"Ber" months are here again! It would be a shame if my last post (our 2014 Christmas eCard) would be followed by our 2015 Christmas eCard, hehe.
So just to say hi and I miss you all, here's a little post on my dear princess' 5th birthday. The theme? None other than this little piggy who has captured the hearts of little Youtube viewers - Peppa Pig.
Without further ado, here's the DIY party I came up with:
From cartolina, I recreated the Peppa Pig house backdrop. Buntings were from National Bookstore, while the lootbags, contents, plates and cups were from Toy Kingdom.
For the cake, I just bought a celebration cake from Red Ribbon and added the Peppa Pig family toppers which I ordered online.
R's shirt is from Mothercare. Actually it's a pajama set, hehe. I just paired it with her tutu.
I'm so glad she loved her simple celebration at home together with her neighborhood friends and of course our family =)
Hi I'm back!!! Well not totally. I just had a few minutes to spare in documenting this special detail in our lives. JD is one year old! How time flies really.
Amidst all the busyness, I was actually able to pull-off JD's first birthday and my first events styling stint! So just to give you all a glimpse, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Warning photo heavy.
The invite
As what I usually do for my kid's invites, a few cliparts and rhymes from the internet, and here's what I came up with.
The stage
From conceptualizing the backdrop, painting Jack & Jill's well and the Old Woman's Shoe, as well as creating the cardboard tree for the baby, yep that's all me. The cardboard letters and fabric buntings were care of Mama. The Japanese lanterns were all from Divisoria. The pompoms were made by me from Japanese paper and with the help of Martha Stewart's video tutorial. These were all created just a day before JD's birthday (finished painting around midnight). With a little help from my kids' yayas and my eager beaver R, here are the results, voila!
The centerpieces
I searched the net, particularly Pinterest, for various centerpieces. However, surprisingly, there were limited nursery rhyme themed parties that really captured my eye. I just raked through Divisoria, National Bookstore and SM for various knicknacks and those are what I came up with. I just had to mention again, assembly was all done the day before. Yup I really am killing myself (just kidding), it was a break from all the busyness at work. For the flower baskets, I scored great deals at Dangwa and supervised the kids' yayas in the arrangements.
The candy/dessert buffet table and cake
For the backdrop, I made paper medallions out of colored cartolina and printed out JD's monthly pictures and hanged them using wooden clothespins. The carrot cupcakes were care of Mama. Bought the candy from SM supermarket. Containers were from SM as well. The cupcake tier/stand was from Divisoria. To stay in line with the nursery rhyme theme, see the baker (from Pat-a-cake) figurine which I got from Dapitan arcade. It held the scoop and tongs with its little niche at the back.
The cute and delicious cake was from Midnight Snacks. I was so lucky to have found Larisse in FB. I already saw a pic in Pinterest of the cake I wanted. It turned out she was the one who made it! Her prices are very reasonable considering the craftsmanship and the yumminess. I highly recommend her.
The venue and caterer
Daddy A and I really want our events to be a fun and meaningful experience for our guests. We had R's birthday in a zoo right?! So why not a museum this time. Museo Pambata is literally a museum for kids. Unlike the traditional museum where you can't touch anything. Here, the kids are free to play and interact in the various areas of the museum. One sad thing though is that Museo Pambata does not have a standby generator. And what are the odds that a 15 minute power outage came in time for our party! Bummer I know =( If not for that, I'd give the place a perfect ten.
Our caterer was one of the accredited ones of the venue, Sta. Ines-Pablo Catering. Mr. Andy Pablo was very accommodating and really made his clients the top priority.
The AVP
The songs I used for this AVP were Colby Calait's "Capri", Parokia ni Edgar's "Your Song" and John Lennon's classic "Beautiful Boy". Watch it here:
In line with our theme, we got a puppet show from Roppets Puppeteers. The Three Little Pigs was great, The Backyardigans was kind of dragging and The Tatlong Sikat, albeit the lesson in the end was maybe not for kids of all ages. Maybe we should've sticked to the classics such as Goldilocks and Jack& the Beanstalk.
The loot bags
The canvas bags were care of Mama's shop. We filled it with story books, craft kits, colored pencils and modeling clay.
Photo/video
Again we went with the very professional Marvin Rosello, whom we first worked with during R's 1st birthday.
Happy first birthday JD! We love you so much. May God continue to bless you with good health and cover you with his mantle of protection. Hope you grow up to be God-fearing and kind.
You may not be able to remember this party, but when you look back at this post, hope you'll know how much love and effort we put in just to make your day special.
Yesterday, my not-so-little girl turned 3. We had a simple celebration at home right after mass. And just this morning, she also celebrated in school. R woke up yesterday morning so giddy after she saw the decorations were put up in the dining area. She kept on saying "happy birthday R!" and kept on spelling her name which was plastered across the wall. Good thing in church, they had a blessing of all the September celebrants. Here's she is in her birthday dress.
