Princess Birthday Party

　

Our friends, Kara and Josh, had their first daughter’s birthday party at their home in Jakarta a couple of weeks ago. Their first daughter and ours are the same age and they both started kindergarten this month. It was the first birthday party our daughters were invited in Jakarta.

My husband and I have known Kara and Josh since the beginning of 2003. It was just by luck that both of us couples were assigned to live in Jakarta at the same time. Since Kara and Josh arrived in this city 4 months before us, they, especially Kara, have helped us enormously with our getting acclimated to the new city, which made our life so much easier and more comfortable.

The birthday party theme was princess as it was Kara’s daughter’s wish. Guest girls were asked to wear their princess dresses to the party. Since we just moved to Jakarta about a month before and our household effects have not arrived yet at the time, we didn’t have any of dress-up dresses for our girls except for the dresses my daughters wore at the wedding they were in this past summer. That worked out perfectly.

After kids walk into the house, they were asked to decorate their own goodie bags. All girls seemed to have enjoyed this activity a lot. I have been to birthday parties in the past where kids were asked to decorate goodie bags and it is a great way to keep kids busy especially for age 4 and older. I was quite surprised my younger one was able to do hers as in the past I have done this activity on behalf of my kids and I noticed that this can be a task for parents with toddlers.

Kara did a great job decorating some rooms she used for the party to give a princess touch. I love the way she decorates her house. Just for your information, the photos of the rooms you see here do not necessarily represent the usual look of the rooms in her house. She even switched some paintings and cushion covers with those she usually use in her children’s rooms so that they would give a little more girly feel to the rooms. As for the place Kara purchased the decorative items she used at the party, she bought them on Etsy.

Kara prepared four games (I think) for the girls. The first one was like “Simon says”, except she used “Princess Aurora says”. Then the next game was similar to musical chair, but kids didn’t move and instead they passed around an apple and whoever ends up with an apple when the music stopped, she had to get out of the circle to sleep just like a Snow White. After that game, the girls played this game where they sat down with both of their hands on their back and closed their eyes while one girl who holds a gem puts it in someone’s hands. Then kids guessed who had it. Finally they played a treasure hunt and looked for a ‘glass slipper’ hidden somewhere in one room. They were all great games that all girls loved.

The kids ate the lunch and snack. Kara prepared some sandwiches cut into crown shape. Cupcakes were delicious. She made this Boiled Frosting which my daughter called ‘marshmallow frosting’. It was my first time to have it and I liked it a lot!

This birthday party was very inspiring to me. I love homemade birthday parties like this. It’s intimate and cozy. This is what I’m more used to in Japan. It made me think a lot about my first daughter’s birthday which is coming up in a few months. I need to get my act together. I feel like it’s going to sneak up on me as we approach Halloween!