Naomi Turns Two: Birthdays Are My Favourite and My Best!

Our little Naomi turned two on Saturday and we had a (not-so-)little party to celebrate.

The theme for this one? Charlie and Lola! Both my kids absolutely love Charlie and Lola, (or "Yo-ya" as Naomi used to call her) and fortunately, I find them incredibly cute too. It also seemed appropriate for a two-year old so it was an easy choice.

I had decided some time back that I wanted to have the party at a gym because Naomi really loves gym and I thought it'd be a fun thing for her to do on her birthday. That took care of the activities portion of the party (hooray!) leaving me free to decorate and have fun with the decorations. And that's exactly what I did!

Rather than rely purely on the characters, I tried to incorporate elements and that touch of fun conveyed in the books. A clash of prints on the bunting, a scattering of Charlie and Lola butterflies, and a play on their quirky book titles.

Birthday bunting in Charlie and Lola-ish papers, with letters in a font similar to that which they use in their books. Those are pictures of Naomi from the past year, and of course, Charlie and Lola themselves! I just realised my photos were taken before I added the Charlie and Lola butterflies. Argh!

Posters I created using images from book covers. The wording is in the style of Charlie and Lola book titles. I was really quite proud of these though I don't think the guests really noticed!

Table centrepieces.

I also thought no party would be complete without treats and so put together a kiddy treat table. This was my attempt at a dessert table for the little folk and my favourite project this year. There were crunchy snacks and marshmallows on sticks...

Containers of strawberry pocky, strawberry rolled wafer sticks, wafer biscuits, berry rice cereal and marshmallows on sticks. The sign on the table reads "I really absolutely must have treats!" Not bad for a Charlie and Lola-esque title huh!

 … and the sweets and chocolates with rainbow jelly...

Hersey's Kisses, Berry Gummies and M&Ms, and in front of them, my Rainbow Jelly! 

… savoury cheesy fish biscuits in cute little treat cups, just the perfect size for little hands...

Colourful fish biscuits in cute treat cups.

… some fruit kebabs to balance out all those treats...

Aren't they cute? I got the idea for this from high tea at Regent the week before!

… and Lola's favourite pink milk! I served up pink drink (just fruit punch really) cos I figured not everyone would be keen on the milk.

Glass bottles and stripey straws make everything pretty!

The pièce de résistance of the table however, was the amazing cake.

Charlie and Lola cake by the amazing Veronica of Celebrate with Cake.

How gorgeous is that cake, right? I went with Celebrate with Cake because I think Veronica's sugar craft work is really second to none, and I wanted the characters to look, well, like themselves! Lotta - Naomi's favourite - gets the place of honour at the top of the cake. The other reason I went to Veronica was because of she does the most amazing rainbow cake ever.

Just like a rainbow inside!

 (Ok, I admit it, I ordered that cake for me!)

But did the kids love the treats? Oh yes they did! With my son being the key beneficiary.

I think if he had a choice, Noey might have been camped permanently at the treat table! But instead, he was having fun playing all the games at the gym.

When I thought about the type of party I wanted for Naomi, I decided that I wanted it to be something that she could thoroughly enjoy, and the time of party where she and her little friends could have as much fun as possible playing together. So I ruled out the indoor playgrounds which I thought would be better enjoyed by older children and decided to go for playgyms, with games to be conducted by gym trainers instead. I decided on JWT Kids' Gym based on the recommendations of friends who had attended parties there.

I was not disappointed. The trainers led games which included a lot of running, dancing and moving around. They also moved equipment around to create obstacle courses form time to time. But best of all, a lot of effort was made to make the birthday girl feel special. They got everyone to call her name, she got to go first for all the activities, lead groups and was generally the star of the day. All the kiddies also had a great time, with Noey being the most enthusiastic. He really made it look like it was his birthday!

Flying!

Gangnam Style!

Naomi testing out the obstacle course first

Everyone else had a turn too as well

Some like Noey sped through the course to have multiple turns!

Naomi had other ideas. Time for a break!

Swing!

There was even a flying fox at the end of the initial play segment that looked like heaps of fun. I wish I could have tried it! Naomi was too small to reach the handle bar, so they transported her in a little bumblebee swing instead which was super cute.

Her beauty queen wave cracks me up.

 After an hour, the kids had a short break to eat, sing happy birthday to Naomi, and enjoy some cake.

Blow! Noey pitching in to help.

You stay away from my cake, you!

And then it was time for bubbles!

Bubbles everywhere! It's just a bubble wand being held in front of a strong fan, if you're wondering.

Super delighted birthday girl.

And an adults v. kids ball fight to end it all!

Ball fight! Some of the littles were more interested in hanging on to their balls though. Haha!

Ganging up on DD!

Naomi handed out the take-home gift for guests: a Charlie and Lola book, after which Noey rose up to the occasion and did a great job thanking everyone for coming to the party. So proud of him for doing that!

"Thank you everyone for coming to Mei-mei's party!"
Naomi was too distracted by the books, which she happily declared as "my favourite!" when she realised what she was handing out!

And that was that. I didn't spend too much time working on this party and aside from confirming the venue and ordering the cake, only started pulling everything together in the last week. So I'm glad it all worked out well in the end!

My kids certainly had a fabulous time -- to good in fact, because they couldn't sleep and Naomi ended her first day as a 2-year old with scoldings and a meltdown. Then again, maybe it's all part and parcel of turning 2.

Happy birthday Naomi!

Till the next party!

******************

Sources:

• Party Venue: JWT Kids' Gym at UE Square
• Birthday Cake: Celebrate with Cake
• Glass Containers for Treats: Ikea and ToTT
• Glass Bottles for Drinks: Daiso
• Striped Straws and Polka-Dotted Cups: Beautiful Revelry
• Treat cups and Jelly cups: Sun Lik Trading
• Party Plates & Cutlery: The Party Stuff