Lily Rose Kaftan £29.99 from Trotters.

I dedicate so much time to choosing presents for people, but often still struggle. My lovely step-mother, on the other hand, always manages to buy amazing presents for people, I don’t know how she does it.

She sent this beautiful Lily Rose Kaftan from the UK to Miss C for a Christmas present. I’ve been on the hunt for one for her for ages. It’s from Trotters, one of my favourite shops on the Kings Road in London.

It’s so gorgeous.  Perfect for Miss C to wear to the pool or beach.

21stCM x

People clean their houses, get a hair cut, buy new clothes, go food shopping and give out red Ang Pow/Hong Bao (envelopes containing money).  Everything from decorations to clothes to money packets has to be in red. Red is seen as a lucky colour, because legend has it that a village was once plagued by a terrifying dragon, and the villagers drove it away by hanging red swaths of cloth and setting off firecrackers. You can read more about different traditions on the Yahoo blog

We’d just arrived here, last Chinese New Year, and being a bit wet behind the ears, we got it wrong completely and went to China Town on New Year’s Day. It was deserted, everyone having shut up shop for the day to be with their families. This year, a bit more clued up, we’ve already been. We got there about 6pm and it was crazy. Red and yellow colours everywhere, giant paper pineapple decorations, millions of people jamming the streets, in a shopping frenzy. Thank god we didn’t take the stroller or children.

It’s a great atmosphere here at the moment and there’s lots to do for the family. There’s the Chingay Parade, featuring its first ever water parade; the River Hongbao festival  which we’re going to; Sentosa Flowers showcasing thousands of tropical and spring flowers; Istana open house, where the President’s official residence is opened to the public; there are things on Jurong Bird Park and Singapore Zoo and Miss C is looking forward to watching some Dragon dancing somewhere.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

6 years later, I received a letter from my daughter’s preschool saying they would be “tossing the traditional CNY salad” at her Chinese New Year party. Obviously, I knew it meant something totally different, but it made me laugh so I looked it up.

Yu Sheng (Yee Sang) is a fish salad eaten only during the Chinese New Year. The tossing ritual (apparently unique to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong) is significant because it “gathers prosperity” for the upcoming year.

Twelve special ingredients are used in the salad. The guests are then given a pair of big chopsticks and invited to toss the salad as high as they possibly can and make a wish. The higher you toss, the greater your luck and prosperity will be.

So that’s what we did at Miss C’s school today – tossed raw fish salad into the air, with chopsticks. We made a complete mess, but the salad surprisingly tasty. Yet another new experience here.

I am fascinated by star signs and zodiacs, as regular readers will probably realise. According to legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. The mythical dragon represents power and the fifth sign of the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese believe that there is a balance between heaven and earth in the life of people born in the year of the dragon, and that this is the luckiest year to have a child. Those born in dragon years are innovative, brave, and passionate. Famous Dragons include artist Salvador Dali, singer John Lennon and actor Bruce Lee.

This year will be seen by nationals of the world’s fastest growing economy as an auspicious symbol, which signifies success and happiness. Marriage and babies are on the cards. Chinese women proudly show off their dragon baby bumps, their families equally excited; private hospitals in Singapore are gearing up for an expected Dragon baby boom (and I know several mums-to-be who are worried they might not get a hospital room), as many Chinese parents believe that dragon babies will excel – damn, perhaps I should have waited; the number of chinese marriages is set to increase; and even casino operators are preparing for a bumper year in gambling too.

Are you lucky enough to be having a Dragon baby?

Miss C loves Disney Junior Asia – both the TV channel and their website. We are forever downloading colouring pages of the Disney princesses, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Toystory. They keep Miss C and her friends entertained for while when we go out to eat – so thank you Disney Junior for that!

I recently went to a Disney Junior Asia lunch for blogging mums where they launched their “grown ups” section. The idea is that parents can create themed birthday parties for their kids, based on their favourite characters. At the moment, you can choose Disney Princesses or Jake and the Neverland Pirates. There are recipes, invitations, games, crafts and activity ideas.  Ideal for mums who loves doing crafts and you can get the kids involved too. Unfortunately, unless you can print in colour and on card at home or find a printing store, printing things like swords and crowns on paper will not work.

For Chinese New Year, there’s a special Mickey and Minnie-themed section up with all sorts of ideas, print outs and recipes.

Some of the pictures from earlier today (only there for 3 more days). Some cute, crazy and colourful creations.

(please do not use photographs without permission from blog owner)

Elephant Parade is the largest open air art exhibition worldwide in preservation of the Asian elephant.

In November, 162 art elephants descended upon Singapore and have become a huge attraction, but they won’t be here for much longer. Famous artists and celebrities that pledged support include Joss Stone, Paul Smith, Philip Treacy, Leona Lewis, Rupert Grint, Ronald Ventura, Ay Tjoe Christine, John Van Hamersveld.

I’ve loved spotting the elephants. Some of the weird and wonderful creations include  The Eleg(ph)ant-cage, a glow in the dark one, Hellaphunt , designed by Ricky Gervais and Delightful Durian, an hommage to the Singaporean’s love of the Durian.

Between 8-11 January, all elephants will be in one location instead of scattered all over the city. They’ll be at the Botanic Gardens, Eco Lake, before they are auctioned off. (If only there was space in my apartment for one.)

www.elephantparade.com.

If it’s one thing I’ve learnt in the past year, it’s that Singaporeans know how to throw a party. New Year’s Eve is no exception. This New Year’s Eve, our first in Singapore, was one of the best I have had for a long time. With Miss C and Baby C safely tucked up in bed, we headed to the roof top bar at Kinki, a Japanese restaurant at Collyer Quay, overlooking Marina Bay. Prime viewing for the fireworks. It was a hot, humid evening, the skies were clear. There were no rowdy crowds or queues to get anywhere, like you get in London, it was easy to get there and get out again.

The Singapore skyline is hard to beat. The colours you can see in the picture above kept changing every few minutes.

Champagne flowed and at midnight a feast of fireworks exploded into the sky illuminating the river below. The DJ played some thumping tunes and we danced as we watched the display. Fireworks and dancing. 2 of my favourite things.

I always cry when I watch fireworks. Does anyone else or is it just me? That night, I felt emotional on so many levels. We’d been in Singapore for a year, so I felt a great sense of achievement; I felt sad for a moment because I suddenly missed my friends and family;  I felt a rush of happiness, because I love my life here;  and top top it all, the evening was amazing.

The night ended with long walk home via MacDonalds (we hadn’t eaten anything that evening). What was I thinking? I still feel sick thinking about munching on a Big Mac (for the first time in years and years).

What a way to bring in 2012!