Ikea Dublin's First Birthday Celebrations

  I didn't make this cake

I got a message from Ikea the day before yesterday about this. So, I decided to bring the kids over there. As expected, the car park was full and I had to make a few rounds to eventually get a space. After managing to get out of the car, our journey began.

Miniature cake of ikea

There were so many activities going on that day. There was a live band and bouncing castles at the entrance, face painting and testing the birthday cake at the ground floor and then straight to the restaurant and show rooms where one could get modelled balloons for the kids. Another live band in the restaurant and also a treasure hunt for free ice cream topped it all off.

Can you spot Hisham?

As we arrived right on lunch time, my God! The queues were so long and the place was flooding with people. You can just imagine how it was as I was alone with the kids and at the same time, trying to get something to eat at the counter. This where I wished my other half was there to help...

Hisham was so teruja with Ms Clown

After almost 4 hours of struggling to have a go at all the events for the kids, I finally managed to drag all of us to the exit. I didn't go there to buy anything so, we went straight to present the treasure hunt form at the counter and got ice cream and candy floss for all our hard work. We gave the free popcorn a miss as I told my kids we had too much junk for one day.

Everything was free except for the lunch...but it's still very good value

Tired but enjoying all the free stuff

It was a challenging day for me but I survived. I was just happy to see that my kids enjoyed the day. Oh, and this song is dedicated to all the readers of my blog out there...

Just in case you're wondering, all the festivities didnd't actually end yesterday. Like an orang kaya-kaya's wedding, the celebrations will go on for another few days over the weekend up to this bank holiday Monday.

Free Treasure Hunt Ice Cream- May bank Holidays

It's a long one this weekend. I thought that we could bring the kids to the beach. The weather however, wasn't too obliging. Compared to last week, this weeked is going to be a bit chilly and wet. We don't know where to go, but looking at the kids' faces I told my husband we needed to do something. Anything.


So, as a last-minute option, we decided to bring them to Ikea specifically, to the Smaland play area. I knew that there will be something going on in the place whenever a bank holiday comes around. I was right (as ususal!). After booking-in the kids for the next session at Smaland, we headed to the showroom. On the way up, the lady at customer service asked me whether we wanted to participate in their Treasure Hunt activity. The prize for completing the hunt was free ice cream!


My kids were overjoyed that they stood a chance of winning the prize. I know it's just ice cream but my kids are very easy to please. Maybe it's because they know that Mummy can get really busy, with no helper around. So, they're always excited as long as it involves the whole family doing something together.


The hunt promptly begun. I think it was so funny as other people were so busy looking at stuff to buy whereas we were so excited go back and forth in the showroom to find clues for the answers. At one moment I was like a kid, I told my husband, I saw this lady with her 2 boys loooking for the clues but I think they couldn't find anything yet and tried to peek at our answers. I refused to show it to them (with an evil laugh) and asked Ameera to hide her answer too. My husband laughed at me as if it was a serious competition with big prize to win. Haha... so you can imagine how competitive it got... the hunt was ON!

Don't mind Ameera's hair. She always looks like a ghost. Even I don't like to comb her hair!

Finally, after almost 45 minutes in the showroom we got all the answers. Yeay! We went straight to the counter to get ourselves 4 tokens for the free ice cream we so deserved. The best part, wee had so much fun running around here and there....


So, to the lazy ones out there, here's the answers for you guys who plan to go to Ikea between today and tomorrow:

Can u see it??

It's a bit challeging as the clues weren't actually easy to find (especially in a busy showroom) but we managed to do it. Now that we've "won" the prize we've become generous enough to help you out and save your time...Good Luck!!!

What a day

My back is still aching from standing for 5 hours straight at the concert a few nights ago. But as promised, and because it's the short mid-term school break, I still brought my kids to Ikea. The place had arranged for a few activities for the kids to enjoy. The idea obviously was, while mummy goes shopping the kids can do something else under proper supervision.

The story telling started at 12 but due to an unforeseen incident, we ended up there at around 1 instead. I had to make a few rounds around the parking lot to finally find a space. I still couldn't believe my eyes, it was not even the weekend but the place was full of people.



When we were in the building, the story-telling event had just finished. So, I decided to just register them down at the play area for the 1.15 session. Dragging my 3 kids alone, I went upstairs to the restaurant. OMG, it was flooded with people and the queue to buy food was SO long. Patiently, I dragged the kids along and followed the flow-one hand pushing the pram and the other holding my elder son. While Ameera pushed the trolley tray to the counter. Sigh. Well, at least Ameera was a big help.

After paying, it was another mission to find a place to seat. How I wished my husband was here to help. I felt like crying but I always knew that I'm a strong MOM!!! I'm so proud of myself... hehehehe.

I suppose, that's what full-time moms do anyway. Entertaining the kids while the husband goes to work.





We were just on time when my kids finished their meals and went back downstairs to the play area. Again, I went back upstairs, thinking it would be nice if I could get a cup of hot chocolate. I changed my mind after seeing that the queue was still very long. It would just kill me. So, I decided to just walk around the showroom instead.



When the buzzer rang on the device system they gave us, I ran back down to collect the kids. I went back upstairs to the restaurant and this time, we joined in the craft-making event. My kids enjoyed colouring and just making stuff. After they were all satisfied, it was time to go home. Still, with some energy left, I found my long way out to the cashier and paid for a few stuff before we had an ice cream for the day.



Then, it was straight to Tesco to get some groceries. What a day. It was tiring but we enjoyed the time spent together.


Well, I am happy when my kids are happy even though my back, legs and feet are really, really sore. At the end of the day Ameera asked a question:

So Mummy, what 's the plan for tomorrow??? I have a few ideas to keep us busy until Sunday!

Oh, no.