Last August 25, we celebrated the kid’s birthday. My eldest kid (son)is now 4 while my youngest kid (daughter) is 2. The date when we held the party was the exact birth date of my daughter. I started planning the details since late 2012 by inquiring the rates of some suppliers such as the party host, caterer, venue. I also did looked for kiddie party inspirations/ photos from the internet. The original theme was supposedly Strawberry Shortcake and Thomas the Train since the celebrants is a girl (my daughter) and 2 boys (my son and nephew). It was a little bit difficult to decide what party theme must be used to match a boy and a girl party.. Finally, I decided to use colors (blue and pink) as their main theme and Minnie Mouse (since my daughter knows Minnie Mouse over Strawberry Shortcake) and Thomas the Train ( for the boys) will only appear on clothes, cake, and loot bags.
Majority of the party preparation were my DIYs. Most of my effort went there. Starting from buying prizes, loot bag contents as giveaways to the kids guest, balloon decorations, arts and crafts. I have to start buying these things around June 2013 and started doing those DIY crafts in Mid July. Here are the list of my DIYs.
1) The Loot Bags. The blue ones with Thomas the Train that was printed in the sticker paper with guest name is for the boys while the Minnie Mouse designed paper bag was for the girls. The paper bag was made of cartolina bought from local bookstore. The price range of the cartolina is between 5 pesos to 6 pesos since I bought it from 2 different bookstore. The black cartolina was at 11 to 13 pesos since I cannot find cheaper one. Sticker paper is at 37 pesos for high gloss paper. Ribbons were all bought from Divisoria ( shops along Tabora). Ribbon price is around 40-100 pesos for the whole roll (50 yards).
The white polka dots was made of cut circle from bond paper, paste it in a pink colored paper. I used double-sided tape since it is more adhesive than using glue on stick.
The contents were face towel at 11 pesos each, toys like puzzle, mini skateboard, xylophone and mini blocks from younger kids, activity book from Divisoria, clips and head bands for the girls, and some food stuff like choco mallows, jellies, gummies, cheese rings and others.
2) The ceiling decor and Balloon Pillar. The balloons were bought from Kyla Mae at their Bacoor, Cavite branch. Near SM mall. Since the venue is an outdoor, I bought Cherubin brand with size 12 inches at 600 for 100 pcs. Smaller balloons (5 inches and 260Q long balloons) with BND brand were all bought from Lollipop Balloons in SM Bacoor. The price was at around 2-3.25 pesos.
The paper pompoms on the other hand is 17 pesos each. I was able to make (with my sisters’ help) 24 pcs of that.
3) The backdrop. I bought ribbons (light blue and fushia pink) from Divisoria. Hanged it in parallel with each other
using nylon string. The Names of the celebrant were made of styro foam, cut in letter shape and cartolina to write the names. Paper
pompoms that were not used in the ceiling were all placed below the hanged ribbon.
4) The Kiddie Salon. All hair accessories were bought in Tabora (Divisoria) including the 2 round mirrors. Nail polish, lip gloss, cologne spray, nail sticker for nail art were all from Watsons and Afficionado (for the cologne). I bought soft tulle in Tabora also at 15 pesos per yard for the curtain and table cover.Hullahop use to hang the tulle was bought at 75 pesos each. I forgot to tie together the 2 hullahops
for it to stay hold and balance.
Two friends of mine man the salon for the entire duration of the party. Thanks for that!
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5) The Sweet Bar. All Jars and containers are bought from Daiso and SM. Some of the glass wares were pre-owned.
A white cartolina was used to cover the window part of the venue so that I can hang the baderitas “SWEETS” and paste the paper rossette at the wall without ruining the wall paint using glue stick. Cookie pops and marshmallow choco dip with sprinkles were all made by me. Cookie pops was made of chocolate biscuits (HI-RO) dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkled with candy sprinkles and wrapped it in a clear plastic that can be bought from baking supplies shop.
Popcorn were from Kettle Korn. Their biggest pack is at 95 pesos mostly cheese flavor. They have other flavors such as sweet corn and BBQ on smaller packs at 50 pesos. Choco Mallows and Nips were from Comfoods at Buendia-Pasong Tamo in Makati City. There are also comfoods products being sold at the bus terminals in Alabang and Taft Ave in Manila at higher cost. Meringue were from Nataniel’s (Molito Alabang btanch), Gummies (the shark and strawberry dream) were from GummieHaven at 400 per kilo. Pretzels, waffle stick, Potchi, Jelly candies were all from SM supermarket.
