Caitlin’s classmate Chloe had her birthday party at Centrepoint’s McDonald’s over the weekend.

I had organized Caitlin’s 4 year old birthday party before, and one of my criteria was that all the kids should enjoy the party or event. I did consider McD’s then, but didn’t think it was going to be all that fun, as I thought it was just all sit-down and eat, with party packs and hats to take-away, and maybe the chance for them to go crazy at the indoor playground.

I was wrong.

The party invitation, a McD stationary no less, stated that Chloe’s party is from 12-1:30. We only arrived around 12:10, cos since it was a Sunday lunch time all the good shaded parking spots were taken. Darn it I had to park in the sun, illegally no less. Went in, saw the sign that said “Chloe’s party” pointing upstairs. Went upstairs and some of the kids were already at their designated-just-for-kiddies long table munching away at their fries. An older kid came to greet us, and asked what Caitlin’s name was. “Hey, that’s my name too!” quipped the probably-10-years-old girl, and proceeded to write the name on Caitlin’s McD cap.

Caitlin then was led to the table to an empty seat. Rather apprehensive at first, as she is when attending any event, she soon got comfortable with her friends and found her fries and the McD toy in her mealbox, with her hat on – which is still at home today

Okay, so now what do I do? The playground doesn’t look like it will hold my weight….. I thought.

There were other parents there. I noticed some of them were talking to a McD staff. Others seemed to already know one another. Relatives, is what I thought. Do parents of school kids get involved with each other??

I didn’t know anyone, so I sat myself down to watch the kids for a while. Wait a sec, what about me- the kids are eating, and I am starting to get hungr..

“What would you like to eat sir?” said the same McD staff from before.

Isn’t this a fast-food self-order restaurant? “Err….” I was just thinking about going downstai…

“Would you like to try the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe?”

“Okay”. Can’t say I have heard of that menu-item before; Qtr Pounder and McChicken- yeah. This one must be new…?

Soon the staff came back with a tray full of the red boxes, closely followed by another with a tray full of fries and drinks. I warfed mine down, and so did the other parents; partly cos I was getting hungry, but mainly cos this is some tasty chicken burger with some spicy zing to it! It wasn’t bad, just like the McChicken that I always get, but with that extra kick, and it also seemed crunchier. I never liked adding sauce to most things I eat (not even on fries) so the spiciness of this burger is just what I liked, without the sugar of sauces.

“Cabbage-between-the-teeth for seconds anyone?”

I soon realised that Chloe’s mum was taking care of even the adults’ meals as well, so after I kinda picked my teeth to make myself presentable (cabbage-between-the-teeth for seconds anyone?) I went over to thank her for it. Made some small talk. By this time the kids were being rounded up for some games and activities already.

I realized then that my impressions of a McD’s birthday party was all wrong. The kids didn’t just sit around wearing their hats, munching on fries and going home with party packs (which btw contained a colouring book, colour pencils, and stickers of “My name is…”). There were 2 staff there actually getting the kids to play pass the ball, musical chairs and even the quintessential happy birthday song, complete with a big chair fit for the princess for the day!

In all this time, I was trying to capture as much as I can photos of my darling girl, who is growing up so quickly … and then, not suddenly but slowly …. something still didn’t feel right in my stomach.

Hmmm…

I looked around the upstairs a little bit. Should I leave Caitlin “unattended” while I step away for a while? Will she freak out if she can’t find me? Or will she even notice that I wasn’t around?

I took the chance. Headed straight downstairs hoping that it was gonna be a quick one, and found that there was a queue! Yikes, I gotta wait!

Tick tock tick tock….

Soon, it was my turn, and I conducted the “transaction” as fast as I could, and quickly went back upstairs, happy with myself with what I needed to do, and also that Caitlin didn’t even notice I was gone, being so engrossed with the games that the staff were putting on.

Sat myself down again, and enjoyed ANOTHER SPICY CHICKEN McDELUXE McVALUE MEAL!

