A while back, it was our little one's birthday. It was a particularly joyous thing for me because it means I won't be having 2 under 2...whee~ I don't know whether it is a parent thing, but I totally overlooked my own birthday being so focused on his, my husband even had to remind me that I should be getting a cake for myself too. Due to a death in the family, our celebration had to be more subdued.
But he is at a age where all birthdays are exciting days. So I thought I would still get him a banner (tone down from the balloons arch), a simple cake (instead of a customised one) and keep the celebration within the closed family. Interestingly, we ended up spending more cos we spurged on the food and made sure all our guests were very luxuriously fed.
The little one's birthday fell on a weekday and we decided to proceed on the actual day itself since the husband wanted to eat at Keng Eng Kee, which was really popular. Booking was quite difficult because we wanted the aircon room so I basically called them a few times before I could actually reach them.
It does look like a feast for a wedding banquet instead of a birthday. From right to left,
- * Claypot Seafood - Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber, Scallop and Prawns (Large - $58.80)
- Signature Moonlight Horfun (Large - $19.80)
- * Claypot Pork Liver (Large - $24.80)
- * Golden Pearl Roll (Large - $24.80)
- * Coffee Pork Ribs (Large - $32.80)
- * "Choy Hiang" Beancurd (Large - $26.80)
- Chinese Spianch with Eggs of 3 Kinds (Large - $22.80)
- * Salted Egg Squid (Large - $34.80)
- Crab Meat Broth with Fish Maw and Sea Cucumber (Large - $79.80)
- Yam Basket - $24.80
We picked the Fruit Charlotte (around $50) from Rive Gauche, partially because we had a discount voucher and I ever bought one for my father's birthday and it was pretty good. To be honest, normally I would have gone for the cakes with the icing and all, no thanks IG for making us mothers feel that there should be the way birthday cakes for our children should be.
My son really enjoyed this cake because he love fruits. He was caught in numerous photos pinching some fruits of the cake. His mouth was always moving, LOL! Not only did the cake looked really unique, it tasted good as well. Special thanks to the staff for advising on a slightly smaller cake because we were all so stuffed, we could only eat a tiny slice after the meal.
A year back, I bought a birthday set (S$115) from A Tea Box Tale for myself in advance. I don't know why I am crazy like that. But I ended up struggling to use it this year because the husband was not into such stuff and I spent my birthday at a staycation. So I decided that this would be the entree for my son's birthday. We had to break the meal into 2 days cos there was too much.
My son really enjoyed the tea set (est. $30), nuts and cheese platter (est. $35), Petite Mango Passionfruit cake from Twelve Cupcakes ($23.80) and a bouquet of flower (est. $25). Initially the flowers were supposed to be balloons, but they didn't survive the trip and the vendor replaced them with flowers, LOL. They probably thought our LO was a young lady, but luckily this chap loves flowers. I am not sure how the vendor even broke even cos I tried to allocate a cost to each item and somehow it doesn't seems she is profitting from my order.
The guests did ask us what to get for him, don't get me wrong I don't want to sound entitled, but this boy has a lot of things already. And I am also at a stage I enjoy presence more than presents. The husband and I got him a water dispenser which we knew he would adore (and make a mess, sigh) and colouring pens because I wanted to expose him more tot the arts.
The other folks got him bubble solutions (at my request cos he was into bubbles and it slipped my mind to get it for him), a nice little tux (from my bro) and my father got him some clothes too. The rest gave him ang paos. I also made special effort to wrap the presents despite my green efforts because I think kids still enjoy the surprise element. I didn't want my personal causes to deprive him of the simple joys in life.
Thank you for sharing in our joy, remember birthday celebrations don't have to be elaborated. It is celebrating together that matters.
