The chalet is really cool! You get an individual bungalow with attached verandah and BBQ pit although car park is shared. But the car park is off limits to visitors who have to park their cars further away and walk over. I think this is to ensure that there are enough lots for the people who stay over. Walking into the chalet, there is ample space to entertain on the ground floor with the huge living area, dining area, open concept kitchen and bathroom. The 2 bedrooms are on level 2 with another shared bathroom. Although it is indicated that 8 people maximum can be housed in the bedrooms according to the website, I would advice against that as I find the beds too small to be able to sleep two. Of course unless both of you can sleep zombie-style throughout the night, wink*. This is how the chalet looks like.
We are abit behind time in checking in so had to rush to do the deco once we reach. Luckily we chose to keep everything simple and deco involves only putting up his Happy Birthday banner and photos of him growing up from Day 1. I spent a lot of time to look for suitable decorations for the event but had a hard time finding stuff I like until I decided to search online. In the end I ordered from this shop called ' The Party Stuff. They have a wide range of party deco to choose from and also have physical shops in 4 locations. Good place for balloons or special themed candles. While putting up his pictures, it brings back a lot of our memories of the past year.
Neo Garden catering came to do table setup at 3.30pm. The birthday cake came at the stipulated time of 4pm. I ordered a 2.5kg fresh vanilla cream cake in the shape of the number 1 from Cake Avenue. Then came the hiccup. The fridge is too small and the cake can't fit in! I tried all possible means and after constant failure, my last resort is to put it in one of the air-con rooms (which is also the suggestion from the people from Cake Avenue) and kept checking it throughout the party. Luckily when we cut the cake at 7pm, the cake still looks and taste quite alright.
Neo Garden came with the food at 4.30pm (very punctual delivery).
I didn't have time to change my own clothes but "I can't see people" without my makeup so quickly I put on some basic makeup and the party starts.
As both my husband and I need to go around and interact with the guests and also look after Jonas, I engaged the help of my sister Ashley to be photographer of the day. Many thanks to her for taking nice pictures of everybody. Jonas fell asleep along the way I guess he was just too tired. He is happy most of the time except when unfamiliar people tried to carry him, he'll cry.
We opted to go for catering cum BBQ that day but think we ordered too much food from catering. We ordered for 45pax in the end still left with a lot of food which we gave some away to the guests. Most people left at about 8pm while only a few of my husband's friends stayed for the BBQ and for mahjong after that. When mahjong session finally ended around 11pm and we got Jonas settled down for the night, both of us were totally drained. We were fortunate to have my mother in law stay over with us as she'll take over looking after Jonas when we are tired.
Only the 3 of us stayed with Jonas at the chalet. I thought it will be better if more friends and family could stay but it was Monday the next day and the children had to attend school. Most of our friends have young kids to look after too so they also can't stay. As a result, we are able to stay very comfortably as we have this huge space all to ourselves. :)
The day had been a roller coaster ride for us having to rush for time. But I am glad we are able to make it a memorable event for Jonas afterall.
Some experience gained from the event that I'll like to share with everyone.
1) Always try to find out more information about the venue. For my case, if I know beforehand that the fridge is small, I would have requested for it to be delivered closer to cake cutting time. Or maybe prepared other methods of storing the cake. The birthday banner I bought was also too short but too wide such that the guests have to be careful lest they get tangled up with the hanging mobiles beneath the banner. This was our first time using the services of this chalet so we are not familiar with the spaces which are allowed for decoration within the chalet premises.
2) Always order catering much less than required especially if it is done concurrently with a BBQ. The portions given for the mains like pineapple rice or bee hoon are usually a lot so it is safe to order about 10-15pax lesser than your guest list to prevent food wastage. We have a lot of last minute no show resulting in plenty of leftover food. Thus it is also important to do a final RSVP with guests 1 week prior to your event and make changes to the food accordingly. And do buy some plastic food containers to store the food because caterers do not provide them anymore due to some government regulations about food safety.
3) Have your baby rested well before the event so that he'll be awake and happy during the event. Jonas wasn't able to have his afternoon nap that day as we have to go out early to buy our BBQ food before checking in. Then he was also too excited about going out he can't sleep. So he fell asleep during the party with my husband carrying him but we are lucky he woke up when it's about time for cake cutting :)
4) Ask someone you trust to do photo taking on the day as you will be too busy over many other things. With my sister to help, I have one less issue to be worried about and managed to spend more time with Jonas on his day.
5) If you plan to do a chalet, make sure you get someone trustworthy and also close to your child to stay over in the chalet. In this case, it is my mother in law I have to thank for taking over looking after Jonas when we are tired. I think we will be much more drained out if she wasn't there to help.
All in all, Jonas's 1 year old celebration has been a great learning experience and an enjoyable event.
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