Behind the Scenes of Mateo's Farm-themed First Birthday Party

My baby turned one year old last Monday, November 19, but we had his farm-themed birthday party last Sunday (November 18) so that most of our guests would be able to come.  I've been planning his party in the past months. In fact, I've been brainstorming on possible themes since he was six months old. Then, when he was around seven months old, my husband and I finally decided on the theme - farm or barnyard.  At first my husband wanted Happy Feet to be his party theme because Mateo liked to dance every time he hears music being played.  I liked it, too.  But I noticed that Mateo enjoys reading books about the farm and listening to the sound that farm animals make as well.  I also felt that planning a farm-themed party is easier; thus, I convinced my husband to choose the farm theme instead. ;-)

 

Venue

 

Shakey's Pizza, El Pueblo Branch

I started scouting for potential venues as soon as we finalized the party theme.  You may click here to read my previous post/article on what farm-themed party venues we considered.  I checked and considered more venues aside from those I mentioned in my previous article. The restaurants that have farm-themed kiddie parties are very few; so, I also checked other restaurants with a native or homey feel and look. Among them were Cabalen, Barrio Fiesta, Mang Inasal and Shakey's. I checked out Shakey's because I learned before (when I was still planning for my eldest son's first birthday party) that they had a country-themed kiddie party.  I found out a few months ago however that they no longer have that theme.  Good thing that they still allow a farm-themed kiddie party. I checked the rates for the food packages and computed the other party-related costs (i.e. cake, photo and video coverage, decors, party favors, etc.).  I was working on a tight budget because my husband challenged me to work within the same budget we had when our eldest had his first birthday party. And that was four years ago! It was already challenging then.  (Click here if you want to read how I planned my eldest son's Jungle-themed first birthday party.) Therefore, it was extra challenging now.  Well, I took the challenge since I understand that we have a bigger priority now (like spending wisely so we can move asap to our new house).  I reminded myself as well that the important thing is that we get to celebrate our second child's first birthday in a fun and memorable way.  Thus, my battlecry as I planned and prepared for Mateo's first birthday party was to keep it simple without sacrificing quality or what I considered essentials or must-haves like good food, nice cake, simple but nice farm-themed decor, farm-related give aways and program/games, photo and video coverage, etc. I think that our chosen theme - farm/barnyard - fits the criteria of simplicity very well.  We also planned for an intimate party, limiting our guests to immediate family members, close relatives, ninongs and ninangs (godparents) and their families, and a few close friends with small kids like us.  We targetted 50 to 60 guests.  We also chose the 2 to 4 pm time slot so that it will just be merienda/snack instead of dinner.  Shakey's Monster Meal Deal and their minimum requirement (P10,000 consumable for use of venue if you will not get any of their in-house party theme) for a kiddie party helped me stay within our budget.  I just ordered additional chocolate ice creams from them for the dessert.  The next step was to choose the best/right Shakey's branch for our party.
 

Eating time!

I read a number of reviews from various forums and decided to check out the Shakey's branch at El Pueblo at Julia Vargas avenue in Ortigas.  I liked their location because of its accessibility, especially since our guests are coming from the East, North and South.  Another thing that I liked about this branch is that they have a tv monitor that can be hooked to a laptop and used to show an audio visual presentation (avp) about Mateo during the party. That saved us a few thousand pesos for we need not pay for a (lcd) projector.  On top of that, they only required P2,000 reservation fee to reserve our chosen date.

  

Decors and Party Favors

 

I wanted to go the DIY route initially for all the decors.  I was planning to make the backdrop and centerpieces myself.  I even considered buying generic balloons and inflate them at the venue using my friend's pump.  But I got busy with a number of projects (writing/book and human resource projects) in the past months so my husband suggested that we just have a tarpaulin with a farm design printed.  I also realized that there is much to be prepared and done even on the day of the party since we did not get a party planner to help us.  It was a big blessing that Shakey's referred one of their balloon supppliers to me and I found out that they also print tarpaulins. I just gave them a farm photo/image that I liked, a photo of Mateo pretending to be a farmer harvesting vegetables, and showed them how I want the the photos put together.  I ordered 50 balloons from them (that is their minimum order). We chose four colors - red, blue, white and yellow. Shakey's assured me that they will assign some of their staff to help out in putting up the decors and setting up the place.

