Izzo - The Last Birthday in February

February adalah bulan yang sibuk, tetapi istimewa.

3rd February - Amsyar's 11th birthday

6th February - my mom's 67th birthday

8th February - Armand's 5th birthday

12th Febuary - my 12th wedding anniversary

22nd February - Izzo's 9th birthday

So I can also say that February is a bit kopak la. Also because:

24th February - road tax for The Tank expire. Insurance pun, kot.

Oh well.

So yesterday Izzo turned 9. Dah besar dah, Year 3 in school already. He wanted a betta fish as his birthday present. I have this No Pets ruling in our house (sebab dia dulu nak kucing but I tend to sneeze in the presence of cats) but with The Papa still on sabbatical, with my small-home-based-business income...this request is mighty suitable indeed :D

Mama will bend the rule..for THIS time only.

So The Papa gave him these. Izzo named them Joel and Noel.

(I hope Izzo doesn't take this need to label stuff too seriously..nanti jadi macam Mama dia pulak.)

While I was buying stuff for a customer's order of a baking gift basket about a week ago, I had an "ah-HAH!" moment and knew what I wanted to get as a present for Izzo's birthday - a baking gift basket also! Except I used a cake tin as the base of the gift, instead of using a basket. Nanti bagi basket, mak nye jugak yang ambik balik nanti :P

"Habiskan breakfast dulu baru Mama bagi present!"

I got him a cake tin (removable base), flour sifter (the one we have is too big for him to use), spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, egg yolk separator (saje je, even though he can separate egg yolks with his hands by now), muffin premix and themed muffin paper cups.

Tak perlu bungkus-bungkus hadiah ni as he would want to open it as quickly as possible anyway. Saved me time...and decorating material :P

I found cute Cars and Spiderman papercups...sangat sesuai untuk boys. I also included 2 packets of muffin premix, the ones made by AZ Gift Baskets' muffin-maker. Chose chocolate flavour because chocolate is always a hit with the kids..and Abang Amsyar dah menanya pasal chocolate muffins dah berapa minggu dah.

I wouldn't be giving this to him if he doesn't love baking, of course. So if you'd like to order a customized gift basket for a friend for his/her special day (or for any day, actually)...think about what he or she likes. It can be food or non-food, it's up to you. Even though the price of the whole gift might not be as expensive, it's the thought and effort that you put in that makes it special. Like they say, "it's the thought that counts".

As in Izzo's case, he's very happy with both gifts that he got this year :)