The Bub in the Belly

This is long overdue, I know. I have been meaning to pen down the various contacts we used for Ryan's 2nd birthday party back in January, both for my own record as well as for anyone who might require such information (here you go, Anonymous!), but kept procrastinating.

As I mentioned back in January, we rented the multi-purpose hall at HortPark. We were expecting about 50 adults and 40 children. HortPark has a selection of smaller rooms, but I would definitely recommend that you go and see the room for yourself, as the location or size may not be ideal for what you have in mind. We initially booked one of the smaller rooms, but after a trip to check it out, decided that it was too small and also in an awkward location. A description of the various rooms together with their rates can be downloaded from the HortPark website.

The booking process was very easy and HortPark staff were very helpful and easygoing. They also let us go in early to set up plus they happily let us store the birthday cake in their fridge before the party.

The birthday cake was from The Patissier. It was 2 kg and the base was strawberry shortcake. It was light, fluffy and just plain delicious. It received rave reviews from everyone, so I would definitely recommend getting your cakes from there. It was delivered straight to the venue.

The food was Peranakan (and halal), catered from Chilli Api Catering Pte Ltd. As usual, Richard and I catered too much, but the food was great, we received nothing but positive comments, so no regrets. If you are thinking of having your party at HortPark, it is a condition of the venue rental that you use one of HortPark's approved caterers, so you need to get their list of approved caterers. Chilli Api was one of them. We also got our dining tables and chairs from Chilli Api.

Toys, yes! The crucial key to the party's success! We rented the larger toys and brought smaller toys from Ryan's horde to create a big playroom for the children, which left their parents free to relax at the dining tables, chat and socialise. (Of course, do consider the ages of the children in deciding whether this will work for you.) We actually rented the toys from two different companies:

From Rent That Toy!, we got Little Tikes Super Ball Pit with 300 balls, Little Tikes PoliceCycle Sounds Rocker, Fisher Price Trike, Redbox Toys Electronic Play Kitchen with 30 pc accessories, and Vtech Build & Discover workbench.

From Singapore Toy Rental, we got a small indoor Bouncy Castle, Dolphin Slide with basketball hoop, Haenim big blocks and 20 pcs foam mat.

Both companies were fantastic, they were able to customise a package for me and were willing to swap items in and out of the package when requested.

We ordered walking animal balloons (helium filled) so that each child could take one home - this was a hit with the kids (goodie bags tend to be more interesting to the parents). We also ordered 50 standard 11" balloons for decoration. All balloons were delivered to the venue by the vendor, Babyterror. No fuss, no hassle.

The photographer, Kelvin, was from LOUD! Kelvin was fantastic, hardworking and creative. After the party, he took some outdoor family photos for us at the park. Kelvin is no longer with LOUD!, he has set up his own company. I will post some of the photos in my next post.

Ok, that's it!