Our birthday boy with the cake and loot bags table and backdrop behind him.

  

So, I hunted for a ready-made birthday banner. Good thing I found a farm-themed birthday banner at a Japan Surplus store in a mall near our place.  It was also in the same store that I bought the farm-themed paper plates, cups, party hats, plastic loot bags, and invitations. I also bought a "birthday boy" ribbon there for Mateo to wear on the day of his party. I was very happy that I found what I was looking for and that they fit my budget. :)
 




The farm-themed paper plates, cups and party hats we used
lined up near the crafts table and registration table.
 

 

I used farm-themed plastic toys as part of the decor. Some of them anyway were also prizes and props for the games. I also used real mangoes as prize for one of the games.

 

Later on, I realized Shakey's was indeed perfect for our farm-themed party because I was able to borrow baskets from them where I placed the game prizes.

 

Then, we brought my eldest son's cow seat (a gift to him during his first birthday) as well. It was used by Mateo as his seat and doubled as decor. 



Mateo on his big brother's cow seat.

 

Since red is one of our party colors, I thought of using red apples for our table centerpieces. Then, to further reinforce the farm theme, I made farm animal cut outs with barbeque sticks and stuck them to the red apples. 

One of our centerpieces, cow cut-out stuck to a bbq stick and red apple.

These centerpieces were connected to the registration process of our guests. At the registration table, each family/guest is to pick a small piece of paper with a farm animal's sound printed on it. That will help them find their table.

For example, a family got a piece of paper with the word quack printed on it. That means, they will be seated at the table with a duck centerpiece. They will also receive a duck coloring page that their family will color and use to write their greetings for our birthday boy.  I've decided to print various farm coloring pages for the different farm animals we used as centerpieces.  We actually had 12 tables and we used 6 kinds of animals (duck, cow, pig, rooster, horse, sheep).  

Here is the link to one of the websites where I got some of the coloring pages we used.



The guests from the horse table with their matching horse coloring page/greeting page.



 

My mom and I made 2 sets of animal cut outs for the centerpieces.  I got this inspiration from some of the blogs I read as I searched the internet for ideas for a farm-themed birthday party. Click here, here and here to see some of them.
 

 

I wanted to design and make my own party invitations but I was pressed for time and I realized that I will most likely send email invites to our guests so I decided to simply personalize our farm-themed store-bought invite a bit. Then, I emailed it to our guests. Here's how it looked.

 

 

 

Originally, I was thinking of using smaller versions of farm animal cut outs for the kids' name tags but I realized that cutting these shapes took much of our time so I asked my husband to print rectangular name tags instead on sticker paper with some gingham design. Then, we can just write the names of the kids using pentel pen when they arrive at the registration table.

 

 

Next, I mindstormed on potential give-aways and loot bag fillers. Since, our family loved books including Mateo, I decided to give a farm book to each kid in the party. Some of the farm books we gave away were the farm-related stories from the Phonics-in-Reading Series.  You may click here to read my review of this fantastic books. 

The others were board books of farm-related nursery rhymes and about tractors. 


I also looked for food products that suited our farm theme and our budget for loot bags. :)  Here's what I ended up buying for the give-aways: Moo chocolate drink, Milky Knots pretsels, fruit flavored jellies, Milkita lollipops, Fruitees mango-flavored cookies and marshmallows.   

