Drayden's 2nd Birthday - A Sesame Street Sunday!

In a blink of an eye, the time is here again for Drayden's second Birthday Party! Last year, we threw him a Cookie Monster themed party amongst near and dear friends at Fairy Point Chalet 5, located in Aloha Changi. It was a festive yet cosy celebration for our beloved son turning one.

This year, the initial plan was to throw Drayden an Elmo-themed birthday party, a very fitting transition we felt, after last year's Cookie Monster party. Drayden is also extremely fond of the red furry monster. In fact, "Elmo" was one of Drayden's first words!

But as plans developed and more ideas came about during the party planning process, we realised it would be so much more fun to have a generic Sesame Street themed party! It was a great decision, as we found out, because there was so much more potential in terms of party decor, favors and the menu! And oh-so-colorful, too!

So a Sesame Street party it was for Dear Drayden that's turning TWO!

Come on along, as we bring you on a journey before and during our Sesame Street Sunday!

It was an easy decision to select the venue for the party. We're such big fans of the huge outdoor areas the chalets in Aloha Changi offer, that after last year's Fairy Point Chalet 5, this year there were two obvious options left for us: either Fairy Point Chalet 7 or the Changi Cottage.

But I was not keen on the size of Fairy Point Chalet 7 - I felt it was more suitable for bigger events, like weddings. And since we were determined to scale down this year's guestlist and keep it strictly to friends we have remained in touch with since last year's party, Changi Cottage felt like the better and more suitable choice. Plus, I have done children parties there before, and have always loved the huge size of the outdoor area - perfect for tables and chairs and outdoor toys and also safe for the children to run around! The indoor area, as I remember, is roomy enough to house the indoor activities and party stuff we'll be having.

The bulk of the party will be held outdoors anyway, where the guests tables and food section will be arranged, and the rented toys and other activities will be placed, so the huge lawn area of Changi Cottage is perfect!

Drayden's actual birthday falls on Tuesday 13 April, so the party was set for the weekend before. We had wanted to have the party on a Saturday - because we felt that our guests would be more willing to stay longer if the next day was not a work day AND it would be less frantic for us if we could set up the day before - but alas, the Cottage was only available on Sunday onwards. That said, we are very, very grateful to our dearest friends who actually took leave from work the following day and stayed over. It touches us that our family means so much to you, and YOU GUYS mean more to us than you can possibly imagine. THANK YOU.

Also, do forgive us if Noel and I were less then hospitable during the party, because the day started out with much delays and hiccups, and we were left with UNDER TWO HOURS to put everything together before our dear guests started arriving, so we were truly frazzled by the time the party kick-started! We could only check-in at 3pm and the party had been set at 5pm. Of course, we could have made it later, but it would be too dark for all the toys and activities we have planned for the kids, and also too late for those working the next day. Sooooo....as stressful as it would be for us, we just wanted to ensure everyone would have as much of a blast as possible! =)

Once the venue was decided on, everything fell into place easily enough. Although as mentioned the guestlist was scaled down considerably, we were determined to have as many kids as possible, because with Drayden at the age school-going age of two now, we know how much he loves being around other children. Plus, I love planning for the party favors, and the more kids I have to give party favors to, the better!

As with last year's party, we wanted to do as much as possible on our own - be it the decoration, the menu, the birthday cake, or the favors. We scoured the internet endlessly, looking for fresh and unique ideas. But Sesame Street is such a popular birthday theme, ideas are more often than not copied and recycled. However, this made it all the more of an 'encouraging' challenge for us!

I must also say, I am very, very lucky to have a husband who is equally enthusiastic and involved with the party. He is always ready to accept any ideas I suggest, and even came with many brilliant ideas of his own. More importantly, he doesn't freak out with all the dollar signs! LOL!

The party invites were the first thing I worked on when we went into party-planning mode. And as mentioned, we had initially wanted an Elmo-themed party, therefore, the invites were designed centering around the furry red monster. After we decided to evolve into a Sesame Street-themed party, I did consider creating an entirely new invite OR to add on the rest of the Sesame Street muppets, but Noel thinks its okay if we stick to the Elmo ones. The game-plan, according to him, is for a generic Sesame Street themed party, but the main focus would be on Elmo, since he is Drayden's favorite muppet. =)

So stick with the Elmo-invites we did. I loved the Cookie Monster ticket-invite we did last year, but yet, I didn't want to repeat it. So these are the invites I did this year!

