Monday, 8 February 2016 by Irene Hoofs
Hoping that all my Chinese friends had a wonderful reunion dinner with loved ones over the weekend! I joined in the festivities last Friday at Chinatown to take some shots of the bustling streets for our guest contribution over at Condé Nast Traveler's Instagram account at @cntraveler, to talk how Singapore celebrates this holiday..
As we walk down the bustling streets of Chinatown, the Bloesem Team shared with me stories of their own about celebrating Chinese New Year, along with the reasons behind the various interesting practices during this period. If you noticed all the monkey-related decorations around, it's because this year is also known as the Year of the Monkey! In Chinese folklore, the Jade Emperor in Heaven ordered that one animal will represent each year of the 12-year cycle in the Chinese Zodiac, to be decided by a simple race. With the monkey coming in ninth, we celebrate the Year of the Monkey once again this year. For the Chinese, the year of your birth also influences how smooth sailing the rest of the year goes. How completely fascinating!
You'll also find Chinatown to be dotted with many beautiful lanterns and paper cuttings, not to mention tons of yummy snacks and goodies lining the streets that your kids will definitely love! Think pineapple tarts, almond cookies, and glutinous rice cakes.. Speaking of food, the Prosperity Toss, better known as Yee Sang or Lo Hei is not to be missed during this time of year. Of course, we headed to my go-to Chinese restaurant in Singapore, Imperial Treasure! Like with all their other dishes, the Yee Sang definitely did not disappoint. A delicious combination of salmon slices, shredded vegetables and other ingredients drenched in a variety of sauces, tossing them high to represent wishes for a prosperous year ahead sure is the highlight (pun intended) of the dish. The experience is unforgettable.. The kids will surely love it!
Very honoured to have this opportunity to guest post on @cntraveler, and have the girls share with me more about this holiday. How interesting it is to learn about other cultures! I'm wishing them, and all those who celebrate, a fantastic year ahead. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
.. See our guest contribution over at @cntraveler
.. Condé Nast Traveler
Thursday, 31 December 2015 by Irene Hoofs
I know they say time flies by you, but wow, have we really come to the end of 2015? This year has been one of many projects and amazing experiences, with the loveliest people who keep our jobs fun every single day. Looking back together with the team on all the countless enjoyable moments, here are some of our favourites this 2015..
Styling and shooting for Le Petit Society.. And collaborating to design our first ever kidswear collection!
Moving into our new black and white home and redecorating the boys' room.
Taking a series of styled photographs for our good friend Anouk's company Make History.
Flying to Amsterdam and having an inspiring visit to the Kleine Fabriek kids fashion fair.
Dedicating our 4th issue of the Bloesem Gazette to the little ones!
Creating engaging social media content for our friends over at Cuckoo.
A tour of Emily's stunning home featuring Violet's, Max's and Lola's rooms.
Creating our first festive gift guide featuring a ton of great gift ideas for kids!
Before we go off to prepare for our countdown with the family, we just want to say thank you so much for your support all this time. We can't be happier doing what we love, producing content that you love too! Thank you for making our 2015 such an exciting and joyful one, this year has been very good to us indeed.. Cheers to an even better 2016! From the Bloesem Team, wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!
Tuesday, 1 December 2015 by Irene Hoofs
{1. Little Apple Shelf, 2. Growth Chat, 3. Supernova, 4. Animal Satchel, 5. Fish Rattle, 6. Ice Cream Bloomers, 7. Playsuit, 8. Baby Journal}
We know being Santa for our little ones isn't easy so we're dedicating two sections of the Bloesem Gift Guide 2015 to them. Looks like someone's getting showered with some extra love this Christmas! And not just with toys.. Think adorable shelves for their little knick knacks, a new stylish school bag or something a bit more educational, perhaps a beautifully illustrated book about discovering Singapore.
Read the rest of it online at Issuu - pages and pages of gifting inspiration, provided by our lovely contributors, for the rest of us big kids too!
{9. Swimmers Dress, 10. Starry Night Mobile, 11. Tomato Poster, 12. Pillows, 13. Binoculars, 14. Boys Gadget, 15. Find & Seek Book, 16. Birds}
.. Bloesem Gift Guide 2015 on Issuu
Thursday, 26 November 2015 by Irene Hoofs
{1. Deluxe Modern Birds Wooden Puzzle, 2. Christmas Decor, 3. Plush Softies, 4. Bamboo Dinner Set, 5. Shoes, 6. Star Lantern}
Have you seen our latest Bloesem Gift Guide? No more cracking your brain to think of the perfect gift - our 20-page long gift guide's bound to feed you with plenty of ideas about what to get your little ones this gifting season, so there's something for everyone! Pampering them once in a while is nice, wouldn't you agree?
This is but a tiny portion of entire Gift Guide. We will be rolling out more posts about it in the days to come, so definitely hang around.. or if you can't wait click here to view the rest of it! In the meantime check out more items from our lovely contributors. We truly had a hard time picking our favourite items from their shops to feature, we fell in love with so many!
A big hug and thank you to all our contributors who made this possible!
{7. Ink&Wit Earth Dweller Kids T-Shirt , 8. Corby Tindersticks Soft Toy, 9. Dandelion Bodysuit, 10. Hillsides Forest Set, 11. Drawing House, 12. Flight Logbook, 13. Sunshirt, 14. Tassel Necklace, 15. Mint Tea Shirt Dress}
.. Bloesem Gift Guide 2015 on Issuu
Friday, 19 December 2014 by Irene Hoofs
25 handmade gifts we love
Presenting the final gift guide of the season! For those last minute shoppers, we wish you the best and hope you get your shopping done asap. We can't wait for the gift giving to begin and see the smiles on all those happy faces!
.. Bloesem holiday gift guides
Wednesday, 17 December 2014 by Irene Hoofs
25 Picks for Mum
This guide is dedicated to the most important women in our lives. We know it can be hard getting a gift for Mum because we want it to be just perfect and show how much we love them and so on.. but don't ever forget that Mum loves you no matter how awesome or not your gift is. So it's the thought that counts.. but just for the fun of it here are 25 things we think mum would like. Oh and add a heartfelt handwritten note.. that's always a winner!
.. Bloesem holiday gift guides
