To many parents, the 1st birthday is one of the most significant day in their children's lives. It is not uncommon to hear stories of parents throwing lavish parties for their little ones. However, my focus is to let Jonas play and enjoy his day rather than spending lots of money for the party but he will not remember about it when he grows up.
Thus, my initial plan is to organize it in an indoor playground so that the children can be entertained as there's a lot of kids in our extended families and friends. There are several choices available as more and more indoor playgrounds are sprouting out in Singapore because of the higher spending power of parents nowadays. However, through a quick online research, I soon found that this is not a suitable venue option for us. Most venues can only host 15-20 kids and usually for 2-3hours. Our family is bigger and there are more adults compared to kids in our guest list. My husband also wish to take the opportunity to spend more quality time with Jonas as he had not been able to do so for the past year due to his extremely busy work schedule. Finally, we opt to organize it at a chalet. Our planning was done quite last minute therefore we don't have much choices with the location and the date that we wanted. I'd advise to plan and book at least 6 months in advance to avoid any disappointment.
Unlike indoor playgrounds which have a package deal of food and entertainment, we have to prepare the food ourselves. My husband and I had abit of disagreement regarding this issue as I'm more pro towards catering (ready food) while he towards barbecue (self prepared food). For me, I want to keep everything to its simplest so that I can spend Jonas's special day with him only. Barbecuing will take my time away from him because if not a lot of people want to barbecue, I guess we as the hosts will have to do it. My husband think doing barbecue is more fun and should be an activity not to be missed during a chalet stay. As we can't talk each other out of our decision, we made a compromise. We'll do both. We order lesser quantity of catered food and buy our own food to BBQ. Eventually I think it is a good idea as we can have the BBQ food on our Days 2 and 3 of stay as catering is only on Day 1. For catering, I went with Neo Garden as Jonas full month was also with them and we are quite satisfied with their food portion and service. Would like to mention they also do thematic set ups for special occasions at an additional charge.
Besides good food, a birthday party cannot be without a nice cake and some decorations. I have been browsing around for a long time and settled for Cake Avenue which have quite a number of supporters and positive reviews. They also have a Facebook page with many pictures of their cake designs you can take a look if interested. I'll post the birthday cake with my review after the event. As for the deco, I'll be doing something really simple. Rather then explaining, I think I will just post the pics after the event. Bought the deco materials today. :)
Location checked. Catering checked. Birthday cake checked. Deco checked. Now with most arrangements in place, we only need to go and get the birthday pressie. Counting down 4 more days to the big day....
Spent today eating and eating as I celebrated belated Mother's Day with my mum in the afternoon and my mother in law (MIL) in the evening. My mum opted for sit down Chinese food so I chose to go to Tung Lok Signatures restaurant at vivocity after going through some reviews online. I have to mention that when I called in to make a reservation, the person who answered seem to be in a rush and kept cutting me short, I find it difficult to ask questions. Maybe the restaurant is very busy but it doesn't really feel good as they don't seem to be very helpful.
But I went with an open heart. The decor is pleasant as it is simple but elegant being furnished mostly in white. As there were 4 people, we decided to go with their $248 set lunch with add on dim sum like Siew Mai, shrimp dumpling and egg tart. The starter was smoked duck which was the only dish that caught my attention from all the dishes. It was a combination of fruits (watermelon and honeydew) and smoked duck with puffy pastry. The clash in tastes teased my taste buds and made me have high expectations for the rest of the dishes. But, I was disappointed. Not only were the food moderate in taste, I find that they serve too fast. It seemed that the staff were rushing so that they can close for their lunch break on time. The consolation was that my parents enjoyed the food and we also enjoyed each other's company.
After doing abit of shopping for Jonas's new clothes (next Sunday is the big day, so excited!) we proceed to our dinner location at turf city. It is at the Treehouse Cafe at turf city. As we have a lot of kids on my MIL side, we decided to choose a location where they can play. The menu serves western food with a few Asian fare. Its name actually came from the design of their play area. The play area has a ladder which leads up to a 2nd level which was being designed like a treehouse. The kids did enjoy themselves. I couldn't eat much as I was still bloated from the lunch, so I only tried the pizza and took some garlic bread. The food was also quite normal.
