Preparation for My Sister’s Sweet 16 Birthday Party
My whole family is all hyped up now, in preparation for my younger sister’s upcoming sweet 16th birthday party. We want to have a big party to celebrate her first step to early adulthood.
The current pandemic situation resulted in a change of how the birthday party is to be conducted but it does not affect the impact and joy of this great occasion. Our preparation is tailored to suit this current situation, with the objective of ensuring the birthday ambience is there.
For a start, we still have a long guest list as we are incorporating a segment in this party, to invite the guests to a virtual games and drinks session and most importantly cake cutting session, which they will sign birthday songs from wherever they are and send her birthday wishes remotely. The virtual games that we come up with are those that enable people to be engaged and have fun via their mobile screen or laptop screen. For the drink’s session, in order to thank the guests for their time and participation, we have ordered quarantinis online and deliver to their houses, as party favours. When the time comes for everyone to drink to toasts, the scene of everyone holding up the same quarantini, with the drink label, “Happy Sweet 16 Birthday to Dear Sarah” will be an unforgettable and touching scene for my sister.
As with any birthday party preparation, we need to confirm the theme and decoration, which is to my sister’s liking. Once that is confirmed, we will decorate our living room and the party corner to be in line with the theme. My sister loves to binge watch movies and drama series. Hence the theme for her sweet sixteen birthday is movie marathon, with decorations resembling movie reels and movie set and most importantly bags of popcorn and soda.
The other important aspect of the party that we need to prepare is food and beverages. My mum will be preparing a sumptuous spread of my younger sister’s favourite dishes and finger food, while my dad will be baking a birthday cake with a design suitable for the theme.
What is a party without games and present
s for our beloved younger sister. My dad is charge of games and he will think of games that revolve around the party theme, such as charades to guess the movies and so on. As I am closer to my younger sister, I am in charge of coming up with a list of 16th birthday gift ideas based on her likes and dislikes. With this list, my family members will each pick a present to buy for her.
Though the preparation takes a lot of time and effort, our whole family feels that it is worth the effort, because this party is our way to let our younger sister know our love for her and that we are here for her throughout her life journey. Our whole family feels closer during this process, which is extremely important during current pandemic times.
Home Baker
During this lockdown period, I have been picking up a few skills, in order to ensure that I do not waste my time at home. One of the skills that I picked up is baking skills! I have learnt to bake a few different types of cakes and my family has the fortune to enjoy these delicious cakes as tea-time snacks!
Everyone, stay safe and healthy!
This too shall Pass - Stay Grateful
Life is so unpredictable, just recently, I was excited buying retirement gifts for my dad and my whole family was busy preparing for his retirement party. Within a short span of two weeks, my family has to make a painful decision to postpone this party.
This decision is due to the outbreak of Covid-19,outbreak that WHO has formally termed it as a pandemic. Governments all over the world advocate everyone to be socially responsible, to embrace social distancing, stay at home and do not organise large gatherings and practice good personal hygiene, which are critical measures to flatten the curve in order to contain the virus.
During this period of time, we hear of bad news daily, on the number of new cases and confirmed deaths, including heartbreaking stories happening around the world. The impact this virus has on our daily lives is a grim reminder to me that life is fragile and to be thankful for what we have. Be grateful and do not sweat over small stuff.
We, human beings, tend to take a lot of things for granted and unfortunately, we come to realise it only when we "lose" it. For example, activities that we deemed as mundane, such as commutting to work, winding down at pubs for drinks, going to the gym for workouts, having a walk at the parks, watching movies are prohibited now. Previously, we will complain of getting sick winding down at those same old pubs or complain that we have to go through our gruelling session of a Les Mills class at the gym again. But now, we cannot even perform these mundane activities. As a result, I have come to realise that we were so fortunate previously and did not count our blessings.
I have also come to realise that what we have are things that people WISH they have. There are people who have problems making ends meet, having a drink at the pub is something that they can only dream of. There are people who cannot afford gym membership or are not physically abled to to gym. There are people who are jobless, hence do not need to commute to work daily.
This realisation makes me resolve that from this very moment, I will be grateful for what I have and to count every day alive as a blessing. Use this stay at home timely wisely to look at our priorities in life and ensure that we continue to stay in touch with the family members and friends that matter in our lives.
We should also remember to pay gratitude to the unsung heroes, the medical healthcare workers who stay at work because of us, so please, let us stay at home because of them.
Now is the time for all of us mankind to be united and do the right thing, so that we can resume back to our daily lives soon. Though we are inconvenienced by the current situation, this too shall pass, let's continue to stay positive and be socially responsible so that the virus can be eradicated soon.
Benefits of Dancing
Weekend is here ! It is a time for us to run errands, get outdoors, do things that we love. Most importantly, it is a time to recharge! For this weekend, I need to help my siblings prepare for my dad's retirement party!
To start of the weeken,d I am going for my usual dancing classes, my weekend must to activity.
A lot of people ask me, why do I like dancing so much, what are the benefits?
The benefits of dancing are countless! The most important benefits is that as with any cardio exercises, it maintains and improve your physical being - helps weight management, keeps your heart healthy, improve muscle strength.
Another benefit is FUN!! It is a much more fun workout than the usual boring treadmill runs. You get to groove to the music while burning your calories away.
Last but not least, my social skills have improved and circle has expanded too, thanks to my tribe, friends who bond over the same interest. This is the group that i look forward hanging out with after the dance class.
Looking forward to you taking the first step to try dancing and enjoy the benefits.
Retirement Gifts to my Dad to Improve his Well Being
After years of hard work in the corporate or business world, my dad is going to retire soon! He is going to put a nice end to his working career to progress to the next chapter of his life – retirement. I am very excited for him in this new chapter as he has more time in his hands now to pursue his interests and wants, something that he has been shelving aside for sake of family and work. He finally has time to smell the roses and most importantly, have more time to spend with us, his family!
My family is going to plan a cosy retirement party for him, inviting our close relatives, his close friends and co-workers. We want to use this party as a great opportunity to get together and collectively convey our well wishes for his new exciting phase in life.
My siblings have put me in charge of buying retirement gifts for our dad. I have to buy individual gifts on behalf of each of my siblings. During the course of the search, I have done up a checklist on what the gift has to offer to ensure that the gift serves him well. On top of my checklist is to find a gift that that looks into his well-being. This is because in this new chapter in his life, one of the important retirement lessons is taking care of oneself and enhancing one’s physical, emotional and mental well-being is just as important as well.
After my long search with the checklist on hand, I have bought the following retirement gifts for him, which we will present to him at his party! I am sharing this list with you, so that in future, if you need to buy some retirement gifts for men, these are some of the gifts that you would like to consider:
- Books
My dad should not stop learning and gaining knowledge even when he retires. This is important for his mental well-being and keeps his mind active. By reading, he will also have more things to share with those around him and helps keep him socially active too with all these conversational starters and topics. Hence, I bought a book voucher as he loves to read a hardcopy books at times and a e-book voucher as he prefers to use Kindle when he is commuting. A book voucher creates flexibility as he can choose his favourite book genre to read. With these books or e-books, he will have a great travelling companions when he commutes or in between waiting time.
- Travel vouchers
The world is an oyster and there are a lot of experiences that he can gain through travelling. As he has made proper retirement planning at an early age, he has the means to travel periodically. Be it a day trip, weekend getaway or a longer haul trip, he will definitely gain countless experiences through the places that he visits and people that he interacts with. Through this trip, his physical, emotional and social well-being are improved. Our siblings will help sponsor part of his first retirement trip by presenting him with a travel e-certificate, which he can choose the duration and destination. We will ask him at the party, if he wants us to join him for this first retirement trip!
- Gardening Tools and DIY Tools
At times, our dad prefers to stay in the comfort of our home, doing activities indoors, such as fixing things, building DIY furniture or doing gardening in their garden. These are all therapeutic activities which in turn helps to enhances their mental well-being. Carrying things to fix and build, tending to their gardens help keep them mobile and hence maintain their physical well-being. I have bought him a complete set of gardening tool kit which includes gloves, spades and pruners and another set of essential DIY home tools which include pliers, screwdrivers. I am very sure he will thank us for these practical gifts.
I am very excited about the upcoming retirement party, will share more with you on my siblings preparation work right up to the actual day, where he will receive well thoughts and wishes from the attendees for his next exciting life chapter ahead.
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Hey everyone, I am Helen! I love dancing, travelling and undertaking activities that help improve my social well being. As such, I am also a fitness fanatic and a mindfulness practitioner. I am very excited to start my very own blog and share my ramblings and life experiences with the readers!