 

 

 

 

Cake, cup cakes and mini cupcakes

 

The cake is usually the centerpiece  or main decor in a kiddie party so I invested time looking at pictures of various cakes in the internet of nice farm-themed cakes.  I found lots of beautiful cakes! Then, I took note of what I wanted to see in Mateo's birthday cake based on my concept for his party. Then, I communicated these to my friend, Lala, (who happens to be my eldest son's godmother or ninang) who is making the cake for Mateo's party. First, there has to be a red barn, some fences, a number one candle, some farm animals and some vegetables.  I specified what animals I wanted to see on the cake as well as the cup cakes.  I told her that the same farm animals used as table centerpieces should be in the cupcakes.   I asked her to make 12 cup cakes with farm animal faces and 20 mini cup cakes that look like a vegetable garden.  Take a look at her wonderful creations! (You may click her name to contact her if you're interested to get her for your cake and cup cake needs.)

Mateo's farm-inspired first birthday cake.

Mateo's farm animal cup cakes.

Mateo's vegetable garden mini cup cakes.

She's a big blessing to us because not only did she give me a discount on the cakes, cup cakes and mini cupcakes, she also helped me set up the cake and loot bags table on the day of the party while I was busy setting up the other tables like the craft table and registration table.

 

 

Program and Prizes

 

 

We planned for a simple program since we were only given two hours for the use of the party venue.  We did not get a host or entertainer anymore. Just like in my eldest son's first birthday party and previous birthday parties, I acted as host and game facilitator. :) My husband and eldest son, Yanthy, provided the entertainment. :)
 

After the registration where the guests finds out their table assignment, get their coloring pages which will eventually become part of Mateo's scrapbook and guest book, and kids get their nametags, the kids and parents can make some crafts while waiting for the other guests and the games to start.



That's me giving out a name tag at the registration table.

 

Yanthy making a cow balloon.

I prepared the materials in a table and printed an instruction sheet. With some help from my eldest son and our reliable maid, we taught the kids and their parents how to make cow and pig balloons. This was one of our previous homeschool activities and I thought that it's appropriate for Mateo's farm-themed party.  You may click here to see how to make this craft. One thing we did differently during Mateo's party was to use googley eyes instead of simply drawing eyes on the balloons using pentel pens.

You may also print farm-themed mazes for kids to answer while waiting for more guests to arrive. Here are two mazes I found that you might want to use -- cow maze and duck maze.

 

I planned for four games but we only had three games during the actual party due to time constraints.

 

The first game was to help Farmer Mateo gather his farm animals back to his red barn. I made two red barns from red cartolina for this game and put some strips of bond paper for the white doors and outline.  I printed pictures of the same farm animals we had for our table centerpieces in smaller versions. With the help of one of Shakey's staff, we stuck them on the walls, balloons, tables and chairs in the party venue using masking tape. 


During the game, the kids were instructed to find these animals and stick them to the red barn given to their group.  The kids were grouped according to gender during the party - boys versus girls. :) They were told that the group who can gather the most number of farm animals in their red barn wins the game. The kids had fun looking for the farm animals! Even their parents helped search for Mateo's farm animals to help their kids. ;-)  The girls won the game. They were given plastic animals as prizes and egg-shaped chocolates. The boys got Egg Bites milk cookies as consolation prize.

  

The second game was Mateo Went to the Farm. We had the same groupings to save on time. I told the kids that Farmer Mateo needs their help in harvesting his fruits and vegetables and that they need to get as many as they can but they need to put on some things. I asked the kids to line up again while my husband put some chairs where they can go around.  Before the party started, I already set up the plastic toys (fruits and vegetables) in the cover of our native basket/hamper, the red and blue bandanas and the two plastic baskets for the two teams. Actually, some of the kids started playing with the plastic toy fruits and vegetables even before we had the program. :) 



The kids went to the farm with their farmer hats, bandana and baskets.

Farmer Yanthy
helping Mateo harvest.

I explained to the kids that they need to first wear a native hat, tie a bandana around their neck and hold their plastic basket before going around the chairs, pick up or harvest some fruits and veggies in front before going back to their line and passing their props to the next kid in their group.  I asked one parent per group to help the kids out.  The kids and parents had a blast once more! :) This time, the boys won.  They got real ripe mangoes for their prize while the girls got mango-flavored cookies as consolation prize.

The girls counting the fruits and vegetables they
harvested from Mateo's farm.

