Eating My Words

I remember mentioning that for my daughter's 2nd birthday, I wanted a simple celebration.

Oh well, I'm a woman, so I am excused to change my mind ;P

The date that we initially wanted has been booked already. The date right after her birthday was non-negotiable for hubby, since it coincided with service (and most of our guests will be coming from the CFC community). End result? We are celebrating Sam's birthday, 3 weeks early of her real birthday hehehe

Of course I panicked! I was taking my sweet time and then suddenly I was only left with 4 weeks to prepare! (Not to mention that I have been bombarded with work the past few weeks).

Not wasting any time, I started to attend to the things needed for the party :)

Venue: Check!

We will be having it at:

Kids Play Land at Castle Hill

The play land will be for our baby/toddler guests (0-5 years old).

What to do with the older ones?

We will be hiring a separate court for them to play different kinds of sports (soccer, cricket, bastketball). Hubby was okay with this (extra payment of course! to my surprise he said okay!)

Aside form the huge play area, the adults entrance being free, the thing that convinced me and hubby to choose this as our venue: we can bring our own food, no corkage! wee!

Theme: Sports

I do not believe that Sports can only be used by boys as theme for their parties :)

Invites: Do - It - Yourself

The venue offers free invites upon booking, but I wanted to make my own :)

(Sorry, can't put it here as some private info are on the invites ;))

I'm done doing the FB event page and I'm done sending out the invites, which means guest list has been already finalized.

Food:

I already have the menu and where to order them. I just need to confirm number of guests before I place the order four days before the party.

We will just be serving light snacks. No mess, no fuss, no dramas. Easy to eat, easy to clean :)

Tokens:

I just bought huge bubble sticks for the girls and rescue pack for the boys.

Not thinking of giving them lollies this time :)

And this time, only the kids get a token after the party ;)

Decors:

The venue will have their own but I plan to just add one big balloon for the birthday girl :)

Program/Extras:

The venue in itself can already entertain our little guests, but since we have one whole court all to ourselves, and to put a bit of structure to the party, I plan to put sticker tattoos for the kids, prepare 3-4 parlor games for the biggies and the little ones (I bought medals for the winners of each game, to follow our sports theme..of course this is aside from the prizes), pinata, and of course the candle-blowing...just before everyone eats :)

Thankful that I can squeeze in the party preps :)

Hopefully, all will be well :)

Here are some photos of the stuff I have been slowly buying for Sam's 2nd birthday party :)

pin the tail of the donkey...one of the games fot the little ones

sorry it's upside down!
when I saw these badges, I thought, no need to buy a statement shirt for Sam, she can just wear the badges ;)

the medals I will be giving for the winners of the games

 

the tattoos which the kids can choose from :)
 

thejumbo  bubble stick and rescue car sets for tokens

There are some more crazy ideas in my head, but I'm still thinking if I will do it or I can do it :) Time will tell :)

Will update you again soon :)

Sam's 2nd

Hubby must have sensed my frustration during Sam's 1st birthday party. He seems very supportive of me the past few days after I have shared with him my plans for Sam's 2nd birthday party.

Yes, I know, it's still 5 months away, but you know me by now, right?

We will definitely throw Sam a birthday party because Liam had one when we got here in Sydney. He had his at Hungry Jacks. It was a very simple party.

I was actually thinking of having Sam's 2nd at Hungry Jacks too. You know, para lang maidaos.

Alvin said that if we are to invite just kids, then it wouldn't be a problem. But the thing is, we expect adult guests too. Here in Australia, they have a weird way of celebrating kids' parties. You drop the kids off at the venue and leave them at the care of the hosts only to pick them up again after two hours. In our culture, it is already expected that you will have to prepare food not only for the kids but for the adults as well. And since majority of the guests will be kababayans, then we have to look for another possible option as to how we will celebrate Sam's 2nd.

So what to do?

I looked for a venue that will meet the following criteria:
 - within our budget
 - kids can do something during/after the party -- like a playland and the like (ayaw ni Mr. B ng simpleng Neighbourhood Centre)
 - we can bring in our own food
 - enough space to accommodate our kid and adult guests
 - will give us a free hand with the programme

Result?

- we consdired parks, but the thing with parks, it's free for all. first come, first served basis. not also weather proof, mahirap especially if it suddenly rains. we have to bring chairs and tables for our guests.

Gusto ko sana sa bahay, pero maliit masyado yung bahay namin to accommodate everyone we are thinking of inviting. Ayaw ko na rin magligpit sa bahay after the party.

Research, research and some more research, until...success!

Found one. It meets all of our criteria. Indoor Venue. We can bring in our own food. It is a playland. Adults and kids aged 6 years and above need not pay the entrance. They have indoor cafe in case we run out of food hehehe. They have host for 2 hours. They have tables and chairs for the guests. We have exclusive party area for two hours. Exciting!

