the bottomsup blog | parenting, living, and crafting in Singapore

And I’ve already started storing away ideas for next year’s party, believe it or not! Some of my thoughts: * A joint party’s great if we want to cut costs and save time, especially now that Z’s too young to know what’s going on, but if I did this again I’d hold the party earlier, [...]

Now that the party’s over, I’ve got just one party-related task left, and that’s to thank everyone for their help and the gifts. I must confess that I’ve been a bit erratic in this area. Some years I’ve insisted that we make cards like these: And at other times, I’ve done nothing at all. Or, [...]

Here’s something I learned over the weekend: It’s nearly impossible to play host and party photographer at the same time! But, here they are, a few of my favourite things (and moments) from this year’s party: p.s. I’ve also been playing around with Totally Rad Actions for Photoshop; the colours can get a bit confounding [...]

Today, our cake baker Debbie is telling the story of our party cake over on her blog. I love reading her posts because it’s not often that you get to hear about how cakes get made, especially the last-minute hiccups! Of course if you’re doing the work that Debbie does, you can’t let setbacks put [...]

It was only after the party was over that I realised I should’ve made someone the Instagram photographer! I’d wanted to capture my guests in all their stripey, spotty glory, but the thought vanished after the kids arrived and I lost count of the number of people in my home. These are my precious few [...]

My friend Stephii forwarded me this article last week, and asked if I would be blogging about gifts. The article’s about a mom making her case for not bringing along presents to birthday parties, for reasons like this: You really don’t want any more toys around your house anyway, especially the cheap and craptastic ones [...]

This is what Alf and I have been busy with over the last two nights: Making paper medallions to use as wall decorations for our party. This was Plan B because Plan A of getting Alf’s text tree made into a party wall decal didn’t pan out. I’d contacted two decal companies; one stopped responding [...]

Dessert tables only caught my eye two years ago, when I was preparing to celebrate Layla’s fourth birthday. But back then, Alf grimaced and insisted we provide a healthier spread, cake aside, so our table was filled with freshly baked breads and pastries, and I think we even had a bowl of apples that no [...]

A quick update today before I hurry Z along to bed (he’s having a late night) so I can get cracking on making some party decorations! Over the weekend, playful momma Sarah shared a link to the Toy-A-Day blog, where the creator’s posting really cool paper doll templates for you to make your own at [...]