Aiden's 3rd Birthday Beach Party

What good would the first quarter of the year be if I did not sweat on organizing Aiden's birthday party? Well this year was no different. As usual, I had the theme for his 3rd birthday even before hosting the 2nd one, (and the 2nd before hosting the 1st one, which also means I already have the theme for his 4th one but I'll keep that a secret) so come the first day of 2012, I took out all his beach/pool party supplies and started planning!

This year, a dear girlfriend introduced me to the world of Pinterest, and boy, was I hooked. Everywhere, I found ideas for his party. To the point where I had to drop ideas that I wanted to execute because there was simply too much to do! This year my brother in San Francisco also contributed to Aiden's party (thanks, Abang!) - he helped with ordering online party goodies from Oriental Trading and shipped it to a friend who then brought them back to sunny ol' Malaysia!

We had the party at the kiddy poolside (there is a separate adult pool) of our newly launched Clubhouse, and this year I wanted to keep the celebration small. Apart from just wanting our closest friends and family to attend, I also had to keep the numbers down because we had space constraints! Clearly the clubhouse did not take into account children parties when they were building the kiddy pool because the space could only take 4round tables and a handful of chairs along the side. And I didn't want to put the tables in a separate area away from the pool as I knew mothers wouldn't be able to eat in peace if they had to leave their kids playing in the water out of their sight. I even had to move the buffet line a bit further out so in the end we could really only accommodate about 60 people!

Me? Organizing a party for only 60 people? Downsizing my previous invitation of 200? *gasp*

Well somehow, we did it. Thankfully, because it was a pool party, most of the kids were contented just being in the pool while the parents lounged by the side. We also had kiddy tables and chairs and my neighbour-gang and highschool-gang occupied those (because they knew they were going to stay from start till end!) so that kept the round tables free for other guests. Playing in the pool was the main activity - therefore I did not engage any gamemasters or face painters this year, which meant less headache for the host too!

Check out the pictures. 



Before the party.



Beach balls from Oriental Trading.

What party would be complete without a dessert table? This is of course, my pride and joy. I spent endless hours arranging the printables, planning the table layout, and of course baking! I was so happy with the end result.

Splish, Splash, Aiden is 3!

Same as last year, since I placed a lot of effort in this, indulge in another picture, will ya?



Check out the adorable blue crab plates which I filled with matching (duh!) blue and yellow jelly beans from Candylicious. Matching beach ball napkin and plates from Arnes Warehouse.

Apart from the birthday cake, popcakes and the macarons (and the store bought candy), everything was lovingly baked by yours truly!


Beach ball shaped cookies. Thank you dear neighbours (you know who you are) who helped with the fondant!

Trifle (with blue sponge cake!!) made by a dear neighbour, and fish crackers.

Homemade apam polkadot.

Idea from Pinterest. Jelly tinted with blue colouring and "sailboats" made from a slice of mandarin orange and a makeshift sail. MIL made her famous orange jelly, and in the end I had to place them together because I ran out of space on the dessert table - which actually is a good problem to have!



Oreo cupcakes topped with swirl buttercream. Blue beach bucket from Party City. Matching lollipops.



Those are not ice-cream cones! Another idea from pinterest. I placed cake batter in the ice-cream cones and baked them in the oven. Topped them off with swirl buttercream. Nyum!

Because I had so much ideas for the dessert table, I ended up having another separate table for beach toys and drinks! And it was such a good idea to have a second drink station closer to the pool because the kids were constantly thirsty and did not have to venture to the buffet to quench their thirst. I was also very happy that the clubhouse agreed to make blue cordial to match the theme (yes, I am very kiasu that way) and even filled the second drink station periodically.


The second table. Matching plastic tablecloth from Arnes Warehouse.

Blue cordial and personalized straws.

Personalized water bottles. Size is so cute, perfect for a child's hand.

Personalized cups and beach ball water bottles from Oriental Trading.

Beach bucket, beach toys and water guns. I even had goggles and sunblock on standby!

Just to emphasize how kiasu I really am, I bought those water guns and they came in yellow, green and orange. Since the theme was yellow and blue, I spray painted (yes I shall repeat that - spray painted) each green and orange gun to blue. That project took up at least two precious weekends. I even subjected the spray painted gun to a water test - submerged it in water for a day to see whether the paint would peel off!

Of course, there's more! Decorated a special table for Aiden to cut his cake. This year he's going to stand on his own two feet to cut the cake. No more Mummy lifting him up to do it! 


Blew up a recent picture of Hubby and Aiden at the beach and used all his beach toys as props for the table.



Putting the finishing touches on the dessert table.

And the birthday boy finally arrived! Dressed in a matching blue swimming suit and a charming smile that made all the preparation worth while!

The birthday boy!




The early birds.



Aiden hogging the beach balls!

Gradually the crowd started to arrive and soon the place was packed!



The packed tables.



The packed poolside.



Cute bikini, Danya!



Parents played too (by helping to put water in the waterguns!)



Soon, even the area by the dessert table was wet!



The view from the slide!



Waterplay.

Then the bigger boys joined in!

Absolute fun!

Aiden had a try riding the dolphin.

A close neighbour of mine runs a party planning service, and she had just bought a new popcorn machine for her business. And I was so honoured to be the first person to use it. Check out KiddyBounce for all of your party needs!



Aiden having popcorn!

Replicating last year's birthday pose! Of course I had to have my personalized handfan by my side at all times!



Crazy sister in-laws! What would I ever do without them!

Soon it was cake-cutting time! And boy oh boy, it was definitely no easy task to drag Aiden out of the pool and force him into his birthday t-shirt! We did not even get a single smile out of him throughout the whole cake cutting session. But as soon as he went back into the pool, he was all smiles again!


Aiden's favourite "kakaks" getting the table ready! All pennant banners made by yours truly!

So adorable. They helped Aiden by encouring him to blow out his candle!

Blow harder, Aiden!

Total concentration!! Dimple alert!!



Definitely not easy cutting a 3D cake! Lovingly made by Shireen Bakes. Thank you babe!



Of course Mummy and Daddy had to help out with cutting the cake.



Matching t-shirts!

Check out Aiden's grouchy face after we pulled him out of the pool! Priceless!

Lucky me, despite the horrible April weather (and my insistence to have the party on his actual birthdate of 15th April), we got only a few drops of rain and a bit of thunder but the rest was beautiful and sunny. We had ample food and party packs, the kids had fun and most importantly, Aiden had a birthday to remember!

To everyone who came, thank you for making the time to attend. Looking forward to planning Aiden's 4th birthday party!


The end. Thanks for coming to my party!