Happy 26th birthday to my boyfriend!

Happy birthday to the best boyf in the world!!!
So… roughly early Feb, I was thinking about how to celebrate Viet’s birthday! I wanted him to feel special, a day JUST FOR HIM! As my birthday is too close to his, sometimes it’s good but sometimes it sort of reduces the “SPECIAL-NESS” of his bday as mine always comes first…

I went to my friend’s hen-do back in February and … OMG, the cupcakes were sooo beautiful!!! Instantly, I knew I wanted to order something similar for Viet’s birthday!

VOILA, DONALD DUCK!!! He adores Donald Duck!!! In fact, I did research on how to make/where to order Donald Duck Birthday Cake before and most of the things on the net are either too difficult to do or too ugly to order!!! Looking at these cupcakes from the hen-do, I knew this baker would certainly do a fine job!

I actually copied the idea from my dear friend who ordered the James Bond theme cupcakes for her boyfriend’s birthday!! See the pic below!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!!!!??????

Before I forget to give you the details of the AH-MAZING baker, here it is:

Lisa Colyer
The Cake House, Medway
Tel: 07930142070

So, there, cupcakes ordered 3 weeks ahead! Ticked!

I normally take Viet out for dinner on his birthday so I actually researched about restaurants early Feb, made 4 bookings. I was deciding between restaurants, asked for advices from my colleagues and friends haha, and ended up going in a completely different direction! I decided to take him to a restaurant that none of my friends have been to. When I read about it, I liked the idea of semi-private snug of Quo Vadis that was mentioned in an article of the Telegraph: London’s top ten best dates.

I wanted to organise a surprised birthday party for him, at the same time I don’t want him to have any doubts at all! So I rang him up and asked “Do you mind if we celebrate your birthday on the 23rd? There are two restaurant options, one that I prefer but doesn’t open on Sunday (24th – his bday) and one which opens on Sunday but not as cool as the first one. Which one do you prefer?” He was such a sweetheart and said “As long as I celebrate with you, any dates would be fine, let’s go for the cooler one!” HAH! So, restaurant booked 5 weeks ahead: Ticked!

Here is the restaurant’s details:

Quo Vadis
26-29 Dean Street, London W1D 3LL 

You can press the button if you ever feel the waiter has “forgotten” about your existence hihi

Squid, monk’s beard, fennel & olive salad

Smoked eel and horseradish sandwich

Skate, capers & black butter

We also ordered Ox liver, onions & sage but the picture is not so good so I won’t show it here 🙂

There it was, the day before his birthday!

THE D-DAY!!! HIS BIRTHDAY!!!

Okay the plan would never work without the help of my amazing friends!!!!

My friend Ngan actually asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told her about my plan to organise a birthday party for Viet, just for Viet!!!. As a superb organiser, she said “Don’t worry!! Let mama help”

So the theme would obviously be a DUCKIE one! All I really thought about was Donald Duck cupcakes but Ngan took things to an extra level by doing research on ALL THING DUCKIES!!!!! You will see later in my pictures Duck Balloons and ducklings everywhere!!! TOTAL AWESOMENESS!!!

The plan for the date was to send Viet to football practice, then pick up the already-marinated-food (that was prepared the day before by Viet’s super cousin and Ngan) from Ngan’s flat! OMG it was such a STRESSFUL process! I only had 2-hour window to pick Ngan up, then went home to help decorate and headed straight to pick Viet from football! And here is the ONLY time I dislike London, the main street to Ngan’s flat was CLOSED. WHY WHY WHY? Seriously LONDON!!

You know, TOMTOM navigation is the only way with which I can drive around London, and when the ONLY WAY it shows is a CLOSED road, I nearly cried. I was scared that I would not have enough time, Ngan was calling and texting “I’m afraid we’re not going to make it in time” (We have to prepare all the food before Viet reaches home!!!), I was desperate and headed into tiny alleys that I HAVE NEVER EVER BEEN IN BEFORE IN MY LIFE with swift turns and…. BANG! I hit the pavements and that … left a big scratch and long dent on my car’s backdoor! Things couldn’t get worse than that, right??!! MY FIRST EVER SCRATCH!!!!  At the same time, Viet’s brother texted me to say he arrived at my flat and of course, I wasn’t there to open the door for him!!!! TALK ABOUT DRAMA!

I mean, this birthday is the best DEMONSTRATION of team-work! Did I mention that another friend had to drive a long way near Kent to pick up the Donald Duck cupcakes!!????

Yes, Viet, we did all that JUST FOR YOU!!! YOU ARE SO LOVED!!!

BUT, things went alright … I managed to reach Ngan’s flat, got all the food, drove back home and we got it cracking straightaway!

I only managed to put up the banner and … TWO HOURS WERE UP! Time to pick up birthday boy from football! The cooking task was in safe hands of Viet’s cousin, Ngan and another baby friend Heo Mup! The decoration was left to his brother 🙂

In order to extend the time for preparation, I took Viet to Sherlock Holmes museum. He’s a big fan! I originally wanted to take him to Electric Cinema in London but his football schedule changes constantly. Now I think about it Sherlock Holmes museum is definitely a better choice!

So I got green signal from home … just the right time as it was super cold and I couldn’t hold it anymore!!!

I went up first and everything was perfect! Our closest friends were there, the food was ready and decoration was absolutely beautiful hehe!!!

So there, we organised 26th birthday for Viet… I wanted to let him know that he’s extremely loved by me and by his friends! And I really hope he feels SPECIAL on his birthday as he always make me feel, every single day 🙂

Below are the video and pictures from the party! We had fun with all our lovely friends, everything was perfect!!!

Don’t you just love the banner with baby Viet waving at everyone? You can order the banner here

http://www.delights.co.uk/

It’s a great website where you can find all the party supply in one go!! I got the helium canisters and 30 colourful balloons for the price of £22!!! This website was recommended by my dear sis Mai! This was delivered to my home in a big box and Viet didn’t even question what’s in it! He assumed it was my shopping as usual 🙂

Thanks Lisa so much for the cupcakes!! My friends were all amazed!

I think Ngan got these miniatures from ebay as she was researching about duckiessss!!! SUPER CUTE!!!!

The lovely Duckie messages from Viet’s beloved friends!!!

I told you, Ngan took the Duck theme to another level hahahaha!

Can you see the colorful folded papers in the middle? Our friends were asked to write 3 words to describe Viet!

The food is the results of 2 day effort of Viet’s cousin and my friend Ngan! I’m extremely grateful for what they have done for Viet!!

My friend, Ngan, also got the Duckie Balloons from Ebay, I never knew these existed!!!

Looking at this picture, I feel so warm and touched! Good friends are hard to find… and how lucky we are to have all these amazing people as our friends. May our friendships last a lifetime!