Evangeline is One! Celebrating Baby’s First Birthday

saEvangeline turns one today! ๐Ÿ™‚ So how did we end up celebrating baby’s first birthday? Well, we had a small lunch party for her last Saturday at Ellenborough Market Cafe. We made it a simple affair and invited only immediate family members and a few friends. Would loved to have more people, but since Evangeline is easily stimulated, it’s better to tone it down.

True enough she seemed overwhelmed even by this small group – she was less smiley and chirpy. Yet she’s a real trooper that day, and much praises were heaped on her for not being fussy. She willingly let different guests carry her without kicking up a fuss, although most of the time, she had the zen look. She also got a bit cranky and distracted during the photo taking session – but that’s baby for you. In any case, baby parties like this are more for the adults, since the baby is unlikely to remember any of this. Hehs.


Ellenborough Market Cafe


The Space

The restaurant was spacious and not crowded even on a Father’s Day weekend. Btw, all the fathers got a complimentary glass of beer! A round and a long table were arranged next to each other for our family and friends.

Proud we made the choice to have hotel buffet lunch for our guests. Instead of the usual catered buffet, there’s a good variety of food – seafood, sashimi, sushi, chinese noodles, peranakan dishes, and desserts – for the guests to dig in. And best of all, there’s no need to clean up after that. Yays!

Service

Cheers to the helpful restaurant staff. They provided five baby chairs and helped us with a few last minute table arrangements. Then, they kept our cake without cakeage fee, and promptly brought it out during cake cutting time. Upon request, they gladly provided us dessert plates and forks to serve.

They also patiently waited until the last minute to chase us out. We were the last guests and I felt so bad because they later told us that they needed the table for high tea. No wonder all the staff looked busy turning over the whole place – cleaning and prepping.

Food

The online food reviews of Ellenborough were mixed and I was a tad worried. But phew, my worry was unfounded. Most guests generally found the food nice, notably the la mian, sushi, peranakan dessert and durian puree.

Personally, hubby and I feel the buffet price is only worth it with the 50% discount from American Express Dining Privileges. Each adult works out to be about S$31. We even got a complimentary bottle of wine and chocolate cake for the 2 tables booked.


Birthday Cake


We were contemplating whether to get a cutesy cake or use the complimentary cake for the party. In the end, we ordered a pretty birthday cake for Evangeline to take photo with as momento, since there’s no pompous celebration or dessert table for her. I also didn’t want to bother my friend who did the cake for Evangeline’s 100 days celebration. So with a design in mind, I ordered the cake from The Butter Studio which quoted me the lowest for a 10 pax cake.

Pricing

It’s S$138 for a 6 inch, 4-layer tall customized cake, with buttercream frosting in pastel pink-white ombre and fondant cake decorations. For cake flavour, we chose Lady Ispahan (rose, lychee, raspberry). Other charges include S$18 delivery fee and S$8 for the “Happy Birthday” cursive shiny gold topper. Butter Studio made an exception for me to use their first order promo code of S$5 discount on customised order. So the cake ended up costing S$159.

Delivery fee ranges from S$18 to S$23, and they also have customised topper at S$15 and “Happy Birthday” bunting at S$10. They recommend delivery for cakes with fondant, as the fondant may be damaged or may melt during handling or storage at their retail store.

Verdict

The cake design turned out well and close to the picture I showed them, although the rabbit was slightly fatter. Lol. And after a while, I realised fondant cakes generally look nicer in photos than in real life.

The cake flavour, Lady Ispahan, is interesting and unique. It is a bit sweet but light at the same time. Would recommend this flavour because you don’t usually get this in the market.

The delivery came much earlier than expected though. The restaurant could only leave the cake on their kitchen counter because their fridge doesn’t have enough space to store such a tall cake. So we had to quickly cut the cake within 2 hours. Also, you should try to finish the cake as soon as possible because ours turned a bit dry the next day.


Other Niceties


Dress Code

I knew the interior of Ellenborough is splashed in pastel colours. Hence, I reckoned it be nice to take a group photo of coordinated colour that matches the background. So we set a dress code for our guests to come in pink, white, red or pastel colours. Although there were a few anomalies, it was nice to see people in stipulated colours. Like we are part of a group, a pseudo Diner En Blanc. ๐Ÿ˜›

‘Thank You’ Card

I love my idea of having this handwritten ‘thank you’ card for the guests! At the back of the photo, we wrote a personal note for each family that came. On the front, I edited the photo to include the words “Thank You” and this verse,
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14

The photo we used for the card is one of the many great shots of our family photoshoot. We did the photoshoot to commemorate Evangeline turning one! Had wanted to keep the photoshoot photos in private collection, but they were too pretty not to share. So shall post them in my next post.

The photos were shot by Shann from Scintilla Studio, who also did our newborn and maternity photoshoots . ๐Ÿ™‚ Quote ‘JoogoBaby’, and she might give you a 10% discount! We paid S$150 for an hour session, which took only 45 minutes because of our efficiency and also because we were late for 10-15 minutes. Oops. She usually charges S$150-200 for an hour, with all photos edited and given back.


Baby Dedication


The church gave us a date for baby dedication and it falls on the same day as Father’s Day, a day after the Saturday celebration. So it’s two consecutive days of joyful events! ๐Ÿ™‚

Pastor prayed blessing and prophesied future over baby Evangeline:

“Lord, we thank You for baby Evangeline. Lord we thank You, sheโ€™s a gift from You, sheโ€™s Your heritage to this wonderful couple. We declare Your great blessings upon her. Thank You for Your favour to flourish in her life. Lord we thank You that You crown her with Your blessings from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet.

We thank You Lord that she will have a mind of Christ, and her ears will only hear good. She shall be daughter of God who hears Your Word. The one who sees the goodness of God in her life. She will be one who will discern evil and good. Her mouth shall be blessed to be a blessing, and she will speak forth blessings in this family, even to her parents.

I thank You Lord for her heart thatโ€™s filled with Your love. Hands that You have made, beautiful hands that will prosper everything that these hands touch. Soles of her feet will always thread on paths of peace. We declare she will greatly blessed, highly favoured, and deeply loved.

(Prayer Cont’d)

We thank You that goodness and mercy shall follow her all the days of her life. Indeed she shall be a champion, a supernatural champion. And as her name suggests, she shall be a carrier of Your good news, her life shall be a testimony of Your glorious gospel of grace.

We call her blessed, healthy and full of life. Thank You for Your divine protection over her. She shall grow up strong and healthy. She shall not only grow up smart, but with such a spirit of wisdom and understanding. We declare great blessings over Evangeline. In Jesusโ€™ mighty name, amen!”

How are you going to celebrate your little one’s first birthday? Share with me in the comment section below!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post. ๐Ÿ™‚



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