After having a big party for his 1st birthday and slightly smaller one for his 2nd birthday, I decided to take a break from all the partying this year. I thought it's be more fun for us to just bring him out the day before, on Saturday. (He certainly had a ball of a time when we hit Amazonia again!) The family kept asking when the party was though, so in the end, we had only our immediate family come over for some food and cake. And Noey got presents of course!
I fretted a bit about how it was not a party with no theme, decorations, games, or other kids. "There's cake, so it's a party," said DD. "We don't want him to turn into a birthday monster and expect a lot for his birthday every year." He was right, as he often is, this husband of mine. Noey really enjoyed having everyone over. He was literally bursting with excitement when his Kong Kong and Po Po turned up with his beloved Jiu Jiu. I also closed an eye and let him eat whatever he wanted for lunch, which was mostly fried chicken wings. Ah well!
We ordered food from Qiji again, like last year. With laksa, fried chicken wings, sotong balls and popiah, DD said that it felt like his birthday! I really love ordering from Qiji because their laksa and mee siam are both really pretty good, they have a low minimum order threshold (10 pax for buffet style serving of mains, no minimum for pre-packed servings), and they deliver, with free delivery if you order more than $120. It's convenient too -- I called them on Friday and managed to secure delivery for Sunday. It helps that we like the food! This was my first time ordering the wrapped and ready popiah. It wasn't bad, but I think popiah is one of those things that's better if you roll it yourself. It was much more convenient this way though!
From top left: Laksa! (By the time I assmebled my own bowl, I was too busy eating and didn't take a pic, so this is a stock pic from their website), Pineapple Rice and Papaya Salad from Thai To Go, Fried Chicken Wings, Popiah.
As referred to in the caption above, I also got Pineapple Rice, Papaya Salad and Thai Fish Cakes from Thai To Go, a thai food delivery service that I chanced upon while randomly sufing the web. They were really prompt and the pineapple rice was decent (though not great). The papaya salad was super spicy, but the fishcakes were good. I wanted some variety and thought it was good mix of food.
Of course, there's no birthday without cake! And Awfully Chocolate cake rules.
Awfully chocolate now does designs! You have to order a 1kg, 8' cake at minimum, and pick from a standard set of designs which you can make minimal modifications to, and they charge you for it, but I appreciated the option to have more than just words for a kid's cake. (This was a standard design and they charged me $7.50 for it, which I thought was ok.)
For some reason, my son has a need to burst into tears just when we're about to start singing happy birthday. He did the same thing at last year's birthday too!
Recovering enough to blow out the candles.
All smiles again for the family photo. Funny boy.
Noey had a terrific time thereafter with cake, and also opening the stack of presents he got from everyone. His Yiyi and Yi Zhang went for quantity this year and bought him 4 gifts, all from Toy R Us, so he had lots to open and play with! This year I didn't manage to squirrel away his presents into storage as he was much more aware and wanted to open everything right away. Good thing we kept it small I guess!
I think I'll have friends over next year, when he's more able to appreciate organised games. Pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, dancing on newspaper...
Can't believe I'm thinking of the next party with this one just over!
I like ordering from Qiji too! So convenient. :)
ReplyDeleteDoes he cry before the singing starts? Or when the singing starts? Could he be oversensitive to the "noise" of the singing? or overwhelmed by the anticipation of everyone crowding round? Just wondering... he does so remind me of my son - who burst into tears at the yum sengs at wedding dinner and cried like he was completely terrified. And knowing what we know now of his sensory issues - yes, he was completely terrified. Poor fella.
ReplyDelete@@Delphine Admittedly this time round I ordered too much food because I wanted to reach the $120 free delivery level. But everyone was happy to pack food back so it was all good :)
ReplyDeletejustpassingby I remember you mentioning the sensory issues. He starts crying before the singing starts. I think it might be the anticipation. Noey is rather sensitive and cautious. He just loves yum sengs though! He'll be yelling away every time :)
Haha, QiJi is my office pop-next-door-to-pack-lunch-option.
ReplyDeleteSo it's funny to read that they do home delivery (which I never knew!)!
I like the idea of having a few small parties - maybe we will do that next year!
ReplyDeleteHappy 3rd birthday, Noey!
@lilsnooze hah, yes, there's one so near your office! it was my friend who regularly had to orgainse events who told me about it when i was thinking about popiah parties. i think they're great!
ReplyDelete@olimomok i think it's because we're so lazy and last-minute that we ended up having several small celebrations! sean's birthday looked so great. i was so amazed you could organise all that when you were going on holiday as well!
Hihi!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog for a while, and I must say you have two very lovely kids! :) Can I just check where you got your daughter's outfit from - it looks really cute. Just looking out for more pretty stuff for my two girls.
And same here, I'm switching to small parties this year for my girl - I thought it'll be more cosy and we'll get to interact with our friends more! Always overwhelmed when it comes to big parties.
- April :)
@April Hi April thanks for the sweet note :) Unfortunately Naomi's dress in this case was a gift from a friend so I've no idea where it's from. If you like, you can e-mail me and I'll check with my friend and get back to you.
ReplyDeleteHaving multiple parties requires more time commitment but it definitely is less overwhelming. Good to be able to spend time with folks who have made the effort to turn up!