Bubsy's First Birthday

Found this pic somewhere on the internet! Wished i had done this for bubsy's first because he loves Pororo!

Planning bubsy's first birthday was tricky, as I needed to cater to the needs of both the Singaporean and Korean side of the family. The Korean in-laws are very fussy and reckoned that their food is the best in the world. Hence, if we chose a local Chinese restaurant, would they be unhappy? After contemplating, we decided to book at Tung Lok Seafood Restaurant, as their food is famously delicious. Hopefully, the in-laws would be unable to resist ^^ To make it fair, we decided to hold a Korean-themed party at a Chinese restaurant.

As bubsy was born on the 30th of July which falls on a Monday this year, we decided to hold the party a day earlier. We went for Tung Lok's a-la-carte lunch buffet. Everyone enjoyed the buffet tremendously, as they were able to control what they eat, and ordering what they liked. I preferred an a-la-carte buffet because then I did not have to walk up and down to get my food. Entertaining the guests was tiring enough! It's good that the food was served directly to me ^^  I was relieved that the in-laws also loved the food, saying that it was the best food they had in Singapore so far.

The venue of the party was at the new Orchard Central Shopping Centre. As I was in Perth when I planned all this, I kept in contact with the restaurant manager, Nelson, via email. When I asked Nelson if I could decorate the restaurant with balloons and banners (knowing full well that there would be other guests dining for lunch), he said that the restaurant allowed decorations but advised me to visit the restaurant first before planning a huge decoration. However, we were all in Perth!!! Hence, I just planned a small simple deco.

The party was supposed to start at 10am, but we all overslept because we got home really really late from Batam the previous night!! In fact, I was woken up by a phone call from Bengawan Solo's delivery guy. He had arrived at the restaurant to deliver the birthday cake, but as we weren't there, the restaurant did not know who the cake belonged to!! (The restaurant reservation was in my mum's name, and the cake order was in my name, so the restaurant staff could not find my name on the reservation list) Everyone, including bubsy, was still asleep when I got up at 9am. Hussy quickly made the flower balloon formation because he had to go to the hotel where my in-laws were staying to pick them up.

As it was a Korean themed party, I got all my party supplies from The Korean Baby. I was delighted when the packages first arrived from Korea. The service was great and the packages arrived well ahead of the party, even though I made the orders late. Thanks Jen, from The Korean Baby, for all your hard work!

I ordered a DIY banner and balloon package, and customised teaspoon and fork gift set to thank our guests for coming. The quality of the products were topnotch. We could definitely re-use the  Korean balloons for many more years to come ^^

The teaspoon and fork favours were of the highest quality. The uncles and aunties commented that they couldn't bear to use the teaspoon and fork because it looked so nice. Aunty Agnes even rang my mum on Monday night just to talk about the teaspoon and fork for a good 30mins!

I actually planned to make the flower balloon formation using the five balloons like the example shown online -

Source: http://www.thekoreanbaby.com/pop.php?f=/item_images/basic%20balloon%20package%20boy_.jpg

However, as we all woke up terribly late, hussy only had time to make a smaller version of the flower formation, using just three balloons. In his haste, he did not tie the balloons securely. By the time we got to the restaurant by taxi, one of the flowers had lost one of its' "petals".

We were huffing and puffing like mad when we arrived at the restaurant. My two cousins were in-charged of putting up the balloons and banners. Fortunately, we were nearly done with the decorations when the first guests arrived! As bubsy loves penguins, my MIL also bought a Pororo birthday banner to add to the decoration.

The restaurant has a great ambiance too, and as it was located right in-front of the elevators on the 11th floor, it was not hard to locate. There was an open rooftop garden outside, and large restaurant entrance, so the children had lots of space to play. The kids even stole some of my balloons down from the wall to play with! Hrmpf....

The food was great too. Unfortunately, I was too busy entertaining the guests that I did not have time to take pictures of the food, but trust me, it was sooo good!

There's nothing on the floor. They're just hiding their faces from the camera!

Have I already mentioned how great the food was? Everyone was eating non-stop! ^^

 

Our Korean guests. Unfortunately they couldn't stay long as they owned the Red Pig Korean Restaurant at Amoy Street, and had to leave early to prepare for the restaurant's opening at night =(

With bubsy's god-parents Ron & Cassandra, and my bestie Juliet

My cousin Tristan with my in-laws

Not forgetting, the birthday boy!

Bubsy wearing the 타요 sunglass that my in-laws bought



Bubsy and his signature pose for the camera

 

I actually wanted a durian cake, but my in-laws said that durian smelt like ikan bilis (anchovy). In the end, I ordered a cake from Bengawan Solo. As bubsy loves penguins to bits, I wanted a Pororo cake but my mum reckons that if bubsy sees us cutting the penguin cake, it'll look like we're killing the penguin. She didn't want bubsy to think that killing animals were fine *sighs*  Hence, I chose a good old train cake. I had four flavours to choose from - Chocolate, Vanilla, Coffee, and Pandan. As I knew that some of my cousins did not like Chocolate or Coffee, and Vanilla was too plain, and Bengawan Solo was famous for their Pandan cakes, I went with the latter. It was a good choice too as everyone praised the cake - it was buttery soft and rich in pandan flavour. Also, the cake wasn't too sweet. It was a good way to introduce a new and unique flavour of Singapore to the in-laws. The outer layer of the cake was blue, but the pandan cake was green inside.

We all sang 'Happy Birthday' in English, Mandarin and Korean. Good thing Juliet left earlier, otherwise she would be the only one singing in Malay.

Let me eat the balloon!

Bubsy received heaps of gifts too, and his favourites were a cute rabbit necklace from his great-granny, and a Pororo ABC car (he loves the Korean songs) from his 할머니 and 할아버지.

Thanks to all the uncles and aunties for all the great gifts and angpaos.

Bubsy received lots of Korean money too! There's so much Korean money that I already can't resist spending it all on our Korean trip this Saturday. ^^

It was a great party and I wished that it could have lasted forever!!! Imagine eating all that food everyday. My in-laws were also sad to leave Singapore last night, but they were looking forward to meeting bubsy and I again this weekend.

Til then, au revoir and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBSY!