baby macy's 3rd birthday party: the preparation part 2

A week just before the party, I had just started buying toys and goodies for the loot bag, for the prizes of games, and for the pabitin and palayok. At first I went to APM mall just across SM to check out wholesale toys. It was my first time to go in there that time and I've heard from my cousin and sister that the mall sells wholesale items. To my dismay, there wasn't. They sell each small toy individually. The cheapest I could find was P15 per toy but I thought I could find way better toys downtown if I had the time. The mall mostly sells clothes in tiangge-style stalls. Then I thought of going to White Gold which is a couple of blocks aways. I looked at my watch and I thought I only had 1hr to shop so I crossed the street to go to SM. Then I rechecked the time again. Alas, I realized it was still 7pm and malls would close by 9pm so I still have 2hours to go around White Gold. So I rode on a jeepney and went down a few blocks away. It was there at White Gold that I actually bought the candies, chocolates, and toys. It was hard finding stuffs related to my dora-diego theme. Mostly it was Ben10, Pooh, and Disney princesses. So I just thought of customizing and adding in animal erasers and clips (at least to relate to diego who is an animal rescuer). All in all I was pretty stressed that day with the shopping rush. My hands were all dusty afterwards thanks to the dusty products on sale in that mall (Don't they dust off once in a while?).


Down to very last minutes before the party day, I went to Hannah's store in Ayala. Some of their items are the same ones being sold in White Gold (cheaper) and in downtown (way cheaper). But I also bought some stuffs in Hannah's that I haven't found in White Gold like dora stickers, pencils, and paper dolls.

Mommy tip: If you have the time and courage to go downtown, then I recommend that you search out there for wholesale toys. But don't buy there those toys that need to have contact with the mouth or candies and chocolates. To be cautious, buy only stuffs that you think are safe to use for children. Also, it is best to buy more toys that can be used for both girls and boys especially the prizes in your pabitin. I also found out that kids (both boys and girls) love plastic balloons. Take note of that and so will I.

I also bought a mini chocolate fountain in SM. At first I thought there was a 20% discount on the item. Turns out it was the bigger fountain with the discount so it was no deal but I still bought it any way thinking that I could have it rented out. I also added in chocolate chips especially made for chocolate fountains. I had it microwaved a couple of hours before we went off to family park on the party day. I reminded my two sisters to remind me that I placed the melted chocolates inside the microwave and still we forgot about it. Good thing my dad was still at home that time so he brought it along with him. For the chocolate fountain goodies, I prepared flower-shaped marshmallows, biscuit stix, sliced bananas, red and green apples, pineapples, and strawberries (which was also forgotten in the fridge until the next day after the party was over, sayang!). Since the food kiosk was a ground higher than the eating area of the guest (you have to use the stairs to get to the food), there were a couple of leftovers. I used the remaining chocolate and the fountain goodies the next day when we had a mini party with close relatives to celebrate our parents 26th wedding anniversary. By the way, the fountain got stuck after some time when it was flowing. Turns out several marshmallows were caught at the base.

Mommy tips: For mommies or party hosts out there who'd like to inquire about our chocolate fountain for rent, don'thesitate to leave a message on this blog! :D

For baby macy's party dresses, I went to SM and went through the department store. I bought 5 dresses all in size 10 (I think the size for 6-7 year olds). Turns out the sizes just fits her upper torso but the length is way to lengthy. So I exchanged the items for the next smaller size: 8. And as it turns out there was one brand that seems to have a smaller size 8. So I exchanged the items with this brand again to size 10. The salesgirls were hesitant at first in the exchange since they have this "unwritten" rule that items can only be exchanged once. So they have to get approval from their manager for such exchange. I realized I had to blurt out some lie so I can have my exchange. The manager even said that I had to be sure that this is the final size for the items. OMG, this policy wasn't even written in the huge return policy board posted at the returns counter. If they had rejected my request for exchange then I would have to hugely question this kind of "customer service" they are showing. Grr and I have to lie to make up a valid excuse why I had to exchange the items twice. The items were still in very good condition with tags and i had to exert effort to just go to SM to exchange the items. Still couldn't understand where they came up with this "unwritten" rule. If they are so bent up to it, why don't they specify it in their huge return policy board. Gee as if it was that easy to bring baby macy to the mall and have her try on some clothes which drives her mad and angry and wild. Baby macy just hates putting on and putting off clothes especially if there are still tags on them as they would make 'yayay' to her.

Mommy tip: Well, inquire about a store's return policy and verify it from the store manager (if possible) especially if you aren't sure of the right size for your little one. It can't be helped especially if your kid doesn't realize the importance of shopping yet. hehehe!

baby macy's 3rd birthday party: the preparation part 1

Baby macy just recently had her 3rd birthday last May 20 and we got to celebrate it on that week's saturday May 22.