Heh heh! Now I was happy.

We left only at 2pm, even though most of the kids were still loitering. The real reason we had to leave was because, as stated in the invitation, the party was only supposed to be until 1:30pm, because at 2pm another one was starting!

Thank goodness I still managed to get the the second McValue meal- it’s actually catered for the lunch period, 12-3pm; but luckily it’s on everyday! Guess where I’d be having a value-lunch mostly these days, now that they also have a new menu-item (at least for me) that’s to my taste? RM5.95 only, no less?

I did, twice in a day!

It was a successful affair! We had achieved the desired outcome!

My parents had invited close relatives and friends, and had wanted to keep the affair not-to-big. So naturally the guest list was crafted by them. Seatings were also generally determined by them, as sometimes one has to try and please as many as possible and diplomatically seat various folks together or apart.

So anyway, whatever brought about the inspiration, my niece took it upon herself to add more activities and significance to the event- she had wanted to give her grandparents a surprise gift. She thought to create a photo album, chronicling from the days my parents dated, to their wedding, to when the kids (us) were born, and to when their generation was born. So there were lots of baby photos that still bring laughters today! She then got everyone of us to write a greeting / message of whatever we wanted to say to my parents.

Me and my siblings usually communicate via emails; like a mailing list, when we have something to collectively discuss. Here was no different, only that the nieces and nephews were also roped in; in discussing this, the program for the evening, and also all the planning leading up to it.

This latter phase largely revolved around what to get as doorgift for the guests. The criteria was that it had to be something that the guests won’t be throwing away very easily, not something that is left at the bottom of the drawer, something that can serve as a reminder of the event later on, and of course meaningful. So, that ruled out chocolates of even the best quality; cakes, for the same reason; Chinese tea; photoframes, cos, well it just didn’t jive well with anyone.

What we eventually settled was a pair of chopsticks, and Chinese teacup set.

In this pic, the gift looked like it does above with the chopsticks tied to the box, which contains the teacup.

After the party / the next morning, while recapping all the fun that was had by all, mum was looking at this doorgift. No, she / they didn’t know anything about this surprise either!

She shared a useful comment for the ethnic Chinese among us.

It would have been more meaningful if it were a rice bowl, instead of the cup, because a chopsticks+rice bowl combo is a more complete symbol for such an occasion. Since the occasion was to celebrate their 50th anniversary, as well as an early 70th birthday for my mum (it’s actually in the middle of the year), the combo would be symbolic of the hosts also wishing that their guests would also eat-well into their later age.

While mum’s birthday is later in the year, their anniversary apparently is spot on the date! It was also good that we did it early ‘cos some of these nieces and nephews have to leave for / go back to uni pretty soon.

The dinner party program also included a surprise slideshow presentation. In preparing for the photo album, my brother made copies (more like photographed the photos) of the nostalgic moments in their lives, and put together a slideshow with a similar chronicle theme to the album, but for all the guests to see.

That was a big feature of the evening, everyone’s eyes were glued to the screens! Friends who knew my parents even more than a decade ago were keenly watching the slideshow of my parents in their early 20’s and 30’s. Relatives relived the old days, my nieces and nephews laughing their heads off at kid photos of their parents.

But most importantly, my parents too were saying “Hey, that was when… ” and “Oh dear! Where did you get that from!?” They had a good time watching the whole 35min slideshow.

The nieces and nephews too had a series of speeches all planned out. In all, all of the grandkids present did something. Well wishes, toasts, and a presentation of 2 calligraphy scrolls handwritten by this organiser-niece, no less. The last of the grandkids’ surprise was this photo album mentioned earlier; a few of them slaved over it about 2 weeks before the event.

All the grandkids had a great time, too. All helped out in one way or another; even Caitlin accompanied me on stage when the hosts’ sons were up there welcoming the guests and other speaking ocassions.

