The BEST buffet for parents - Edge

Truly, you never know what you miss out until you experience it. Edge recently introduced a Kids Play Area and it is such a game changer. Just to caveat, my kids are pretty manageable in the grand spectrum so I always got the better deal. I felt I could really enjoy a meal. I have always been full of praise for Edge  (read my reviews here), but with the play area, the husband and I finally had some we-time and the food never tasted better. 

What's special about this play area is its own little dessert table that was catered to their height. The kids could scoop the candies themselves and also enjoy the chocolate fondue. Literally every child came out with "brown chocolatety lips". There was also a talented face paint artist who could draw whatever the kids want. 

Some tips on how to make your meal at Edge absolutely enjoyable, first of all, you need to request for the seats near the play area. You can either make sure they finish their meal first before releasing them into the play area or let them go "free-and-easy". I did the latter and it didn't work out too bad. They would binge themselves crazy but would come out patiently to enjoy the nutritious meals we scooped for them. 

The kids spent a good deal of time in the room, which was very child-friendly and sufficiently entertaining. For the olders kids, they would gather the cushions and watch a movie playing in the background. I just had to exert eye-power, instead of chasing them around. We spent a total of 3 hours at the buffet (unprecedented) and for the first time in my life, the husband and I could have proper conversation over a meal. 

Because it was such a relaxing meal, I was even in the mood to beautify my drinks - I took some fruits from the station to make mocktails. The state of the mind does make a difference, I was more observant of the deco, architecture and variety of food (which my husband told me was nothing new and has always been there.) Guess my vision was always too focused on parenting the kids, I have missed out "the finer things in life" literally!

After our delightful meal, I couldn't help but broadcast to my friends, coworkers and mummy communities how wonderful this place was. It is perfect for birthday celebrations or just an anniversary meal. The kids could tag along without stressing the other attendees. Everyone could just have a good time and enjoy the food. <3

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** To get additional discounts, you can use the discount code "BABYNFAMKLOOK" when you book through Klook for a 5% Discount. Applicable to All Klook Activities with min. spend of SGD50. Discount capped at SGD15.

A fuss free 1YO birthday party

The Covid situation has made a lot of things really difficult. Given the restrictions, we couldn't invite a lot of people, so make things work, I basically IGS some highlights with my friends. We only invited our direct family members. With everything scaled down, procurement became a lot harder especially when you want to keep the $$/ pax down. 

Some of my friends were telling me to ditch party planners and just sort of buy the necessary deco ourselves. Erms...it is not as easy as it looked. For the 2nd party, I jumbled up my loot - some cheap 99 cents balloons off Shopee and came up with something so disorganised. Firstly, the balloons were much bigger than expecteed (in fact they were bigger than the birthday boy itself) and that caught me off-guard. See above!

Thankfully, I didn't adopt the same strategy for the 2 days. For the first and main party, we got the customised party box from Daisy Entertainment. Basically, they just deliver everything to your doorstep. The planners don't come along (which won't add to your pax count) but still it was fuss free to set up. You don't have to buy and blow up the assorted balloons and think about the colours combination. 

My son woke up to balloons in the living room and he was so thrilled. My family was also quite impressed with the set-up. My brother was telling me how detailed it was. They even drew wavy lines on the balloons to make it more in line with our space themed. It was a gigantic pillar of balloons which we shifter around to hide the ugly areas of the house in the photos!

Apart form the balloons, Daisy Entertainment also provided these beautiful hand-painted name-blocks, which I am absolutely in love with. Somehow, it makes the whole deco a lot more premium too. I love how it can be used as a prop for so many things. I basically moved it around because they were so pretty. You might even see them in future birthday parties and his nursery. 

I really don't want to be that comparing mother but sometimes I just can't help doing it. Unless you are really artistic and have a lot of time on your hand, most DIY projects would look like the sad state of my #2 party :'(

Food wise, we did takeaways for both. Because, we had a lot of old grannies as guests, we decided to have Chinese food instead. That ruled down quite a lot of places. There just ain't as many established Chinese Restaurants as compared to fastfood chains. Overall, the party was really fun. You can read more about our equally eye-catching cake here and some other events we did here :P

In the end, I am glad we decided to still hold a decent one instead of doing a shoddy one because of the restrictions. Many of our friends who seen our IGS also did feel like "they were kinda of there" and gave us thumbs up for the effort we put in. Sometimes, I admit I thrive on validation :P

Baby Turn 1: Best Icing on a cake

The kid turning one is possibly one of the biggest milestone in their life (at then) and also their parents'. Undeniably,  I was super anxious about our baby becoming a toddler. I guess somehow I was relieved that I reared him up a good 1 year. You know I could barely keep myself alive but I managed to keep baby and my husband healthy and alive for so long LOL. 

Usually, the 1 year old party is a super big affair. I was also a bit stressed in keeping up with societal pressures of being a good Mum (throwing good parties is possibly one of the checkbox in the checklist) and it didn't help that Covid was in its way with its ever-turning restrictions. 

In the end we split our celebrations into 2 days and had to get 2 cakes. Coincidentally, we booked a baking class ahead and basically baked the 2nd cake for my child (pretty meaningful). But unfortunately, it wasn't in line with the theme. Our first cake from Layere is extraordinarily beautiful. We shared some photos privately with our friends and most of them were gushing over it too!

One of the comments we got was - how did the cake look so coordinated with the birthday banner. So here's a tip - we actually send Layere the photos of our banner ahead. The aliens (inspired from Toy Story) were additions because my son loves them. Everything is so cute, it was so painful to cut and in the end eat them. 

I am sure many people share the same fear as me of icing - though they look good, they taste horrid. Usually, they are the leftovers at every kid's party. Surprisingly, the icings made by Layere was not surfeiting sweet, thank god. In fact, each of us even chewed on a piece. It was actually that good!

Internally, it was a chocolate sponge cake, which I personally felt had too much cream within. But I am willing to overlook it because the icing was so good. Overall, I would really recommend their services for anyone who is looking for customised cake. Layere look good, taste good and made everyone (esp. the birthday boy) feel good! <3

Happy Birthday, my little love. 

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Note: Laptop is down, so posts won't be as frequent!