For her third birthday, I went with the theme "Barbie I can be (Cupcake baker)" from one of her favorite Ipad Apps of the same name. The cake and cupcakes were from Red Ribbon. I just borrowed a cupcake tier and put one of R's Barbies as a topper. For the buntings, I just used art paper and gift wrapper (cupcake design). Whereas for the balloons, I just bought a pack from the Japanese store which I can still use for various mini celebrations.
We just had a simple fare of white spaghetti. R enjoyed blowing her cake and licking the icing off the cupcake.
Opening of gifts:
From her lola P:
From Mommy, Daddy and JD:
One last shot before Barbie gets massacred:
Had I known I would have a daughter someday, hindi ko sana pinamigay ung mga Barbie ko, specially the Make Me Pretty Barbie (similar to what we gave her now). Iba parin ung mga classic/vintage Barbie.
This morning in school, we brought naman the cake and cupcakes, as well as Jollibee spaghetti. Here she is with her classmates for the cake blowing:
Thank you classmates for the gifts:
For their loot bags, I filled these cute paper cups I got from Robinsons Galleria (I think the store's name is "Spoiled"), with Hello Panda biscuits, erasers, rubber stamps and mini notepad.
I'm glad my daughter had so much fun with her birthday celebration.
Happy 3rd birthday R! Everyday you just seem to amaze us with the things you learn. I also enjoy every moment you hug me and tell me I love you. Nung baby ka kasi ako lang gumagawa nun, now you initiate it. I love you my little daldalita. Can't wait for our future kikay bonding moments. God bless you always!
I just love events. If only I had the guts, I'd really make a move to shift into this field. Isip isip hehe.
From planning our wedding, to my babies' baptisms, first birthday ata ang isa sa pinaka exciting yet stressful moments in a woman's/mom's life hehe.
Since it's September, I'd like to share snippets of R's 1st birthday.
First of all before planning, we thought of what we would like us and the guests to experience. Then everything else followed. Daddy A and I both wanted something unique and unforgettable. I browsed the net for ideas and venues that held interesting activities. Then pak! I stumbled upon Ark Avilon Zoo.
Theme: Jungle safari
So with that as our peg, we trooped over to Ark Avilon Zoo and checked out their party package.
Venue/Decors: Ark Avilon Zoo
What's nice with their party package is that you having nothing else to think about except show up. Yes as in! From decors, catering, cake, loot bags, entertainment, food carts, photo coverage w/ album, all in na! God sent talaga for working parents like us. What's more, the venue is located in the heart of the metro. No hassle for our guests and they would surely have a good time with the zoo tour and live animal interaction. See party packages here.
Caterer: Verleo
Like I said they have an in house caterer already - Verleo. I could say the food was great and was enough to cover our almost 100 guests. They have a kiddie pack menu and buffet for the adults. We chose the Filipino buffet.
Invites: DIY plus printed envelope from Ark Avilon Zoo
As part of their package, they provided us zebra/leopard printed folding envelopes where you could insert your invites. Here is the layout I came up with:
Loot bag: DIY plus loot bag of Ark Avilon Zoo
For the loot "bag" itself, Mama took care of the leopard print eco bags and we just inserted the goodie bag from Ark Avilon. In fairness the goodie bag was packed with lots of items. Each had a stuffed animal, inflatable macau, finger puppet, headband for girls, bandana for boys, bracelet, and what have yous. Quality items talaga.
Prizes: Divisoria
Mama got jungle related prizes such as animal coin purses, pencil cases, pencils, safari cars etc. For adult games, I just bought some imported chips and cookies.
Outfits: SM
Would you believe all our outfits were just found in SM (except for R's 2nd outfit - leopard print top, which was care of my Mama's patahian)? Daddy A found this mala Kuya Kim shirt from Penshoppe and cargo shorts from SM Surplus shop. His hat was from Divisoria though. I on the other hand found this jumpsuit from the department store, un nga lang gusto nila ko ikulong kasama ng leopard during the party hehe. We got R's safari get up from Moose Girl.
Entertainment/photo coverage: Host, Glitter tattoo, zoo tour all from Ark Avilon Zoo
I was really happy with the tour and our host, he really brought out the excitement in our guests. Feel na feel namin like we were in an African safari. And naturally, isa kong malaking duwag, napahiyaw when we got to feed some piranha like fishes in the pond. See more of the fun in the pictures and video below.
Video coverage: Marsian Recording Studio
The initial videographer we booked unfortunately died of stroke just a few weeks before R's birthday. Sad and stressful. Good thing I was able to book Marvin Rosello. I liked his coverage style, high definition, may cinematography and the background music was very appropriate. For contact details, please check here.
Without further ado, here are some snap shots of the party:
Here's the DIY AVP video I made, which was shown during the party:
And here's R's first birthday video by Marvin Rosello of Marsian Recording Studio:
