Your child's first birthday is probably one of the things that a mom is looking forward celebrating. To tell you the truth, we were quite late in preparing for our child's birthday, our first option for the venue has already been taken. Parents nowadays book their parties quite way in advance, that's why it is highly recommended that at least for the venue, book at as soon as your child is born and have finalized the day he/she will be celebrating.
Here are some of the suppliers that we chose for our child's birthday. I will be posting a separate review on each of them later on.
Venue and Food: Quezon Hall, Quezon City Sports Club
If you are a member, this is probably one of the best places to have a party - why? Because the rental of the hall is free provided that you are able to consume the amount that is required. They also welcome authorization so if you have relatives who are members, you can ask them to sponsor your party by providing authorization letter. Because you book it with QCSC, meals should be ordered from them, there are a lot of dishes to choose from, you just have to ask which of those dishes are good.
Event Styling: Patry Magic
We couldn't be happier with what Michelle gave us. Honestly, I'm not an artistic mom and I rely heavily on suppliers. Michelle was able to give us the simple styled party that is very very elegant and mind you, even the seniors loved the decors!
Photographer: Little J Photo
It was actually recommended to us by our stylist. Her tip was to get a child photographer because wedding photographers are different from children's party photographer.
Videographer: Lemon Three Films
It is important to have a videographer because only this can of service can make you re-live the moments through watching the video clips. Just like weddings, video is the best medium that your children could enjoy their first birthday when they grow older to watch it.
Cake: Bethany Dream Cakes
We were given 2 designs to choose from: the defying gravity or the classic 3-layered cake. We decided to choose the first one because we wanted something different. My husband was a bit disappointed though, it was quite expensive for the outcome. Good thing that it looked good in the photo - at least the price was justified.
Photobooth: Photoman
We wanted everyone to have their souvenir shots so we decided to book Photoman. I've had my set of rants because they came late (should have come 2pm but arrived past 3) They've tried to make up for lost time but you could never rewind lost moments.
Party Carts:
We had 5 party carts which were sourced from different suppliers, haha! Taho (soy pudding with caramel syrup and tapioca balls) and manong sorbetero (dirty ice cream) was in-house from QCSC. My NYFD fries cart sourced from second supplier, and Fuitas/Jamaican Patty cart I got from a third supplier. If you ask me why, its because I canvassed the cheapest one for each! I had to do this because I still had to pay additional on the corkage and electricity for QCSC.
Dessert Buffet: My Sister's
I was really blessed that my sister was good in making cakes and cookies. When asked, she agreed to make the dessert table spread for her nephew. Revel bars, cookies, red velvet and chocolate cupcakes made the dessert table worth going back. It was also a good way to introduce her sweets to our guests.
Host: Amazing Arnold
Because we wanted our host to be 100% wholesome with gospel sharing, we decided to get Amazing Arnold. I've actually seen him in my cousin's party so we know how he does his hosting. We also got additional entertainment from him - golden show (balancing show). We had to add this because we had a lot of adults and a few kids and wanted the adults to enjoy the party as well.
Invitations and Giveaways:
These 2 items are the ones that can cost much but can be minimized. One of my sisters who is good in vector and photoshop did the layout of the invitation and I had it printed at Fuji. We bought envelops and a calligraphy pen from National bookstore. I also ordered embosser from The Best Impressions to make our envelops more personal. I started learning calligraphy while writing names in the envelop and got the hung of it in no time.
With regards to our souvenir loot bags, we sourced our containers and then checked the grocery out for the items that would best fit and complement one another. This may sound tedious but I enjoy doing them so its not too big of an effort on my part.
I will be reviewing some of the items later on and share with you some of our son's birthday party experience.
Photo taken from sxc.hu
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