Celebrating Our Lola's Birthday Luau Style

My Lola just turned 94 years old ~ Luau Style!

Two weeks before her birthday, I asked her how does she want to celebrate her birthday.  With out blinking her eyes she told me, she wants to go to Hawaii (me and my big mouth).

One of her daughters, who resides in the States celebrated her Golden Wedding Anniversary in Hawaii, Lola saw the pictures and I guess that gave her the idea.  As she obviously wasn't in a travelling condition (yes plus the budget constraints)...

We decided to give her a Luau Birthday Party instead!

She was so prepped and excited.

I was kidding her the whole time, that she should ready her bikini as she is having a Luau Pool Party. 

What's a Luau without water right? So we rented a private resort near our place. 

We ordered a Luau inspired cake with matching themed cup cakes.

My cousin who owns JPJ Food Craze cooked for us,

such  labor or love. 

(My cousin and my mom).

Goofing with a pineapple... 

Our Lola, looking radiant as she inspects the revelry.

With her apo sa tuhod.

Blowing her candles (she only blew one, blowing 94 candles would take forever to finish).

And look who dropped by ~ Mr. Spidey~ Checking on our Lola!  How cool is that?

It was a sunny day, perfect for a Luau Birthday Party.

Swimming time ~ Kids!!!

Happy Birthday Nanay ~  We love you!!!

Now we could start planning for your 95th Birthday.

Check out also, post from Nanay's 93rd Glam Birthday Party ~

Glam Party for Nanay's 93rd Birthday

Pokemon Hunting with Col. Sanders Birthday Party

My youngest was quite specific on how to celebrate his

9th birthday. 

~An off-school party with classmates.  

~ at KFC (he likes chicken) and

a Pokémon themed party.

The KFC part was easy (we just went to the KFC branch nearest our place, reserved our preferred date and placed our orders). 

Now the Pokémon theme part was rather difficult. 

How do you marry Col. Sanders and Pikachu?

I just found an answer... (I printed mini pokeballs and attached them to Col. Sander's welcoming hands. Looked a lot like the Colonel is doing some pokemon hunting!)

I also replaced the inside with a DIY pokemon invite.

I found these online and figured the kids will love to come in uniformed shirts.  

I had a friend from "mkadesigns" to print them for me. I sent his invites with these shirts to his classmates through his teacher a week before his birthday.

The shirts came out perfect.  I got an adult size too, so that my son's adviser can join his class have fun.

And here is my Pokémon Trainer prepping up for his birthday party.  All geared up and ready to go!

Here is the birthday table set up.

My son was likewise specific with his cake design.  A friend from Toy Cakes baked this for us. 

I call it, "Pikachu with Attitude".

Do you see the pokemon stuff toys behind the cake? 

We hid pokeballs cut outs in the party area and asked the Pokémon trainor children (and their parents) find the pokeballs to help catch the Pokemons. It was such a fun activity.  Everyone was standing looking for the pokeballs (such a riot)!

Donut Tower

I bought DIY mask and coloring materials to keep the children busy while waiting for the party to start.  

With my artists niece and nephew...

His classmates, showing off their DIY masks...

I love well attended children's party.  All the games are for kids, no need to involved the adults!

Here is where all the balloons went :P

Singing a Birthday Song for the Birthday Boy..

Col. Sanders was there to celebrate with us.

Col. Sanders - check

Pikachu - check

It was such a Happy Birthday Party... 

A StarWars Birthday Party

My youngest loves celebrating his birthday at school. 

A month before his 8th birthday... he won't stop asking for his school party details and kept on reminding me it was time to send out his invitations. He also reminded me a couple of time to  order his cake (the design, he helped choose from the internet). 

He really is excited! 

I think he is more excited this year than his previous school parties Transformer Party and Lego Party.

This year's theme was easy.  He grew a liking of StarWars from our recent Tokyo Disneyland trip lining up for the Starwars' StarTours attraction 5 times ~ so having a Starwars Theme was a quick and fuss-free decision.

My son in Tokyo Disneyland StarTours ride.

I think my years of planning school birthday parties has made me a bit of a pro in throwing school birthdays. 

Planning for this year was really stress free, especially since I already have cake and invites contacts. 

Here are some photos from my son's

StarWars inspired 8th Birthday Party.

The invitation

My son loves BB-8 so he gets to be the cake topper.

I also ordered cup cakes for dessert. 

I initially only ordered a handful for the teachers, but my son insisted that his classmates should also get one each (sosyal). 

The cup cakes has a saber sword toppings.  They were really cute.

These were individually boxed for easy take out. 

Loot bags were hard case medicine boxes.  I like them since they are still usable after.

The loots

(candies, chocolates, a Starwars toys and bag tag)

My big boy was so happy ~ he was dancing to his classmates singing Happy Birthday... check the link here

Dancing to the Happy Birthday Song

My Birthday Boy

Visit also my blogpost on School Birthday Party Planning for tips and suggestions on a worry less party planning.