The front of the invite is the face of Elmo, and inside, I designed an insert that included all the other characters from Sesame Street...just to give people an idea that it was gonna be a Sesame-Street themed party! Thankfully, with the little space I have left, I was still able to include all the necessary party details, as well as a short line to inform parents that we'll have a baby pool as well as some rented toys...so bring change of clothes! =)

On the back of the card, we had the words "This invite was brought to you by the letter 'D' and the number '2'"! =) We also printed a separate insert of the map to Aloha Changi, just in case people have trouble finding the place.

They may look easy to make - at least I thought they'd be, lol! - but oh dear, I never imagined there to be so much printing and cutting and pasting! Elmo's mouth was not easy to cut out too!

We were, however, able to incorporate the other Sesame Street colors through the envelopes! And on the front of the envelopes, we had the words "B is for Birthday!" and "P is for Party!" printed randomly.

Party favors! This is my MOST favorite part of the party, with the party decorations coming a close second! =) So needless to say, the party favors department was assigned to me!

FAVORS FOR CHILDREN

As usual, I went a tad overboard with the party favors! When we first started planning for the party, I had only wanted to give ONE favor to the kids. Only ONE (unlike the gazillion we did last year!), and that is the beach pail, with toys suitable for a fun-filled day at the beach.

The party shops here do sell the bucket sets, but I find them too small, and wanted a more personalised one, so I decided to put my very own beach bucket set together.

I found the shovels, frisbees and beach balls online from the United States, and they cost me a fortune to ship them over! But they are so worth it! My only regret is that I had gotten the shovels and frisbees in red, because of the fact we had intially planned an Elmo-themed party. We found the pails locally - but boy, were they HARD to find! We only found them TWO days before the party! And it was perfect that they came in red and blue. I loved that the handles were not of those cheap-looking white plastic ones, especially the red pails - they come with blue handles! The sand sieve and watering can I got from Toys R Us. I also found stacking cups from IKEA that I felt would make perfect sand moulds to build sandcastles with! All set for a great day at the beach! =)

The frisbees that I mentioned came plain, but I decided to personalise them further to suit the party theme, so I printed out the eyes, nose and mouth of Elmo and pasted them on the front. I then mounted clear laminating sticker over (or contact paper as they're called), so the frisbees will remain waterproof. Here's how they looked, and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out! They were too big to fit into the pail, so I placed them on top and the grooves of the frisbees were perfect to turn them into covers for the pails!

our personalised Elmo frisbees! =)

I then made these favor tags on Photoshop and hung them on each pail:

But then.....the more I surfed the evil Internet, the more cool favor ideas I stumbled on! So what started out as ONE favor idea, now grew into SIX. The story of my life. LOL! Soooo.....here are the additional favors I created for the kids at the party:

I made hairbows in the different Sesame Street characters for the girls at the party...just like the Cookie Monster ones I made last year. I made three of each character, and EIGHT of Elmo! =)

So we have SEVENTEN hairbows in total! My favorite are the Abby ones!

I put each of them in matching colored organza pouches, too!

...and these Elmo mini "Look & Find" books were such an awesome find for the older kids as well! They're like your "Where's Wally?" book! Aren't they cool?! I kept one for Drayden! =)

...and then I found these cute Elmo notepads, so I bought eight pieces, and gave them to the older kids, together with the Look & Find books...

...I was wrecking my brains trying to figure out what to give to the babies, so in the end I got the Elmo & Abby Take & Toss sippy cups, and filled them with biscuits 'safe' for the little ones! I personalised them with individual name tags and attached orange and red polka-dot ribbons on them!

And lastly, what party will be complete without bubbles?! So we got soap bubbles in a variety of colors from the local party shops, and attached personalised labels I had designed using Photoshop...

