Housewarming Gift Ideas

So today I learnt that if you are invited to a housewarming party, it is mandatory to get the hosts (hosts as in the couple or just host since it's one household?) a housewarming gift. Appearantly I mistook housewarming with openhouse. I am not sure about the etiquette of openhouse, but I think you can just come over with a big smile and empty belly. But I'm sure a little snacks/wine/flowers won't hurt. 

So housewarming, not sure if it will be rude to decline with I'm busy on that. But I think changes are you will still have to bare gifts. 

The tip is to share with fellow guests. So you can get something big at a fraction of a price. Ask the hosts what they want or specifically what they need. They want a lot of things but need is a bigger concern. Or if you happen to be the bestfriend of the host(s), you'll probably know what they want. In that case share with fellow guests the list of things. 

Also it will be nice to figure out or more accurately find out what others are buying if you are not sharing. That way you'll know what not to get. 

Cost is probably a factor. So depending in how close you are to the guest, the prices of the gift will vary. If the host happen to be your sarboniate, I think it is fair to get them something of a higher value cause dude you are incharge in the office. Good gifts = better work performance. Your bestfriend of 18 years deserve that $320 espresso machine and not the $150 coffee maker. If it is someone you know not that well and you probably don't wanna be friends with anymore, well, everyone appreciate a toaster or a tray. No one think if tray, but it is useful to have them. 

Plus what you give them, they will remember it. They will appreciate it and they will roughly return back the favor to you. If they are the average human beings. These days you just never know. 

Lastly check be sure to confirm if it is a potluck housewarming or just plain housewarming. You will know it is potluck cause they will tell you what to bring what. As in what category. If not tell them what you will be bringing or maybe bringing. Nobody want to have 9 brownies and nothing else at the party. 

So anyway here are some ideas. 

If you know for sure they just move in and have nothing. 

- easy to wash utensils (a set)

- pots and pans 

- kettle (price varies)

- spice rack and containers

- tea set (for tea lover) (the china quality has to be not that cheap)

- microwave

- kurag (only for the busy)

- blender (good quality please)

- candles (price varies) (only if you know their fav scent!!)

- good quality knife set 

- electronic picture frame or simply picture frames (it's ok, she only invite you out of politeness)

- homemade parcel filled with cleaning supply

- homemade hamper filled with knickknacks 

- awesome toolbox (the husband deserve some love too)

- rice cooker with grains holder bucket thingy

- a lifetime paid weekly Yakult delivery

- priceless painting that they can sell in 5 years time to buy a new bungalow

If everything's taken, you can always go with Crabtree and Evelyn hand soap and hand lotion set. Or some other atas brand. 

Personally I already have a list of appliances I want. But only today I know that I can ask my friends to get it for me with a hey I am throwing a housewarming scheme. Muahahaha [insert evil grin]. But seriously, I think it is quite bad to make use of your friends to get you something even if the purpose is indeed to really "show off" your house. 

I think the host or hosts should tell their guest that all they need is a bottle of wine or maybe bottle drinks cause they're heavy to buy for everyone when the hosts only have 4 hands. Or like those cute salt and pepper shakers you can get from silly shops. 

They should provide a list of approved item to be brought to the party. It eliminates price war/favoritism among guest. Eliminates haiz-ness from guests who only comes cause they feel bad if they don't. It is nicer to get fun non serious gifts. As you don't have to buy the buyer expensive gifts when it is their turn to host one. 

And so that's my take on being helpful on housewarming ideas/tips/thoughts. 

The Chedi Sakala, Bali

We stayed at The Chedi, again another hotel that has not has its opening ceremony. So it wasn't crowded. Only on Sat that I started seeing more guests. The place is quite homey. It is a nice place to take a break. So many places to chill. Plus the restaurant is the bomb!

It is quite a weird location as the hotel is separated by a "main" road. The other side, where the restaurant is, is join to the beach. The beach which is not a private beach, not a place to swim, it is just a whole stretch of sand to play water sports. This hotel is the perfect location for kids.

We arrived quite late at night.

The huge empty space where we put our sandals.

Living room, which we made an extra bed.



Master bedroom.

King size bed, which me, Jeanne and T sleep on.

The bathroom has a separator which provide some privacy.

Magic door, will only close one side - the toilet or shower.