Transformers Themed School Birthday

How to Throw Simple Lego Themed Birthday Party

How to Throw a Simple Lego Themed Birthday Party at School

Is your child a Lego fanatic like mine, who can't seem to get enough of all things Lego? 


So for his recent birthday, we prepared a simple Lego themed party at school to share with his classmates.

It was a quick party celebration, not very different from his last year's Transformers' Themed birthday party. 

Two weeks before my son's birthday, I spoke with my son's adviser and sought approval to hold a birthday party at school before I started planning (I also got the number of number of student and teachers).

She agreed to a short birthday program over lunch, which was just enough time to feed the children and distribute loot bags.

I sent out invites to my son's classmates and teachers, through her class adviser, one week before our party date. She nicely attached the invites to the kids' diary, and was very kind to remind students, there is no need to bring "baon" on the party date.  

Matching thank you gift cards for the loot bags.

The invitations and gift cards were made by a good friend who owns a print shop ~

MKA-DE-SIGNS-PRINTING-SERVICES

  I have tried her many times before and she always delivers.

  

I got the loot bags at St. Francis Square for P12 each and Lego imitation toys at P40 each).  I know getting them at Divisoria is way cheaper, but Divi is a long way from home and I was only buying a few ~ the savings ain't worth the traffic (Note:  It is fine to haggle at St. Francis Square, they will give better prices for wholesales ~ 12+ pieces). 

We got the chocolate stuffers from the grocery store.  I took note to get good stuffers, that I don't mind giving my own children.

For his cake, I contacted a friend baker, who has been customizing birthday cakes for me for years now.

@TOY CAKES is also a trusted friend.  She can customize cakes that tastes as good (or is better) as they look. 

The night before the party, we pre-ordered KFC fully loaded meals for the students, teachers (and additional for the guards and my son's school bus drivers), for pick up the following morning. 

I gave special instructions to change the  soda to bottled water (at no additional cost) and additional paper bags to-go, since I was certain, most will not be able to finish their meal.   As always it was a fast a easy transaction with KFC.

We arrived early for the students' lunch (It is always better early than late for these kids).

It was nice to see, some of son's classmates brought gifts for my little boy.  He was obviously happy and surprised to fill up an entire huge plastic bag with gifts.

Then if was my son's turn to give out his goody bags to his classmate. My son giddily handed out the loot bags and  everyone were excited to get them (Note: I made extra for the teachers and the teacher assistants, I didn't want them to feel left out).

Note:  Remember to bring garbage bags and tissue paper.  The kids will get messy and it is just proper to help teachers clean up.

It was a wonderful day for my son.  He enjoyed it a lot and was so ecstatic to open his gifts. 

 

My son's birthday ended with more feasting with relatives.  My cousin Chef Jeff of JPJ Food Craze prepared ~

Red spaghetti (which was the cheesiest spaghetti ever)

Chicken cordon bleu with honey mustard sauce

Baked BBQ ribs partnered with mixed vegetables 

Lechon Pork Belly (sinful-sinful)

And baby potato salad

Oh and some healthy steamed Tilapia (lol)!

It was a happy long day for my kiddo (or should I say young man).

Happy 7th Birthday!

  I love being a mommy!     

Jibril's Toy Story Themed 3rd Birthday Party

My son is such a Toy Story fanatic. He loves Woody, Jessie and simply adores Buzz!
I was therefore not surprised that he insisted on a Toy Story themed birthday party for his 3rd birthday celebration.

We had our party at the Mc Donald's ValleyGolf (Ortigas Extension) and availed of their Toy Story Birthday Package. They have a play area which I thought was perfect for the children guests, however the parking is a little limited and could be a problem.

The P3000 party fee includes:

- a gift for the celebrant

- 30 invitation cards

- 30 party name hats

- 30 traymats

- 30 balloons

- 30 giveaways

- game prizes

- a character appearance (we had two - Grimace and Birdy)

Unfortunately the cake McDonald's includes in the package is not Toy Story themed and since I wanted to stay true to my theme, I did a little internet research. I found this cool Woody cake from the web and asked my favorite bakeshop to customize a Buzz for me.

Iko's Bakeshop never fails to impress! Iko's Bakeshop have branches in Caniogan, Pasig / SM Megamall Supermarket (contact number 409-1197/468-9583/628-4383).

For my son's Buzz Lightyear costume (which he loves so much and insisted in wearing to bed since we got it), I got on line though Sulit.com.

It was supposed to be a hassle free partying, however, celebrating in a newly opened branch wasn't exactly a good idea. They were obviously undermanned and there seems to be nobody orchestrating the whole thing. To make it worst this branch held two parties together. It was a real riot. I could see the other party's guests unattended without a place to seat. The mother was looking for staff assistance, but there were none in sight. Service was real slow and to think I placed the right number of orders.

My consolation is that my party host was nice and while I was ranting about the poor service, she was simply apologetic and tried her best to appease this monster mother!

Oh well, at least my son had a real blast, playing Buzz!!!