Oh, oh, oh!!! Just for fun, I also decided to make some party hats using the different Sesame Street characters. I bought plain colored party hats from the local party shops and then stuck on the eyes, noses and mouths that I managed to design on the computer and later print out. Not as fancy as the Cookie Monster ones we made last year, but I think they're still cute! Heh! =)

I made a total of 25 party hats - Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Grover, Abby and Big Bird!

I would have made Oscar party hats too if only I had found green party hats!

FAVORS FOR ADULTS

We thought long and hard what would make perfect favors for the special friends that have made time to attend our dearest son's birthday party and celebrate his turning two with us. I had wanted to give scented tealights in organza pouches, but Noel said not many people would find a use for it. So scratch that! If we had won Toto on Thursday (lol!), maybe we would have bought everyone an official Sesame Street tee or something fancy!

In the end, we decided to get chocolate bars - Noel's idea! - and I then designed personalised wrapper labels for each of them. Who would say "no" to chocolate, right? =)

We bought chocolate bars in the three assortments available (hazelnut, roast almonds and fruit & nut) and pasted the labels over. They're even personalised with our own detailed list of "ingredients"! =) We then had the individual chocolate assortment printed on the side, and the words "Thank you for coming to Drayden's birthday party!" on the other!

Now, to my second favorite part of the party!

There were a few decor items we recycled from last year's party, namely the Sesame Street scene setters and the Sesame Street sign I had personally handmade.

I had wanted to hang the Sesame Street sign at the main gate of the Cottage, so guests will be able to locate our party with ease. This is one reason why I love the Changi Cottage so - it has it's own gate and driveway! But alas, it rained just before the party started, and I didn't want it to get wet, so I decided to place it on the presents-table instead, seeing as the cottage walls were already "full" with the scene setters!

Moving on, this is an idea we both came up with that I am extremely proud of. Hee! Similar to last year, we rented tables for our guests to be seated comfortably, and Noel thought it would be a fabulous idea to assign one Sesame Street character to each table! So we bought different colored table cloths for each table to represent each Sesame Street character, and I then got a plush toy of the respective characters as the table centerpieces! We then tied helium latex balloons in a variety of colors to each centerpiece for a more festive feel!

We also bought pillar candles - in a variety of colors to match each of the characters - and added them to the centerpieces. The pillar candles really came in handy after sunset, when it became dark, cos they added a lovely effect amidst the night scene.

So we have two adjoined blue tables for Cookie Monster and Grover, two adjoined green tables for Oscar the Grouch (Kermit didn't arrive in time, lol!), two adjoined yellow tables for Big Bird and Bert, one red table for Elmo, one pink table for Abby Cadabby, and two adjoined orange tables for Zoe and Ernie! I love how it all looked together!

To decorate the rest of the outdoor area, we bought giant-sized mylar balloons and air walkers of the Sesame Street Characters, and had wanted to place them randomly around the huge lawn. It would really feel like the Sesame Street characters came alive and joined us for the party! But we were advised not to as the grass may burst the balloons, so we placed them inside the cottage instead.

We have Elmo (of course!), Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Zoe, and Ernie & Bert! Grover was supposed to be there as well, but he's yet another one that didn't arrive in time! Heh.

The scene setters I mentioned earlier helped to beautify the inside hall tremenduously. If you are planning a Sesame Street themed party of your own, I would strongly suggest you get them. They can magically transform an empty room, and make your theme work wonderfully! We had two from last year's party, and we purchased one more to add on to what we already have. We plan to put them up in Drayden's room when we move to our new apartment!

Similar to last year, I made the birthday banner myself, and this year was especially fun, since I am able to incorporate all the lovable characters from everyone's favorite street! I made each panel to represent a muppet through their significant colors, and pasted the letters that read "Happy Birthday Drayden" on each panel.

I made this and am extremely proud of it! =)

Now we come to the buffet table, and here's another idea I am extremely proud of! It took a lot of work, but oh boy, was it worth it! I printed out drawings of the various Sesame Street characters (found on the official website), had them enlarged, then got a little artsy coloring them all in with crayons. I love Steadler crayons! They gave such a nice watercolor effect.

