jasminetay.blogspot.com: Brendan's Birthday Party @ Royal Carousel

This year will be the 1st time I am celebrating Brendan's birthday with him. 2 years ago I bought him an Awfully Chocolate cupcake but we just met up for like 10mins and he left cos he wanted to pass me some stuff.

He came to my birthday party last year, and that was his 1st time celebrating my birthday with me together with all my friends.. :)

I was thinking what to buy for him.. We buy gifts for each other without any special occasions so it has to be special and memorable.. Nearly went crazy researching on what to get him and then I thought: "Why not throw him a birthday party?".

The happy boy!

His last birthday party was long long ago, for his 21st Birthday and his family is not big on birthdays so he's kinda not into celebrating his birthday -- unlike me. I love birthdays! I love parties! I love celebrations! Whoop!! Whoop!!

Thing was, he doesn't have lots of close friends.. Well, he has lots of friends but he doesn't really meet up very often with them. Before we got together, he's always #Foreveralone and only has a handful of people that he meets up with (including me). When I say handful, it's really handful.. you can count with one hand. His cousin Ryan, his army buddy Clement, Jeraldine and me. 4 people! LOL!

He used to ask me out for dinner every week and I was the busy one. He had to make appointment with me, message me a few days in advance to remind me and sometimes when I was so tired and lazy to go out, he will come all the way to the Macdonald's at Boon Keng to have dinner with me cos he said it's super sad and loserish to stay home on a Friday night. Wah! I envied him and said I want to have free time all by myself but I was so bogged down by work and stuff I don't have the time to relax lah...

Anyways, I invited his close friends, sisters, my sister and my best friends for a high tea buffet! The high tea is my treat as a birthday present for le bf! It's around SGD38++ per person.

When my friends asked me "What does Brendan like? What to buy?", I just laughed and told them "I don't know! That's why I am throwing the party and you guys can go headache about the present! Wahahahah!"

You would have thought it's easy to shop for a simple guy like him but it's not. He don't use branded stuff, he seldom use perfume/cologne, he is techie but that's also a problem because he's very particular about the techie things he buy/use.. I already bought him a watch for Valentine's Day and he has a few other watches so he doesn't need another one.. Cheem right?

I tried to fish out information from him on what he liked and he kept saying "Nothing.. I don't need anything because I have you." -- Wah. Max sweet lor.

Ok, so I set the date as 9/9/12 even though his birthday is on 19/9/12 and we can celebrate it on 16/9/12 instead, however majority of the group cannot make it on 16/9/12 so I had to put it on 9/9 instead. Unfortunately, Joyce couldn't come yesterday cos she had a company event thingy to attend. I really think her job is super sucky. Lots of weekends burnt for stupid company events and she don't get time off or extra money..!! Only consolation is the huge bonus every year (she work in HR for a big shipping company), but still! No work life balance AT ALL.

So out of the 14 including the both of us, only Joyce couldn't make it so it's 13 guests. There's a minimum 12 adults rule, so even if less than 12 people came I will still have to pay the full sum for 12 people. But luckily all the rest could make it! :)

I bought the balloon from Nex Mall. He likes cars so I bought him a car shaped balloon. One of the employees at the restaurant wished me "Happy Birthday Madam!" when he saw me walking in with the balloon. I said it's not my birthday and it's le bf's birthday, the guy said "Wah! Why never buy him a real car?".. Diao. I wished I had that kind of spending power. Haha!

We arrived early to prep the room!

I booked the private room cos the main hall is very noisy. The price is the same for the private room but there is a minimum headcount of 12 adults, maximum 14 people. I had to pre-guarantee the total amount for 12 people and no cancellation is allowed 48hrs before. Even if less than 12 people turn up, I will still have to pay for the minimum headcount of 12 adults.. It's really worth it if you have a party of 12. The decor is very "Italian Mafia" and it's partitioned off from the main dining area so it's very exclusive and special, not to mention quieter! If your group is much bigger, you can choose to block off a whole wing at the left side of the restaurant.