 

Prizes for game Mateo Went to the Farm.

The third game was basically Moo-sical chairs or I called it Mateo's animal sounds barn dance. It's like the game Trip to Jerusalem with a lot of twists since it's a farm/baryard party. The first twist is that  the game will be played by  kid and parent pairs.  The second twist is that the kids will sit on their parent's lap when the music stops. The third twist is that there are enough chairs for the participants.  The chairs used in the game had strips of paper with animal sounds on them. To determine which pair will be eliminated from the game, I or my eldest son picked a piece of paper with animal sounds from an envelop.  The pair sitting on the chair with the same animal sound as in the piece of paper we picked will be eliminated.  This goes on until there's only one kid and parent pair left.  The last twist is that we used barn dance music and the kids and parents who joined the game will have to dance the heel and toe polka or barn dance while going around the chairs. Since not everyone are familiar with the barn dance steps, I demonstrated or taught them how. My eldest son helped me by being my partner.

Barndance: heel and toe polka with my eldest son as my partner.

My husband operated the laptop and the sound system.  Here's the link to the barn dance music we used.  The dance is very easy and even our birthday boy learned it days before his party.  The winning pair was Daddy Joel and Zia.  Zia got a small piggy bank and Daddy Joel got a nursery rhyme book.  Consolation prizes were given to the rest of the players.

The winning pair for the moo-sical chairs game.

The next part of the program was a farm song led by my husband, George, and my eldest son, Yanthy.  They modified the song Old MacDonald a bit and changed it to O Mateo had a farm... My husband prepared a Power Point presentation for the modified lyrics which I showed while he and our son sang and played their guitars in front.  Yanthy sang his heart out to the delight of our guests. :)

 

Then, they led in singing the birthday song for Mateo before the traditional blowing of candle on cake. This was followed by merienda/eating time.  The kids were served by the Shakey's staff while the adults and older kids lined up at the buffet table at the back.

My husband and our eldest son leading the song O Mateo had a Farm.

 

Yanthy during his special song
number for Mateo.

While our guests were enjoying their food, the avp made by my brother-in-law Bobby (the man behind Irax Videography) for Mateo was shown.  It was a very nice audio visual presentation!  He also made the avp for our eldest son's first birthday party four years ago.  You may contact him here if you are interested to get his services.

 

The kids had some unstructured play while the the adults were eating before my eldest son remembered that he prepared a special song number for his baby brother. :)  He actually modified the song This Little Piggy months ago into This Little Baby and he loved singing it to his baby brother at home. He also volunteered to sing it at Mateo's birthday party, which he did but sang only half of it during the party because he saw that ice cream was already being served.
 

 

We planned for another game called Farm Genio (suggested by my good friend Raquel and one of Mateo's godparents) supposedly for couples; but there was no more time and one of Shakeys staff already reminded me that our two hours is almost finished. Anyway, it's similar to the Pinoy Genio game popularized by a local noontime tv show except that the words to be guessed are all about things that one sees in the farm. I'm sure our guests would love that game too if we still had time to play it.

 

As soon as I finished most of my food, I started calling on some of our guests per table to join us in front for some picture-taking with the birthday boy. After our picture per family was taken, I gave the kids their loot bags and give aways and thank their family for coming to Mateo's party.

 

 

Photo and Video Coverage

 

One of my essentials for Mateo's first birthday party was to get the services of a professional photographer and videographer to capture this memorable and once in a lifetime event. Thankfully, I found the perfect provider through one of the articles posted at Smart Parenting Online.  I got the P5,000 photo and video package of JV All Events then my husband and I bought a group deal voucher for the photo album. 

 

 

Costumes and Birthday Outfit

 

Farmer Mateo, the birthday boy.

To match our farm theme, we encouraged our guests to dress in plaids and denims.  We dressed in denims and plaid polos as well.  We found the perfect outfit for our birthday boy at SM department store one evening.  We bought him two plaid polo shirts - one from Grizzly and another from Crib Couture.  We found the perfect denim pants for him from Snoopy and the matching blue baby shoes from Elle, all from SM Department store. It was one blessed day for our very busy family because we found all the things we were looking for in one store.  That saved us a lot of time.

