Vic's 4th and Will's 1st Birthday Celebration

Date: Saturday, April 11th.
Venue: Shang Palace Restaurant, Shangrila Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Theme: Barney / Purple

Two Saturdays ago we celebrated the birthdays of our little princess, Victoria who officially turned 4 on April 10th, and our prince William (almost 3 weeks ahead) who will be turning 1 yo on April 29th.

The party was planned in early February, which started with a call to the hotel to use their Lemon Garden Cafe, then changed to a private function room for more flexibility and an informal layout, but later changed to Shang Palace Restaurant, their non-halal joint for the obvious reason.

Victoria said she wanted to meet Barney, and we thought of a Barney mascot, then I called a friend who could do some magic tricks and balloon sculptures for us. The decos was simple, booked with 6 topiary balloons with a Barney myler balloon as the centre piece for the VIP table.

We had 7 tables altogether, comprising of grandparents, relatives, close friends of ours, Victoria's teachers and classmates with their respective families. It was such a joyous event, despite some last minute changes in the RSVP.

The party was supposed to start at 1pm, but only started at 145pm as some guests were caught in the Saturday KL traffic. Hubby gave a welcome speech to thank the guests (have to la!), then our friend Pastor Alex Tan gave a short sharing, prayed for us and thanked God for the food.

Barney, decos, cake supplier, photographer all arrived before 1pm. We ordered a Barney jelly cake from Madam Lim, cupcakes from +Wondermilk and a Lego fondant cake with cupcakes from Angelina Skelchy. The hotel gave us a complimentary mango cheese cake. The party packs were partially sponsored by a good friend of mine, which we then added some candies, chocolates and balloons inside.

Barney jelly cake
Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream spelling out their name, prior to being arranged

William's LEGO man fondant chocolate cake

+Wondermilk cupcakes

Cake cutting. William was asleep so Victoria jie jie helped to cut his cake

We gave many months of pap talk to Victoria on not being scared of Barney, and we've even asked Barney to take off his headgear so that the children can see that it's just a human inside. But our little girl turn out... still afraid of Barney. Her friends, however enjoyed hugging and taking pictures with Barney though. Phew, so at least Barney don't feel so sad.

Hello... Barney making his entrance!

As for our little boy, initially he was OK with the mascot. Somehow, after his nap (which was just before we sang the birthday songs) he wasn't too friendly with Barney anymore. We tried to take a family picture with Barney but none of the kids want to be next to the dinosaur. : (

William checking out Barney

Victoria and her friends enjoyed themselves walking around, although it was a sitdown luncheon layout. I'm glad because we didn't want the atmosphere to be too formal. It's such a blessing to see the kids laugh, especially during the magic show, where Cookie monster gave a short performance too. Victoria's friend, Katelyn was the assistant to the magician, Uncle Billy, making all her friends laugh as she sportingly did what Uncle Billy asked her.

Uncle Billy in action!

Victoria trying out a magic trick with Uncle Billy
The kids enjoying themselves after the food
Victoria laughing
She must be thinking, "are you for real???"

William with Daddy William in his white shirt, pink striped black tie and cotton vest
He still can't walk on his own, has to be aided


The party ended around 330pm. The presence of all who came touched our hearts, no amount of thank yous can truly reflect the gratitude in our hearts, for making this party such a success. It seemed a little exaggerated for just a childrens' party, yet we wanted this to be special for William's first, and Victoria's 4th party, bearing in mind she is still allergic to certain foods. Of course, next year and the subsequent years, the atmosphere should be much quieter.