Hayley's 1st Birthday

As you would have known, we celebrated Hayley's birthday at a friend's restaurant. We booked 3 tables and prepared a 7 course lunch to cater to our close family and friends. Like all celebrations, there would surely be happy and unhappy moments.

Well, let's talk about the unhappy moments first so that I can end the post with the happy stuff :-). Like all parties that involves food, the most common problem is having friends who accepted the invite and then declined at the very last min - aka 'kite flyers'. 3 close friends did that to us so we were rather upset. Although they have valid and genuine reasons but we still can't help but feel upset but of course we do not blame them. So we ended up with only 7 or 8 people at each table with lots of food to spare. Thankfully we invited all close friends so they don't really mind packing back the leftovers else the food would have gone to waste and we do not condone food wasting!

Apart from the above, it was happy moments all the way :-).

Although with only a few friends and families, it was fun nonetheless. Everyone came on time except my mom who had to work so she arrived 30 mins late and everyone was waiting for her with growling stomach. I have 2 pregnant women at the party (both due in May), 2 moms whose babies are born in 2008 (both younger than Hayley) and another 2 moms whose kids are above 3. So the moms-to-be and the new moms and the veteran mom have lots to share and talk about :-). There were lots of kids and babies there to play with too.

I also invited Hayley's babysitter so that she could meet my family. Having aunty there really helped. She helped me feed and watch over Hayley when I had to entertain my friends. The usually friendly Hayley was rather shy on her birthday. She didn't allow anyone to carry her (at least not instantly). She needed time to warm up but thankfully she didn't cry when others insisted on carrying her. As usual, to keep her occupied to her seat, we have to bribe her with food :-).

Hayley tasted cakes for the first time on her birthday (well this is as far as I know as I am not sure if aunty ever fed her with cakes before at her place). We gave her both the cupcakes as well as the jelly cake. We gave her a little bit of each to let her try and she enjoyed them as usual (she'll eat anything and everything - proven from the fact that she ate an ant!). Even though she knew how to blow into the whistle, unfortunately she doesn't know how to blow the candle. She thought they were toys and wanted to reach for them. I had to blow the candles on her behalf and of course cut the cake for her.

Here are some of the special things I prepared for the party (apart from the cake of course):

1. A thank you gift pack for kids (I bought stationery, sticker pictures and M&Ms chocos). I wrapped them up nicely in wrapping papers. I also tailored made the cards with the special cartoon characters that the kids like. Eg Cadence like Barney, Ying Hui likes Winnie the Pooh etc. The gift was given to kids age 3 and above. Unfortunately I did not get anything for babies as I didn't know what to get for them. Sorry friends with babies :-(

2. Twin cupcakes for the adults nicely wrapped in a box which I ordered from Yummies By Audrey. They were specially designed in conjunction with Valentine's Day. If you visit Audrey's blog, you will also see Hayley's cup cakes being posted there :-). As for the thank you card, I did it myself using photo paper and photo printer. I even translated the message into Mandarin (for some of our Mandarin speaking friends) although I don't know how to read them :-). I used the free online translation tools and got some of my colleagues to check.

The party started around 1.30pm and ended around 3.30pm. We wanted to stay longer to chat but we have to respect the restaurant's break time which is from 3 - 6pm. The kids were happy to receive presents. Cadence my 4 year old niece even asked me 'yi yi, how come no present for my little sister?'. I had to explain to her that the presents are not suitable for Caitlin and she nodded her head. What a good little girl she is.

Hayley knocked off immediately in the car on the way back. Nothing I do will wake her up. It was quite funny and rare. She's not really the type who will fall asleep on her own. I guess the air conditioning and the rocking movement of the car really does the trick. Anyhow, it was tiring for her and us as well.

Here are some more photos to share (I am being featured here for the very first time :-)). As I have not received all the photos yet, I will share more in the 2nd post once I have received them:

The birthday girl

With her favourite pose - the pouty lips or ''chu chui' (pigs mouth)

The gorgeous 3kg jelly cake that cost us RM135

The 3 of us

My best bud Jessie and me (look at the bun in her oven :-))

Every successful party would not have been successful without the help and support of friends and families. Therefore, we would like to thank the following from the bottom of our hearts:

1. Andrew & Alexis for buying the 2nd birthday cupcakes and bringing them to us on purpose on Friday night. They were yummy (all the guests said so) and beautiful. Uncle Andrew is like a godfather to Hayley. He's also the Santa Claus as he often brings her gifts :-)

2. Dino (Jessie's hubby) for being my photographer for that day. Dino is now into photography and recently bought a new DSLR camera and the photos he took are beautiful. His first baby will arrive in May and the camera would come in handy to capture those special moments :-). They are expecting a girl with a pointy chin and big round eyes, just like her mom!

3. My sis Ai Nee for helping me collect the cupcakes from Audrey all the way from Mon't Kiara.

4. My eldest sis Alice for the cool Adidas shoe for Hayley.

5. Jodie for giving me discounts for the food, recommending yummy dishes and making sure everything turned out well :-). Everyone said the food was good and I am glad to hear that.

6. All our dear friends (Jane, Ling Yi, Samm, Kin Fei, Samson, PCK, Hock, Bro Chuen, Bro Chuen's wife and son, Dino, Jessie, Jodie, Jadrian and families (my mom, both my sis and tuaso - aka my eldest sis in law) who attended the party and showered Hayley with lots of kisses, hugs, good wishes and angpows!

And guess what, I was told that 14 February 2010 is also the first day of CNY. So it will be 3 happy occassions for us in 1 day next year. She sure is born on a very special date! HEHE