 




Clap, clap, clap!

I bought my plaid polo shirt from the department store of a nearby mall (Walter Mart) two days before the party.  My husband found and bought his plaid polo shirt from SM Department store as well.

 

I asked our maid to buy the red and blue bandanas and farm/straw hats from Baclaran.

 

The days, weeks and months leading to Mateo's first birthday party were very busy days for our family, especially me. It was stressful and tiring but all these were eventaully replaced with joy and thanksgiving as soon as I saw the fruits of our labor and the happy faces of our guests and of Mateo of course. 

I praise and thank God for the abundance of grace He has poured on me and my family members which enabled us to organize Mateo's party. I thank God for the angels He sent our way like my mom, my brother-in-law Bobby, my friends Lala and Raquel (who gave me many helpful suggestions for the party) and all our party suppliers (Dona of Dona's Balloons, Jun of JV All Events, and Shakey's).  My husband and I were so happy that we were able to have a fun and memorable first birthday celebration for Mateo and stick to our budget. :) Truly, with God on our side and with a lot of creativity and resourcefulness, nothing is impossible!

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Mateo! 

 

5 Venues for a Farm-Themed Kiddie Party

Planning your child’s birthday party can be exciting and stressful at the same time especially if you are a busy parent, if your child’s party is just around the corner, if you have a tight budget, or all of the above. I had been planning my second son’s first birthday party for a few months now and I have spent much time researching and searching for potential party venues after finally choosing a theme for his birthday party - Farm or Barnyard - for the simple reason that our baby enjoys our reading time the most when the stories involve farm animals. He laughs a lot every time we mimic their sounds. He also likes playing with his pig finger puppets a lot.

The challenge is to find a party venue that would fit our theme and budget. Since I started my research and inquiries at various food establishments and party venues, I realized that there are only a handful of restaurants that offer this party theme, so I‘d like to share this list to help other parents who are also planning a similar party:

 

1. The Creamery Resto and Ice Cream Bar

 

 

The Creamery is located at the Ground Floor of Selecta Kids Universe at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. They can cater to farm- and rodeo- themed parties, as well as princess and luau ones.

Kiddie party menu:

Package A
- Classic Spaghetti
- Kiddie Pork Barbecue
- Orange Juice
- Candy Land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P13, 600
without Ice Cream - P11, 850

Package B
- Classic Spaghetti
- Mini Burger
- Orange Juice
- Candy Land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P13, 600
without Ice Cream - P11, 850

Package C
- Classic Spaghetti
- Mini Burger
- Kiddie Pork Barbecue
- Orange Juice
- Candy land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P14, 600
without Ice Cream - P13, 050

Package D
- Classic Spaghetti
- Kiddie Pork Barbeque
- Chicken Fingers
- Orange Juice
- Candy land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P15, 050
without Ice Cream - P13, 500

Package E
- Classic Spaghetti
- Kiddie Pork Barbeque
- Chicken Fingers
- Mini Burger
- Orange Juice
- Candy Land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P15, 850
without Ice Cream - P13, 950

Package F
- Classic Spaghetti
- Kiddie Pork Barbecue
- Chicken Fingers
- Mini Burger
- American French Fries
- Orange Juice
- Candy Land or Banana Split Decision
Total: with Ice Cream - P16, 350
without Ice Cream - P14, 550

Inclusions:
- party banner
- theme decor
- balloon set-up
- invitation cards
- nametags
- game prizes
- loot bags
- candy shower
- a party host in themed costume in charge of the program, games and activities
- uniformed staff in themed costume
- a primetime number from The Creamery staff
- use of indoor venue/veranda/Kids Universe area
- three hours party time
- birthday gift for the celebrator

A minimum of 30 kids is required to avail of their party packages. For the adult menu, there should be a minimum of 5 dishes consisting of 4 main entrees (choose from pork, beef, fish, and chicken), 1 pasta and/or rice, and drinks.

