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)
- 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.
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)
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:
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