birthdays

04 March 2013

Pete’s party favours

As you know by now, keeping it simple was the name of the game when it came to Pete’s 3rd birthday party. Nonetheless, I still wanted to do something a little different for his party favours. I wanted it to be something unusual, something fun, something inexpensive and something related to the cars theme. Not asking for too much, right? Naturally, it was Pinterest to the rescue and before long, I’d stumbled across this link which was the perfect answer to my search for the perfect party favour: I would put together small DIY LEGO car sets for Pete’s friends!

First of all, I tracked down these cotton muslin bags from Blank, after double-checking that they would be big enough to fit the LEGO car template once it was printed, cut and folded. My first thought was to buy some sort of a ‘thank you’ stamp to decorate the front of the bag, but after I’d finalised the birthday invitations, I decided that all I had to do was re-create the car logo on the front of the drawstring bag with the words ‘thank you’ underneath. I tested one, and sure enough, I liked it!

A more challenging task than working out the packaging, was actually ordering the LEGO pieces that I needed. This was no mean feat – the online LEGO shop was not really an option, as it didn’t actually allow me to order the specific quantity of the exact pieces that I required. However, thanks to Google, I found this shop on Quicksales and within minutes, I’d ordered and paid for the LEGO that I required. I seriously think this shop is such a gem, and would recommend it to all mamas of boys who are interested in doing something similar down the track (I’m not quite sure if they ship internationally or not).

Once everything arrived, it was simply a matter of printing and cutting a single car template for each bag, writing up a small set of instructions to go with each kit and then putting it all together! It was honestly a lot of fun for me to come up with these party favours, and I liked that they tied in with the party invitations. The fact that I started thinking about them about three weeks out from the party helped immensely, as it meant my options weren’t limited by the time it took for things to ship and arrive, and I didn’t have to stress at the last minute like I usually do.

Now I’m just wondering whether I can get away with doing something similar for other vehicle-related party themes down the track…

16 Comments

26 February 2013

Pete’s birthday cake (sort of)

As some of you will already know, I am not much of a baker. Actually, that’s being generous. I am not a baker. I wish I were. But I’m not. And I’m okay with that. This, however, means that I haven’t actually baked a single birthday cake for any of our boys (shock, horror, I know!). With the exception of Angus’ 2nd birthday cake which Rick baked, all the boys’ cakes to date have been…’outsourced’ as I like to call it. Luckily, the boys do not seem bothered by this, and it’s definitely saved me a whole lot of stress leading up to their birthday celebrations.

This year, for Pete, I suggested to Rick that maybe we could bake cupcakes instead of having an actual cake. And so, wonderful husband that he is, he chose the perfect cupcake mix from the supermarkets and on the eve of the party, he set about mixing and baking the delicious cupcakes while I put together the party favours. I have to admit – I had a couple of mini panic attacks that evening as I began doubting (and therefore regretting) my decision to not do a proper birthday cake for Pete, and worrying about how it made me a terrible mother. But each time, my super-husband reassured me that it would be okay, and that the cupcakes would be fun.

On the day of the party, my wonder of a husband whipped up the topping as well, and I (finally) helped with icing the batch of vanilla cupcakes. If I’d had more time or headspace, I probably would’ve tried to research some creative way to decorate the cupcakes, but in the name of keeping it simple (and staying sane), we just went with the good old spatula and smeared the icing on using a method which I can only describe as being ‘freestyle’ or ‘that-looks-good-enough.’ Thankfully, I’d made some cupcake toppers the night before, so I was able to add these to make the cupcakes slightly more, um, special-looking.

All this to say that the cupcakes went down a treat with the kids – especially Pete! We gave them the chocolate ones and boy was it fun watching them get chocolate icing all over their faces and hands. Pete looked so happy and content as he took bites from his cupcake – something that I will surely remember for years to come. In fact, he ended up with a chocolate moustache and beard that had us in stitches – it was unquestionably the highlight of the party for me.

My conclusion? Simple is okay. Simple is still fun for the kids.

(Oh, and packet mix is wonderful.)