They also offer Ice Cream Buffet packages:
Choice #1: Kiddo Ice Cream Buffet good for 30-50 guests is P4,900.
Choice #2: Full Ice Cream Buffet good for 50-80 guests is P8,600.

The regular balloon set-up does not include table centerpieces but they have packages for that as well, for a fee. A non-refundable reservation fee of P5,000 is required to block your party date, but will be deducted from the total bill. All prices are exclusive of 10% service charge.

Contact:
Tel.: 901-1424 / 556-9195
Mobile: 0917-8224373
Email: creamery.moa@gmail.com
Visit their Facebook page

 

2. Big Red Barn

This venue has two branches: one in Ortigas and another in Alabang. Each branch has several function rooms that vary in size, depending on the number of guests you are expecting. The branch in Ortigas can accommodate a group of 100 to 550, while the branch in Alabang can accommodate 80 to 250 guests.
For a minimum consumable amount, the party venue fees are waived. Up to 20% of the minimum consumable amount can be converted to play tickets or tokens, and you can create your own menu from the food offerings of Big Red Barn or the Blue Whale Grill.

Kiddie Party Menu (all at P175 / plate):

Combo 1
- Chicken Crunchies
- Spaghetti-Pinoy or Carbonara
- French Fries
- Juice/Iced Tea

Combo 2
- 1 piece Fried Chicken
- Spaghetti-Pinoy or Carbonara
- French Fries
- Juice/Iced Tea

Combo 3
- 1 stick Pork BBQ
- Spaghetti-Pinoy or Carbonara
- French Fries
- Juice/Iced Tea

Inclusions:
• Free use of party venue
• Birthday streamer (on loan)
• Directional banners (on loan)
• Free use of cake stand
• Free guest list form
• Free use of play area
• Free use of stage
• Free name tags
• Free guest identification stickers
• Kiddie Table Set-up
• Adult Table Set-up
• Buffet Table Set-up
• CCTV security coverage
• Extra security during weekends
• Free “I Rule in Fun Ranch” Bumper Sticker for the celebrant
• Free Use of Sound Stage for exclusive parties
• Free use of Fun Ranch Indoor Playground on the day of the party for the celebrant
• Free Birthday Certificate
• Free One Ride All You Can Ticket for the celebrant

They also have their own pool of entertainers and party hosts and an affiliated cake supplier. A 50% downpayment is required to finalize reservation.

Contact:
Ortigas Branch: 706-3019 / 706-2887 / 687-2870
Email address: funranch.bigredbarn@yahoo.com

Alabang Branch Telephone Numbers: 836-9387
Email address: funranch.westgate@gmail.com

3. Racks Restaurant

Racks has several branches in Metro Manila but only their branches in El Pueblo in Ortigas and Paseo de Magallanes in Makati have function rooms. Paseo de Magallanes has two function rooms which can accommodate 30 to 80 persons., while El Pueblo has more function rooms.

Kiddie Party Menu:

Package 1 - P160 / head
- Bolognese with 1 piece garlic bread
- 1 piece fried chicken with fries
- A glass of coke
- Ice cream

Package 2 - P240 / head
- Bolognese with 1 piece garlic bread
- 2 pieces fried chicken with fries
- A glass of coke
- Ice cream

Adult Party Menu (served buffet style, good for 30 persons):

Package 1 - P295 per head, or P8,850 total
- Bolognese
- Classic Pork Ribs
- House Salad
- 4 choices of side dishes
- Bottomless Coke

Package 2 - P395 per head, or P11,850 total
- Carbonara
- Fish and Chips
- Classic Pork Ribs
- Hickory Smoked Chicken
- Classic Caesar Salad
- 4 choices of side dishes
- Bottomless Coke

Package 3 - P465 per head, or P13,950 total
- Carbonara
- Fish and Chips
- Classic Pork Ribs
- Hickory Smoked Chicken
- Classic Caesar Salad
- 4 choices of side dishes
- Bottomless Coke
- Memphis Pound Cake

Inclusions:
- free use of themed birthday banner or backdrop
- free use of sound system
- buffet set-up
- cake and souvenir table with skirting

Barnyard party favors priced at P130 per head include the following:
- 30 pieces themed invitation
- 30 pieces balloons
- 30 pieces themed coloring placemats
- 30 pieces loot bags with 3 premium items (activity book, colored pencils and sticker book)
- 30 pieces themed name tags

A down payment of P5,000 should be paid to reserve the date of your party.

