Anne's Red Birthday

I started preparing for Anne’s birthday about six (6) months before. Actually, on and off in planning because I was too busy with other stuff. 

At first I was eyeing a Christmas themed party for Anne, I consulted this with n@wie sisters and a lot has shared their ideas and experiences on a Christmas themed party. Since Anne’s birthday is on the Christmas month I was really sold out with the idea. Among the ones who was really a big help; sharing her ideas and all is Jhoanne Paris Henson-Alon . She is really one creative person! 

I was thinking of a Santa costume for Anne. When I mentioned this to my Tita who will sew Anne’s Santa costume. She suggested why not Little Red Riding Hood instead. So when I mentioned this to Jhoanne she said that it’ll be a very good idea. 

My reference and ideas I got from the Internet and ofcourse from n@w.

Here goes our rating. In a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest rating.

INVITATIONS, GIFT TAGS. NAMETAGS, GUEST SHEETS, TARPAULIN: DIY
RATE: 10 (Do I need to rate myself? He he syempre )

Preferably, I want invitations to be made by someone else. I feel like it’s always myself who makes it when it comes to things like this. But due to time and budget constraints I have to contend myself with my DIY stuff.

I did it on Adobe Photoshop using photos of Anne, which Dzune and I took over the months. Have it printed at Photoline at Robinsons Place. 

Guests say it was beautiful and they love it that they say that they are keeping it because of Anne’s photos. Some of our guests to whom I just sent the invites via email kept requesting I give them the actual copy on the day of the party.

For the guest sheets I did this last minute, as in on the morning of the party. I remembered that I wanted to have some messages from the guests like what we did during our wedding so I can show it to Anne when she grows up. My mistake is that I had it printed at Kodak and the paper that they use is glossy so guests had hard time writing on it. 

BALLOONS: Jhoanne Paris Henson-Alon
RATE: 10

Jhoanne is such a dynamic woman which lots of really creative ideas in her head! The moment I mentioned Anne’s theme for the party she immediately had in mind an idea of what to use for the balloons, which is red and gold stars. The result was really really creative. Everyone was asking if they can take home the centerpieces and I don’t really care if you call me “madamot” but I don’t want to allow it! He he I want it all for myself to display around the house since it’s Christmas time and balloons were shaped into a Christmas tree! Really unique! 

CAKE: Quintbelle’s
RATE: 10

The cake was truly a work of art! Quintbelles really know the craft of cake making and they sure know what they are doing and they do it good!!

I came to know about Quintbelle’s through the n@wies Elaine and I communicated via email and then I told Elaine what I wanted about Anne’s cake. At first Elaine was hesitant in accepting my cake order since they already had another client for December 15, but she told me that if it will be just a simple cake they might accept my order so I went over their multiply site and the “Isabelle cake” caught my attention. It has a girl sitting on top of a painted cake. I just asked Elaine to make a hood for the girl since the theme for the party is Red Riding Hood.

I am very thankful to Elaine because she accommodated my order though they already have another booking for that day. 

Everyone was asking where did I have the cake made since they don’t often see such cakes at birthdays! My family really enjoyed the cake; it was chocolate and really moist. I love the cupcakes maybe because of the icing; I should have gotten the bigger ones.

I am really happy with Anne’s cake the only problem we realized was when it was time to blow the candle, there was no candle with the cake. I really wasn’t able to ask Elaine about it, if it was included or not, but it was a minor problem and we were able to solve it by buying one at Robinsons. Though because it was Christmas time, Christmas rush I had to fall in a long line to buy the candle, Goldilocks was not selling candles not unless you buy a cake from them.

VENUE: Don Henricos Ermita (across Robinsons Place Manila)
RATING:
PLACE: 7
FOOD: 10

We decided on Don Henricos mainly because of two things: - it was conveniently located beside a mall. Parking won’t be a problem since you can park at the mall and valet parking is available I believe at Don Henricos and the second reason is the food. We want our guests to enjoy the food since some of them will be traveling really far. 

I rate the place 7 because though the place is good, the ambiance good, I don’t know if we just have too many guests (about 50 adults and 20 kids) but the place is quite small, and the air conditioning was poor. My mom kept saying “mainit” (hot) and it was. By the way, the resto was still accepting walk-in costumers while the party is going on so some of the places were closed, they have these wood panels which they put as dividers between the party area and the places for their walk-in clients.

But all the guests kept raving how good the food was! We chose the special buffet package. As the manager suggested to me, I didn’t order plated food for the kids, they can just get from the buffet and it was ok I guess, we ordered for about 60 persons.

Don Henricos wasn’t that strict at all, when I told them that I have a puppet show and I’d be bringing in my own loot bags they allowed it, in other venues they are quite strict that you avail from them the party amenities.

PUPPET SHOW: c/o Jhoanne Paris Henson-Alon
RATE: 10

The puppet show was a sure hit to everyone! 

I guess it’s been a long time since the guests had seen a puppet show that’s why they loved it.

It was Jhoanne who suggested we do the puppet show instead of the magician since there is a red riding hood show. I chose 3 shows, alphabet, red riding hood and Christmas wish. 

HOST: c/o Jhoanne Paris Henson-Alon
RATE: 8

Sorry but I forgot the name of the host. Well, her diction was good and she was able to deliver the games I wanted but I don’t know if it was the sound system of Don Henricos or something else, she lacks the energy that I was expecting from a host.

COSTUME: Mama Cora
RATE: 10

I got the style from the Internet, I just printed it and given it to my Tita and she was able to copy it exactly the way I wanted it. 

LOOTBAGS AND CONTENTS: Bought everything from DIVI

I bought some translucent bags in colors red and green with gold designs from Divi and then bought candies, yoyos, pencils, erasers, and crayons and assembled it all.

The coloring books I got the idea from fellow n@wie Vima it is from her I got the inspiration to prepare for Anne’s party I got the coloring book idea from her. I got the pages from the Internet then printed one clear copy and then had it photocopied and then got a long reach staple, I bought some red colored board and then printed red riding hood stickers and placed it in front of the coloring books. I hope the kids enjoyed coloring it.

PHOTOS: Rio Rico Rojas (0917-8307902)
RATE: 10

I’ve known Rico as a student. In their photo class, he is one of the few who works really hard inside the dark room to process his photos and that class is where he got hooked into photography (I guess.) 

Taking photos for Anne’s party is a gift from Rico (it’s pay back time, remember when I used to wait up for you guys to finish in the darkroom so I can go home. He he) 

I was satisfied with Rico’s photos. He took photos of the guests and our families pictures as well.

CHOCO FOUNTAIN: HUEY YING RESTAURANT c/o Kleng

No rating for this, it’s priceless since my friend loaned me their choco fountain, bought the chocolates from the Chocolate Factory then Kleng asked their staff to prepare it then I asked my good friend Shane to pick it up from Macapagal. I bought bread sticks and marshmallows from the grocery then assembled it at the venue.

The choco fountain is for rent by the way.

It was tiring but it was sure fun! And if you’ll ask me if I will do it over again, sure I will, but let me pray first that I will have the budget so I can do it over again and the energy. 

I am really thankful for having Jhoanne she was a great help. She was hands-on with the party and her creativity really is the reason why Anne’s party was unique and we really got a lot of compliments for the balloons and the puppet show. Thankful also for the n@w community, all the sisters there are helpful in sharing their ideas. If not for them I wouldn’t be able to come up with a nice party.

Hey sis Jhoanne! Hope you never get tired with what you do. You surely are an inspiration! Thanks so much!

More photos can be seen here.