21st Birthday Party
Monday, April 15, 2013
In a couple of days time, I'll be turning 21 years old.
They say that's the coming of age for most people. And turning 21 is a legit excuse to splurge your money and throw an awesome party. Invite all your friends, party and drink the night away. After all, you only get a chance like this in your entire life.
So that's what I did. I threw a birthday party for my 21st. Well, I had to throw it two weeks earlier than my supposed birthday since my birthday falls right before the exams.
I realised throwing a party wasn't such an easy job. There was a hell of work to be done. Well, I'm not famous or anything so unlike many of the bloggers out there who managed to get their party sponsored, I only had my parents to sponsor me. And I'm very grateful for their support.
Most Singaporeans would go for a chalet, or a hotel room. I've been to parties hosted in a chalet, hotel room, condo's function room, one's own house, and even in a room in school. Personally, I think the venue is extremely important because it creates the mood of the party.
Well, my birthday party was held at Evans Lounge, 80 capacity. I even booked the gazebo, which meant my guests could hang around outside too. It was a huge venue, which meant all my friends sat comfortably in their own group of friends and had sufficient space to move about.
I made this horrible mistake for selecting a venue that was pretty much inaccessible. It was out of the way and the fastest way to get there was to drive in, which was not too bad considering I do have a couple of friends who drove there. But I guess, if your friends really wanted to be there, the location would not have mattered.
Here's some photos of the venue.
It was really huge with a lot of empty spaces. So I made use of it and got a lot of decorations to put up. I do not have a clear empty photo of all the decorations I've put up. But here's the closest I could find, with all the decorations at the back. And I even pushed some furniture to the empty side of the lounge so it does not look too empty.
The lounge even came with a stage. Which was the plus point because it meant I could hold my cake cutting there. And it also meant I have microphones and could even invite a jam band over to perform. Well, I didn't though.
I've transformed the stage into this!
And the gazebo! Since food wasn't allowed in the lounge, we had to book the gazebo to place the food for the guests. It added a really nice nature touch to the entire party too and guests can roam outside.
So we placed the food outside :)
As my venue was huge, I needed to get a lot of decorations to make the venue really sweet and nice.
I stuck to a colour theme, red, gold, silver. I know they're so cheerleader colours but they are my favourite colours. I got balloons of the colours, streamers, stars to hang around, and even the wordings for are according to the colour theme.
I personally think balloons really lifted the party mood because it occupies a lot of space and it's often associated with parties. They make good wall decorations too.
I learnt my lesson from all the previous birthday parties I attended. You should always get more help for decorations because it's going to take a long time to get all the decorations up, especially if you haven't prepared them before hand. And balloons will take a long time to blow them up so a lot of help would be appreciated.
I had my family, relatives, and close friends coming to the venue early to put up the decorations. And I'm really grateful for them because they managed to get all the decorations up before the guests arrive.
I had a "Candy" theme for my birthday so I wanted a desserts table with lots of candies and sweet stuff. So I had a chocolate fondue for my guests. I even ordered a lot of deserts (but we'll leave the food for later).
And making use of the environment's resources, I drew up a sign to place it outside the venue to direct the guests in.
Food is the most important thing and that's where most of your money would have went to.
The food is so important that I believe it can make or break your party. A party with insufficient food for the guests is just a disappointment. You can't expect your guests to come all the way to your party and spend a bomb on your present, and there isn't enough food for them to eat. I've been to a party where there wasn't any food left except some rice and noodles. It was really disappointing because I was starving by the time I reached the party. Well, of course too much food might not be a good thing too. I had so much leftovers from my party. But at least everyone's well fed.
I've been to parties where the food was not appetizing. So there were guests who didn't really eat much of the food. And that probably left a lasting image because when people asked me how was the party or event, the first thing that comes to people's mind would be how good or bad the food tasted.
I figured finger food worked best for parties. People will be more likely to take finger food to eat. Food like curry chicken would make it so difficult for the guests to eat. And there's a higher chance of you dirtying your dress!
I ordered a total of 2 staple food, 5 dishes, 3 desserts, and 2 beverages. The reason why I had more desserts was because my theme was "Candy" and it's only right to have more desserts and sweet items for the party. I've received many compliments for the choice of food and one of them came up to me and said he really liked the fried mee siam.
In case you're wondering where I got my food from, it's from Elsie's Kitchen. This is clearly not a sponsored caterer but I do have to say my mother is a loyal fan of Elsie's Kitchen and she was the one who recommended me to it. Unfortunately, the food came in a little late (an hour later than requested) but I guess I'll give some allowance considering that it rained and the venue was hard to find. However, I do understand from other experiences with Elsie's Kitchen, they were never late so I'll take this as a one-off mistake.
Next, the birthday cake! A 21st birthday cake can be an excuse to have a really special cake! You may even go for cupcakes like many of my friends have opted for!
I got mine from Bengawan Solo. Surprise surprise! Many of my friends were so amazed by the beauty of the cake that it's hard to believe a conventional bakery would have such lovely cakes. But yes, they do.
I tried searching for other 3D cake designs from blogshops but the price they quoted me was so much pricier than Bengawan Solo. Of course it was much more customized to order from blogshops. I guess, it's really up to you.
Thank you everyone who came and everyone who made this party a success!