Uno na si Dos!

Last Sunday, June 17, Ronald Rosales Correos II, or Dos, turned one. The youngest of Ronald and Tisha's (of Balay Kandila) kids, Dos is Ronald's "the second", hence his nickname.

Discussing Dos' birthday party started months ago. In fact, last year pa I knew na that our team would be coordinating the event.* The real planning, however, started two weeks before the event. Syempre cramming forever... kami pa ni Tisha!!! LOL! Sabi nga namin palagi, ano akala mo sa amim, efficient?!?!?! Hahaha! Iba kasi pag para sa client at iba kung para sa amin lang. :)

Tisha was very clear with not having a just-for-kids birthday party. She wanted a party the adults would enjoy. Sabi niya since hindi naman daw maiintindihan ito ni Dos, might as well do something she'll enjoy! Mwahahahaha! The idea for a flip-flops party came later on. In one of our brainstorming sessions, the idea of setting it in "Boracay" was agreed upon. We were also clear with not having the traditional magician cum host since we already did that for Waddy's and we're probably also doing that for X's. Isa pa pala, we were clear on requiring the guests to come on flip-flops... no shoes allowed!

Come day of the party, our team arrived at Fernwood Coral Tree Garden at 10am. The invitation said 3pm so we were expecting people to come in a quarter to 3. I wanted an earlier call time pero super pagod rin kasi yung team namin from a wedding the day before so hindi ko naman sila ma-force to go super early. When we got there, the first order of the agenda was to have our nails done. I brought my trusty hairdresser/manicurist/pedicurist to Fernwood to do our team's pedicure pero syempre ang pinaka-nauna si Ronald! Haha!

I briefed the team on what was going to happen and we started inventory na. Ang dami namin at ang dami pang oras pero parang ang daming kelangan gawin!!! Buti na lang naayos naman lahat just on time. Ang galing ng team ng Balay Kandila! Ang ganda-ganda nung setup. Super bilib talaga ako sa kanila. Syempre rin hindi pahuhuli ang Josiah's. Sir Rommel was our captain waiter. Ang bait-bait niya talaga. Super efficient. Kaya ko rin talaga love ang Josiah's kasi ang galing ng wait service nila (bukod sa masarap food nila.) Yung isang lamesa ata limang beses kong pinalipat ng pwesto kay Rommel pero ni hindi ako nakarinig ng kahit anong angal or nakaramdam ng kahit anong inis on his part. Super super love ko siya.

By 2pm, mejo okay na kami. Super konti na lang ang kelangan ayusin. My team was nanggigitata na sa pawis. They wanted to go to my parents' house to take a bath pero hindi na kaya ng time. Buti na lang may bridal room and Fernwoods. Nanghiram na lang kami ng kwarto at dun kami naligo lahat. :)
By 3pm, everything was set up. We had four game booths. We had Ring a Surfboard, Starducks Dart a Balut, Tumbang Preso Presto, and Wackee Munkey. The RIng a Surfboard was the usual ring a bottle but instead of bottles, we had surboards, hehe! Starducks was the usual dart the balloon pero there were balloons with baluts as prizes. The Tumbang Preso was the usual tumbang preso... may lata na kelangan nilang tumbahin. The Wackee Munkey was basketball with a monkey holding the basket and instead of shoting a ball, you shoot a banana. Sa lahat ng ito, when you win, you get a feather, which you can exchange for prizes in the Prize Pit.

We also had a Dress Up Your Flip Flops corner. The idea was from the Havaianas "convention" where they could dress up their flips flops. So we had setup a corner with super daming beads, flowerettes, ribbons, etc. and kids and adults alike were encouraged to dress up their flops.

Balay also made a photo booth with a family of flip-flops. Super cute nito at super patok!!!

Setup wise, we had banners, japanese lanterns, ottomans, low tables for the kids, and beach chairs just scattered around.

Food... we had Mongolian buffet, fish fillet with curry mayo, baked spag, pork BBQ, and chicken lollipop from Josiah's; roast beef from Albergus; tapa courtesy of Tisha's friend; sorbetero cart and balut corner from Josiah's; mini-burgers, fishball, and fruit shakes from Party Time; a dessert bar with flat tops, sampaloc, and other pinoy candies; and my most favorite of all... mangga at bagoong stall from Tisha's manangs.

Guests started to come in at 3pm. At the registration table, the guests were given their nametags and were aked to get two friendship bracelets from a basket. We started the program at around 4pm as per the agreement with Tisha. L.A., BK's former practicumer, hosted the event. She was very good. Hindi siya pro pero may stage presence. I have to admit that I was not very supportive of Tisha's idea to have her host pero she did really well. There was no program really. LA just led the prayer and explained what awaits the guests. She talked for less about 5 minutes lang tapos open na the food booths, buffet table, and game booths. During this time Katukayo, a really good reggae band, played na.

After Katukayo's first set, we had the program games like Bring Me, etc. Okay naman kasi enjoy naman the kids.

Birthday candle blowing came after. Super panic attack ako dito kasi hindi namin masindihan yung kandila kasi ang lakas ng hangin. Buti na lang suppliers yung mga guests and they helped. Bong of Threelogy and Mallory Ferrer Cosio (Mal, super thank you for helping. Na-touch talaga ako nung lumapit ka.) helped cover the candle. Lisa of Kasalan signalled Katukayo to just repeat the Happy Birthday song over and over. :) Thanks, you guys! :)

After the candle blowing, we had a bubble show and then LA closed the program na. Loot bags were distributed to the kids and flip-flops key chains were distributed to the adults.

I think the guests enjoyed the party. Alam ko kami super nag-enjoy. After the program my whole team had out pictures taken over and over plus kinareer nila yung decorate the flip-flops. Natuto na kami from last year's party. Last year hindi kami nag-enjoy so this year, nakabawi na kami. :)

When I met with Tisha the day after, super high pa siya. It was the really great feeling of knowing that you just threw a really fantastic party. So next stop would be X's dinosaur-themed party and Bethia's (second child of Ms. Veluz and Sir Rene) Wings-themed party. Saya ng kid's birthdays!

:)

* Around middle of last year, Tisha told me that she was planning for the 7th birthday of Waddy, their eldest. Although I treated Ronald and Tisha as friends and I was ready to help, I also knew that they were friends with SOOOO many other coordinators na feeling ko super dyahe to offer our team's services. Sa dami ng friends nila na coordinators na mas matagal na sa amin sa industry (plus they also used to coordinate years ago), nakakahiya talaga na mag-offer kasi baka masabihan pa ako ng pumapapel eh kabago-bago ko sa planning business. :) But then, exactly a month before the target date, Tisha called me and seriously asked for our team's services. Syempre I said yes. Bukod sa pagbabayad ng utang na loob kasi they made my wedding so beautiful, I was really touched (and flattered na rin) that they asked me. One month before the date, wala kaming kahit ano but come the day of the event, super wagi ang party! The kids enjoyed it so much. So naging usapan na rin that our team would also do Dos' birthday and also X's birthday this coming October. Incidentally, when Benz of W@W saw me and Tisha discussing the Waddy's party, she asked me to coordinate the Weddings@Work Xmas party kasi daw mukha daw dumadali yung buhay ni Tisha nung nag-uusap na kami. LOL!