Magnus’ 1st birthday party was a blast! Sharon and Paul’s little guests were treated a day of messy play with lots of opportunities for the children to get down and dirty! Everything was carefully thought through! We especially love the edible paint section, where the kids can just get totally messy, eat the paint if they wanted to without getting a tummy ache. We love all the different stations that were prepared for the children – from the mini pool to the animal farm! Parties like these are as much of fun for the kids as it is for the adults!
It took me a while to decide whether I wanted to have a birthday party for myself to celebrate this huge milestone – reaching 40. I’ve been planning my kid’s birthday parties, so organizing one for myself seemed like another tiring task on the plate. In the end, I contacted Rachel of Pretty Little Things to assist with the decorations for the party and she did an amazing job setting everything up. Alex helped to source and sandpaper all the wooden pallets you see here. And I added stress to myself thinking about my guests and what I could do to make it really fun for everyone, yet filled with things that were meaningful to me. So this was what I came up with:
1. A 15 minute massage station for guests
2. A personalised photo frame with all my guests’ names calligraphed by a friend, Cherbreena
3. A photo corner where my dedicated photographer, Chi Yin, took photos of all my guests who walked in and then Abel printed it out and placed it in the personalised frame
4. A pre-loved book section for my guests to adopt some of my personal book collection for their reading pleasure
5. A corner where guests could choose an air plant or succulent to bring home as gifts
6. A station where people could buy Naam.asia products (a social enterprise) and essential oils from Oilees (a business started by a friend, Michelle)
7. A soap making workshop corner, made possible by Esther & Elizabeth
Honestly, halfway through planning this party, I was wondering whether having a birthday party to celebrate yourself seems very narcissistic! I had to remind myself that it is ok to pamper yourself once in a while and to just enjoy the process. In the end, I truly had a blast on that day with all my precious friends. Seeing them happy made me truly happy too.
As a child, I remember begging my mom to hold birthday parties for me. Even at a young age, I knew parties were fun and the extroverted me just LOVED being around lots of people. To fulfil my requests, I recall the amount of preparation she put into making the party an awesome one for me- from cooking the food to preparing the gift packs and inviting friends and family. Now when I think about it, I really cannot thank my mom enough for making the little gathering a spectacular affair for the 9-year-old me.
Unfortunately, mom was so busy that she forgot to take a photo with me at the party.
Having shot a few kids’ birthday parties, I realise not much has changed. It’s easy to get caught up with coordinating the event and not enjoying it. I think what’s worst is when all your efforts in coordinating this event is not properly documented! Based on my experience as a photographer, I’d like to share a few points for you to help your photographers get the coverage you want.
It’s been half a year since my beloved daughter Krysta turned one. It really just occurred to me how fast the year goes by (especially after they turn 1). When she was a baby, I would photograph her every month, just to see her physical changes. Maybe it was more apparent then… roll over, tummy time, crawling, walking… they were very real milestones. But after she turned 1… I don’t think I made such an effort to photograph her little moments or new milestones.
Now, with baby number 2 on the way, I have an even bigger challenge… to make sure I document his life with equal passion as I did Krysta’s. Even with the pregnancy, I am really not that ‘aware’ of the progress… when people ask me how far along I am… I have to think twice before replying. And that too, is with some hesitance.
I recently wrote a blog post about my intention to make time for family despite work commitments. I really do count it a blessing when I can spend half a day here or there midweek with my daughter, just doing simple things like reading a book together or playing chase in the living room.
Anyway, here’s some really belated photos of Krysta’s first birthday with a Lil’ Miss Theme. We chose the character Little Miss Chatterbox for her. Love the detail on the cake. I designed the logo and it was beautifully translated onto the cupcakes. We made little stickers with the logo too and placed it on cups and goodie bags. About 2 weeks before the party, I managed to find the Mr Men and Little Miss themed books from the Big Bad Wolf sale at a huge discount! So that made really nice gifts for the kids who came.
The food was a selection of my favourite hawker stall foods… everything from a lok-lok van to Village Park nasi lemak, to rojak from Bayu Timor… everyone loved it.
Photos were taken by Diane, and a few by Weiming.
Last Sunday, almost our entire Stories family trooped over to the Westin, KL for their Capturing Memories Fair. It was the very first bridal fair that we’ve ever participated in. To make it more exciting, 15 other photographers were featured at the same fair. Since the industry is pretty small, it was really nice to meet old friends again and to just catch up between talking to potential clients who visited us that day.
We decided prior to the fair, to go all out for it…meaning, we would cart furniture and decorations from our studio to The Westin for the event. We had heaps of fun doing up our little space, and it certainly attracted a lot of attention from the couples! Here are some photos of our little booth that day.