Good Friday and Lesley-Anne turns 12

This year, Lesley-Anne's birthday falls exactly on Good Friday so it was the perfect day to hold her birthday party. We don't plan a party for her every year but since this is the last year she'll be with her primary school classmates, we thought it would be nice for her to have a little celebration.

Lesley-Anne loves animals but giraffes in particular, so I printed out an invite card with a giraffe. She invited only the girls in her class (by age 12, the gender divide has become practically unbridgeable). There are 8 of them in total, excluding herself. Only 2 couldn't make it.

Right from the start, I was quite relaxed, unlike with Andre's party last year. Organising a girls' party is a walk in the park compared to a boys' party which is like trying to run 5km while juggling.

The girls arrived, played with the hamsters and then just SAT AROUND CHATTING. No jumping, fighting or screaming. Sometimes I marvel at how one little chromosome can make such a difference in behaviour!

Lunch was served. I figured since it was a small group and I could trust them to be mini civilised adults, the girls had a sit-down lunch at the dining table.

And here's the menu - two types of pizza, coleslaw, garlic bread and my trusty shepherd's pie.

I'm very happy to say that there are no anorexic nibblers in this group - these girls have hearty appetities and they walloped everything!

Here's one of them polishing up the shepherd's pie which she declared as "addictive". If you want the recipe, it's here. Honestly, this one is tried and tested!

After lunch, it was time for games. Again with 12-year-old girls, no planning is required. I just brought out the Imaginiff board game, taught them how it's played and left them to their own devices.


It was a big hit. Because the girls are all very bright, they learnt very quickly and it was an interesting social experiment to see how the other girls viewed them and how they viewed themselves. I was a by-stander and it was fascinating to me how I could figure out each of the girls' personality so clearly just by watching the game. For instance, I quickly gathered who was the diplomat and who was the leader, who was sharp and who was clueless, who was thick-skinned and who was sensitive. This is a very revealing game.

After the game, it was time for cake. We ordered a modest chocolate fudge cake from Temptations. My baby is 12!









The sweet photo.

The siao photo (I love this one!)


And here's a family shot. One reason for Andre's big smile is that he earned a free pass to play Wii at my sister's place. It was a move to prevent him from disrupting the party and was the highlight of his day.

I cut generous hunks of cake and no protests - the girls dug in. I tell you, they can really eat! One of them said, "This is the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten" and another ejected, "This is heavenly!"

I'm beaming all round - I have to admit, Temptations makes a fail-safe chocolate cake.

After that, I brought out another award-winning game we bought from the US, called Gift Trap. Like Imaginiff, this is another social game but where you give and receive gifts from other players. Winning the game depends on how well you know the likes and dislikes of the others. Again very revealing. The ones who are perceptive tend to give gifts that are better matches but it's the ones with stronger personalities who tend to get the gifts they want. The challenge is to both give and receive good gifts.











When organising a party, my main concern is always whether the kids had a good time. This party was a runaway success, evident from the fact that most of the girls were so reluctant to leave that they rang their parents to ask if they could stay longer. Don't say I not shy lah, praise myself - a comment I overheard from one of the girls: "Lesley is known for having the best birthday parties." Wah, who can ask for a better compliment?

The best part was, it was completely fuss-free. We didn't even have a mess to clean up! Unbelievable.

The final touch - in the spirit of Easter, each of the girls were given a chocolate bunny to bring home.

Since we'd already thrown Lesley-Anne a party, we didn't get her anything fancy or expensive. Just a little stuffed giraffe and a book from the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, at the recommendation of one of the mothers who visit my blog. (Thanks LL!)

And here's the birthday girl with the rest of her gifts. Most of them are very thoughtful. Home-made cards and lots of giraffes (that huge giraffe stuffed toy is from her best friend). Childhood memories should be made of these.

Happy birthday, Lesley-Anne! You may be 12 but you'll always be my baby girl :)