Modern Jumbo Jet Birthday Party

Posted on February 17, 2021 by sara

My kids love to pick out their party themes years in advance– currently they have have selected party details until they are about 10, even if I don’t take them seriously until about 6 months prior to their actual birthday. Rush was turning 4 and knew he wanted a plane birthday- specifically a jumbo jet party. In the middle of a pandemic.

Due to the COVID restrictions in Singapore we could only have groups of 5 people gathering or 5 people over to our house, so we decided to have 2 kids and their parents over to our house. The plan was to keep it simple– cake then swimming with the kids, to get out the sugar. But as things would have it, it was a stormy day and we stayed inside. Four kids in our apartment!

The benefit to hosting the party at home was that we had more time to decorate– although I tried to hold back since it was just 2 kids + mine! These were the invites to set the mood.

I ordered a dozen inflatable planes, and hung them from the ceiling. It was a really great effect. The hardest part was finding modern planes, not vintage ones. These worked out well! I interspersed the planes with floating balloons, which added depth to the look.

His face when he saw all of the planes on the ceiling

We created airport signs for around the party, which I loved. My husband designed them, then sent them off to a printer to mount them on foam board. I think it was about $20 for all the signs (6 total). It added so much fun to the decor– worth it!

This one marked the guest’s gift– the one vintage element at the party, filled with chocolate almonds and a tiny plane.

We did create a quick game, in case of rain. The kids folded their own planes then threw them through the holes. East and one kid were really into it– the others were not. Thankfully they all sat down to color at some point, since the pool wasn’t an option.

I found these awesome airplane window decals that I had to get, so we set up our chairs to be an “airplane.” The kids sat all in a row– it was a perfect picture!

For Rush’s birthday present, we switched out his train table for a runway and got him 2 lego planes. We created the runway, got it laminated by the same printers as the signs, then my husband added lights. He loved so much really didn’t want to do much else that day!

I kept the food really simple (as we were supposed to be at the pool!) with plane appropriate packaged snacks and bottled water. I struggled for a bit with the waste of bottled waters, but with the speciality labels, I gave in.

My husband made the cake, as always! Rush wanted a chocolate plane cake, and that’s what he got! It turned out really cute.

I think it was a great birthday party and fun was had by all! Rush has said his next party will be dumplings… let’s see! 🙂

A Rainbow Unicorn Party in the time of Covid-19

Posted on March 25, 2020 by sara

Well, planning and inviting people to a birthday party during the height of a huge epidemic has been a new experience, even in super organised Singapore. While we were planning and inviting people the threat level moved to orange locally, and days before the actual party was when the United States went on lock down. But thankfully, nearly everyone who had RSVP’d made it. We did put a bottle of hand sanitiser (we made it ourselves, as it was near impossible to find!) and called them ‘unicorn tears’ and asked people to use it as soon as they entered– but didn’t manage to get a picture of it, sadly! But please know we were doing our best to be responsible as we could be with the information we had at the time.

We researched fun venues around town and finally found one that we liked, with good healthy food and supported sustainability. So we booked it (with a clause that if we went to threat level red we could get out of the contract), and sent out the invites!

Because the room was quite nice, with brick walls and curved windows, we didn’t have to do too much for the decor. Unfortunately, these great windows didn’t make for great photos, but hopefully you can see the overall effect.

We created a video that acted as decor, with unicorn themed songs that looped every 20 minutes. The idea was that it was supposed to be like a backdrop but it still sucked the kids in a bit more than we intended!

Our plan for entertainment was on the 2 tables- one with horns, coloring and tic-tac-toe, and the other with a colorful ribbon wand to make. I covered the tables in fun polka dot fabric that added some color.

We also did a round of pin the horn on the unicorn, but it wasn’t all that popular with the kids. Which was fine, honestly.

Ok, now on to the cake! My husband made it (of course) based on a picture I saw on instagram. It was beautiful and added to the decor!

The venue supplied the food and it went quickly! Chicken fingers, tofu pesto bites, guac and chips, pb and banana toast, chia pudding and yogurt cups. They didn’t have kids cups, so I found really cute rainbow cups for the kids and ended up making the tags.

Because the room had no outdoor space (and we had 20 5 year olds!) we decided we needed some additional entertainment! We found a storyteller who put on a unicorn costume and theatrically read a couple of unicorn books. She was fantastic and engaging and the kids were enthralled.

We followed the storyteller with cutting the cake– which was, of course, had rainbow layers!

The obligatory family photo! (Do you like our rainbow gear?)

Overall, a fun time was had by all!

Black and White Kitty Party

Posted on April 9, 2018 by sara

I know this is a year late in posting. I know. But in my defense, shortly after this party we had 2 international moves with 2 kids, 2 and less than 6 months. No easy feat, my friend. So posting this party fell by the way side. But this year’s party was amazing and I HAD to post. Which made me nostalgic… and here we are.

Last year I decided on a black and white cat themed party. My MIL gave me some fun wrapping paper for Christmas, which sparked an idea and the theme bloomed.

We decided with a 4 month old at home, we weren’t up for hosting, so we held the party at a nearby pre-school, which was perfect. We only had the room for so long, so I couldn’t get too crazy with the decorations, I didn’t have to worry too much about the mess, and there would toys. Done and done.

Also, because I had a 4 month old, I made and organized all the decorations, but I left it to my husband and my mother in law to set up. They did a great job.

We had a #2 balloon, which the birthday girl loved.

The table had kitty headbands, cat confetti, and labeled cups.

Let’s just say we still have some of those headbands and they were my halloween costume last year!

The food turned out super cute– swedish fish and fish crackers, cat shaped sandwiches, veggies with hummus, and rainbow fruit.

Of course with cute plates and cups!

And the kitty cat cake! My husband made it (why do I ever doubt him?).

And my very favorite photo ever–

For activities, we had a cat themed story time, and made a cat mask. And toys, of course!

It was one of our best parties– the kids loved it and it wasn’t over complicated. I’ll have to remember that for next year!

Hot Air Balloon 1st Birthday

Posted on April 2, 2018 by sara

Rush turned one back in November, and I’m just now posting the pictures- yikes, sorry! We love you just as much, little boy!

We decided to have the party in our apartment, with his little playgroup friends. Of course I still wanted to make it special– and I was so lucky that some of my daughter’s dance class mom friends really helped us out. It was amazing!

Here’s the invitation:

I had a variety of honeycomb balls and made hot air balloons and decorated them. I strung them up in front of our long window to make them look like they were in the sky, and added clouds in the window to add to the effect.

I decorated the entry way with a new born picture and a recent picture, a banner, and the take away sunshine inflatables. Not to mention the #1 balloon!

We also created a photo opportunity of a hot air balloon, with a basket and balloons.

It’s cuter with kids in it!

For activities we had a thumbprint decoration corner– they decorated their own hot air balloons (on a kids table provided by a dance mom)! We also had a ball pit (provided by another dance mom!), and a hot air balloon themed book for story time.

And… the cake. My husband made it and it turned out really well.

Although Rush got a banana cupcake instead! He seemed to like it (Once we pulled it apart).

Overall, it was a great success! The kids had fun and Rush felt celebrated!

A Moana Luau Party

Posted on March 26, 2018 by sara

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.

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.)

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

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.

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.

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?