Dr Pixie, being the oldest and de facto leader of my generation, summed it up nicely in her email today:

On a final note – the parents are very very very happy with the effort put into the Feb 14th dinner. Thats what parents live for – the time and effort by their children & grandchildren. The evidently wonderful camaderie enjoyed by the grandkids captured so well in the photos is so heart-warming; they have never ever quarrelled, with love and humility all round ; there isnt the slightest feeling of envy, jealousy, anger nor one-upmanship amongst this lot – this can teach us adults so many lessons.

Kudos, guys, for a job well done! All except Caleb, who was gladly snoozing through the whole event. He had to be taken out of his stroller / woken for these family shots, which while he thought it was very rude of the adults to disturb his sleep, we couldnt’ help but laugh at him though, trying to either stay awake or stay asleep, and stay balanced!

Oh yeah, much later that night, I thought I was the last to go to bed (we crashed at my parent’s place) I caught my father enjoying the photo album, in his fave seat, slowly flipping the pages and reading every single word…. Hear that, Mdm Organiser?

I would say that in planning for this event, my niece has had her first taste in project (event?) managing and executing a pretty major event, even if it’s only a family affair.

And being the cheeky uncle that I am, during times of emailing and IM-ing with her I pressured her highlighting things like “Are we on schedule?”, “You do realise that it’s now only seven days till the event”, when we (she) still hadn’t settled on which doorgifts would be best for the occassion / guests, let alone allowing time for the suppliers to come back with a quote and also getting them made!

She’s been frantically visiting the venue, executing the questions we had about where and how the tables will be arranged, sorting the seating by guests, getting her team (of cousins) to memorise the tables to help ushering, where to position the tv / screen (we have a slideshow of photos of last 50+ years), compiling the photos, “do they have wireless mics”, “this doorgift is better than that”, and getting her surprise gift completed, etc.

Yes, she’s done a surprise gift too.

At this juncture, from my own observations I’d say she has experienced at least some of these emotions!

• Some small forms of accomplishment (getting things in order for the event)
• Asking for favours
• Asking authorities (her older relatives) to stick to deadlines!
• Gratitude
• Controlling some (anxiety-related) emotions
• Pressured!
• Can’t please everyone!
• Panic!

Pretty good training just before heading off to uni!

Will let you know how the event goes!

Photos courtesy of my brother’s Flickr collection

Those of you invited, or know people who are invited, please don’t disclose this.

It is my parents’ 50th anniversary this year, and also a joint celebration for my mum’s birthday.

But my dad doesn’t want people to know these.

He is kinda shy about it, you see.

Also, both my parents just want friends and family to come empty handed. That’s right. No gifts, no ang pows.

They have insisted that the dinner event, some 18 tables I hear, to just be a sit-down happy joy joy dinner with close friends and relatives. No stage, no mics, no hoo-ha.

But the grandkids are up to something…..

Some parts of their grand-plan are finalised, others still need the Committee’s approval and budgetary sign-offs

* Photo courtesy of my brother’s Flickr site

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all my friends!

I don’t know how often I’d be reading, checking comments, or posting, but rest assured it’s likely due to being busy catching up with relatives, cards and eating!

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Got a call from my sister in law about the dinner arrangements for Friday, the usual day of the week where we have dinner with my parents in my eldest brother’s house.

We are having a Father’s Day dinner celebration!

And just like all other similar celebrations with the extended family, my contribution to the potluck was a simple purchase of roti canai from the nearby mamak restaurant.

Sister in law is always the busy host. Other than yummy food resulting in loosened belt buckles, she would usually still go around asking “Anyone for ice cream? I have coffee, vanilla, chocolate…” Of course, I very seldom disappoint her by trying to help her finish her ice cream stock, which is always replenished.

Okay it’s the weekend; father’s day no less! My 1-week-old exercise regime can take a break, already!

And there was a surprise cake from my niece!

Aaahhhh…. nice end to a Friday 13th, with nice food, nice desert, great company, and a “gift” from Caitlin from her day at school!

I wonder what the real day will bring? Eh, Hot Mummee?

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, FATHER-READERS!