in-laws were not around (FIL's still recovering back home) and the kids had just recovered from colds. There was just not enough time, so we skipped doing our customary crepe paper wall and also didn't plan any games. 

Junior J had requested for a prehistoric sea reptile theme. I was really stumped at what we could do for his theme, so he helped me to draw and paint a mosasaur and liopleurodon. We just stuck these up as decorations!

We had helium balloons again this time, and just chose a bunch of bright colours and pumped them up ourselves. Apatosaurus helped to hold them down until everyone collected theirs. 

And we had the usual blackboard wall greeting, with some sea reptiles and marine creatures to go with the theme!

I'll save the food and party packs for another post. All in all, we had a lovely time just catching up with friends, and the kids happily played together. 

Junior J was really excited about his party this time round, and was actually counting down to the day of the party! He helped alot with party preparations, and was a great host, giving out plates and helping out. I'm starting to think six is a nice age... but I still cannot believe this boy is now six! 

Weekend Wanderings: A combined birthday party

We had a joint birthday celebration for Junior J and one of his good friends over the weekend, and invited their homeschooling buddies for a picnic party. We had planned to have it over at Bay East Garden (someone suggested the place as it would be less crowded compared to other parks during the weekend). However, the area had very little shady areas and it was really hot, so we ended up setting up our picnic under the expressway, near the visitor center. 

Look at all the space! Junior J had a great time zooming about.

The area turned out ideal, since it was shaded and cool, and there was lots of space for the kids to run about. Also, it was near the visitor center, which was where the only toilet in the area was located. The kids spent most of their time chasing bubbles and running about, and we squeezed in a "hunt the dinosaurs" game where they went to look for hidden dino puzzle pieces and had to sort and piece them together. 

Sorting out the puzzle pieces after they found them.

We had a feast, mainly cooked up by the other birthday boy's mummy, E. She had prepared all sorts of yummies, from biscuits with spinach cheese dip, baked dinosaur pasta, gyoza, curry, fishballs and sausages. We brought pineapple rice and konnyaku jelly (which my mum kindly made), edamame, salad, fruit, and drinks. Since we swung by to get E, it meant our car was packed to the brim with food!

Spinach dip: this was by far the most popular with the kids!

Lil J caught stealing salad. Or rather, the raisins in the salad.
Photo courtesy of Sze Siang.

Our spread of food.

E also baked the cakes for the party. Yes, you read right, cakes, one big one for everyone, and two small ones for the birthday boys. These were eggless and dairy-free (save for the Nutella), since we had to account for the kids with food allergies, and it was really moist and yummy!

The big cake. 

We kept the party packs simple: small paper bags containing a fossil cookie (baked by E), a small toy ball from Penang, and a little bear-shaped measuring tape. Initially, I was wondering if we would be able to pull off the party, since there was so much stuff to lug to the location, but I'm so glad we managed to pull it off and I think the kids had fun! (Even baby J enjoyed himself. He spent most of the time crawling around everywhere!)

Photo courtesy of Sze Siang.

PS: Some of the photos in this post were kindly taken by one of the daddies attending the party. He's a photographer (view his portfolio here), and I can't wait to see the rest of the shots!