Would you believe it, Coco#2 is turning 1 this month! How fast time has flown by! This lil’ fella is fast walking, he’s expressive, he’s good-natured, he keeps me up most nights but above all, he’s a real joy to have!
As we inch towards his birthday, I get a little antsy on what we are doing to celebrate it. Coco#2 seems to like the “Baby Shark” song a whole lot, so maybe that’s the theme we should go with. (I bet you started humming the song as you read that and if you don’t know the song, time to come out from under that rock!). Something classy like this:
Now to commission the baker to bake a shark cake. I quite like the looks of this cake.
I do feel a wee bit of pressure to make it very special and splash out cash on the themed decoration and balloons as well as the ever popular dessert table. Hire caterers to take the effort off food preparation, a photographer for memorable pictures and get the kids dressed up.
Facebook and Instagram is filled with these feeds, it seems to be something that everyone is doing! He’d love it! OR WOULD HE?
Let’s face it – the kid is 1. There’s nothing he likes more than being the rugrat that he is, crawling about the entire house and attempting his boozy walk. Anything that is in his way is just another surface to climb, be it inanimate or otherwise. Like most children, food is there to smash and put in the mouth, not to admire and take a bunch of pictures. Anything on the table is yet another thing to throw on the floor.
Loads of people have asked and I decided to have some fun so I have told 3 different stories:
- We have a picture taken 1 month back as a family against the “Happy Birthday” backdrop of a friend’s birthday. We’ll just tell Coco#2 it was his birthday. Done. #truestory
- We’ll tell him we went to Disneyland and celebrated however the cameras broke so we have no pictures but the memories live on!
- We’ll just do something small at home.
Unquestionably, these amazing parties that is all the rage now certainly make for amazing pictures and setting. This article on the Straits Times showcased the different celebrations across 4 different parents in Singapore and I was gobsmacked at the $12,000 bill one of the parents forked out. Is it worth it though to dish out anything between a few hundred to a few thousands on the baby’s first birthday, or any birthday for that matter?
Well, thankfully we’re not one to succumb to pressure and when we do, we follow the Buyerarchy’s pyramid (I first saw this on minimalistinthecity and thought, damn right!).
So this year, when Coco # 1 turned 4 and wanted a Batman party, we threw him a party that saw me DIY-ing everything from the food to the decoration. Turns out there’s plenty of ‘free printables’ of Superheroes party / Batman party and loads of fancy recipes that is quick and easy to make. Put that together with a little imagination and a (semi) willing husband, and you’ve saved a ton! I almost baked the cake even but Mr.C is a man who is wise beyond his years, he knew the ceiling of my current baking aptitude. All in all, it was fun and a success and cost us a fraction of what I have been hearing.
Coco#2, conversely, has vocal skills equivalent to a cross between a squawking bird and a lost long tribal language. I take his lack of coherent sentences as a “I don’t give a hoot about my birthday or it’s aesthetics” and I will ride on that. So it’s a party at home with family and 2 close friends and I’ll be making some delicious grub for the guests and maybe a homemade smash cake for the bub. I was not kidding about Baby Shark though so I might get some printables and do some arts & crafts with Coco#1. I think I can wrap this up nice and neat within $50 and still have a memorable time!
A memorable time! That brings me back to a time when birthday parties were always at home and mum made quite the amazing spread and baked a gorgeous old-school cake, nothing like the themed cakes now which are gorgeous in it’s own way. Ah the feeling of nostalgia and a longing for simpler times. Also a time when the birthday kid gets presents, not every single kid who attends the birthday! Goodie bags, the bane of my existence.
Author: Ms.K
Ms.K is everything that Mr.C is, without the natural interest in investing and company financials! The activity planner for the family, the driver of random ideas and soon to be ‘retiring’ in to full time motherhood – Ms.K has no idea what she’s in for but remains super excited!
Happy Birthday Coco Jr #2!!!!
Similarly, Ashton’s 1st birthday is approaching so I am also in the midst of planning something for him. Yes I know, those dessert table are so ridiculously priced and I am thinking of DIYing it. Won’t be as pretty but hey, it’s the effort that counts right?
Lol…
At least that is what we will tell them 😉 Is Ashton an October baby?
Nope, November 🙂
Ah right, close enough haha! Bub turns 1 in a few days and I’ve been under the weather. Let’s see what I can put together for this Sunday’s do 😀