I.belibaby High Chair

[Review and Giveaway]

There was once I had to do some household chores in the kitchen and had left little Louie in his walker in the living room. I remembered I had barricaded certain areas with cushions and chairs to block him from nearing dangerous things such as the electrical sockets. But never, NEVER underestimate a curious baby for I came out of the kitchen only to witness Louie with half of his body hanging out of the walker while trying to reach for the electric plug, after pushing away the barricades! I was lucky Louie wasn't harmed in any way!




Here is happy Louie in his new high chair!

Louie was gifted a I.belibaby high chair a couple of weeks back and I never had to worry about leaving him alone anymore while I do my work! After having tried out the high chair for a while now, I shall list out what I found great about the high chair – 

• Easily cleanable – The food tray is removable for easy cleaning and any food or drinks that on the waterproof fabric material can be wiped off easily too! 

• Easily installed and stored – When the high chair was delivered to my place in a box, I was told that all I needed was a screwdriver and that was true. I didn't even require the instruction manual! And to keep the high chair, I just need to fold the tray all the way back, release a catch, fold and it’s done. Check out the video below -

• Safe and Comfortable – Babies are always so inquisitive and they seem to be able to climb out of any restraints. I remembered my old high chair only had the simple single belt round the waist and another down between the legs. Looking back now, that seemed pretty dangerous. The I.Belibaby high chair has a five-point harness and that would make any attempt at escaping really difficult! The cushioned seat was also comfortable enough for Louie to sit in without kicking up a fuss. 

The top food tray is easily detached and that makes cleaning up a breeze!

The 5-point harness is essential as it keeps the baby in place comfortably and safely!

When not in use, the chair can be folded easily to save space!

The recommended retail price is $129.90, not exactly cheap if you ask a bargain hunter like me for there are always cheaper alternatives (albeit not necessarily better ones). However if you can wait till it is on offer at Booth G09 of the Baby Market Fair, Singapore Expo Hall 5 between 10 -12 April 2015, I hear that the price would be lower than $70! 

In fact, if you want to be doubly sure of getting it at a good price, you may wish to pre-order the special package consisting of a Rocker Bouncer + Highchair at a VERY VERY good price here! You would still have to collect it during the fair though.

For now, we are glad to partner I.Belibaby and Baby Junior in an exclusive giveaway!  Stand to win a brown I.Belibaby Diaper Bag worth $69.90 and to celebrate The "Perfect" Father's Facebook page milestone of reaching 1,000 fans (we hope), one orange I.Belibaby High Chair worth $129.90 will aso be given away to another lucky fan too!  For now, you just need to do the following and help us reach the milestone to unlock the extra prize!

I.Belibaby Giveaway Instructions

1. Like and Follow The “Perfect” Father Facebook page; 
2. Like I.Belibaby Facebook page; 
3. Like Baby Junior Facebook page; and
4. Like and Share this Facebook photo publicly and comment under the post once done. Tag your friends (optional) especially the mommies and daddies so that they don't miss the chance to win too! *wink wink*

Terms and Condition

1. To be eligible for the giveaway, all the above steps must be followed.  
2. Organizer reserves the right in the choice of winners for the diaper bag and highchair. 
3. Follow our page so that you will KNOW if you have won in our announcement.
4. Prizes won are not exchangeable or transferable.

Contest ends at 2359hrs on Sun, 22 Mar 2015.  Good luck to all of you and happy parenting!

Aesop’s Fables by I Theatres

[Media Invite]

The English proficiencies of my kids are rather horrendous to say the least, and it was all due to my fault for I never really bothered with phonics. We conversed mainly in Mandarin and our weekends were only about bringing them out to fun places to play. I thought that once they are in school, they will be able to catch up on their English. Now that Steffi is in primary one, I realized that it wasn't THAT easy, as I find her grappling with “difficult” English words, even in her Math assessment books. For now, I try to expose the kids to more English, be it TV programs or shows.

They were looking forward to watching the "animals" in action!

So when we were invited to watch the Aesop’s Fables by I Theatres, I decided that I MUST bring them there despite having two other engagements earlier on the same day and that I have to bring all 3 of them on my own! They were so looking forward to seeing all the animals in the publicity materials come to life! But they were a little confused when the show started, for there were no animals in sight but only 5 performers in costume throughout and they had use their own imagination. That's the beauty of watching a play isn't it?

Kiddos getting up on stage to take photos with the 5 talented performers!

Some of the fables featured in the 50mins play included the all-time favorites such as The Jay and The Peacock, The Lion and The Mouse, as well as The Goose Who Laid Golden Eggs. The presentation was really nice, transition of stories seamless and I myself enjoyed the songs and humorous acting as well. There was even engagement of the little ones to help out in one of the stories. However the show would have been so much more enjoyable for my kiddos if their English were better, and if they are able to catch the meaning of the lyrics without having me explain everything all over again in Mandarin. Overall the kids enjoyed the colorful set and playful acting and we shall be looking forward to our next play! 

Useful Information 

Duration: Thu, 26 Feb - Sat, 21 Mar 2015
Venue: Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel
Ticket Price: $30, $32 (Book online via SISTIC Website)

Images of Singapore (IOS) LIVE [Media Invite and Giveaway]

[Media Invite]

Images of Singapore (IOS) LIVE

When I first read about IOS LIVE, I thought that it was some Apple app or something. Only when I paid more attention did I realize that it stands for ”Images of Singapore LIVE” by Merlin Entertainments, another “whoops” moment. But we were really happy to be invited to the official re-launch and re-branding of Images of Singapore, which is now enhanced and brought to "life" in a fully interactive experience for visitors.

One of the many talented actors and actresses entertaining the visitor as we queue outside for our turn to start the tour.

And of course Steffi got to take a photo with her!

The 45 minutes tour took us back to the old Singapore that we read about in our history books, with reenactment of historical moments by the talented actors and actresses who were really into their roles! We also sat through multimedia presentations that captured the kiddos’ attention but also elicited a million other questions from them. We then survived a Japanese bombing that even had Steffi questioning me if that was real! The walk across the forest was a little creepy for Leroy and Stacci though. 

This scene depicts the early Chinese immigrants in Chinatown. (Photo credit: IOS LIVE) 

The show how the harbour office looks like why back then. (Photo credit: IOS LIVE) 

The Orang Laut leading visitors through the forest. The kiddos were a little scared in this part of the tour. (Photo credit: IOS LIVE) 

The IOS Live tour reminded me of our visit to the Tower of Terror in Disneyland Sea Tokyo, but minus the extreme creepiness and with a lot more history, our Singapore history. As we move from the historical Singapore to the modern one, we ended the tour with a short boat ride that takes you round the famous Singapore landmarks such as the Merlion, MBS, F1 Pit, Chinese and Indian temples to you. But these are of course only miniatures that will NEVER satisfy anyone, and only serve to give visitors (especially the tourists) just a glimpse of what they can find here in real Singapore!

The tour is immersive and one should take the time to go through the beautiful sets and get to know the history of Singapore better through this entertaining method. It was kind of difficult to keep explaining everything to 3 kids who had trouble understanding English at once and I personally feel that the tour would be more suitable for the older kids, preferably upper Primary and above. My kids' English cannot make it, thus it was quite difficult for me!

Stacci was excited to see animation paintings giving us a history lesson!

Was taking photos when Leroy warned me of a Merlion spewing water right ahead!!!

Happy kids at the end of the joy boat ride, just before we walk on over to Madame Tussauds!

Madame Tussauds Singapore

The IOS LIVE is linked to Madame Tussauds Singapore by a passageway at the end of the boat ride. Although we had visited Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong years back, this is finally our families' first experience in Singapore's very own wax museum. There were many repeat wax figures like Obama, Queen Elizabeth. Andy Lau that we saw in Hong Kong of course, but it is always nice to see and take selfies with our local celebrities like Zoe, Gurmit, Jack Neo and Huang Wenyong, poke our leader PM Lee or hug MM Lee here. Needless to say, we took lots and lots of cute or funny photos of the kids with the famous personalities!

Steffi gets to meet the man who appears on all our Singapore notes!

This looks just like MM Lee with his grandkids in the park.

If only the kiddos advocated peace (in the house) just like the man in this photo, Gandhi. 

Steffi in PM's office.

Training under the watchful eye of the professional.

Getting all chummy with our local film director, Jack Neo.

Stacci tried her best to follow Madonna's steps.

Now, look who's rocking?

I wonder does Beckham have BO?

Big boots to fill here.

Fulfilling her princess dream!

It is recommended that you follow through the tour to the wax museum as well if you are visiting IOS LIVE. You can book your ticket 24 hours in advance for both IOS LIVE and Madame Tussauds Singapore attractions here and save up to $6 per ticket (for adult and child tickets) while gaining priority access as well!

Useful Information 

Address: 40 Imbiah Road, Imbiah Lookout
(IOS Live and Madame Tussauds Singapore is located side by side)
Ticket Price (IOS LIVE only): Adult (13 - 59 years) - $15.00, Child (3-12 years) - $10.00 and Senior (60 years and over) - $12.00
Special Combo Ticket Pricing (for booking both attractions online at least one day in advance): Adult (13 - 59 years) - $38.00, Child (3-12 years) - $28.00 and Senior (60 years and over) - $30.00

2 Sets of 4 x IOS LIVE Tickets Giveaway Instructions (excludes Madame Tussauds)

Please note that the giveaway tickets are only for Images Of Singapore LIVE

1. Like and Follow The “Perfect” Father Facebook page; 
2. Like Madame Tussauds Singapore Facebook page; and
3. Like, Comment and Share this Facebook photo publicly. Tag your friends (optional) for more prominence to your entries. *wink wink*

Terms and Condition

1. To be eligible for the giveaway, all the above steps must be followed.  
2. Organizer reserves the right in the choice of winners for the tickets. 
3. Follow our page so that you will KNOW if you have won in our announcement.
4. Prizes won are not exchangeable or transferable.

Contest ends at 2359hrs on Thu, 12 Mar 2015.  

Barbie In Princess Power Movie [Flash Giveaway]

Movie synopsis: 

Barbie stars as Kara, a modern-day princess with an everyday life. One day, after being kissed by a magical butterfly, Kara soon discovers she has amazing super powers allowing her to transform into Super Sparkle, her secret, crime-fighting alter ego who flies around the kingdom ready to save the day! But it's not long before her jealous cousin catches the butterfly and also transforms - this time into Dark Sparkle, her nemesis. Their rivalry takes to the skies, but when they discover the kingdom's true enemy, can they put aside their differences to form one super team? Soar to new heights and discover that there's no greater power than the power of friendship!

Steffi loves Barbie, and had requested for a barbie doll for her 6th birthday last year, and I got her a Mariposa Barbie. For her birthday this year, the wonderful folks from United International Pictures Singapore extended an invitation to the whole family to catch the preview of Barbie In Princess Power (rated G), a Golden Village exclusive that excited all the kids, especially Steffi and Stacci!

But that's not all, for I get the chance to bring along 5 other families with me to the preview at 10am on this coming Sun, 08 Mar 2015 at Golden Village City Square Mall! How cool is that? But first, you would need to check out the following trailer and answer a simple question to win the 4 preview tickets + one movie poster!

Giveaway Instructions

1. Like and Follow The “Perfect” Father Facebook page; 
2. Like United International Pictures Singapore Facebook page; and
3. Name ONE of Kara's princess powers (what can she do?) under the comment in this Facebook post, plus Like and Share the post publicly. Tag your friends for more prominence to your entries. *wink wink*

Terms and Condition

1. To be eligible for the giveaway, all the above steps must be followed.  
2. Organizer reserves the right in the choice of winners for the tickets. 
3. Follow our page so that you will KNOW if you have won in our announcement.
4. Prizes won are not exchangeable or transferable, so please ensure you are able to catch the movie preview on Sun, 08 Mar 2015.

Contest ends at 1700hrs on Thu, 05 Mar 2015.  

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

[Media Invite]

Brought the kids to the 3D preview of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water here in Singapore yesterday. Singapore is kind of slow this time round as the movie already opened in Taiwan on 30 January 15, but will only hit Singapore shores on 5 March,

Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebobbbb Squarepantssss....The happy trio at the movie preview!

The very beginning of the movie had scenes that you would have thought were from “Pirates of The Caribbean” movie series but you know it’s not when the comedy was way too absurd to be true. It was followed by a long cartoony section before the characters came out of the water into “real” life. The posters and publicity materials had Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs looking really weird in their superhero body and poses and luckily it wasn’t permanent for we would have preferred their original looks! 

There were plenty of hilarious puns and jokes but those were unfortunately meant for the much older kids or adults. And I ended up having to explain why there is fire under the water to my Leroy, who never fails to ask his “100 thousands whys” in the movies, any movies! Having said all that, this movie is definitely worth your 1 hour 33 minutes and our family thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Nickelodeon knows the kids will never be satisfied with ONE movie, and will be having a “Champ-packed” Marathon that will premiere on cable on Friday, 13 March at 4pm. These cartoons include The Thundermans, Henry Danger, Kung Fu Panda, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and also a brand new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and they all contain heroes-related storylines! 

If you loved “Minion Rush”, the running minion game, then you may wish to take a look at “SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run” app which boosts all the cute characters as well as scenes from the movie. It is available both on Android and IOS and you can check it out the video of the game here or get the game here!

Earle Swensen's (No Longer Serving Ice-Cream)

[Review]

I have always had a sweet tooth and even if I am unable to all the dishes at buffets, I would NEVER miss the desserts. So how can I miss the launch of Earle Swensen's new range of desserts that no longer features ice-cream! But don't panic, they simply upgraded everything to gelato. Starting from 01 January 2015 onwards, Earle Swensen's will only be featuring gelato across all it's dessert menu, meaning that whatever used to be served with ice-cream last year and before, will now be served with gelato instead, even its signature earthquake! 

Leroy and Steffi having a cool time decorating their banana split that's served with gelato!

The kiddos can't wait to tuck into their creation!

Most, if not all of you would have known that Earle Swenen's is the more upmarket sister restaurant as compared to Swensen's. I had tried the lamb chops at both restaurants and despite the higher price over at Earle Swensen's, I would choose it over Swensen's anytime for the thicker and juicier cut. Ok let's not talk about the main courses but move on to the desserts!

Sorry, I cannot help but rave about the lamb for it is really nice. The proportion of fat and lean meat was just nice and the meat was absolutely tender! Really flavorful if you love lamb like me!

Okay, so why gelato you may ask and what's the difference? Is gelato simply an overpriced Italian-sounding ice-cream? That was what I thought but that's not it. Gelato DOES taste better and more flavorful due to the lower fat content and overrun. Just so you know (I researched online), overrun refers to the amount of air in the ice-cream, meaning the lesser it is, the more full-bodied it is. Then of course, Earle Swensen's also promises that its gelato are made with the freshest milk, fruits and purée! 

Poached Pear in Butterscotch Sauce 

Somehow the photo I took didn't do justice to the wonderful dessert that my wife loved! 

The name reminds me of some Chinese dessert that's cooling for the body. The pear was sweet smelling with a hint of strawberry and the texture was just right, easy to scoop and yet not too mushy. The taste of the creamy vanilla gelato coupled with butterscotch complimented the pear nicely. My wife gave this 2 thumbs up! 

Maple Banana Wrap 

Life is sweet!

So is my Steffi, with the Maple Banana Wrap!

This is almost like our "Goreng Pisang" but the bananas are wrapped in soft burrito instead and deep fried. It is then drizzled with sweet butterscotch syrup as well, served with a generous scoop of Vanilla Gelato and strawberries too!  

Opera Dark Chocolate 

This is simply, chocolate heaven!

Stacci agrees, and can't contain her excitement at trying it!

I wonder why the name "opera" but the dark chocolate was an understatement.  I truly must say that this is for the serious chocolate lovers. Dark chocolate gelato covered with chocolate fudge with chocolate bits and pieces made this really filling too!

Some of the other warm desserts (served with vanilla gelato) that might interest you (those that we didn't manage to try thanks to our dinner treat) are as follows -

Celebrity Brownie (photo credit: Earle Swensen's)

Molten Chocolate Lave Cake (photo credit: Earle Swensen's)

Waffle Dream (photo credit: Earle Swensen's)

Thank you for hosting us Earle Swensen's and Touch PR! I wished I had more stomach space then, but nevermind, there will be no questions that we will definitely be back for more desserts some other time!

Joe Labero - A Night of Magic at Raffles

[Review & Giveaway]

Steffi and Leroy getting chummy with Joe after watching his absolutely amazing performance!

Although I know a few big names such as David Copperfield and Criss Angel etc, I had never watched a REAL magic show up close, live and in person. And of course, you know one can never fully trust what you see on TV. Everything can and will be edited, hence magic on TV never really gave me the "wow" factor and even my young kiddos would "dissect" each section of the tricks. Steffi even went as far as explaining to me once, on how the actor's body was actually hidden when the mechanic saw ran through his mid-section. Fake one lah, she would say!

We had the opportunity to the watch the four-time Merlin Award winner, Swedish magician, Joe Labero in action (just learnt that Joe Labero is a stage name derived from his birthname: Lars Bengt Roland Johansson), as he is back in town with his latest show "A Night of Magic at Raffles" for 2015, which also features fire-play with guest performers from the Burnt out Punks. We were really glad we caught the live action but I shall not give away too much on the performances though. Although the magic tricks may not be extravagant, or may be variations of tricks that one might have watched before and not exactly "new", his showmanship was great and the crowd were absolutely thrilled!

The Animal from the Burnt Out Punks is comical and full of nifty moves!

There were many occasions when Joe involved the crowd, often to hilarious effects and the use of items sourced from the random audiences as part of his many tricks also made his magic so much more believable! Seated between two kids aged 5 and 6 was a bad idea, for I had to answer so many "why's" and "how's" from them, to which I totally have no answers!!! I am pretty sure you will keep trying to figure out how the tricks were done! Do note however that there will be no admittance to under 5's as there would be pyrotechnics used. Anyway I think the younger ones wouldn't really be able to grasp the concepts of the "magic" too and even I had to explain quite a fair bit to Leroy on why the crowd clapped at times.

The whole family was thrilled to say the least and how can a photo with Joe be missed?

The show will run from 16 Jan to 22 Feb 2015 and it might just be the right performance to catch with the family during the Chinese New Year period. It was wonderful for our family to be hosted by Krall Entertainment for the awesome evening yesterday, and we are so happy to share this with 3 other lucky families! We have 3 sets of 4 tickets worth a total of $500 per set to giveaway!!! All you have to do is to follow the steps listed below before 2359hrs on Sun, 01 Feb 2015. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Useful Information

Event Name: A Night of Magic at Raffles
Date: 16 January to 22 February 2015
Venue: Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel
Time: Weekdays – 7.30pm, Saturdays – 3.00pm, 7.30pm and Sundays – 3.00pm
Price: From $50 standard to $230 VIP reserve with Meet and Greet (Hop over to Sistic website for booking and more information)