Here's her invitation card:

I found this cute invitation card on the internet and used it as a template for baby macy's invitation. The party's theme is actually dora and diego (too bad I wasn't able to find any chibi diego). I picked out this theme because baby macy loves dora and diego. And in actuality, she loves watching go! diego go! more - thus the site name for this blog. The reason she loves watching it more is because there are animals on the show and baby macy loves animals. Before sleeping I would ask her if she had watched diego that morning and what animal did diego save today? Sometimes she'd say tiger, birds, snakes...

Mommy tip: It's most fun if you pick a party theme that your baby is most enthusiastic about currently in her age.

I was really busy with work and stuffs that it was only at the last few minutes that I was able to prepare the whole party - from the party bags, prizes, clown, party goodies to the catering reservation. It was really exhausting that I found my back ache most often and I constantly whine about it and made a schedule with my good friend jackie to have a massage session at the spa at cebu (which was not quite so good as we thought) the week after the party.

Mommy tip: It would have been more relaxing for me if I have prepared the whole stuffs at least a half of it a month ahead. I should have made a layout of the party plan and created a checklist with deadlines.

The venue that I picked for the party was D'Family Park (family park for short) in Talamban. We went there a couple of days back before the party to check out the place. The park was huge- there was a mini zoo at the side, a playground at the center, stage. And up to the top, there was a lake, a swimming pool, the convention hall, and the friendship garden. When we went there it was sooooo crowded and the pool was overly populated. Later we found out that that day was actually a free day. You see when you go to family park, you pay an entrance fee of 10 pesos per person. Every first day of the month is free day wherein the park is free to all (no entrance free! yipee!). But you have to pay if you're gonna use the pool (that's 35 pesos). However, I do not recommend such use of their pool. I don't think they thought of maintaining their pool much. "Sanitation"-speaking, I don't think they fit that criteria at all. But the grounds are great, the lake is great, and what got our eye really was the friendship garden. The whole family park was crowded except for the frienship garden (which was not crowded at all, no people were there, it seemed exclusive). We asked the pool keeper/cashier about their venue rentals and he said we could rent the convention hall (btw, it wasn't really a hall, i just named it this since it's a huge covered place just at the back of the huge stage) or the friendship garden. So of course we picked the garden. The convention hall was an option but I don't like it since the gates are too low (a gateway for gate crashers) and the place is not too tidy.

Finding info about family park (contact numbers, rates) was kinda stressing. One-wrong contact numbers over the internet, not found in the PLDT directory. Two-you have to go to the MCWD building downtown (located near City Hall and Sto Nino) to pay for the rent. It was so far far away and you have to go up and down the building because the form for the rental was upstairs and the cashier was downstairs. [hai, private or public bha ni ang mcwd?]

Mostly I had more cons than the pros for the venue.

Pros:

• huge place (which I would also add as a con); a lot of running grounds for the kids
• cheaper than when you rent village pools (I inquired in Sta Lucia consolacion - 6K for 4hrs use!)
• longer hours to use the venue (half day)

Cons:

• huge place (our party was just a small party 60-80 pips and we did not realize that the place could hold up to thousands of people thus making the place unfit for a small party)
• hassle rental payment
• they said we have free tables and chairs along with our rental but this was not realized by the park at all TSK! (at least there were enough for the guests c/o catering but we had a problem finding extra tables for the other foods and placement of party bags, gifts, and the cake)
• NO LIGHTING! was installed beforehand. As a most undesirable result - our guests were advised to go over the kiosk where the food was located and start digging in before the kid's party was even ended since it was getting dark and the family park people were still installing the lights.
• it almost rained hard! and the family park is not offering that we could transfer to the covered hall in case it would rain. Or at least they would offer tents. I asked about this beforehand when i made the payment and they weren't sure of my first plan b for rain scenarios and no they don't offer tents.
• the main kiosk (where we placed our food) is not so accessible -there is a flight of stairs from the location of our tables and chairs before you reach it.
• the place (the whole park) was far from the main road so some guests without cars have to hike up the park.

But all in all, the party place was a success in the end. Though what this place fits is a company party event or parties with 200+ people.

Here are the rates for the D'Family Park venue:

• P3500 half day rent for the friendship garden venue

You can choose to use it in the morning or afternoon. Our party was from 1pm-9pm. You can also rent the place whole day (just contact family park for the rates).

• P20/hr for electricity consumption (we only paid 40 as estimated by the fee collector-she asked me to pay at the middle of the party)

Contact Numbers: 254-3234

Mommy tips: Find a good place (with enough space - not too big for a small party and not too small for a bigger party) according to the type of party you are hosting. Do a sight seeing and ask important venue questions beforehand - available amenities, etc. Call the contact person of the venue at most 2 days before the party to confirm if they already prepared the place for the upcoming event (which i regretted of not doing).

Here's a picture of the friendship garden: