Simple birthdays for us

My daughter just had her second birthday and it was a very simple celebration. On her actual birthday we just had the traditional Chinese birthday misua for breakfast (and lunch and dinner). Come evening, we just bought a cake and had the usual candle blowing ceremony in my mother's room.

The actual celebration would have been the next day, a Sunday, which also happened to be my birthday and Father's day. We wanted a joint celebration and a small celebration involving immediate family only -- my side and my husband's side. I was able to score a deal off Dealgrocer and got a great deal for Yellow Cab pizza, my son's favorite. I was planning to add some more food on the day itself.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. It rained and rained. My in-laws couldn't come. Coupled with the fact that some members of the family couldn't come (my brother and my husband's brother were out of the country; another brother-in-law was also out of town with his family for Father's Day), we decided to forego the celebration. We just bought some food at Maki Place (since I was craving for oyster cake) and bought another small cake for me. We just had another candle blowing ceremony in the evening. Maybe next week? Or maybe next year? I guess it was just not meant to be.

My children's first birthdays were both celebrated in McDonald's because of budget constraints. Of course, we had to forego a lot of things that we would have wanted, like a magic show, "dirty" ice cream carts and chocolate dipped strawberries because McDonald's didn't allow these. I guess that's the trade off of not spending a lot for a party.

While we do not really spend a lot for a party, we realize that it does not really take a lot of money to make a child happy on his/her birthday. My daughter was mesmerized by the candle on both birthday cakes. My son sung the birthday song with gusto. I guess what's really important is that we've celebrated another milestone in our children's lives -- and as long as they're happy and thriving, we're happy, no matter what the weather is!