Do you go to tiangge ?
Have you been to Divisoria, Greenhills or any shopping bazaars lately ? How’s your experience ?
I have been to Divisoria recently and one can’t imagine how thick the volume of shoppers there! If you’re familiar with the place, jeepneys from Recto Avenue would not go further than Reina Regente and Abad Santos Streets because stalls already populate the rest of Recto Avenue from that end point. Had it not for my son’s school event needs that can only be sourced in Divisoria cheaply, I wouldn’t have flickered a muscle to go there at this time of the year. Thanks anyway to the existence of LRT line 2 that runs from Santolan, Pasig to Recto Avenue in 20 minutes for only less than PhP 20.
We’ve also been to Greenhills lately and the scene was almost the same. Traffic was chaotic. Shoppers were strolling with seemingly tireless feet.
08 December 2009, Tuesday– After our hearty lunch at Emerald Garden and enjoying our own educational tour at Museo Pambata , which are both located in Roxas Boulevard, Manila, my wife Tina with our son, Gabby and I went to World Bazaar at World Trade Center out of curiosity. 
Entrance fees to World Bazaar that ended today 16 December, were affordable at PhP 30 each. We didn’t pay a cent because we got 3 free tickets inserted at one of the pages of Sunday’s Manila Bulletin a couple of weeks ago.
Like any usual tiangge -that of World Trade Center’s, which was partly supported by local TV station, ABS-CBN and its artist with stalls in the bazaar, was packed with shoppers who were all busy hunting for good buys and loots!
When Gabby spotted one of Kapamilya stalls, he requested us to buy him a toy from one of his favorite kiddie shows before, Super Inggo. How can you say no to that boy with sweetest smile?
Tina, who’s usually not fond of shopping (Oh yes! I am so blessed to have a wife who’s not much bili-mo-ko into shopping), spotted this simple Korea-made-nylon zippered bag with newspaper print in brown hue. She was hesitant at first to buy it but everything ended with me paying for it. No worries for it’s a best buy at PhP 250. However, our superpowers and talents on haggling were not put to use; we failed to convince the saleslady to give it at even lower rate. 
Tina has been using it on her duty for few days now and it has passed its one week line!
Sulit na din!
Admittedly, good buys for me are purchases with quality and are reasonably priced; things that were scrutinized first by employees paid to do QC (quality control) before being sold at stores. In short, I like buying things mostly from established shops and malls.
Back in my High School and College days when my parents were paying for my shopping spree, I was so brand conscious! It was so funny recalling those times when I used to be like a ‘walking billboard’ There was one instance when my would-be-sister-in-law then first joined us in our family Christmas shopping during the late 90s, she was surprised that my parents spent PhP 10K + for my branded pair of jeans and shirt alone! However, when I started working and after I got my first salary years ago, I learned to value hard-earned money, big time! Since then, I have known the art of how to control unnecessary spending (but haven’t mastered it fully(?) 
Controlling expenses is quite difficult in seasons like Christmas when almost everyone expects to receive something; urging most of us to shop and even haggle at tiangges to stretch the budget to its fullest and to delay the thinning of the wallets.
What I know about bargaining is that buyer should start haggling at half of the original price. Do you also do the same? What are your tips on shopping ? Do you shop weeks in advance or do you also enjoy the holiday rush?
Things have changed greatly for me and my family. We value our priorities before buying anything.
What’s your take on shopping during holidays?
Do you think we can spend Christmas without shopping? After all, what’s important is we remember the REASON for the season.
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 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).
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) 
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.
His classmates were sweetest to give presents. It’s a mutual thing between them. 
….Children are a gift from the Lord! 
OPINION COUNTS…