And then I pasted each character on styrofoam boards, and...voila! We have Sesame Street muppet standees!

I made ten altogether, and we had wanted to place them on the buffet table itself, but the table covers were wet thanks to the rain prior to the party. Plus they may be obstructed from view, and not to mention may get soiled from the exposure to food. Thankfully, by some stroke of miraculous coincidence, there are a row of windows just above the area where we have placed the buffet tables, so I was able to arrange the boards along the window sill!

It is also perfect that I was able to pair two per window, and just awesome that exactly FIVE windows lined the buffet tables!

Here's how they looked along the window sill and just above the buffet tables. And please excuse the spastic expression on my face, lol! Actually come to think of it, if I had known we'd be placing them on the window sills instead, I would have made them window-sized instead and placed one character per window panel! Oh yeah! =)

We also bought party supplies in Sesame Street colors! Party plates, napkins and cutleries! In addition, we got Sesame Street themed party plates especially for the children!

The Toy Rental Club is a godsend when it comes to toy rental needs for your party. And if you have planned parties of your own, you will understand and agree how "priceless" toys are to keep the little ones entertained! We didn't rent as many toys as we did last year, but are still careful to select a variety so as to keep the differing ages happy. =)

our palm tree beer cooler that we bought from Spotlight!

We rented a small slide and an activity center, a football target game for the boys, a "foosball" table, as well as a water play table for the younger kids. We brought along our inflatable baby pool that we're sure the babies will love, as well as an Elmo ball pit that Drayden received as a present last year!

Besides the rented toys, we also provided small and simple activities to keep the little hands busy. We rented two small wooden tables and eight chairs perfect for the little ones from The Toy Rental Club as well. From the official Sesame Street website, we printed out coloring sheets of various Sesame Street characters and had crayons for the children to color with.

We also had a small table with play dough and cookie cutters for the little ones to enjoy...

We also bought a bubble machine from Early Learning Center which we only managed to take out much, much later because the "smart" staff at the Forum outlet told us to get the wrong-sized batteries! By the time we were able to send someone to get batterries, most of the children have already left. Grrrr.....

And then I found this fun Elmo game online, and thought how enjoyable it would be for the kids! It's a "Pin the Nose on Elmo" game, that you play when blindfolded. In the end, we adults played it later in the night, after the guys had one too many drinks! LOL!

Noel was keen on hiring party entertainers to keep the children occupied. I, on the other hand, felt that the toys and activities would suffice. But, I do not want turn his idea down, because he has been so nice so as to not turn down ANY of my ideas, so I let him go ahead with it. So we had balloon sculptors for the party as well, and boy, were they AWESOME! I am so pleased we had engaged in their services! You should see some of the 'creations' they sculpted!! Thank you Brenda and Pearlyn, the kids really enjoyed themselves with the amazing balloons!

pictures courtesy of Lenny!

We also had an Elmo pinata that we found on an online website. If I said that the shovels and frisbees were a killer to ship over, this one was WORSE! It cost us SGD70 to ship it over!! *faints*The Pinata alone cost us USD$34.94 (which is equivalent to SGD49), and together with shipping, can you imagine we actually paid over SGD100 for a pinata?!? Oh my goodness!!

But we know that Drayden (and the kids) would enjoy it, plus it would lend a more festive and fun atmosphere to the party, so why not, huh? =) Thankfully, there was a huge tree in the middle of the lawn area, so it provided a great solution with regards to where we could possibly hang the Elmo pinata. And once again, thank you Sufi & Hasanah for helping us coordinate the pinata action!

pictures courtesy of Cat!

The children sure enjoyed it, especially the Birthday Boy! It was a pull-string pinata, so we are able to keep it for future, like decorating Drayden's bedroom! Photos of the pinata action will ensue below!

This year, I got my dad's stall to prepare the food for Drayden's party. I wanted "real", tummy-filling, "proper", homecooked dishes as we had last year, so the menu for this year was: seafood fried rice, black papper beef, sweet & sour sliced fish and chilli chicken. Noel also made one of his signature dishes that I love very, very much: oven-baked chicken with potatoes and carrots. It's yummy, I tell you!