The shower has a rain shower, which is not working. The shower head has 3 level of power. The knobs are nice as one side is to adjust the amount of water and the other side clearly show us the hot and cold water. 

We were also given gel, shampoo and conditioner. There are 3 huge towels, 3 face towels, 3 hand towels. There is a weighing machine, and a scrub thing for the bath. Toothbrush and toothpaste (Colgate), comb and etc.

The vanity area which is beside the shower. There is a hairdryer and ironing board.

I love the slippers they provide. It is so comfortable and for once it sort of fit me.

Love the tiny kitchen, there is the place what you it where you can heat up pots. There is also a microwave, an ice bucket that is filled with ice. Then there is a wine cooler, and a mini fridge. Water is provided for free.

My fav got to be the coffee machine. Everyday I drank shots and shots of espresso. The coffee is too watery for my liking as I kept drinking espresso.

And teapot!!

Our welcome food. The fruits are real. There is a salak(snake fruit) too which I ate.

I don't know if it is possible to see the background of the pool photos. The rooms are connected to the pool, which is really awesome. But the rooms are only with one bed and a huge living room. It is really like living in paradise.

Aside from the pools (there is another one at the restaurant side), there is a lounge which we never make use of. There is a kids room where kids can play. They are building the spa and the private villas in the coming year. The villa is 2-storey with a private pool and cost about US$2m.

The Chedi is known as a condotel, which basically you can own a room and you can stay for 15 days a year. I think you will get dividend every year or something. I don't really know how it worked, but at least you can tell people hey I have a hotel room. 

There is also a gym, 2 storey. One for lifting, one filled with treadmills and stair-master like machine. My fav will be the studio where you can do yoga. Love the mirror. I just want to dance all day there. There are free mini water bottles, those 250ml ones, that we keep stealing.

Our 2 room also has a personal butler. He/she can help us with planning of our days and searching for everything we need like where is the best place to get coffee luwak. They can also help us book restaurant. Love having a butler, just makes your whole stay so much more unique.

This is the view from our floor. The 7th floor, which is actually the 6th since there is no 4th floor. 5th since the 2nd floor is like the main floor to get to the lobby. The 4 tiny dots are the para sails.

 

Our 2-bedroom suite which if checked with Agoda will cost around $1.7k+/night, so that is quite pricey. (We so deserve the butler!) But you have 2 bedrooms that can fit 4 people. The living room can have extra bed which fit another 2. Master bedroom can fit 3 people. So 7 of us were living there.

The poolside rooms will fit 2 people. The living room can become an extra bedroom, which fit another 2. But they only have one bathroom. So it can be quite cramp. Reyner stayed there with Budi.

My breakfast. I am the only one who go for all the breakfast. On first day, well second, a Friday, all 9 of us went for breakfast. They charged us for 3, 300K+ each. So the next day only 6 of us went. They charged us for 2. They said by right only room 729 (I remembered it without writing down, I'm so impress by me on this) has free breakfast. The food was not that vast. I expected more from a 5 stars hotel, but they had bagel and I am happy about that. The sesame bagel is the best. And we pretty much eat egg and crepe everyday.

Kiseki @ Orchard Central

This review has been drafted for way too long. I just want to get it out of the way. I'd deleted a lot of pictures as I forgot that I should be blogging about it first. Anyway, Kiseki can be found at Orchard Central level 8. The place is usually very packed, so reservation is a recommended. For lunch, the price for adult is $19.80++, $27.80++. While dinner will cost you around $31.80++, $34.80++. The price differences are just wah. So, go on Mon-Fri between 11.30am-3pm to eat buffet for $19.80++ (no grills though).

The food variation is quite limited in my opion. Sure there is sashimi, teppanyaki and tempura. But is just too little. I got bored taking food once. Each table is given clips with the table number. So when we want something, like chicken chop, we just order by placing the clip on the counter. Well, if unsure, just see what everyone else doing.

This is the only food that is quite pretty to photo. The seafood taste is really strong in this soup. It is just too much for me. I love seafood, but this is just not that good in my opinion.

These are some of the food we ate. I like the BBQ prawns the most, as that is quite worth the money just eating that alone. The beef is also not bad, but that is cause I like the fried garlic that come with it. The desserts are not that nice. I only like eating the ice cream, it is soft serve kind, and ice cream will never go wrong.