To discover more farm-themed venues and to continue reading this article, please click here.
 

A Princess-themed Kiddie Party for God’s Favorites

I had a nagging feeling to celebrate my birthday this year in an extra special way.  I kept thinking about how I’m going to celebrate my birthday this year even around a couple of months before my actual birthday.  But the inspiration to have a kiddie party in an orphanage came to mind only a few weeks prior to my birthday when I read a story in Kerygma, a Catholic magazine.  The writer (Rissa Singson-Kawpeng) shared that she was inspired to throw a party at an orphanage because of this Bible passage:

 

“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.  But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)





The name of orphanage we visited.

As soon as I read her story, I wasted no time to contact Tito Rey Ortega (Executive Director of the orphanage) to ask permission to celebrate my birthday at Tahanan ng Pagmamahal Children’s Home (for girls) in Pasig.  This is one of the ministries that we in the Kerygma Family and the Light of Jesus Community support.  I was very happy when Tito Rey said yes.  He gave me the number of the orphanage in Pasig and got in touch with those in charge.  I was told that the next available date was April 28 from 10 am to 1 pm.  It was already far from the actual date of my birthday, which incidentally fell on Good Friday this year, but I didn’t mind.  I was already happy to be given this opportunity.




My birthday banner



Even before I got the confirmation to have my birthday party at the orphanage, I already had an idea on what the theme of the party will be.  It would be a Disney princess-themed party.  Why?  Simply because I know that most, if not all girls, go through that phase when they dream of becoming a princess just like in the fairy tales.  I know this well because I once dreamed of that as a little girl and I had a collection of fairy tales when I was small.  But aside from giving the girls in the orphanage the chance to attend a princess-themed party, I felt that God wants me to share something more.  He wanted me to share with them something more precious, HOPE, LOVE and DIGNITY. 

I was inspired by God to share these three BIG MESSAGES to the girls in the orphanage:

1.    You may be dreaming of becoming a princess but in truth you already are; because you are God’s daughter.  And God our Father is no ordinary King.  He is the King of Kings. 

2.    You are beautiful and you are loved because God created you and He loves you. 

3.    There is hope for you because God will be there to help you in your needs and He will send people to bring you the help you need.

 

My challenge was how to communicate these messages to the children in a way that they will understand and in Filipino.  I prayed for guidance and inspiration and God answered my prayers.

God helped me come up with this program with the help of my husband and friends who signified that they could come and help me during my birthday outreach.  Below is the program I came up with for our Disney princess-themed kiddie party:

·     Creative Storytelling of the fairy tale Cinderella with question and answer portion after. – This story was chosen to give the girls hope that their dreams can come true and that they are not really alone.  Just like Cinderella, there will be friends who will come along to help them.  My husband and I chose Filipino songs that we can use to help me tell the story to the girls aside from the original song sung by Cinderella in the Disney movie.  These were May Bukas Pa popularized by the soap opera Santino and a song that we sing during Masses, Huwag Kang Mangamba.  My friend Raquel suggested that I tell the kids before I begin the story that they need to listen well because I will be asking questions afterwards and they can win a prize.  I also had some props like a fairy tale book, a crown, a magic wand, a shawl and shiny high-heeled shoes to help me spice up my storytelling.



Storytelling time with the birthday girl - ME!





My husband played the guitar;
 while my friend, Cynthia, played the violin.

So as we planned it, I told the story in Filipino and at some points of the story, we sang some songs.  My husband led the singing for the song May Bukas Pa after I told the girls the part of the story wherein Cinderella was crying in her room because she was already an orphan and her stepmother and stepsisters were maltreating her.  


