Pio turns 1!

I keep echoing Gretchen Rubin's line “The days are long, but the years are short.” Felt it especially when baby turned 1 last December. ONE YEAR! In hindsight, the first three months felt like the longest and the slowest and it just sped up from there.

We celebrated with a party at the clubhouse. The theme was outer space care of the daddy. Planning a party in December is harder than usual because the prices jack up and the demand is higher than the supply. Of course, there is the Christmas rush to contend with. Hence, Mommy OC started planning – and booking suppliers – as early as August. My sister and I bought the contents of the loot bags in Divisoria in October to evade the crowds. But even with the early preps, there were still a few snafus – my order with Nestle Ice Cream was doubled hence there was a LOT of ice cream; the fishballs arrived late; the candy buffet did not come with a choco fountain so were stuck with a ton of marshmallows; the print on the loot bags had a typo (which I discovered just recently haha). Di bale his next big party will be when he turns 7 so I guess I can “rest” from party stress until then.

A short review of the suppliers:

Venue: Magnolia Place Clubhouse

Pros: Very near our house haha + affordable price (P4,000+ for four hours)

Cons: Parking is very limited; venue can only fit comfortably 100pax

Caterer: Verleo Catering (www.verleo.com)

Pros: They secured the no. 1 spot in some party planning article I read. I found other caterers with cheaper menus but after the food tasting, Verleo's food were more delicious. They have a LOT of viands to choose from. The group of waiters we had were very courteous, even walked me through the inventory of food before the party started. They also served the tons of ice cream we had even though I did not tell them to do so.

Cons: If your OC like me, the AE takes a while to respond but they do respond naman.

Balloon Decor + Mixed Fishballs Food Cart: Kiko's Balloons (http://www.facebook.com/kikosballoons.ph)

Pros: Hubby did not want to spend a ton of money on the décor so we settled for balloon décor plus a tarpaulin background. I was eyeing another supplier but they were already booked. I found them after searching for suppliers who had done an outer space theme. I liked the styro planets so I requested for the same. The package they gave me seemed reasonable. On the day itself, I discovered that 100 pcs. of balloons is not enough for the Clubhouse.

Cons: When we got married, one of our suppliers suffered a miscarriage the week before the wedding. They delivered but I think their performance was not at par. This time, when I was contacting them for the tarp background, they did not reply immediately as usual. Turns out there was a death in the supplier's family. When they sent me the mock-up, it looked rushed so I made some revisions. The day of the party, they were early but they were asking for the unit number. I was surprised because the same was on the Gate Pass which I emailed to the suppliers. Turned out they forgot the Gate Pass. Then, while the guests were already eating, I noticed that there was no mixed balls cart which was supposed to be open while the guests were eating. I texted the supplier and it was only then she told me that the cart will be late because her driver had to be rushed to the hospital and she had to find another driver. Even I did not get to taste the fishballs. :(

Photos: Jess Panajon (https://www.facebook.com/jesspanajonphotography)

Pros: She's a friend/client of hubby so her rate was very affordable. She is a one-woman team but she works fast. I was about to ask her to eat during the party but she has already eaten by then. Her pictures are good. She is also making our album but we have not chosen the photos yet.

Cons: None.

Candy Buffet: Eblast Events (https://www.facebook.com/Eblast-events-454874404599175/ )

Pros: One of the more affordable candy buffets around. The set-up was simple but they made effort to comply with the theme.

Cons: While I was in the process of negotiating with them, I asked “Paano kung walang choco fountain, all candies?” And they replied, “Same price po because the choco fountain is free.” During the party, I noticed that there was a lot of marshmallows and no choco fountain. I could not find their people so it was a few days after the event that I texted the supplier that I thought the choco fountain was free. The supplier said that her employee took it to mean that I did not want the choco fountain. Nyek. Why then did they give us mostly marshmallows? In fairness, the supplier wanted to talk to me after but what is there to do, the party was already over.

Ice Cream: Nestle Ice Cream Party Cart

Pros: I read it was easy to book a cart and it was. Just go to https://icecreamparty.ph/

Cons: While it was easy to book one, they caused me the most stress during the party. But it was oartly my fault. I dunno hehe. Anyway, so I logged on to the website and booked a cart. The blog I read said that the confirmation email will come immediately. When I was booking, my Internet was wonky so when a few days passed and there was no confirmation email, I booked again. Then, TWO confirmation emails arrived. So I emailed back to say that my order was doubled. The one who replied to my email said it was okay. Turns out that they forward the orders to their distributors. Hence, on the day of the party, two ice cream carts arrived with more or less 100pcs. of ice cream each.

Host: Evelyn Peralta (mslenperalta@yahoo.com.ph)

Pros: Easy to book, everything was done via email and bank deposit. She hosted, did magic, a puppet show, and twisted balloons. She brought her own sound system. My siblings were amazed that she did everything haha.

Cons: None.

Photobooth: My Instabooth (https://www.facebook.com/myinstabooth/)

Pros: Easy to deal with and affordable. Used green screen. Quality of the photo was very good.

Cons: Medyo mabagal yung 10 seconds and may lag yung camera/monitor. So I had photos that I thought finished na pero hindi pa so in the photo, I was no longer looking at the camera hehe.

Cake: Gift from my sister from a Dagupan City supplier.

Googled “outer space cake” and sent the design. Nailed it. It was also delicious.

Styro astronaut and rocket: Gift from another sister.

Since styro standees cost a lot of money, I asked my interior designer sister if she could make a “simple” “Party is here!” and a styro rocket. But she went ahead and made a rocket AND an astronaut with P's face on it. Cute!

Lootbags & Contents - Divisoria

Lootbag printing - c/o my sister. The printing was nice despite the typo that I failed to spot when I okayed the mock-up so I should remember to get the details!

Astronaut costume: Amazon.com

Birthday chalkboard: DIY by moi