We had a carnival birthday party this year!
Actually it wasn't planned that way, just turned out that way.
My plan initially was to invite her classmates and our neighbours, and have a simple pool party. Maybe cater some food or do a BBQ.
Then turns out L's mum, suggested we do a joint party since the 2 girls were merely 2 weeks apart.
She is really into entertainment for the party, so she suggested a bouncy castle. Then that grew to popcorn and candy floss, face painting and balloon sculpturing.
First we had to plan the logistics.
Bouncy castle:
We needed a large bouncy castle to fit many kids since we were basically inviting the entire K1 level of Pat's Schoolhouse at Buckley and their families.
We got our husbands to go measure out the biggest spot they could find.
Then we chose the castle.
Then we had to wait till there was a committee meeting to make a request to have the bouncy castle for the day.
That succeeded.
Popcorn and candy floss
L's mum is a champ when it comes to sourcing for providers! She did the internet trawl and found vendors to provide popcorn and candy floss for the day.
Face painting and Balloon sculpturing
L's mum did the footwork again, finding the people to do the work for the day. We were really lucky too, the balloonist brought 2 apprentices along with him for the day so we had 3 people twisting balloons for the kids!
Birthday Cake(s)
I've been making the kids' birthday cakes now for the past few years, so this year wasn't going to be different. Except that I had to make 2 this time. I was really blessed though... we happened to have lunch with Michael Han the week prior to the party, and he actually volunteered to come help me with the cakes! Madison wanted a horse shaped cake and L the candy house cake.
I baked the cakes 2 days prior to the party, and we stayed up till 2 am on the night prior to finish decorating the cake. It was inspiring watching a chef do the work!
Food
Definitely catered. No way were we going to be able to cook or do a full BBQ for so many people.
I trawled the internet for caterers and we settled on a fairly basic one. We also decided to do BBQ satay as well as other finger foods. We went through over 600 sticks of satay! I really have to thank my mum's helper Maria for the hard work of BBQ that day. As well as Joan and her husband Adrian, who chipped in at the start to give us the headstart on BBQ. Once the guests arrived, the first 100 or so sticks of satay were gone in a flash.
Everything went almost as planned. EXCEPT for the torrential tropical downpour at the start. It was so hot the entire week and it really had to rain on the party day! The bouncy castle was already blown up and it collapsed with the rain.
Fortunately the rain slowed to a drizzle when the bulk of the guests arrived. Still, it was quite unpleasant to have everyone crowded at the function room. The popcorn and candy floss machines were also put in the small sheltered space just outside the function room.
I think it was close to 6 pm when the rain finally stopped. Chris and L's dad hurriedly dried the castle out and re-inflated it.
The kids had a real ball! I think most adults were a little overwhelmed because there were just so many people everywhere.
The cakes turned out pretty well, and considering how huge the 2 cakes were, most of it was finished by the end of the party.
Once we did the cake cutting people started leaving... I think many kids were knackered ( or perhaps it was their parents )
It was a fun party, but really alot of work on the day...
