On 20 August, my son turned 3.  It was a time when he quite understand the meaning of birthdays so we decided that we would give him a big party.  We had in mind to invite most of the friends our family personally know - both adults and children. I had sent out the invites via email two months in advance and planned the party over the following weeks to avoid the last minute rush.

Some of the great places to get birthday stuff were Spotlight, The Warehouse, $2 shops and even Safeway supermarket.  With the ample time I had, I was able to window shop at many places, especially on my son's childcare days.  I bought some really cool birthday-themed disposable cutlery and serviettes at Safeway and they were on more than 50% discount.  Great stuff! At Spotlight, there was a wide variety of cutlery of different themes such as Cars, Dora the Explorer, Barbie, Thomas the Tank..etc but they were really expensive.  I was glad to find 50 cents loot bags, plastic table sheet, lovely candles, birthday banner etc on clearance sale!  They were birthday-themed and yet beautiful enough.  What a great saving!  The Warehouse was a great place to buy presents for the children's games.  They have colouring books, colour pencils, crayons, Transformers toys, Hotwheel cars...etc..

It was a most excellent thing to have friends who extended their help with putting this party together.  Two of them with the flair in decor came the day before the party to put up balloons, banner and streamers.  Another came to help with food preparation - cutting up corns, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and wrapping up with foil for baking the next day.  And another who came with a digital SLR to help capture candid moments.  As the host, it is impossible to do that and it was fantastic having a helpful cameraman.  On the actual day, some friends helped with the actual cooking as well while everybody just got to know everybody! The atmosphere was wonderful.

Food list? Parties usually have really unhealthy foods but it does not have to be if we were to do it ourselves - baked corn, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, quality fish fingers are great for both the very young and old - chicken bbq chops and pork chops marinated overnight were great and easy to prepare.  Sausages are great easy food too!  Fruits are always a great choice! Rockmelons, oranges, pineapples and grapes.  I think it is a great idea to trim the cleaned grapes into tiny bunches before the party.  It makes it easier for guests to eat and this does not damage the grapes.  Guests just need to take the tiny bunches instead of trying to pluck them off the main big bunches themselves.  Fried noodles with sliced marinated chicken breasts, choy sum, fish cake, sliced champignons, onions and oyster sauce is fast, easy to prepare and yummy.  That serves as a main meal too.  Cuttlefish and Prawn balls are popular with everybody.  Just deep fry them.  Wiped out in a minute!  Of course, we had all sort of lollies and chocolate bars and potato chips.  Rock Deli was cool!  Healthier choice as the brand promotes - baked not fried - using sunflower oil.

Well, for the cake, I know there are very expensive ones out there.  We just got one blackforest torte from The Cheesecake shop and paid a little extra to put a car image on it.  Our son is currently a car fanatic.  He was so pleased to see the Ford Falcon on the cake! www.cheesecakeshop.com

And for the games, I surfed the net for some.  Wow, it was not easy to find games for young ones such as 2 or 3 as they have limited understanding about games.  It was wonderful that the mums who came helped out the younger ones during the games.  Passing the parcel, Treasure hunt for lollies, Shrinking Island, Pinning the Donkey's Tail were all successful!  However, I did a car instead of a donkey so the children could pin a wheel instead of a tail.  Just needed some coloured paper to do them.  Getting the pressies wrapped up early, indicating gender and age on them were really helpful.  You wouldnt want to give a 2-year-old something he doesnt know how to use or eat yet.  And you wouldnt want to give a 7-year-old something too kiddo that he/she doesnt need anymore.  Delegating a gamesperson before the party to do the games was a great idea too.  As for music for the games, the library was a great place to get them.  The adults were a wonderful audience laughing their hearts out watching the children play their games.

We started the party at noon and it lasted for 3 hours as we planned.  Everything went as smoothly as was planned.  Planning and shopping in advance certainly was a good decision.  And delegation and getting help were important too.  The guests had a good time and our family had a wonderful time as well.  It was a party everybody enjoyed.

We were out for dinner & window-shopping with friends one evening and happened to be just chatting right outside a pharmacy. My two-year-old boy was intrigued by a colourful display of perfume & cologne bottles (testers and packaged boxes) displayed at an area right outside the pharmacy.  Surprisingly, all the bottles were within his reach even though he is just a mere 96cm tall. In fact, they were just right in front of him and he innocently took hold of one bottle while calling out 'Mummy,bottles!'  I quickly moved to him with the intention of getting the bottle out of his hand because I was concerned that he might drop it and shatter the glass bottle of perfume. To my horror, he accidentally squirt one spray right into his eye. He screamed loudly and cried. It all happened so lightning fast though I was just a few steps away from him!! I had to quickly rub his eye and hoped that tears will help wash out the perfume from his eye. The toilet was far away for me to reach in time. Fortunately, he recovered from the incident but not without a slightly red eye which stayed throughout the whole evening.

