I thought about how we put together Sophie's birthday party and decided it's probably worth mentioning here... Perhaps one day when she read my entry, she would appreciate the thought, the hard work and the money we had to put in just to make this possible.
The Theme
Of course Sophie, like any other little girls, loves to be a princess. For her, the world is her kingdom and everything is pink. Thus, I guess it's a given that her 5th birthday party should be nothing short of making her dream come true... well, just for a few hours anyway. So, the theme is 'Princess'. BUT the boys aren't going to be very happy see everything in pink and princessy. Thus, it shall be 'Princess and Prince' instead.
The Cake
Now, the cake has to be nice, as in both palatable and visually appealing. We like Pine Garden Cakes but they deal with fresh cream and not icing so it is not possible to create very stunning cakes. Also, the company has issues with Disney with regards to copyright, so they cannot use create anything remotely similar to the Disney characters. They cannot even put the Disney figurines onto the cake. Thus, I had to think long and hard for a design that can accommodate all those constraints.
Finally, I found Wilton Romantic Castle Set and 10 Disney Princesses cake toppers set from Amazon. I even got my friend to help me shipped them in from Amazon. The idea is simple. a two-tier cake, a little cream and sparkly sprinkles over the cones, and some other little cream here and there... and ta-da! A castle! Then I will put the figurines around to complete the dream castle for Sophie. On top of that, I will get nice princessy candles as well. Perfect idea!
Alas... life's never so easy. Apparently, the design is not possible unless the cake is around 3 kg or more. Even then, they cannot put all the 12 towers. Then, the fresh cream cannot support the structure so we need to be extremely careful during transportation. Also, they don't have sparkly sprinkles. My heart sank. In the end, they only promise to do their best and I can only hope tomorrow it's going to be alright.
The Host / Venue / Activity
After we settled the cake design, I started looking around for a suitable location for the party. I started out planning a soap making party at Soap Ministry. We were even liaising via email about the party, but somehow, it didn't happen. They were not responsive enough, the price was not right, the venue wasn't ideal and the date was not good for us etc. So I completely dropped the idea. Then I thought it would be good to do a art piece since Alfee had his Kindermusik birthday party in August and art is Sophie's passion. I thought of Sophie's art school, Studio Miu Art, naturally, since she's taking lessons there. However, its art party is costly and no food (except the cake and drinks) is allowed in the studio. Then I thought of Art Zone, but I was a little reluctant to let the kids make crafts like jewellery boxes or pencil holders. I also checked out Art Boot Camp but I think its birthday packages are pricey and perhaps, too 'atas'. Finally, I found Art Speaks Studio which provides the most comprehensive birthday party packages so far. After a brief discussion and a tour around the premises, we put a deposit and declar our search over.
The Invitation Card
The studio provided us with customised birthday invitation cards. I requested for a princessy design so they came back with their first draft in early November.
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| First Draft |
As an adult, I appreciate the drawings. However, Sophie's 5 and I really thought the characters weren't appropriate. So, I dug up many images and samples from the internet for them to redesign the invitation cards. A week or two later, they came back with the second draft. And I nearly cried. True enough, the princess looked like Sleeping Beauty, but again the images weren't suitable for 5 year olds. And it looked too much like a wedding invitation card rather than a birthday card.
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| Second Draft |
Upset and desperate, I decided to do it myself... or rather, let Sophie have a go at designing the card herself! I felt encouraged after seeing her work drawn in her spare time. Most definitely more authentic and suitable. However, she could not reproduce the image in painting. No matter how we tried, we could not make it invitation card quality.
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| Sophie did it on her own... |
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| Sophie painted after some coaching... |
In the end, I drew the image myself. With Sophie's blessings, I sent the image to them and told them to put a nice castle in the background. It took them a few more days before the cards were printed and ready for me to collect. I had to distribute to her guests from school earlier because the term was ending and I didn't want to add another level of uncertainty with SingPost.
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| My version... with Sophie's approval... |
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| Final Invitation Card |
The Painting Session
About a couple of weeks after that, the studio sent me the drawings for the canvas painting. Initially I requested for dragons as well but I was fine with just princes. And I thought they were age appropriate and pleasing to the eye. So, I gave them green light on these.
The Goody Bags
Everything happened concurrently, I was also waiting for weeks for my goody bags and the contents to arrive from various elders in the Motherhood Bulk Purchase forum. There was some anxiety because some of the items were out of stock and I had to source for alternatives.
I had promised Sophie goody bags with images of the Disney Princesses, but I couldn't really give boys pink bags with princesses on them. So, I had to look for more boyish designs. It is quite impossible to find any 'prince' anything in the market. And superheroes aren't very age appropriate I believe, even though I know most 5 year old boys would prefer action figures. In the end, I settled for some Spiderman, Thomas The Train and Winnie The Pooh designs (to cater to different preferences).
For Alfee's goody bags, I prepared all the things he liked (music related) and I could find plenty to buy. But Sophie's goody bag was a little less straightforward. I also had a bigger group so I couldn't afford getting anything I liked. For non-food items, I prepared a finger puppet craft kit (princess or dragon), a musical instrument or garden themed pencil, a dessert eraser, a crown pen and a scented highlighter. For food items, I got the kids a packet of Oreo cookies, a box of raisins, a lollipop, a piece of chocolate and a marshmallow. I had 5 items in each group to signify her coming to 5 years of age.
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| Typical Boy's Goodies |
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Girl's Non-Food Goodies
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For our own friends' younger children and Alfee, I prepared different goody bags. Instead of the craft kits and tid-bits, I gave each some moulding dough set, a wind-up toy, a box of colouring pencils and a finger puppet. Their good bags also look different, but it's more for me not to mix up than anything else.
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| Younger Childrens' Goodies |
The 'Thank You' Note
This was the only thing Sophie actively do for her own party - Thank You note. She painted her hand, make a print of a princess and wrote the words herself, all 20 copies. She was very conscientious and despite all the discomfort and complaints, she never wanted to stop or give up. She's as stubborn as a mule or more fondly put - persistent and determined.
In a nutshell, the preparations are definitely tedious and time-consuming. However, I would do it for her over and over again willingly, even though Papa and I agreed to make this her last big scale birthday celebration because it sends the wrong message about the nature of birthday celebrations. My fingers are crossed that tomorrow would be great for everyone.
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