I must be completely honest with you. This joint birthday party that I hosted up to a month after my December boys' birthdays, came to be as a result of unbearable guilt.
Here was my little guy Elian, turning two... We had cake after peking duck at the mall, but with no candle to blow.
Two weeks later, his big brother Lucas turned 5 at the beach, with a candle alright, but with no cake! We were to have Smores instead but alas, someone forgot the graham crackers.
So in comes a concept for a party that is cheap as it is quick to pull together! All it took was a little over a week to plan , invite guests and prepare for...inclusive of the day I felt sorry for my kids!
CONCEPT: I must give credit to hubby here, as he was the one, in an effort to shut me up on the way home from the beach, beating myself up for having such a hectic December to plan anything special for my boys, (whew!) who suggested to just throw them a simple merienda of spaghetti and ice cream at home with the typical kiddie party games we had growing up in Manila in the 80's! Ergo, Pinoy Kiddie Party!
INVITATION: No matter how last minute, I believe in sending out invitations to an event. That's the only way I can demand for an rsvp from Pinoy guests! And also the only way they can arrive at least 30 minutes LATER than your printed time... what to do with Pinoy tardiness?! Habitually late or not, I sent everyone a cute, retro invitation.
SIGNAGE: I've written about this before...how I always have a matching outdoor tarp to my invitation. It's cheap, uncomplicated, quick to produce and most importantly does the job in helping set a theme.
DECOR: The theme being a flashback to 80's children's parties warrants very little by way of embellishment. Things were simpler and almost always DIY so in this case, the hosts and the guests are just as much a part of the whole decor!
Hubby chose to look like his teenage self in the 80's, while I chose my own mother for a peg, and got a few good laughs for it! Important to the look (should you be so brave), big cobra-like hair, blue eyeshadow, red lipstick, high-waist pants and shoulder pads!
A cute thing to add to the decor are vinyl tablecloths in different colors! I also had good old fashioned Pinoy junk food and candies that was more of a hoot for the parents. Also, don't forget to buy floating balloons with the celebrants' name stamped on them!
FOOD: Back in the day, parties almost always had spaghetti, hotdogs on a stick, Magnolia mocha-flavored ice cream in cups and a Goldilocks cake. I chose to have...
Quickmelt cheese.
Sweet mini pork bbq (basted with ketchup, soy sauce and sugar!)
Classic Pancit Guisado
Hefty Pork Siomai with Toyo, Calamansi and Chili on the side. Not photographed are the
Mini-Siopitos!
It was nearly impossible to find those mocha ice cream cups (though if I had more time I'm sure I would have tracked it down!) so we gave out Twin Popsies instead! Still a hit for kids and adults alike!
THE GAMES: Part of the reason why this party was cheap, was because of the games and entertainment! We had no cost for party hosting and minimal, if at all for the game materials.
It was eye-opening to learn that most of the kids had never played these games before, and coming from a time where there could be only one, true winner, many swallowed the bitter pill of defeat for the first time, and shed a few tears! All in all, very entertaining to witness!
The first game was the Newspaper Dance. A hoot to watch when preschoolers are involved!
And remember Musical Chairs? As it turns out, it can be quite stressful to the kids, who went from clueless and proper in the start to shoving and competitive in the end. AGAIN, a hoot to watch! Though expect some tears from first-time losers here.
Next we did the Limbo Rock, upon special request of Lucas. Prepare to have many prizes here as most of the kids end up cheating their backward bends!
And since this party theme was equally for the parents as it was for the kids, it was but appropriate to have a game for the adults! We did an A-Z of Pinoy 80's Icons (people, places, things etc). The winning team basically admits to one of three things: watching too much TV, being real old or being baduy!
Last and quite significant to the theme, we had the Pabitin! Here we have the calm before...
CHAOS! Make sure no yayas allowed in the frenzy!
Meanwhile, Elian and his troop of toddlers had a more peaceful version.
THE CAKE: I would have really wanted a Goldilocks Chocolate Roll or Mocha Cake but remembering that the whole crux of my guilt was the cake, I decided to order them their own character cakes. Lucas had a chocolate cake and Elian had a pound cake.
PARTY FAVORS: I gave the usual knick knacks, toys and plastic balloons together with old-fashioned candies, wrapped in cellophane. Though looking back, I should have used those colorful sandwich bags instead! The Pabitin ought to have those green toy soldiers too!
Well, I think that pretty much covers everything! Or shall I say, "That's it pancit!" ;)
What a great party! Genius idea! :) Love it! And is that an Orange Swits I see by the invite? ;)
ReplyDeleteOrange Swits! No other!! =)
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