Small K turned 6 this May and it coincided with Singapore's Circuit Breaker, in line with containing the whole Covid situation. 2 months prior to the circuit breaker, I was still planning on which cake to get him and had even ordered in little gifts for his friends. But ALAS! when the news came, my heart sank to the pits of my stomach. How is my little boy going to get an epic party? If you know me long enough, you know that I will only throw big parties during crucial years like 1st month as well as 6years old. Six is significant as it marks the end of his preschool, the end of those chubby cheeks, and the start of a new journey. I had to make it memorable. His older sister had the most epic DIY Alice in Wonderland party 2.5 years ago, so how can I not do likewise for my little boy? Crestfallen, my heart broke. Distressing news came in shortly that even home bakers and confectionaries had to stay low. WHAT? NO CAKES? This was bad. I quickly packed my feelings and told myself that perhaps I could bake him a cake. I'm no baker and to be honest., I suck at it in fact. The only cake I could probably bake was a no-bake cheesecake. However, guess what? Cream cheese is a commodity these days and I could not find any!
Not willing to be defeated by the situation, I was determined still to make things as grand as they could. So here's how we hosted our new normal birthday party at home!
THE ONLINE ZOOM PARTY
Things aren't compromised. The highlight for his party was a 30minutes online magic show by Singapore's favourite magician, Mr Bottles! Imagined Small K's joy when I shared the news with him. He was feeling like bubbles in soda water. A magic show online was exactly what I needed to tame 30 children. This was such a perfect plan. I mean how else was I able to mute all 30 chatterboxes erm, I mean adorable children? I certainly can't handle a crowd of 30 or more should this had been an offsite party. Imagine rambunctious shrieks of 30 children running amok at a party! I don't think I can handle that well. Nothing would engage children other than a good magic show. It was pure genius for Mr Bottles to come up with this alternative. And engage was exactly what he did for the full 30 minutes. Laughter reverberated through my walls even though his friends were all seated comfortably in their homes. Fascinated, the little ones were all transfixed, gazing at the sight that lay before them. They stared in wide-eyed wonder each time Mr Bottles whipped up a new trick. Small K was particularly enthralled by Mr Bottle's little pet bird and the song was etched in his mind till today. All of us were thrilled to bits by the world of magic. A quiet joy filled my heart as I saw how the kids squealed in delight. That twinkle in Small K's eyes was something I would not forget. The boy was so keyed up about the magic show that he refused to sleep unless I replayed the whole party for him. Nice that ZOOM has a record function and all was videoed down for FREE! I needn't get a videographer or a photographer for the event!
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| Beaming from ear to ear |
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| Bursting out into laughter every other second |
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| Some of his little friends. So happy to be able to get everyone online! No headaches, no limits! |
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| Small K has been singing "I am a bird" every single day for a week after his birthday! |
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| Love it that Mr Bottle's tricks aren't the usual run in the mill, pull a bunny out of the hat kind of tricks. |
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| Got him our favourite Oreo Cheescake from @catandthefiddle. So happy that the ban on confectionaries was lifted shortly before our big day! |
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| Singing song and cutting the birthday cake with all his little friends. Memorable. |
THE DECO & GAMES
The boy decided on the theme -- PJ mask. Ok, that's easy! Much more stuff available compared to what the Big sister had wanted 2.5years ago. Being stuck at home all day meant that I had more to manage and do. Cooking and chores were the least to say. I had to work from home and yet find time to prepare his props. Fortunately, the nature of my work allowed me to multitask a bit and I was snipping away his props as I conducted my work via ZOOM. I knew I had to create a nice backdrop for him, as that was going to be our virtual backdrop. He wasn't gonna have any standees or a dessert table like his sister and that ate me up so much.
I made did a few game stations with the intent of giving him the entire package as well as sneaking in a bit of learning fun. Learn through play is after all one of my mottos when it comes to teaching kids. He was spoilt for choice and was eager to do all the stations in a day. However, we ran out of time and had to split the activities over two days.
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| crack the code |
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| punch a prize and before you get a prize, you'll have to do something. *evil grin* |
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| Told him to spell my name backwards and he wrote the word 'MOM' in this fashion! Hilarious |
Quivering with excitement, he did a "Punch a prize" game to earn his birthday prizes. Evil mommy here had to include some literacy tasks before he could get that prize! But, there were no complaints, the kids were simply fired up.
