On his first birthday, he wore a muti-colored-custom-made clown costume because my wife and I decided to have a Finding Nemo themed birthday party at home with our parents, relatives, friends. He then matched the real clowns present on his day.
His second birthday party was done at McDonald’s Greenhills. He had two birthday cakes and more than 50 guests. Grimace, the mascot graced the occasion.
My wife, my parents and I only went to TriNoma mall in Quezon City with him and had dinner at a Filipino restaurant called Mangan with his 3 mini-cakes that we bought from Breadtalk on his third birthday.
He went to preschool before his fourth. Since then, he already has his own preference. At his Nursery class, he had Mr. Bean themed party complete with party hats and all that’s fun.
For his fifth birthday…
The THEME : Someone who lives in a pineapple under the sea! 
The INVITES…
We were working on a budget and my wife can’t tolerate crowded stinky places as she easily feels dizzy, worse her vertigo might be triggered, not to forget she wasn’t off from duty at the Opeating Room, so I was alone when I went to the basement of Divisoria Mall in Manila just to buy these fancy invites for PhP 2 per piece. 168 Mall didn’t have the supplies I was looking for.
I grew up going to the streets of Ylaya, Tabora and Juan Luna in Divisoria every start of a new school year with my parents, whenever they buy us (me and my 3 brothers) new sets of things for school : from socks, undergarments, hankies, etc. in some Chinese-owned wholesale store. So buying stuffs for my own kid now and haggling were so damn easy for me.
The LOOT BAGS…
I honestly thought of having paper instead of plastics for the loot bags as I am concerned, believe it or not, with the environment. But I failed to find commercially available paper bags with the prints in line with the party theme and I and my wife had no time doing art works made of paper just for the loot bags. These cost PhP 20 per 10 pieces (also PhP 2 a piece).
What’s inside the loot bags? Each has a hand towel (PhP 75 per dozen) , a pencil (PhP 15 per dozen), a pad of stickers (PhP 3 per pad) and a plastic sheet of stickers (PhP 2.25 per sheet), fruttos candies, marshmallows and lollipops (PhP 120 for 5 packs from the Landmark in TriNoma), and…. that’s it! We’re on a budget, remember? LOL
The CAKE…
I guess for every Pinoy-children’s party, Goldilocks cake doesn’t disappoint. This choco-marble-flavored Spongebob- fishing-for-Jellyfishes-theme (less the Jelly fishes for they ran out of stock and were replaced with gold choco coins with my consent–didn’t I just tell you they don’t disappoint? LOL) 
was ordered 2 weeks ago at a branch near our place for PhP 855; inclusive of the cake and the themed decor. It’s a bit expensive for a low-key party but heck, what’s a themed party without a themed cake?
The FOOD…
The party meal was prepared, cooked and packed by my wife, Tina (applause, applause!). The photo above doesn’t give justice to how the food tasted. Those breaded chicken fillets were deep fried to its crispiest; and the macaroni in beefy sweet tomato sauce was also a winner. The kids loved it.
Did I do any cooking? Hmmm, I did slice the hotdogs into pieces and, believe it or not again, I cooked the gravy! I just mixed flour in water, heated the pan with water, 3 chicken cubes, soy sauce and a bar of Anchor butter into boil and voila! - chicken gravy tasted better than Jollibee’s, LOL. The kids loved it too!
The GIFTS…
His classmates were sweetest to give presents. It’s a mutual thing between them.
The PARTY PEOPLE…
….Children are a gift from the Lord!
Our smiles went up to our ears when we heard comments, “ang sarap!…, ang cute ng cake!… ang sarap ng food!” from these kids. You know children don’t tell lies
The BIRTHDAY BOY…
Our son’s birthday wish for a Spongebob Squarepants themed party was granted. Thanks to the mighty forces behind the successful simple event -myself and my wife
Seriously, we thank the Lord for His endearing Love and we can’t thank Him enough for blessing us with Gabby.
On our part, we always pray for Gabby to have a better health- away from any sickness and for him to be safe at all times.
Gabby : (while on his facebook) Daddy, ano pong spelling ng THANK YOU?
Tatay-doc :
We love you Gabby!
What’s your fondest memory of your own kiddie party? …Don’t you just miss being a kid?
OPINION COUNTS…