 

So overall, I don't really understand why people say it is nice. Sure it is not as expensive as other buffets, but the quality of food is lacking. There used to be a Jap buffet at 313 which offer very little variation of food, but the food is really nice. Even though it is little choice, but you will be happy eating there. I don't know what it is call, and it is no longer there, such a pity.

Splash Jungle Waterpark

This is Splash Jungle at Phuket. And no I don't have any nicer photos, as I was too busy being a kid. The nice photos are on the websites. Since we stayed at Centara, we got to get in for free.

The light blue water is the lazy river. It is quite fun just chilling there going around. 

There are the green and blue tube we call them. The green is an open air slide while the blue is closed. I am scared of the blue one. When I was sliding down, halfway there was a wahaha sound. It was just so freaky. Also, I don't like the feeling of traveling down narrow spaces, not fun. Plus at the end, the water always splash on you the wrong way. Oh, these slides are for kids actually.
The beige one, that one requires you to slide down with a float. Not for the skinnies, as you can actually fly out. Well, I saw little kids, those really tiny ones got deny access,

Wee~

 

For the daring kids, there is the Super Bowl. 

I got stuck there. It was not fun. I had to push my float around so I get into the hole and be free.

This is the most fun, and they call it Boomerango. You just slide down with the float, a good fun drop down the slides and you go up and gravity will pull you down again. Only the intial drop is fun.

 

There is the wave pool, like obviously, but it wasn't that fun. Lots of "tourists" chilled there. The hot spring is not hot at all. They off it as it wasn't crowded enough to actually on it. There is also one that is suppose to be freezing cold, but it wasn't as cold as it was suppose to be. I think the pool bar is quite fun, but we never go there. There is also a kids pool, even Mischa get bored with it. She's quite a daring little girl.

 

Overall this is only fun for little kids who want to try to be a big kid. It is good for them as every ride will be a little scary. Even toodlers will have fun at the playground. For us big kids, it is just only fun for a tiny while.

 

I wouldn't recommend going there specially but if you stay at Centara, it is free so why not?

Centara Grand West Sands Resort & Villas Phuket

So apparently there is 2 Centara in Phuket. The one we stay is near the airport, but the route is quite long. It is the one with the waterpark. And the hotel, well it is more of a villa and resort. It is not grand, but it is very spacious. My "apartment" is bigger than my house, even though this only have 1 bedroom, and my HDB has 3 and half. The photos are of poor quality, but I don't even think I will blog about it until today.

That's pretty much the room. We stay at block 8. It was pretty empty. The whole resort it huge, but it was empty. I will be like a free and easy Clubmed if it is more full.

That's the view from the room. Just greenery. Quite creepy at night.

 

This is a blur picture of us.

We had to take the buggy around the resort.



Love chilling here, especially after breakfast.

The view. Behind will be pool.

The beach is not the nicest, but this place still hasn't had its grand opening when I was there. So they could still improve on it.

My breakfast everyday. I love how they put the jam in shot glasses, its cute.

There is a Thai restaurant too. Quite pricey though. Not as nice too.

They have minimart, so it is quite convenient. Or so we taught. It was not complete. But we survived.

There is a free shuttle bus to the city area of Phuket. It was so much more fun there, at least ot is lively. We only allowed to stay there for a few hours before the bus took us back. Anyway, I shoot a gun. I forgot what gun was it, as it was so long ago. But it was so fun. Seriously, everyone need to learn or at least try to shoot a gun. I am so bad at it. The closest I came into was in the 7 point. But it still feel great. Time like that, I really wish I was in NS. The shooting range was really loud. That is the only thing not fun. You just get shock all the time, even though you know it was to be expected.

So lastly, only the last day, for some reason Mischa lost her shoes. Well one of the pair anyway, we kept searching for it and it just disappear. It was in the room but it got lost. Superstitious or not, we all think of something. So Kelly carried her all the way to the lobby since our luggage are all there already. Kelly is huge compare to Mischa.

It was an ok trip to Phuket, and I wished that I took better picture, but it was just bleh. Spent the 3 days in the not so crowded resort, it really is boring. We did went to other hotels to take a look too, and as always the hotels that we did not stay in are much nicer.