If I had to describe what parenting a two-year-old is like, I’d liken it to the Flood in the days of Noah. The challenges that come come like a torrential downpour. They just hit you, and hit you hard, like an overwhelming and irrepressible surge, leaving you to wonder what happened to that cute little babe you’ve birthed some 24 months ago. These are the days of the toddler exerting her independence, testing the boundaries and challenging authorities. These are the days of temper tantrums and extreme mood swings where intensive battles of wills are fought. The good thing about this Flood is that we’re all in the Ark (and that is Christ) and we stick it out as a family, and that this too shall pass.

If you don’t already know, I’ve had a bigger share of challenges than most parents out there with my little girl when she turned two. She’s wanted to leave home and sulked at her own birthday party. We’ve had to deal with hissy fits and temper tantrums on a daily basis, and struggle to get her to eat her meals, follow instructions and use the potty. So when the little girl finally turned three, what better way to celebrate than to throw her a RAINBOW party. Afterall, the Flood’s officially over and we’re beginning to see some really good days ahead!

So a rainbow party was what we had last Saturday, to celebrate Becks turning three. Actually, credit goes to korkor, who first suggested a rainbow cake in light of Becks’ indecisiveness of the cake she wanted. She wanted everything – Dora, Barney, Mickey Mouse, guns, her bolster, pigs, a green teddy bear, Angry Birds – and I gave up asking her about cake designs after surfing the net for half an hour with her. It was then when Ben whispered in my ear and said, “How about a rainbow cake for Becks cos’ it will be so colourful!” that we decided on the rainbow theme.

I got my friend, Karen, and her crafting mom friends, who run Owls Handmade, to help me with the décor, birthday bunting, food placards and jar labels. They got the paper rosettes and all that I asked done within a week! Putting the rosettes up did wonders to the blank wall in the house and immediately brightened up our place. There’s something about red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple put together that makes everything happy. Check out the colours!

I also headed to IKEA to get a pretty orange-striped plastic table cloth ($29.70 for 3 metres) and some spice jars for the party favours. Then it was off to Biscuit King to get some old school biscuits (half kg for $5.80) – and there, the jars were filled with colourful “gems”. The labels that read ‘To more colourful years ahead’ specially designed by Owls Handmade then went on every jar, which the guests took home after the party.

I then logged in to Etsy and custom made a rainbow blouse for Becks with her name and age, and started planning the food menu according to the colours of the rainbow, so the guests had some home-cooked grilled beets and cherry tomatoes (red & indigo), curry chicken potatoes (orange), pineapple raisin rice (yellow), edamame (green) and Pulut Inti (blue), which I ordered from Lek Lim Confectionery, together with all the yummy kueh kuehs like the green ku kueh, ang ku kueh, oh ku kueh, kueh lapis nonya, ubi and mini wang kueh. The desserts were a hit with the guests and the dessert table was heaven for the little ones! I also served a platter of colourful vitamins – pineapples, kiwis, strawberries and grapes – and made Oreo cake pops covered with rainbow sprinkles.

Earlier that morning, the kids’ homelearning activity was to sort four packets of M&M’s by colours into jars (which they had so much fun doing!) – and there was M&M’s galore at the party too.

Becks’ birthday cake was once again baked by Debbie, who made her penguin hummingbird cake last year. I got her to bake a rainbow cake for Becks with a penguin (again) living in icy cold Antarctica, and she did an awesome job with it – the little penguin was even sculpted holding three tiny rosebuds, one for each year! Needless to say, the colours in the cake were such a hit with everyone, and the little girl was mighty pleased to be seeing penguin on her cake again, this time a much more colourful one!

It was a pretty, pretty party – one that was colourful and happy – and I am so glad rainbow days are here! Becks was a happy little girl that day; she kept saying ‘Thank you, Mama!’ throughout the day and reminding all of us at home that she’s three years old. Yes, darling, you’re finally THREE!

P/S: A big thank you to all our good friends and family for coming to make this rainbow party such a special one for our little girl! She was very shy and I’m sorry if she ignored you, but she was one very, very happy girl that night. We all slept at 12 that night (the first ever) because she couldn’t wait to open all the lovely presents from you!