day 638 | september 15, 2012 | around the world with roo and red

party time! we hosted roo and red's joint party at home so we wouldn't have to worry about rain or haze levels. we would have loved to do it at the same place like last year, but figured that an indoor party might be able to serve the theme better.

the kids started their adventures by receiving a passport upon their arrival. armed with ink pads and a collection of letter rubber stamps, they could personalize their passports as well as their travel kit luggage tags. 
egypt was the first stop. there, they had to look for the hieroglyph characters of their name. once complete, they could spell it out by sticking each character on the wall, similar to how ancient egyptians carved their history onto their temples and palaces. 
next stop, france. initially, i intended for the little ones to create an eiffel tower using lolly sticks. after trying it out myself (peek at the tower sitting right under 'FRANCE'), i realized i needed to be more open-minded about what the kids would be happy and able to create. my eiffel tower ended up looking like a leaning tower of eiffel, with a well.
instead, we simply asked them to design and create their own tower, and they were very happy to do so. i think the rainbow colored sticks might have helped win over some cooperation. the little ones spent the most time in paris, with several of them coming back while were in 'transit.'
in japan, our resident 'sushi master' taught the kids how to roll a simple rice roll. it was sticky messy fun, but the kids loved it, and a few of them even came back for seconds and thirds! :) they brought home their sushi mats so they can make sushi for their mommies and daddies another time.
and they all ate the sushi they made!
last stop, brasil. there was some contention on the way i spelled it, and a couple of very smart boys highlighted that i spelled it using the portuguese way. these must be the footie fans!

the main message was on conservation and saving the endangered rainforest animals. we directed them to look for and rescue jungle animals in a simple scavenger hunt. several went around the house raiding our stuffed toy collection and giving me stuffed bears, dogs, and cats, before a few of them noticed the wooden decal jungle animals. :)
the little ones got to keep the 'animals' they rescued. stuck on our wall, these are the wooden decal animals that got left behind.
the kids collected stickers as immigration stamps, for every adventure completed; and you could see the how proud they were once they got all four stickers.
for our wrap-up, we asked the kids to stick little people onto our homemade world map to identify the places we went to. i wanted them to visualize how much of the world we've explored.
i had to rope roo in to identify tiny singapore. a few of them knew where japan, egypt, and france were, but struggled to pinpoint brazil. to help the kids along, we painted all the countries we visited in orange to make identification easier.
red slept through most of the party, but woke up in time for the candle-blowing and the eating!
... as well as playtime with some of her big sister's friends. red also managed to cuddle up to a couple of really cute babies!
after the party, roo got to open #3 gift on her birthday list. :) (i'm STILL hoping the barbie phase fades out soon...) thank goodness, birthdays only happen once a year. i think i need a year to recover my party-planning mojo again.
thanks to all the little ones, mommies, and daddies who took the time to celebrate with us. hope you had as much fun as we did! we loved throwing this party for you guys. our main goal was to give the kids a fun experience that will whet their appetites to explore, and to develop an awareness that there is a big, big world out there. i'd like to think we were fairly successful. :)
right now, i'm just soaking up roo and red's post-party high! :)

roo and red party series:
red's first month tea partyroo and red's 5+1 party: crafty funroo and red's 6+2 party: inspired by wanderlustroo and red's 6+2 party: around the world


11 comments:

Dominique Goh said...

Lovely party pictures. Happy belated birthday to Red and Roo

Unknown said...

did you design the passports? and the immigration stamps? love how they turned out!

love the thought that went into the activities and your ultimate aim of exposing the kids to the world. i wish i was roo's friend :)

Evelyn said...

This was a party planned with so much love and enthusiasm, thanks for having us! Layla was talking about it all the way home, her fave stop was the animal hunt in Brazil. (What's the story behind the other spelling?)

Btw I was just peeking at last year's pics; I remember those early post-delivery days! *shudder* And I didn't know Mommy L back then! How cool that we're all connected now :)

libpuritan said...

Thanks Dominique! :) Tomorrow is Red's turn. :)

Jasmine, yes! Spent half a day on that thing (design and content). Tedious but FUN! Grin. Thankfully, the kids liked it. I was worried I might have over-designed it. :)

Mommy E! :) You did NOT look post-delivery at all. We loved having you guys again this year, and I was so happy to finally attend Layla's party as I missed last year's frisbee! Finding (and keeping) connections is fun!

Susan said...

This looked at such a fun fun fun party. Great job there and I'm sure that Roo and friends had a fun afternoon learning as they traveled around the world.

SleeplessInKL said...

Fantastic theme for a birthday party! Belated happy birthday to your girls :)

Unknown said...

Impressive!! Obviously you have design talent as well!! Not surprising since you clearly have a good eye for visual beauty :)

mummybean said...

This was such an awesome party! Looks like it was a lot of fun! Did you take the photos yourself? The photos for my kids' birthday always turn out not so great because my husband is occupied entertaining and doesn't manage to take the photos I want!

pc said...

What a great party with lots of love and thoughts! Happy belated birthday to Roo:).

P/s: the cake does not lOok like a cake. I thought it was a cute toy suitcase:p!

libpuritan said...

Thanks Susan, Mimi, Jasmine! ;) It's made easy since I'm doing it for the litte ones. Inspiration and beauty are easier to find when you're working with people you love. ;)

V, I did take the photos! I've always focused on entertaining the kids, while he entertains the grown ups. ;) It is tough shooting and entertaining at the same time, so I set a small goal of shooting each child at least once (and ditch the adults, grin). I missed 1 kiddie guest :(, but overall I think there are enough shots to keep the happy memory alive.

Unknown said...

Super.Love.This!!!!
Great ideas for Around the World theme! Ooooh the gears in my brain are a-movin' now!

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