6) Table Centerpiece. It was made of paper pompoms in painted clay pot. The balloon stick was cemented inside the pot to make it stand and stable. Then balloon on top.
Aside from my DIYs. I booked Limphots as my photographer at 2900 for photo service only. Photos are in jpeg formats. What I love most is on how he took pictures of the kids. Over-all I am satisfied in his work.
The kids’ attire (boys) was bought from 168 in Divisoria at 200 pesos each. I also saw Thomas the train t shirt in the mall of the same price but unfortunately they dont have bigger size for my 4 year old son. My little girl’s dress (Minni Mouse themed dress) was made by Ching’s dress maker. Their shop is located in Alabang near Starmall. Just pass the PNR railway after Lynas Mall. The labor cost was 800 and I spent around 400 for 3 yards of geena silk, satin, tulle, organza and 1 yard of light pink polka dot cloth. The labor cost was originally priced at 1200 pesos but I asked the dress maker if she could do it from her home and lower the cost for me. Good thing she agreed. 
For the caterer, I got Symor’s Catering from Salitran Dasmarinas Cavite at 220 per head ( 3 main dishes, 1 vegetable, 1 dessert, rice, pasta and drinks). For kids, they served spaghetti with small meatballs, BBQ, mini-burger, chocolate fondue and 1 tetra pack of juice at 100 per kid. I was disappointed with their set-up though I expected it to be plain but the dark blue table linen that was used was not part of our agreement. It was supposed to be light pink and light blue lace. I’m not sure what happened. I was not able to confront them about it since I was too busy checking other things in the party.
They also didn’t serve the drinks per table. Though I was not able to ask also about it to Zarina. The water also can’t be serve since they have to use the same glass for ice tea. Thus, either a guest will approach them, ask for a glass of water and then go back to ask again for either water or another glass of ice tea. I think they must improve this for their future clients since I was informed that they already increase their rates at 275, the cheapest rates they offer. Adding one set of glass for water is really a must. It is my first time to encounter a caterer that has no separate glass for water and another glass for juice or softdrinks. This makes me decide not to get them again on my next event. The food though was delicious. Pictures of their setup below.
To add more sweets in the party, I ordered Nestle ice cream from Nestle. A total of 160 pcs of ube and keso flavored sorbetes on stick, kimy and jelly stick ice cream was delivered in icebox. The person who delivered the ice cream is also the person who will assists the guests in picking which flavor they would want.
To make the entire program alive, I hired Len Peralta to host the party. Her package includes program hosting, balloon twisting, ventriloquism (puppet), and magic with love dove. It cost me 4500 for it and additional 2500 for out of town fee and 2000 for the sound system. Her ventroloquism is quite short. I expected it to be longer but the kids enjoyed it. I found her magic OK. She was able to entertain the kids which is very important to me. Some adult guests also seems to enjoy her performance. I also did enjoyed her long and big sword coming out the paper bag hahaha.. and the Yuck thing when she asked the kids if they want to kiss the puppet, someone shouted yuck! hahaha.. I will definitely will hire her again. My 4500 was worth it. Oh by the way, Len increased her rate earlier this year to 5000 for Metro Manila events only. Out of town fee applies.
I ordered mini red velvet cupcakes from Dyann, smart parenting member. The mini cupcakes cost 16.00 pesos. The cakes on the other hand was from Thearts. They have a baking supplier shop along Aguinaldo Highway in Bacoor Cavite. Just after Jollibee Niog. The Minni Mouse cake cost 1200 for 13×9 inches and the Thomas the Train cake cost 700 for 8 inches round cake. The cake was not too sweet and delicous.
Over-all, I was too tired. With so many DIYs to set up. With the help of my 3 neighbors, 2 sister, my husband, my sister boyfriend, we were able to finish setting up the decorations at 2pm. We started by 8am 😦
Lesson learned? Maybe next time hire a decorator? 😀 and make a task list for each people who will helped. That was the one I forgot to do. But we all enjoyed the party and all of our effort pays.
14.450000
120.950000
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A day to day life 