Adeelia 1st Birthday Bash!

I still couldn't believe that my lil' precious is already 1 year old! It feels like it was only yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time, and now she's grown up from this....to this

Day 1

365 days later

Adeelia's real birthday was on August 7 = Ramadhan 7. But MH and I thought that it would be quite a hassle to organize iftar + her birthday as the guests would be rushing for prayers Maghrib-Isya'-Tarawikh and also because our house was not big enough to accomodate for both eating and solat jemaah for all the guests. So we postponed the plan until Aidilfitri, September 17. Now it became a 3+1 event - Adeelia's birthday, our Aidilfitri Open House and MH's birthday as well! His birthday was on September 13.

Even if I had been involved in organizing many events in my line of work, I was a little bit nervous when it came to my lil' precious birthday party. Initially I thought that a kid's birthday party would go with just a cake and of course the birthday girl/boy. But that was before I came across this entry by Mrs. Kown. The party she held for her son was amazing and her attention to details was so impressive! Then I thought, well, perhaps if the time (and of course budget!) permit, we should try to make Adeelia's first birthday bash a little extra special than we had planned it to be.

MH did not really got the idea in the first place. Like most men, he was very pragmatic. He was like "Adeelia's only 1 and she will not remember what we've done for her first birthday anyway,". But silently and strategically I kept on pushing the idea to him, and walla! he finally bought it! Yey! So here it goes, my first experience in organizing my daughter's birthday party....

1. Date, time and theme

First thing first. Time and venue for the party. Checked. Theme? Some of Adeelia's aunts said that she resembles the cartoon character Dora The Explorer. Perhaps it was because both of them have big round eyes, chubby face and of course their inqusitive nature. I thought that the theme was unique, so why not?

2. Party stuff and decorations

However, due to limited Dora The Explorer party stuff available on the local market, we could not really emphasized on the theme except for a few stuff. The first party shop that we went in Subang USJ sells Dora button badges at a very reasonable price. But that was all Dora's stuff that they got. We also bought a banner, party hats and a few of party stuff there as well. Then we found this small party shop in Setiawangsa. The nice lady who was also the owner of the shop told us that they need to get certain license from the States should they want to sell merchandise bearing the cartoon characters. So far the most popular in Malaysia are from Disney characters. So no more Dora's stuff for the party uhuk..However, to my consolation, as we was nearing to the event, MH was all ready hype about the idea of organizing the birthday party. He even insisted that we should get some helium ballons as well for the party. I personally thought that helium ballons were too pricey, but he insisted. So we ended up with some 100 helium ballons in pretty colours and shapes. It really brightened up our living hall and I was glad that we took it =)

3. Party Pack

For the party bags, I got it from a common shop at a very good price. I prepared 50 party packs containing a pack of bear-shape biscuits, a small size Nips, low sugar jelly, pudding, party stuff yang tiup-tiup tu and a Dora The Explorer button badge. As we could not find any Dora's party hat, hence we bought three types of party hats - Disney Princess, Toy Story and Bob the Builder. Campur-i-zation sikit temanya hehehe.

4. Birthday cake

Due to limited number of Dora's party accessory, the one thing that can really emphasize the Dora's theme would be the birthday cake. I thought that a birthday cake in the shape of Dora The Explorer would be very great. But to my disappointment, such cake requires special mould that only available in the States. So when I placed the order for MH's birthday cake at Secret Recipe, I had ordered a chocolate indulgence cake for Adeelia. We could never go wrong with chocolate indulgence, kan?

However, deep in my heart, I refused to proceed with just that. I kept telling myself that I could find a more special cake for my lil' princess. Perhaps a little Dora's decoration on top of the cake would be nice. As fate had it, one evening as I mindlessly googling for the Dora's cake top, I found this blog. Aaah she did Dora- shape cake and the best part was she lives only a few minutes away drive from my house! But the most important question was, with only a few days left before the event, would she take my order? I summed up my gut and texted her a few times. And being a nice person she was Ezuin (the owner + baker + cake decorator) took my order even her schedule was very tight that weekend. I am forever thankful to you Ezuin! And this is the much anticipated cake....

5. The event

It was supposed to be one simple affair, but at the end it was so meriah with the presence of our beloved family and friends. Thank you all for coming! The happiest person that day was of course the birthday girl. She was so thrilled being surrounded with so many people, and of course she loved the attention given to her! Here are some snapshots from the event...