All Aboard

Toddlers typically have short attention span, and don't participate well in structured activities. Normally they'd be happy just running around in the yard. But if you're having kids of varied age groups, it pays to plan ahead to keep the kids occupied and happy.

Some basic pointers:

1. Keep the party short (2-3 hours work best for a kids party)
2. Stay away from competitive games
3. Involve mummy and daddy

Here's a sample itinerary for a transportation themed party. But don't worry too much about keeping to the plan. In H's party, the kids were more interested in free play, and they were having just as much fun :-)
 

Craft for transportation party

As an ice-breaker activity, we made these cute little paper clay luggage tags for the kids to colour and decorate while waiting for their little friends to arrive.

These were the plain luggage tags. We painted in the outlines to make them easier for the kids. What's so great about using paper clay is that you can use colour pencils, crayons, magic markers or paint to colour on it. We gave the kids magic markers and colour pencils to avoid the mess :-)

These were some we painted using acrylic paint for the babies.

For customised party craft kits / activities, please contact funparties_kl@yahoo.com

Ticket to Fun

I made this boarding pass invitation card for H's birthday party. It's got everything he wanted - airplane, train and car :-)

Not sure if H really knows what an invitation card is but he's staring to grasp the concept of having a birthday party. Kinda weird huh how toddlers pick concepts up. I showed him his invitation cards and told him these were for his little friends, so that they can come to his party. And everytime he sees the cards, he wants them. He will hold the cards and name everyone he knows to come to his party - "poh poh come to my party, cheh cheh come to my party, .... ". How cute!

For customised invitation cards, please contact funparties_kl@yahoo.com

How to make a train cake

H's birthday is around the corner and we're doing a transportation theme party :-) Was trying to get him to decide what cake he wanted. First he said he wanted a car, an airplane and a boat, then after much coaxing, he agreed to having only one cake. For the longest time, he insisted he wanted an airplane cake, then he changed his mind. He wanted a car instead. And most recently, he's decided - "I want a train cake". Since train cake isn't that hard to execute, we'll attempt to do it ourselves. I think it'll be fun cos you can decorate the train carts with lots of different and colourful candies. H will definitely have fun helping out! Check out this cool video on how to make a train cake.

Halloween dressup

Halloween is just around the corner and we're now scratching our heads on what costumes to make for the kids. I'm not sure baby H would appreciate us putting anything over his head - he was never a big fan of hats or caps - so that would rule out dressing him up as a pirate or cowboy (these were my initial ideas cos i could improvise with what we already have). Daddy wants to dress him up in a skeleton suit, but i'm not about to dish out good money on something he will only wear once. So if no bright idea comes to mind, I'll tie a cape on him and make him Superbaby :-)

Girls are much easier - little C can dress up as a fairy, a princess, or a little gypsy girl!

C's Princess Party

C's princess party was a blast. Although there were only 2 princesses among the many princes, everyone had fun. We started the party by having the kids colour their loot bags and design their very own crowns.

Then we had the kids scrambled about the garden to search for the king's missing jewels (we used glass marbles and scattered them among the garden pebbles, flower pots, etc). It was then lunch time. Everyone washed their hands and sat down for lunch. It was also rest time for the adults to catch up and mingle :-)

After lunch, it was games time again! We played 'Princess Walk' in which teams had to balance a bean bag on their head and walk the length of the garden without dropping the bean bag. The little ones were busy playing with home-made glitter playdough. The kids also made wands - we used the same wands for both boys and girls, and were initially worried that the boys may not want to participate. But kids have such great imagination. The boys happily made the wands and played 'wizards' with them.

 

Then it was cake cutting time. Poh-Poh made this really cool pink castle cake for C. After chomping down the cake, we gathered the kids around our hand-made castle pinata. The kids were so excited and we had to keep them from pulling the ribbons before everyone was in position. Upon the word 'Go!', it was raining candies, chocolates and lollies, and the kids were happily stuffing them into their goodie bags :-)

When it was time to say goodbye, C got rather upset that her friends were leaving, but we managed to distract her by getting her to open her presents. And we finally got to sit back and relax, and gave ourselves a pat on the back for yet another great party!

Birthday Story

I remember hearing this in a little girl's birthday party and found it really special. Later I found out this is actually something practised in Waldorf Inspired Schools and copied down a version of this 'Rainbow Bridge' story. You can include a personalised version of this story in your kid's birthday celebration. It truly makes him/her feel special.

This is how the story goes:

Once upon a time there was a little child named _____ who was still with the angels in heaven and he/she was very happy there. He looked at the beautiful colors and listened to the lovely music, and that was where he belonged. But one day the clouds parted in heaven and _____ saw the beautiful green earth below with all the people happily playing and working and he suddenly longed to go there and see what it was like. He saw all the rainbow colors of the earth, He saw butterflies visiting flowers and birds flying in the air. They seemed to be beckoning him. He saw fish swimming in the sea and all the different plants that covered the earth. He saw children climbing trees, running and jumping in the meadows and walking through sand and leaves. It was all so beautiful!

So he said to his angel, Please, may I go down to earth now? But his angel looked at him and said, No, it is too soon. You must wait a little while yet. So the child went and was happy and soon forgot about the earth. Then one day again he saw a glimpse of the earth through the clouds again. He saw mothers and fathers doing their work. He saw bakers and engineers and writers and farmers. He saw mothers and fathers loving their children. Then he saw a beautiful mother with love and longing in her heart for a child and he asked his angel now, May I go to her?

The angel said, You must go through the land of dreams first.

The next night the little child had a dream. He dreamed that he met a man and a woman and they stretched out their arms to him and asked him to come be their child. The child told his angel the dream. The angel said, It is now time for you to go.

So the child asked, So may I go now?
You shall see. Said the angel.

That night the child went to sleep into dreamland and while ten moons waxed and waned he rocked in a little boat. And at the end of that time a beautiful rainbow bridge stretched from heaven to earth and on it came the child as a tiny baby and slid into his mother and father's waiting arms. His parents loved him the moment they saw him and they called him _____. And it was a cool, clear, morning when he was born and the sun smiled down its greeting warm and glowing upon him. And everything about him was beautiful.

[Light a candle]

And then _____ was one. He was a shining golden child with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. He rode snug in Mommy’s starry sling. And he ran around the yard shouting “Dig! Dig!” and eating strawberry tops. And he loved to sail high into the sky on his swing hung from the big tree in the back yard.

[Light a candle]

And then _____ was two. And he moved to Massachusetts and played in the creek and rang the chimes in the lilac. He helped plant all the flowers.

[Light a candle]

And then _____ was three. He narrated everything he was doing. He could walk all the way to the big rock and back. He could even climb it too! He sat up high on the pile of suitcases on the train to Pennsylvania and made all of the other passengers laugh.

[Light a candle]

At the end of the story, let the birthday child blow out the candle(s).