What makes me more excited is the fact that when I share my plans to hubby, he also gives his inputs. Like the food we will be having at the party (we will do it the Aussie way, walang kanin, lechon, etc. walang masyadong kuskos balungos...yung madaling kainin at ligpitin!... something light but it can make you full) or ideas about the other details for the party. It's not a first, but knowing hubby, when he starts to become actively involved in a project (parties especially), it's already good to go :)

Madami pang aayusin, but bottomline, tapos na yung pinakamahirap na parte. Ang pag-oo ni Mr. B at ang venue. I am also not raising the bar this time, I will keep it simple. Aalisin ko na yung mga kaek-ekan ko LOL :) Hopefully, if I keep it that way, I will not see myself being frustrated again if things don't go as planned.

Now, keeping our fingers crossed, we will still be able to celebrate and push thru with the plans.

A lot of things can still happen in five months! :)

Sam's Birthday Cake by Mitchelle's Sweet Kiss

Cake - Mitchelle's Sweet Kiss
Peso Power - PhP 3000 (Buyanihan Deal), additional Php 1900 for add-ons and Delivery Charge
Rating: Not Happy

For my son's first birthday, I asked a former Co teacher to make his 2-layered fondant cake, two layers of which were real cakes. He really didn't tell me how much it cost, but I knew since it was a fondant cake, I knew it would cost more outside, I just ggave him PhP 6thousand as payment, I don't know if it's too cheap or it's too much. Here is the cake that he made for my son's birthday. I was very happy with the output. The colors were alive and the cake was huge. It did attract atention during Liam's party.



So as soon as I learned that I would be changing themes for Sam's birthday -- from Sesame St. to Dora, I immediately looked for cakes. I again considered my former co-teacher or Bakeshoppe of Shoppersville (in Katipunan, Quezon City).

But, I chanced upon this groupon site, Buyanihan, around March and the deal for the day was for me a good deal. I of course checked the expiry date and when I saw that the deal can still be used until December 2011, I thought of buying one for Sam's party. I asked hubby if I can purchase the deal and he agreed.


The catch is, they can customize the design of the cake that I want. I also got excited to get the cake tower, being one of the first 200 buyers (didn't choose the additional 24 cupcakes as we already have the ice cream cart and cotton candy cart) as shown on this photo:




I was also able to track down their newest creations thru their FB page, and it made me more excited. I told myself, I made the right decision. Hubby also agreed when he saw the outputs. But after a month, I couldn't see their FB page anymore! This got me worried and a bit paranoid. The only time I got to see their FB again was when I was in Manila! I don't know if the setting of FB has something to do with it.

There were days that I got paranoid, but thru a forum I was appeased by other clients who also bought the deal. The deal includes 48 cupcakes and a 9" inch round cake, with a choice of free additional 24 cupcakes or cake tower, if you are among the first 200 buyers. I was the 108th buyer and I opted to have the cake tower.

After all the cake designs I saw, I finally decided to combine 2 cake designs.




I emailed them the design and asked them for additional requests like:
A. Making the cake fondant -- additnal PHP650
B. Adding another layer, fondant again -- additional charge
C. Deliver the cake to the venue -additional charge

We didn't request for individual packaging anymore since we were OK to serve the cupcakes to the guests.

I called them September, two times, three weeks after I have emailed them my Order form and my design, but as of September 21, I still haven't heard from them. Two weeks before we left for Manila, still not acknowledgement of my e-mail, I called them and finally got the chance to talk with Rose. With this conversation, I was able to explain my requests and was told of the do-able things.

After the conversation, Rose promised to e-mail me for the additional costs of my requests. She also told me that she will call me 3 days before the party to refresh everything.

Thursday before the party, 17 November, she did call and we had a good talk. I told her about my excitement about the cake and how, like Liam's should be the center of attention during the party. Well, I expected too much :(

I was really not happy with the result. I am not even happy with the cake tower they used! Parang tutumba! Poor quality. Compare with the picture they showed for the deal. And the cupcakes were small. The fondant cake? Yes, she did use the colors I requested but it looked pale, not vibrant , as it should be! Parang the colors were not alive because of too much white powder...parang espasol na yung dating.

Here is their output. Compare it with the design I emailed them. Even the strips of colors on the second layer were not cut evenly! Sus! And look at Dora, the cake topper...sad. Just sad.

Cake:




Cupcakes:





The taste? Not exceptionally good.


I am no Masterchef, but hey I can see (as well as any ordinary person) if the cake looks good. And with the looks, if the cake tastes great. But with Sam's cake, I was really not happy.


This was one hard lesson learned. I can't undo it anymore because I only got to see the output on the day itself. Lessn? Still better to spend and go for the old reliable suppliers!

Adding insult to what we had for Sam's cake, I decided to order Liam's cake for his super duper advanced birthday celebration with family based in Manila in Shoppersville Bakeshoppe. And look at the output:



It was a 3D Firetruck Cake and everything was edible!

Liam was very happy and so was I!

Oh well. No one to blame but me. Should have not expected much especially that I got it from a promo.