Oh Toodles, it's a Disney party - Angel is 2!

Woohoo! Yes, we had a smashing Disney party last Sunday to celebrate Angel turning two.

My friend termed it as the "coolest party of the year" and since having one child meant I only had one big party each year to hold, you probably could say I did put my heart and soul into it. Well, I have to admit that when you are a mum, baby's bday party becomes a big thing while hubby's bday and even your own become ermmm, trivial.

From all the DIY invitational cards, hanging decors, party bags and Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears, I was glad that I pulled them off and it somehow made me beam with pride when the function room was set up. See, being unemployed in Sweden means I have to find other means of finding job satisfaction. Other than surviving as a mum stuck in a foreign land, I derived this sense of fulfillment from art and craft.

This was the main part of the wall decoration and was formed using Disney alphabets. Do you realise that each alphabet represents the Disney character on it, like A for Ariel, I for Incredibles, T for Tinkerbell etc?

Jw and I decided to do tent cards as food labels just the night before the party. It was actually very amusing and fun trying to come up with Disney-related names and yes, somehow we managed to come up with really cute (and somewhat crappy) names for every dish.



1) MeeHoon-Key Mouse - Fried Mee Hoon
2) Goofy Curry - Curry chicken
3) Delicious Donald Duck - Braised Duck
4) The Incredibles Intestine - Pig intestine
5) Winne the "Poo" - Braised quail eggs
6) Chicken Little Liver/Gizzard - Braised chicken liver/gizzard
7) Three Little Pigs Stomach Soup - Pig stomach soup (obviously)
8) A-leek-ddin and Prawn-cess Jasmine - Fried leek with prawns and mushrooms
9) Ee-Ngor Hiang - Fried Ngor Hiang
10) Pork-ahontas dumplings - Pork dumplings
11) Chic-derella Wings - Fried chicken wings
12) Little Mermaid Pearls - Fried fishballs/sotong balls
13) Snow White rice - You got it, plain white rice

This had to be my favourite. Yup, it might be incongruous to name our delectable food as poo but hey, it was the best way to bring Winnie into the picture and the perfect name for the black, rounded quail eggs. 

Well, in case you thought I had eight arms and was able to conjure up all the decorations and yet whip up all this delicious food, not at all, and I couldn't have done it without the help of jw's parents who were the master chefs in the kitchen. *phew* Ask me to choose between being a chef or an artist, I'll prefer the latter anytime.

I set up this little corner for my party bags, Mickey/Minnie ears and prizes to be given away for the Disney quiz later. The way I see it, though I spent nearly two months of hard work working on these just to be given away within one afternoon, each of them contained my heartfelt love and pride, and I was more than elated to see the smiles on the kids when they received their bags or put on the ears.



See, don't they just look like happy kids? I sure hope each and every one of them truly enjoyed the party.

Ta-dah! Here's my birthday girl who was dressed like Minnie that day. She was really shy and overwhelmed by the fact that so many people were there to celebrate her special day and it took some time before she warmed up. Luckily, she soon started playing with her friends, acknowledging the presents (or rather, grabbing the presents) and saying "Thankew" to the guests.

It was pretty impressive that Angel loved pig stomach soup too. Actually, she loves all kind of Chinese soups, just like jw. She doesn't even like to use the spoon when we are home and she would just drink directly from her bowl, followed by saying "我还要! (I still want)".

I loved this picture although it seemed like jw and I were squashing Angel's face a little. That's the best trick to make your baby look at the camera, or at least appear like she's looking that way.

This was the very exquisite and pretty Minnie Mouse cake we had, much thanks to Shuwen, my baker friend in Karlsrkona. Otherwise, I could only come up with this cake in my dreams. Angel loves pink nowadays and the cake matches our decorations, and even her dress, to a tee.

Finally, it was time to sing the birthday song! We had been training Angel for this and was hoping she would just do what she normally did, clap, sing, make a wish and blow!

It felt really nice and warm to have so many friends sing the birthday song for her, making her feel like a superstar especially with the paparazzi snapping away. Well, this only takes place once a year so as best as I could, I truly wanted my girl to feel like the happiest princess that day.

When it was time to blow the candles, she huffed and she puffed several times, even letting out a hilarious "Woooohhh" before she eventually succeeded. For a moment, I thought she was going to use her saliva to snuff out the flames. Thankfully, her next breath did the job.

Here was Angel making her wish, not failing to peek at Daddy in the process and making sure that she was doing it the right way.

I had an idea to hold a Disney quiz and give away prizes, including toys, stationery sets, LCD games and H&M vouchers. Just so to spice up the boring party and let the guests have some fun. Now, test yourself and see if you know the answers! Some are pretty easy while others might need a little brainpower.

For the little ones

Q1: In Cinderella, what fruit was turned into the horse carriage?

Q2: Who is the main character in “Cars”?

Q3: In “Beauty and the Beast”, what is the name of Beauty?

Q4: Which part of Pinocchio grows longer when he tells a lie?

Q5: In “The Incredibles”, what is the superpower of Mrs Incredible?

Q6: What poisoned fruit does the Queen give Snow White?

Q7: How did Sleeping Beauty wake up in the end?

     

Q8: In “The Little Mermaid”, what did Ariel use to exchange in return for two legs?

Q9: In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, when Mickey shouts “Oh, Toodles”, his Mousekatools will appear. How many tools are there each time?

For the big ones

Q1: Where was the first Disneyland that opened?

Q2: The animated film “Lilo and Stitch” was set in which country?

Q3: Name the seven dwarfs.

Well, how did you score?

Thanks to all my mousy friends for attending the party and making it a truly memorable celebration for us.

I guess every kid's favourite part of his/her birthday is the present opening ceremony after the celebration. To be frank, I get a thrill too from guessing the presents to revealing them. It is because of this feeling that I was against writing a Wish-List and getting cash or things that we desire or simply things that won't take up too much space in my already crammed home. Yes, call me childish, but I honestly dig this pleasure of opening presents and I'm going to let Angel enjoy it too.

It doesn't matter if we receive similar presents or bulky gifts that are not feasible for our 4-room flat next time. I would still prefer to let my friends give us whatever they like to give and honestly, each was a token of their heartfelt wishes, so thank you all so much and hope you had as much fun at the party as I did. 

To my lovely Angel, Happy 2nd Birthday.

It has been a great year full of fond memories, from watching you take your first step to singing your first song to eating your first piece of chocolate. Even if sometimes you make me wanna pull out my hair, or yours, or that you would pinch me for no reason, or even the fact that you would still wake me up in the middle of the night, you are also the only one who can make me laugh and cry at the same time, who can make me stronger than I ever believe I could be, who can make me feel like I'm running a full marathon everyday and yet feel like the happiest person in the world.

You, are the reason why life is so beautiful, so may you continue to stay my bubbly, happy and sweet little one always.