Sean turns 3: Dinosaur birthday bash!
Over the Hari Raya long weekend, we celebrated Sean turning three with a birthday bash with family and friends at home.
Our dear Sean has been dreaming up this party of his for months - he had his guest list sorted and chosen the cake, candles and the dinosaur theme himself! To think he didn't even know what a birthday was a year ago!
If you know me by now, you will know I love planning parties so I gladly accepted the challenge of throwing a dinosaur party!
I went down the DIY route for most of the preparations because I couldn't really find anything I liked that didn't cost a bomb. I just wish I didn't leave everything till so late coz I was super busy and stressed in the week leading up to his party!
The rush aside, I had lots of fun with the birthday crafting. Will write more in a separate post.
Sean's birthday party was scheduled in the evening.
After we shoo-ed him to his room for his afternoon nap, I ran around like a mad chicken and put up all the decorations. I hung a blue-green birthday bunting that I had made and a new Meri Meri dinosaur garland (one of the two things I bought). I also put up a photo wall of his third year (because I couldn't narrow down to just 12 photos for the photo line I originally had in mind) which I thought would be fun for everyone to look at. I also tied up some helium balloons and blew up an inflatable Brontausaurus, a gift from Pris Yiyi two Christmases ago.
The weather was perfect for a cookout that day. Foops got a roaring BBQ going and tossed lots of chicken wings, hot dogs and tiger prawns onto the grill.
My wonderful mum also prepared spaghetti, fries (in the shape of dinosaur paw-prints, hee), deviled eggs, chicken drumlets, stir-fry veg and lemonade. There was really a lot of food to go around!
Sean woke up chirpy from his nap just as the first guests started streaming in. He wore on his special handmade birthday shirt (with the number '3') and happily welcomed his friends.
The kids donned dinosaur party hats with spikes (most of them wore it all night to my surprise!) and got busy decorating their own dinosaur cut-outs at the art and craft station I had set up.
Make your own dinosaurs
I also sewed some cute dino tails for the kids to play with during the party. The kids couldn't care less about the tails but they were strangely popular with the adults who insisted on wearing them as hats! We had very weird friends.
We also set up a small 'Ancient Snacks Corner' which was stocked with old-school snacks we ate when we were children, like the round biscuits with coloured icing sugar on it (this was the kids’ favourite!), animal-shaped biscuits, pinwheels and 'er duo bing' (ear biscuits).
My kid-phobic girlfriends cleverly parked themselves on the patio outdoors and had a fabulous party of their own! (They actually stayed till 2am chatting, even after I had crashed into bed!)
Dinosaurs and friends
I put Foops in charge of ordering the balloons (I just told him I wanted the normal helium ones) and he did a sneaky thing behind my back. He bought walking pet balloons for every kid! He came home with a weird assortment of dinosaur, frog, penguin, cow, dog and cat balloons (because he said the dinosaur ones cost a lot more than the other animals)! HAHA, it was such a funny sight!
You should have seen the mayhem when Foops unleashed the 'Dinosaur and Friends' balloons on the kids. They got in the way of everything but the kids loved them! Despite it being his dinosaur party, Sean chose a penguin and wouldn't let go ;)
Happy birthday, Sean!
Finally came the cake cutting.
We had a huge laugh trying to get a dozen wriggly kids and their wayward floaty animals into the same frame for photos. I think we may have missed a few babies/animals!
We sang the birthday song - the beaming birthday boy sang along with much gusto, made a wish (or rather, closed his eyes as per SOP) and blew out the cakes on his dinosaur-landscaped cake :)
Big thanks to the husband for baking and frosting the birthday cake (a task that was foisted on him at the very last minute by yours truly)!
We also served lemon cupcakes because I insisted on having cupcakes so I could use the Meri Meri dinosaur cupcake toppers I had bought just for the party. They have such cute wiggly eyes, I couldn't resist!
Before the party ended, I went around with Sean and made sure he thanked every one of his little guests in person and we handed out handmade crayon art folios (a modification from my previous crayon roll) for them to bring home.
Big thanks to all who came, bought huge presents (even though I told you not to), wrote/drew the sweetest cards (I am going to keep them all for Sean to read when he is older), helped cut stegosauruses/triceratops/T-rexes/brontosauruses without rolling your eyes, put up with the noise levels and crazy runaway balloons, helped to finish the wine and celebrated his special day in one way or other :)
Just like that, my sweet little Sean turns THREE YEARS OLD!
The brothers admiring the cool presents stash the morning after
PS. Click on the links to read about Sean's first and second birthdays.