I just hope parents who read this will learn a lesson from me. Sometimes, we may not foresee a possibly dangerous situation when we are out and about. Beware of those tester bottles easily within our kids' reach when we go shopping at pharmacys or departmental stores. Having one spray of that perfume/cologne into the eye is worse than breaking the bottle...

Shampoos are an essential part of our cleaning routine. But have you ever notice what goes into them to maintain our crowning glory? A typical supermarket shampoo contains the following ingredients :

Water, sodium C12-13 pareth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, dimethiconol, dimethiconol/silsequioxane copolymer, laureth-23, TEA-dodecylbenzenesulfonate, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, cucumis sativus (cucumber fruit extract), propylene glycol, metha-aquatica leat extract, sodium chloride, disodium EDTA, DMDM hydantoin, PPG-26, fragrance(synthetic).

You can probably find a few ingredients which are natural (in bold) but found at the end of the ingredient list. The product mainly contains synthetic chemicals including silicone derivatives, fragrance and preservatives.

Let us look at the ingredients of a reputable 'Made in USA' shampoo which is sold only in salons for about $20.

Water, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamide DEA, cocamidopropyl betaine, matricaria extract, nettle extract, rosermary extract, quillaja saponaria extract, tocopheryl acetate, keratin amino acids, panthenol, avocado oil, allantoin, soybean sterol, honey, ceramide 3, wheat flour lipids, polyquaternium-10, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, alpha-glucan oligosaccharide, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, styrene/mthacrylic acid/itaconic acid polymer, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, magnesium citrate, sodium chloride, polyglyceryl-3 distearate, polysorbate 60, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylsothiazolinone, citric acid, propylene glycol, propylparaben, methylparaben, fragrance (synthetic).

You find a few truly natural and wholesome ingredients (in bold) in larger concentrations in this formulation but loads and loads of synthetic chemicals and preservatives. I find at least four in the product above. I have used the above product for years without knowing what goes inside.

Finally, let us look at the organic shampoo which I am currently using :

Organic aloe vera leaf juice, coco polyglucose, Yucca Schidigera extract, organic rice bran extract, non-GMO lecithin, d-panthenol (pro-vit 5), sunflower oil, organic avocado fruit oil, non-GMO xanthan gum, organic lime essential oil, proprietry blend of essential oils (natural parfum), citric acid, organic horsetail extract, organic nettle extract, organic burdock extract, organic rosemary extract, organic sage extract.

I love this Desert Flower Shampoo for several reasons : It is completely safe. It uses natural ingredients. It uses organic ingredients certified to food standards by reputable certification body Australian Certified Organic. This shampoo is meant for normal to dry hair and is ultra mild for daily use. It is suitable for children and babies too. It contains Yucca juice and coco polyglucose which gently cleanse the hair.

My husband has oilier hair and he uses Miessence Lemon Myrtle shampoo. He also loves the invigorating aroma of organic lemon. It has the following ingredients :

Organic aloe vera leaf juice, coco polyglucose, d-panthenol (pro-vit 5), proprietry blend of essential oils (natural parfum), non-gmo xanthan gum, organic lemon myrtle essential oil, citric acid, organic horsetail extract, organic nettle extract, organic burdock extract, organic rosemary extract, organic sage extract.

My little boy uses Miessence Desert Flower Shampoo. However, I love to also use Aromababy's Pure Hair Cleanse to wash his hair. I can be rest assured of its safe and simple ingredients used :

Purified Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Polysorbate 20, Xanthan Gum, Orange Sweet Essential Oil, Geranium Bourbon Essential Oil, Hydroxymethylglycinate.
                        
Has anyone tried these great shampoos before?

I am back in Singapore having my one month holidays. Just sent all my son's Avent polycarbonate milk bottles for recycling as there is a campaign here. Went shopping on Sunday and browsed at a few brands of milk bottles and toddler straw cups. Finally bought this brand - Aprica. It is a Japanese brand. Even the Royal Family in Japan uses this brand. I can see from Aprica's thick childcare handbook/catalogue that a lot of work has been put in for this area and I certainly can put my trust in their product range. (My son is also currently using their stroller which is ultra light-weight for somebody not very strong like me).

The milk bottles and toddler straw cups are made of polypropylene which is a safe plastic that does not leak Bisphenol-A. Not sure if Aprica is available in most countries though. I know they are at least in USA, Italy, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore. Aprica's bottles are compatible with Dr Brown's teats as both brands worked together in a partnership before.

Just curious if anybody else besides me used these bottles before...Anyone??