But amidst all the party frenzy, I have forgotten to take pictures of the party food! =( According to everyone, though, food was good! Hee...

For dessert, I ordered these Elmo icing from a US website (luckily they ship overseas!) and pasted them on Oreo cookies. Aren't they cute! But guess WHAT??? I completely forgot to take them out of the fridge till much, MUCH later that night! Like, midnight! What a waste, right??? I'm still so bummed about it. They were aaaaall I looked forward to dishing out at the party. I still can't believe I forgot about them!

Aren't they too gorgeous to wallop??

I also ordered 'coconut blossoms' (a must have at every party we have, cos it's my personal favorite!), and I thought they were perfect, cos they're green like Oscar the Grouch! =) Thanks, Nura, for providing them!

Noel and I had attempted to make some simple sesame street cupcakes, but they turned out to be a DISASTER! hahaa.... Thankfully, our kind bake-genious-neighbor came to our rescue, and whipped up these extremely GORGEOUS Elmo cupcakes! Everybody LOVED them! There were NONE left after the party!

Last year we rented a candy floss machine for the kids, so this year we decided to offer something different. Initially we had wanted to get a popcorn machine, but we eventually decided on a chocolate fountain! We decided to have colorful fruits for the fondue section - strawberries (red like elmo!), bananas (yellow like big bird), peaches (orange like zoe), wafers (brown like snuffles), and kiwis (green like oscar!)

But I was extremely disappointed when we opened the box of the chocolate fondue machine I had purchased from Robinsons just TWO days before, and discovered that the most crucial part of the fondue machine (the swirly cylinder bit that helps the liquid chocolate to rise and flow down) was MISSING! I couldn't have my chocolate fondue as I had envisioned!!! Grrrrr....!!! Very disappointing lah, Robinsons. I should have checked, yes, but the box was SEALED! So who would have thought anything could go wrong??

I think our food section, in terms of variety, was quite sad this year cos of the many unfortunates. Ahh well....food was still good, plus we had a BBQ too to make up for it!

Since we started it last year, we wanted to make it a 'tradition' to bake Drayden's birthday cake ourselves. And because, as I have mentioned, we had initially wanted an Elmo-themed party, we had purchased the Elmo face Wilton cake pan very early in the party-planning stage, before the developments into the Sesame Street theme came about.

But we suppose it is okay, considering Elmo is Drayden's favorite Sesame Street character afterall. =) We repeated last year's recipe for the banana chocolate cake, because one, it is fail-proof after a successful attempt last year (heh), and two, it is extremely, extremely delicious. Our thanks to our dear girlfriend Jude for the awesome recipe!

Last year, we ended up with FOUR cakes! Yes, we did! So this year we were careful to make just enough batter for ONE. Okay maybe TWO, just to make sure there's enough cake to go around. =)

All the credit for this year's cake must go to my dearest kitchen-savvy husband, who is a whizz in the kitchen. I am simply a Domestic Disaster, and I daresay we will end up with a red blob of a cake, if the baking was left to me! I think he did a great job icing it, cause it was very tricky to cover the areas. Not to mention, he didn't have any sleep too, cos he was up baking the entire night before the party!

Drayden's Elmo birthday cake lovingly made by daddy

And look at the candles I found online! The one used for the party (above) is a number two with stars all over it (Drayden's favorite!) while the other one I had bought for Drayden's class party is of Elmo wearing a party hat and holding a present out. They were really cheap! Like under SGD$3 each!23

So now that you know how we put the party together, it's time to enjoy the many pictures taken during the party, thanks to our beloved friend, William, and the rest of our dear friends that came for the party. With the proceedings and entertaining keeping us truly occupied, you have no idea how grateful you would be for 'photographers' to help you capture special moments from your special event! We cannot thank you guys enough for helping us capture and conserve these meaningful and memorable moments for the rest of our lives! And allowing us to "steal" them! =)

Thanks to all of you, we will have these beatiful pictures to look back on with Drayden when he is much older.

For the rest of you, enjoy the pictures, and we hope you can truly feel the warmth, love and joy that we experienced on this special day through these lovely, beautifully-taken photos.