My sister arrived first. Good girl! We were 2nd and followed by Wany & Nathaniel (the two BBFF. Haha!). XY & Nick came earlier than all of us but I'm not sure where they were because four of us were at the restaurant already and both of them were still missing. Must be kissy kissy somewhere.. Haha!

I appointed my sister as the official party photographer because I know I will be too distracted to take pictures.. She did her job very well! I found lots of nice pictures on my camera when I uploaded them into my computer. :) Thanks Pui!

Party boxes for the guests! :)

The box design is Scooby Doo's Mystery Van.

I think it's super cute! Haha!

What is inside the box?

Old school candy!

Chocolate fountains

Condiments for the fondue

My sister's favourite.. waffles!

The whole group! Picture taken from my side!

Group picture taken from le bf's side

Both of us sat at both ends of the table. So he can chat with his friends and I can chat with mine.. Make sure no one got left out of the conversation. Initially I was sitting at his seat but he changed the last minute cos it's "easier to go out and take food" as the seat is just beside the door. Haiyo! My poor sister was already seated beside that seat and in the end she's separated from me throughout the meal and was so lonely. Awwww. I told her "blame your korkor for changing at the last minute!". Haha!

Birthday boy sitting beside the door.

I was seated beside Pamela (le bf's youngest sister).

The moment she arrived, she opened her party pack and went "Ooh!" then suddenly everyone looked at her at the same time cos we were all settling down and chatting and she's already looking at the stuff in the box... all of us laughed together cos her expression was too funny! I don't know why but we all looked at her at the same time without cue and she gave us the "OH!" face and the sheepish "Heh heh!" and it's so cute!!

Cheryl & Pamela

Le bf is the eldest, followed by Cheryl, then Pamela

The new couple!

Nick & XY aka Jace

She looks so blissfully in love now! Last time she kept saying me and Le bf is so er-xin for being so sweet and mushy but now she's er-xin herself and she doesn't want to admit it. LOL! I am so happy for her though. ^_^

The BBFF (Beyond Best Friends Forever) pair

3 of us kept going to queue for the stupid Kebab but the chef always say "Come back in 10mins! Not ready yet.." But when we come back in 10mins, he say the same thing! WAH LAO EH! This happened for a few times and both Nat and Wany were so pissed they decided to stand there and stalk the kebab counter until it is ready. They waited like 20mins before they finally got a plate after a few failed attempts! Madness!

After a while, XY asked Brendan to open his birthday present from them..

Nintendo DS XL!

I told them that he wanted this because I've seen him eyeing it and he is such a big DS fan that he has the whole collection except for one because of some reason which I forgot.. he has the original DS, DS lite, 3DS and some other models. He's also always on the lookout for new DS games and brings it when he travels overseas. Now he has an XL version! Thank you so much XY, Nick, Yaya, Wany, Nathaniel, Joyce!

Afterwards, the staff came in to surprise him with his birthday cupcake and birthday fruit tart! The cupcake is complimentary from the hotel and his sisters bought the fruit tart. :) Cheryl went to Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport T3 to pick it up lah! The staff sang the usual "It's your birthday, sha la la la la!" When I arrived earlier, they asked me what time they should come in to surprise him and I asked "Are you all gonna sing the Sha la la la song?" and the guy told me "We got other songs too!" but in the end still sha la la la la. LOL!

I bought the super cute robot candles for him. ^_^

Happy Birthday my love! *muacks*

Make a wish!!~~

Cut cake time!!

My sister took a picture of one of the robot candles. Haha!

Birthday cupcake!

(I ended up eating this all by myself for supper last night. LOL!)

Taking a picture to post on Instagram!

Group picture timeeeee!

Le bf and his sisters ^^

They look super alike, especially when they smile. :D

Our "family" picture.

Pamela is so funny cos she was waving her hands like and saying "Lai Lai Da Sao come take picture!". I was telling le bf "Wah! First time your sis call me Da Sao leh. Awwww". Hee!