Happy birthday, Pete! We love you so much. Thank you for bringing us so much joy and laughter every single day. We are beyond blessed to have you.

24 Comments

18 February 2013

Pete’s 3rd birthday invitations

Today I want to share with you the birthday invitations I recently made for Pete’s upcoming birthday party. He’s turning three, that boy of mine, and part of me still can’t believe that my roly-poly baby has become such a big boy. In fact, I’m quite sure part of me is in denial. However, he’s so excited about starting preschool that I can’t help but share his bubbly enthusiasm. Anyway, when I asked him for ideas for his upcoming party, it was pretty clear what the theme was going to be.

Pete: “Cars.”
Me: “Not trucks?”
Pete: “No. Cars.”
Me: “What about planes?”
Pete: “Cars.”
Me: “Bikes?”
Pete: “No mummy! Cars.”

So cars it was. Seeing as I was only getting bigger and rounder every day, and less able to rush around without running out of breath (and experiencing what I can only describe as extremely painful contractions), I knew I would have to keep his party simple and easy. After a quick browse on Pinterest, I worked out that we could easily do a cars-themed party by building a race course/obstacle course of some sort, using the big cardboard boxes that Rick keeps stashed in our backyard. I’d seen Rick do something similar with our own boys on our days off, and we could easily add a cardboard petrol station and cardboard car wash if we wanted to. Naturally, Rick was completely on board with the idea.

With that in mind, the party invite itself was a no-brainer. I found a piece of thick A4 cardboard stashed away in my stationery box and asked Rick to cut it into four equal pieces for me. Because the material was so thick, the edges were left quite roughly sawn, but I didn’t mind that at all. Loved the effect of it, actually. On one side, I drew a car using a black Sharpie marker, and as an afterthought, I added the words “Party time!” which I thought worked well to balance out the simple illustration.

On the flip side, I decided to go with a simple postcard design. The ‘stamp’ in the top right-hand corner would also have a car in it, and the ‘address’ area would have our home address and party details like the time and date. Seeing as I only had to make four invites, it took me all of thirty minutes one morning whilst I watched the boys play and entertain themselves in the family room.

I just love how easy this paper project was to do, and definitely intend to recycle this idea in years to come (I didn’t even bother with envelopes as it was fun just handing out the cardboard ‘postcards’ as they were at church). The party favour bags I have in mind are also just as simple (and fun!) and I’ll share them here once I’ve had a chance to sit down and put them together.

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01 November 2012

Angus’ 4th birthday party

Here are a few of glimpses of Angus’ 4th birthday party from two weekends ago. It was a sweltering hot day, and we pulled together most of the details at the last minute, but nonetheless, we all had a great deal of fun! Rick organised all the games and basically ran the party, and I would like to say – with the biggest smile on my face – what an amazing job he did! (I’m just disappointed for his sake that we forgot to play ‘Pin the car part on the Land Rover,’ which he’d spent over an hour working on the night before.)

Anyway, due to the pregnancy, I took more of a back seat with the party organisation this time round, but I’m happy I still managed to help with the graphics and decorations. I know I said that my preparations for Jamie’s 1st birthday were last minute, but this was even more so! I literally threw together all the design elements the day before. With so little time, I concentrated on just a few things for maximum impact:

{ The balloon wall }

I got the idea for this balloon wall from Rebecca, who did something similar for Bri and Angela’s recent Blogshop class in New York (you can see it in the background of the photos). I’d emailed her asking about it, and she kindly replied with some simple instructions on how to pull it together.

Basically, all you need are balloons, a sheet of plywood and some 3M Scotch tape. If you prefer a white background, then you can paint your plywood white. Luckily for us, we had a spare white door lying around (as you do), and so I just used that as the backing (you can pick one up from Bunnings – they’re quite inexpensive). Then, all you need to do is to blow up your balloons (thank you, husband) and attach them in a random pattern with the Scotch tape (Rebecca also suggested using thumb tacks but I found that the Scotch tape managed to hold the balloons just fine for an entire day). Try and cover as much of the surface area as you can, and then just lean the plywood or door up against a wall! Voila. Minimum effort. Maximum impact!