I didn't manage to get any photo from the gathering as it was too difficult with all the kids going around. It was always difficult as there were too many people in the family. But I can see that my MIL is happy spending time with the kids. At the end of the day, that is what matters most. The mums enjoy their day. This year is also my first time celebrating Mother's Day. My son Jonas will be 1 year old this month. Hope he'll be able to greet me "Happy Mother's Day" next year. :)
I was browsing through a fellow mummy blogger's blog about her reviews on the indoor playgrounds in Singapore the other day when I noticed that most places let babies younger than one year old play for free. I would prefer to bring Jonas to those traditional outdoor ones when he gets older, hoping to bring him closer to nature. But hey, he is turning one soon so I thought it may be a good experience for him, what's more it is free of charge. Thus off we go to play!
Brought Jonas to Amazonia at Great World City mall after doing some research online. There are not many indoor playgrounds offering play areas specially dedicated to very young toddlers. Amazonia is one of those that does. Jonas do not need to pay for entrance but we have to spend a minimum of $10 at the bistro within the play area. My husband and I were charged $1 each plus $4.30 for a pair of socks as we forgot to bring our own. Socks are compulsory for hygiene and safety reasons so do remember to bring yours when you visit. The back of our hands were than stamped with their logo so that we'll be able to re-enter if we need to go to the toilet.
The main play area is a 4 level structure complete with a giant slide in the center. Only children 3-12 years old are allowed to play here with close adult supervision required for the 3-4 year olds. The toddler play area for those under 3 years old is just beside it. As children of this age group are developing their sensory and auditory skills, the play area is designed with these concepts in mind. There are structures fixed on the walls that turns, rolls, reflects or make sounds, encouraging kids to touch and fiddle with their fingers and hands. A pit filled with soft blocks let children stack and build going with their own creativity. A step-on keyboard will enthrall any kid who chance upon it but I noticed it will only sound when you apply pressure on the right spot with a certain amount of strength required. Then there's the usual pool of colorful balls, soft rocking animal rides and even a mini slide!
On the whole, it was an enjoyable 2 hour fun for Jonas who seem thrilled with everything ( I made a mental note to bring him out to play more often). But it was hard work for my husband and I who have to hold him and monitor him all the time as he hasn't started walking by himself yet. Luckily, we decided to take turns whereby while one cools off at the bistro, the other will play with Jonas. As such, I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures to share. You can find out more about the place from their website www.amazoniafun.com.
By the time we got back home, Jonas is so tired he slept well through the night he even missed his usual night feed. I came to realize why so many parents bring their kids to such indoor playgrounds nowadays ( inclusive of some close friends and family). Besides being a fun activity for family bonding time and interaction with other kids, it is a sure-fire way to sap the energy of highly active kids like my son. And so, it also made it into my to do list of activities with Jonas in the future.
Make a visit to explore and experience for yourself. I hope you enjoy bonding time with your kids too. Please also share your views through the comments if you have better places to recommend.
Happy Mothers' Day to all the great women out there whether you are a working mother, SAHM or single mummy. We have conceived, carried our babies for 9 months and went through the painful labor for this mini-me which brings laughter and tears at the same time. It is only when I became a mother, that I start to appreciate my mum much more. And I think all of us deserve to love ourselves as much as we care for our babies.
Thus, I start this blog not only to share my parenting experiences as a first time mum, it is also about my life as an individual and what I do when I'm not babysitting. I think all mums need to have time off by ourselves in order to keep our sanity in check. As long as we give them our full attention and love when we are with our children, we need not feel guilty with the occasional 2 hour getaway for a well deserved body massage or manicure. For mums who feel loss and stressed at times, I welcome you to visit my blog.
My son Jonas is turning 1 this month. I am working full time starting a typical day at 10.30am and ending at 9pm. By the time I reach home at 10pm, Jonas had long gone off to La-la land. So I try my best to spend my off days with him and I'm amazed how quickly time passed by. Thus my plan to blog was dragged until now. But I believe it is always better late then never.
I hope first time mums can find solace and solution from the stories I share. I would also like to log the fun activities I do and interesting places I visit with Jonas so that I can reflect on my parenting methods while he can reminisce on his childhood when he is older.
As most of the suggestions and views posted here will be based on my experiences with Jonas, I hope you will take it just as a reference as different methods work for different kids. I had gone through a lot of trial and error before I found the best solution too.
Happy reading!