PPS. Some notes on the party prep coming up next!
Our dear Sean has been dreaming up this party of his for months - he had his guest list sorted and chosen the cake, candles and the dinosaur theme himself! To think he didn't even know what a birthday was a year ago!
If you know me by now, you will know I love planning parties so I gladly accepted the challenge of throwing a dinosaur party!
I went down the DIY route for most of the preparations because I couldn't really find anything I liked that didn't cost a bomb. I just wish I didn't leave everything till so late coz I was super busy and stressed in the week leading up to his party!
The rush aside, I had lots of fun with the birthday crafting. Will write more in a separate post.
Sean's birthday party was scheduled in the evening.
After we shoo-ed him to his room for his afternoon nap, I ran around like a mad chicken and put up all the decorations. I hung a blue-green birthday bunting that I had made and a new Meri Meri dinosaur garland (one of the two things I bought). I also put up a photo wall of his third year (because I couldn't narrow down to just 12 photos for the photo line I originally had in mind) which I thought would be fun for everyone to look at. I also tied up some helium balloons and blew up an inflatable Brontausaurus, a gift from Pris Yiyi two Christmases ago.
The weather was perfect for a cookout that day. Foops got a roaring BBQ going and tossed lots of chicken wings, hot dogs and tiger prawns onto the grill.
My wonderful mum also prepared spaghetti, fries (in the shape of dinosaur paw-prints, hee), deviled eggs, chicken drumlets, stir-fry veg and lemonade. There was really a lot of food to go around!
Sean woke up chirpy from his nap just as the first guests started streaming in. He wore on his special handmade birthday shirt (with the number '3') and happily welcomed his friends.
The kids donned dinosaur party hats with spikes (most of them wore it all night to my surprise!) and got busy decorating their own dinosaur cut-outs at the art and craft station I had set up.
Make your own dinosaurs
I also sewed some cute dino tails for the kids to play with during the party. The kids couldn't care less about the tails but they were strangely popular with the adults who insisted on wearing them as hats! We had very weird friends.
We also set up a small 'Ancient Snacks Corner' which was stocked with old-school snacks we ate when we were children, like the round biscuits with coloured icing sugar on it (this was the kids’ favourite!), animal-shaped biscuits, pinwheels and 'er duo bing' (ear biscuits).
My kid-phobic girlfriends cleverly parked themselves on the patio outdoors and had a fabulous party of their own! (They actually stayed till 2am chatting, even after I had crashed into bed!)
Dinosaurs and friends
I put Foops in charge of ordering the balloons (I just told him I wanted the normal helium ones) and he did a sneaky thing behind my back. He bought walking pet balloons for every kid! He came home with a weird assortment of dinosaur, frog, penguin, cow, dog and cat balloons (because he said the dinosaur ones cost a lot more than the other animals)! HAHA, it was such a funny sight!
You should have seen the mayhem when Foops unleashed the 'Dinosaur and Friends' balloons on the kids. They got in the way of everything but the kids loved them! Despite it being his dinosaur party, Sean chose a penguin and wouldn't let go ;)
Happy birthday, Sean!
Finally came the cake cutting.
We had a huge laugh trying to get a dozen wriggly kids and their wayward floaty animals into the same frame for photos. I think we may have missed a few babies/animals!
We sang the birthday song - the beaming birthday boy sang along with much gusto, made a wish (or rather, closed his eyes as per SOP) and blew out the cakes on his dinosaur-landscaped cake :)
Big thanks to the husband for baking and frosting the birthday cake (a task that was foisted on him at the very last minute by yours truly)!
We also served lemon cupcakes because I insisted on having cupcakes so I could use the Meri Meri dinosaur cupcake toppers I had bought just for the party. They have such cute wiggly eyes, I couldn't resist!
Before the party ended, I went around with Sean and made sure he thanked every one of his little guests in person and we handed out handmade crayon art folios (a modification from my previous crayon roll) for them to bring home.
Big thanks to all who came, bought huge presents (even though I told you not to), wrote/drew the sweetest cards (I am going to keep them all for Sean to read when he is older), helped cut stegosauruses/triceratops/T-rexes/brontosauruses without rolling your eyes, put up with the noise levels and crazy runaway balloons, helped to finish the wine and celebrated his special day in one way or other :)
Just like that, my sweet little Sean turns THREE YEARS OLD!
The brothers admiring the cool presents stash the morning after
PS. Click on the links to read about Sean's first and second birthdays.
PPS. Some notes on the party prep coming up next!