I loved this balloon wall because I felt that it was an interesting alternative to having balloons strung up around the place. In terms of colour, I simply chose the three most vibrant colours from the variety pack that Rick had bought. I decided to cluster each colour together, and I loved the effect of it. This balloon wall is definitely something I would do again for future parties.

[click to continue…]

34 Comments

22 April 2012

The time that was and is to come

When Rick and I first got married, we used to go over to his parents’ house for lunch or dinner at least once a week. Sue, Jess and Mark – Rick’s two sisters and brother-in-law – would often be there too. Mary, Rick’s mum, would usually have something roasting in the oven, be it pork, beef or lamb. There would be also be gravy, baked vegetables, salad and apple cider. Sometimes instead of a roast, mum might make a lasagne, which would be equally delicious. Whatever she made, there would almost always be an apple or peach crumble to follow, served with creamy vanilla ice cream and a hot cup of tea. We would chat, laugh, swap stories and some of us would even catch up on a nap now and again (okay, I admit, that was often me).

Though I wasn’t aware of it then, that was a truly special time in our married life. It was through those conversations over the countless meals we shared together that I got to know Rick’s family – my family. I learnt family history, family trees, family stories, family rituals and family jokes (and boy were there many of those). I learnt why Rick is the man that he is – so expressive, so gentle, so loving, so warm and so kind – because that’s what his parents are like. I learnt that in the Mason clan, family comes first, and nothing is too much trouble if it means helping each other out. Words cannot express how blessed I felt to be included and welcomed so unconditionally into such an amazing family.

These days, we don’t often get to enjoy a family meal together at mum and dad’s place like we used to. Everyone lives further away, work commitments are more demanding and for us, having the little ones means that it’s hard to go out at night or at lunchtimes, because that’s when sleeps and naps (theirs, not ours) take place.

On Friday, however, we packed the boys into the Discovery after their nap time and made the trip to Pa and Nan’s place. It was dad’s birthday, and mum had invited us over for a family meal. We arrived to see a meat pie baking the oven, a lasagne on the benchtop ready to go, and homemade chicken nuggets for the boys. Jamie jumped straight into Pa’s arms, while Angus and Pete bustled about emptying the toy cupboard and trying to get Nan’s attention. Being the amazing grandmother that she is, Nan of course managed to keep both boys happy whilst finishing off dinner preparations. Honestly, I aspire to be like her one day.

After dinner, which was admittedly a slightly chaotic affair, we bathed the boys and put them in their PJs. Then, with much excitement, Nan brought out Pa’s birthday cake and one by one the candles were lit while the boys looked on with great anticipation. We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Pa, with both Angus and Pete joining in. In fact, as I watched Pete shout “Hurray!” along with everyone else, I was suddenly struck by how much he’d grown up in the last few months. Naturally, the boys devoured the chocolate cake (if only dinner went down as easily) and Pete even asked Nan for a second serving, that cheeky little monkey.

Even though we had to rush off after the cake and had no time for cups of tea, the family time together gave me a beautiful taste of what is to come in the future, when the boys are a bit older and can stay up later. As for now, I shall cherish this wonderfully chaotic stage of life, because this shall surely pass in the twinkling of an eye.

p.s. Happy birthday Pa! We love you to bits.

22 Comments

02 April 2012

Lessons learnt from a one year old’s birthday

Here are three things I learnt from Jamie’s first birthday and baptism celebration:

Firstly, if you have any perfectionist or OCD tendencies, you cannot organise your one year old’s birthday party in one week without giving up sleep. For the whole week.

Secondly, it is very hard to track down plain white paper cups. And by plain white cups, I mean the ones that don’t scream Dora, Wiggles, Spiderman, or Barbie. The ones that aren’t pink or pastel blue or charcoal grey or bright purple. The ones that aren’t plastic. The ones that don’t require a minimum order of 2000 because the supplier thinks you own a coffee shop or two. If you are after a niche business idea, I have the answer for you: plain white paper cups.

