Quarantine Weekend Theme-China

Can you believe this our 8th post about our themed weekends? Which means we’ve had 9 themed weekends (the first 2 were combinesd, Easter + Indoor Camping) and 10 weekends in quarantine. I’m honestly not hating it, but also, I’m ready for a change.

This weekend, the kids asked for a China theme. They are in an English/Chinese bilingual program at school, but I really think it was an excuse to eat dumplings. They loved them when we had them with the Singapore weekend, and have been asking for them ever since. Christian and I lived in Mainland China and, of course, in Hong Kong, so we were happy to oblige.

Thankfully we had some Chinese New Year decoratons, so we pulled out our lanterns and pineapples. Then after much deliberation, we decided to use whiteboard markers on the glass to draw the Great Wall and Chinese pagoda and temple. It was a bit subtle, but still added to the fun. We debated over washi tape and paper, but, honestly, this came together pretty easily.

The kids usually go out Saturday morning, to give Mama a minute to wake up and work out. Recently Papa has been taking them out, so this Saturday he took them to the market. My huband and kids love the wet market, with fruit and vegetables, fresh fish and cooked food. They had a little adventure, even in the rain.

They got some fruit and rice rolls, plain, shrimp and pork. The kids chowed down on the red dragon fruit, lychees and rose apple/cashew apple (one of my favorites, yet I’m still not sure of the name), but the rolls were the favorite. I also love the peanut dipping sauce.

Next they got to make thier own hand pulled noodles, for lunch. Any time my kids get to play with dough, they are pretty much in. After making the dough, they were able to stretch and then put to dough in boiling water.

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A Moana Luau Party

I thought I had another couple of years before character themed parties took over. But Moana was one of the first movies my daughter saw and it stuck with her. She started asking for a Moana birthday in October– about 5 months before her actual birthday– so I knew I was stuck. What was a momma to do but acquiesce? She also decided to re-wear her Halloween costume, and come to her party as Moana. Sure, why not?

Since she didn’t see much of the invite (it was sent out via What’s App by mommy) I was able to use the more stylised Moana.

invite

We decided to hold the party by the pool, as it offered a beautiful back drop. Sadly, the function room was not in fantastic shape (from many past parties, taping decorations to the walls) so we had to be creative about how we could make the room look inviting, in theme, and cover the mess.

I knew I wanted to make Tifiti– I had an example on Etsy, and we figured it out. We painted a green sheet, added a balloon and leaf crown, vines and flowers. This was on the back wall, in front of the food, so you couldn’t miss it! I added foil balloons to the side, to add more coverage.

tifiti 2

tifiti

We also found rolls of brown butcher paper and painted tiki mask faces to cover the side walls. There were 7 different designs.

mask

masks 2

And in front of the drinks and present table, I used Happy Birthday Banners (bought on Etsy). And I also added a picture of East when she was born and one from her recent photoshoot. She’s grown so much!

banners

We also replicated Moana’s boat, for the kids to sit in, like a photo booth. We had a little kids boat, made it bigger with card board boxes and covered it with the brown butcher paper. My husband made the sail with muslin and dow rods. The boat was flanked by blow up palm trees, which didn’t make an appearance in the pictures. We, naturally, had to include Heihei!

boat

boat 2

For activities we had a coloring table, a cornhole game in the shape of Tomatoha (I didn’t get a great shot of him, despite all of my work! You can see another glimpse of him here) and Hulu dancers who taught the kids and performed. coloring

cornhole

hula

For the drinks for the kids, we found these great coconuts and pineapple cups– with lids! The flower straw added a lot of fun. (We also had Moana playing in the corner, in case kids needed a breather.)drinks and movie

And for food we had pork sliders, hawaiian pizza, fish crackers, ‘driftwood’ pretzels, fruit salad and veggies. food

And.. the cake! Here I had to use the traditional Moana, or I’d be in trouble. I bought the sign on Etsy. My husband made the cake– can you believe it? I asked for the wooden cake stand for our anniversary — it all turned out really well.

cake

blowing candles

Instead of a giving away bags at the end, we incorporated the take homes into the theme– flower crowns and clips, fans (it’s really hot in Singapore!) , and the cups.

rush

fans

girls drinking

All and all the party was pretty epic– and not just because we had over 20 kids running around! My daughter hasn’t stopped talking about it — and is already talking about her next Dino birthday! Sigh! Give Mommy some time to recover, eh?

family