Their senses were probably awakened the next day when I announced that they could create Sticky Splat which was what we would know as SLIME. Their faces flushed with such aura of joy. It made me feel that all the late nights were worthit.
Papa bear also played his part. I made him captain of our obstacle course. I mean afterall, we are talking about the PJ mask who would go into the night and save the day right? We also did a small treasure hunt. Exhilarated, the kids dashed all over the house in search of the clues.
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| So happy after finding all the clues! |
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| He was learning about nouns and adjectives, so I thought, why not infuse it into our game? *evil grin again* |
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| To qualify as a night ninja, you need to know how to decode. So a "crack the code" game it shall be. |
THE GIFTS
I had planned to order in his favourite dish for that day -- CRABS. But things had to be shelved as we were blessed with so much food that day! From more than a dozen donuts & a truckload of curry puffs from a lovely online friend, to a special delivery from Aunty Nat which covered our dinner. We were so touched, no words could express our thanks. Desserts coming from Aunty May and Aunty Angie also put smiles to the birthday boy's face. Pure happiness was welling up within him. He felt like a superstar that day. Not to mention all the gifts which came, including a nicely timed one from Aunty Ashlyn which he proclaimed to be epic. He commented, "Why is everyone sending me food today? is it because they know I like to eat and would like me to be fat fat?" Yes baby. That and because we are so blessed and you are so loved.
Aunty Celine and Aunty Cindy also surprised us with not one but two cakes. So thoughtful of them to keep Big K in mind. In addition, they got me covered for breakfast the next day as well! I was so filled with gratitude, I could cry! While having our weekly Circuit Breaker @celine_tan_ x @deeedeedee13 x @themishmashmess Zoom workshop later that day, the duo even surprised Small K with a birthday song (complete with Ukulele accompaniment) and got in cakes for everyone! The children were cramming forkfuls of adorable cakes from @littlehouseofdreams into their insatiable mouths even before they swallowed the previous bite. All these over ZOOM! How cool and memorable is that?
POST PARTY BIRTHDAY DINNER
One of Small K's favourite food is Crabs. This boy enjoys seafood as much as his mother. I simply had to gift him a claw or two. That was in fact what my parents did each year for my birthday when I was younger. We often went to the club and feasted on my favourite Sri Lanka chilli crab. With the circuit breaker, I was initially bummed that we could not have the luxury of dining out at our favourite joint. But a quick search and I found 8crabs! Freshly cooked Sri Lankan crab delivered to me in an hour! They are the only company in Singapore using grade AAA premium Sri Lankan sourced wild crabs. This is as opposed to most restaurants which farm their crabs. Most breed their crabs in confined space and this caused the crabs to be stressed. When stressed, they produce ammonia, which is a sign of decomposition of seafood! As a result, most restaurants use highly fragrant gravies to cover up the ammonia smell.
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| This wasn't even the largest size available and look how huge it is! |
I am very particular about the freshness of my seafood and I must say that I found no such ammonia smell in the crabs from 8crabs. To ensure freshness, their crabs are caught, flown, prepared and delivered to you within 12 hours. Usually, I would go for chilli crabs because that's usually the safest bet, but I decided to give the salted egg a go. No regrets! The gravy was so sumptuous, it had us licking clean our plates! In all honestly, I am not a huge fan of salted egg stuff. I find them a tad overpowering in most cases. But, this dish proved otherwise. Not a single drop of the gravy was left! We drank them all! Even Big K who is not a fan of seafood, was asking for a bite. The delivery was also commendable. I had requested for our food to be delivered between 7-8pm. And at 715pm, I dropped them a text, half expecting them not to reply promptly. Within 5minutes, a reply came, informing that our delivery was picked up and on the way! They apparently have a one driver to an order policy across their 12 kitchens island-wide so that they can uphold their promise of One Hour Crab Delivery. No wonder the food arrived warm and not soggy! This is totally life-changing! To be able to enjoy our crabs in the comfort of our homes! No more need for looking unglam whilst eating those crustaceans at a restaurant. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be the last time I order in seafood!
So just like that, my little boy turned 6. I'm really quite emotional over it. 6 is an age when they turn into a big boy overnight. Would I still be able to sing silly songs with you? Or cuddle up with you each night? Would you still be a sweetheart and kiss mama every morning when I am still in bed? Oh somebody please pass me the tissue! It feels even more emotional this round compared to when Big K turned six. On to the next stage of adventure my dear boy.
Happy 6th Birthday! May you be 快快乐乐 each and every day, just like how we named you.