Lastly, if I were to star on The Apprentice, I want my husband and my father-in-law on my team. “Put those chairs in the car! Bring those two crates! Grab the gazebo! Pack, pack, pack! Drive, drive, drive!” Such were the instructions I was shouting at home about an hour before the party was due to start. Yes, one hour. And at the other end? “Put up the gazebo! I want tables here, here and there! No, I don’t want this table anymore. Move this back over there. I want that one. Yes, that one! Hang that garland up. And that one. Make it look nice. Bring that table back inside. Put up those streamers. Yes, put them close together. Yes, hang them all up. Make it look good! Ice in the bucket please. Twenty minutes to go? We need to move faster! Go, go, go!!!” Okay, slightly dramatised, but you get the picture. I was one stressed out mummy. But my amazing husband and his dad made it happen. They are legends. They did everything I asked and they helped make my vision happen. Oh, how I love them!

And so. A run through of what Team Mason did:

Believe it or not, this welcome table was an entirely impromptu setup. For some reason, it had completely escaped my very exhausted mind to have a place for the orders of service and the ‘welcome’ sign. That’s one of the prices you pay for late-night, last-minute party planning. Thankfully, I’d packed all these ‘back-up’ items (as you do, I mean, who doesn’t grab old Pepsi crates, bags of lemons and pot plants from the laundry and bathroom when leaving for your kid’s birthday?), and they sure came in handy!

The chalkboard was one that we made ourselves using a white photo frame and a spare chalkboard sticker/decal that I had in storage. Rick cut the decal down to size for me and it worked brilliantly!

This was my most favourite table of all: the party favours table!

From left to right:

  • Play Doh cone favours! Basically I made cones using white cardboard, Kraft paper and yellow washi tape. I then used yellow tissue paper to line the cones before placing a small tub of Play Doh inside. It held together really well, and I was then able to place them in the pail like a bouquet. I got the idea for Play Doh when I stumbled across a packet of nine for only seven dollars! And more importantly, they were a hit with the smaller kids.
  • Pinwheels made using the DIY tutorial and free printable from Oh Happy Day. I was stingy and didn’t want to use up all our toner to print the black stripes so made up for it with the stripy pencils from Smiggles. And guess what, they actually do spin!
  • Little bags of ‘Gold Nugget Bubble Gum’ from The Little Big Company. When I saw these on their website, I knew they would be perfect for the bigger kids, and I loved how they tied in with our yellow/vintage theme.

As for the rest of the table, I used two hessian sacks as the table cloth, and Rick’s old suitcase from when he was a little boy as a prop for the pinwheels. I’d also designed and printed some small cards to label the three different favours. We used a smaller table too so that the kids could see it at their eye level.

I actually think that the party favours were the hardest part of planning the party because I wanted to do something a bit different yet I didn’t want to spend too much. But all the mulling paid off in the end. I loved how it all turned out, and it was great that the kids got to choose more than one favour to take home!

Thank goodness Schweppes was on sale at Coles and thank goodness they have nice packaging, with colours that co-ordinated conveniently with my so-called theme. We also had bottles of mineral water on ice for the kids, along with some lemon and lime diet cordial. The metal bucket and the burlap table cloths were from Bunnings, and yes, I found my paper cups in the end. Yellow, not white.

I have to thank Facebook for all the lovely food, because it was through Facebook that I learnt that my friend Alice had just launched a sweet treats catering business. I wasted no time in contacting her and was very proud to be her very first customer!

Seriously, if you are looking to outsource the sweet foods for your next party, Alice is the one to call. Not only was she ever-so-accommodating with customising her menu items to suit my (OCD) needs, but she delivers to your doorstep and her food is divine. Everyone loved her chocolate cookies, coconut cupcakes, butterscotch madeleines, and chocolate banana brownies, and the kids particularly loved her vanilla cake pops with yellow sprinkles!

And of course, the birthday cake: an amazing coconut angel cake creation by Alice with an ever-so-fluffy sweetened whipped cream topping. It was de-li-cious. Every single bit of it disappeared. Every bit. I’m not even sure whether Mary (Rick’s mum), who was busily helping me cut the cake, managed to get a piece!

Originally, I was going to fashion mini bunting as a cake topper but at 4am in the morning, any ability to use my hands abandoned me. So instead, I simply designed, printed and cut out the letters of Jamie’s name and then stuck them onto skewers. Worked a treat! The lovely cake stand was on loan from Mary, the colour of which inspired me to bring along an aqua ‘Lunch’ sign from our family room as a backdrop for the cake.

And naturally, some photos of the boys:

In terms of what we did to keep the kids entertained and amused, that will have to be a whole other post!

p.s. You see that yellow pom pom garland you see in the background of Angus’ photo? That only took me about five or six hours to make. I refuse to throw it out because I intend to use it over and over and over and over again. You’ll see.

50 Comments

16 March 2012

Last minute party

There was once a boy called Jamie, who had the most amazing hair. This Jamie’s mummy was lazy, and left only one week to prepare….

I know, slack, right? Still, it’s meant I’ve been ridiculously productive – at least I like to think so. To be honest, I’ve never been one to put any major effort into any of our boys’ birthdays to date (ie. no party decorations, no party favours, no party games, etc.). Mainly, it’s been to preserve my own sanity. Because I know I’m such a crazy perfectionist, I’ve always figured that if I don’t set myself any expectations, then I can’t kill myself trying.

(Edit: My lovely mother-in-law just reminded me that I was heavily pregnant for both Angus and Pete’s 1st birthdays. So it seems that my laziness was ‘legit’ after all! Thanks mum, it’s nice to have some semblance of an excuse…)

Well, this year, I’ve decided to step it up. Bring it ALL on, I say (apart from the cake baking – I’m still outsourcing that one.) And might I add, I’m having the best fun!

Here are some sneak peeks of the chaos (yes, for some one who loves zero clutter, the above is currently what the floor of my studio looks like – oh well, all in the name of love for my awesome-haired boy):

Wish me luck: less than 48 hours to go!

Anyway, may you have a lovely weekend and here are some Friday links from me to you:

(Other creative spaces here.)

14 Comments

02 March 2012

Two blondies

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful response to the Jamie’s room tour. It was so nice when it all started coming together and so much fun to share it with you all. I can’t wait to put together the other room tours now! In the meantime, I have a few other columns planned and look forward to introducing them next week, including one about decluttering and getting organised (ie. Get Sorty 2.0, here we come!).

Today happens to be Rick’s birthday and we are both excited about our date night tonight! Chances are we will probably head back to Jugemu & Shimbashi for a sumptuous Japanese dinner. We just love that place and can’t seem to stay away from their delicious soba chips, spinach salad and Shimbashi rolls! We are very blessed to have wonderful parents who live in the same city and are always willing to babysit.

I just couldn’t help but share these photos of Rick and Jamie hanging out in my studio today. Jamie doesn’t get much one-on-one time with either of us, so when it does happen, it’s uber special. I still can’t get over how blonde Jamie is. There’s even some ginger in there. Whatever happened to my dominant Asian gene? (Rick’s joke is that I am running out of toner. My husband is a funny man, no?)

Some links for this Friday…

Anyway, happy Friday to you all and happy birthday to my one and only!

18 Comments

06 December 2011

Two words: Yum cha (or chicken feet)

I like yum cha. And I like chicken feet.

That’s right: I’m Chinese and slightly eccentric.

Anyway, this particular outing was in celebration of my mum’s, ahem, thirty-fifth birthday – or thereabouts. (Who am I to tell the internet my mum’s real age?)

Pete was a big fan of all the yum cha dishes, which my parents were pretty pleased to see. It’s funny how when Angus isn’t there (like on this particular Friday when he was at daycare), Pete seems to come into his own a bit more. Or maybe it’s simply that we have more time and opportunity and headspace to pay him greater attention and discern all the little things that make him the delightful boy that he is.

To my dearest mum, happy birthday and thanks for everything you do for us.

We love you!

26 Comments

17 September 2011

A heartfelt message

Happy fourth birthday Cam.

Wish you were here.

Love always,
Mum xoxo

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