I sang Cinderella’s song A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes when Cinderella learned about the party of the prince.  And when Cinderella accepted the prince’s marriage proposal, my husband sang Huwag Kang Mangamba to communicate to the girls that now Cinderella has a new family again in the prince.  She’s no longer alone.  The prince will be there to take care of her and defend her.



Using my magic wand as I told the story.

The girls who answered my questions correctly afterwards got prizes.

·      Cinderella Goes to Party. – This is a modified version of the relay game Maria Went to Market.  The girls were divided into smaller groups and each team was given a crown, shawl and a small bag.  The girls need to run to the monobloc chair with the props for the game, put them on, catwalk or walk like a model to the circle that is drawn on the ground using a chalk. 




 Kids listen to instructions for
the Cinderella goes to party game.

    Once in the circle, they are to pose before running back and removing the props they had put on, leave them again in the chair and the go to the end of the line so that the girl next in line will do the same.  The first group who finishes wins the game.




During Cinderella goes to party game.

·   Treasure Hunt. – After the relay game, the smaller girls were divided into two small groups and I explained that they are to help Cinderella find her things for the party which were hidden around the house.  I enumerated the items they need to find: necklace, bracelet, bag, shiny shoe.  I pretended to be Cinderella wearing a crown, a shawl and one shiny shoe.  The first group to bring me the most number of items in the treasure hunt wins.

·      Decorate Your Own Crown/Tiara Art Activity. – The next activity was meant to slow down the girls and let them catch their breath.  We brought out the art materials for the activity.  We had a white cartolina and a white board cut into crowns with different shapes.  These were distributed to the girls along with stickers, stamps, glitter pens, crayons and colored pencils.  We also had paper clips and tape to help them fix their crowns.  




Busy working on their masterpieces.



    Even my three-year-old son participated and made his own crown.  Then, when it’s picture-taking time, he also had his picture taken as I introduced him as Prince Yanthy.  What fun!

Prince Yanthy with a crown that he made.

·        Photo Ops or Picture-taking with their crowns. – I told the girls that once they finish their crowns, they are to pose by the table where our party food is set up and my friend photographer Ricky Pascual, will take their pictures one by one.  To make it extra special too, I pretended to have a trumpet and announced each time a girl lines up for the photo ops: “Announcing the arrival of Princess ______________!”  I called out each one of them as princesses.  I plan to have their solo pictures printed out and sent back to the girls as their souvenir and my thank you card to them. 




This little princess proudly wears her crown.



·       Eating time. – Instead of the kids lining up, the volunteers served the food and drinks to them.  It was just a simple menu of spaghetti, fried chicken, strawberry cup cake with candy sprinkles on top, ice cream in cones, cake and apple-flavored iced tea.  




The party food





Ice cream time

     The staff in the orphanage also cooked some rice so that those who want to eat rice can have some.  The volunteers and orphanage staff had the same food except that there was additional lumpiang shanghai.

·      Distribution of give-aways. – My original plan was to creatively distribute the loot bags through a game called Pass Cinderella’s Shiny Shoe wherein there will be music played in the background and a shiny shoe is passed from one girl to the next while the girls sit in a big circle.  When the music stops, the girl holding the shiny shoe will be given a loot bag.  But since the music player in the orphanage is not in good condition, we just distributed the loot bags by age group.




Receiving their Disney princess-themed loot bags.



·     Songs for the Girls. – After all the girls got their loot bags, they were treated to some songs.  My husband sang some songs while he played the guitar and my friend Cynthia played the violin.  



My husband George

      Then, I led the girls in singing an action with the following lyrics:

You are beautiful.  You are loved.  You are forgiven by the mercy of God.

 

The girls were asked to get a partner first as they imitate my actions.  Then, they need to find a new partner when we sing it again.  I taught them how to say “you are beautiful” in sign language. Then when we sang you are loved, we embraced our partner.  We sang it a number of times so that the girls would be hugged repeatedly that day by me or a friend.
        

·  Closing Prayer. – I led the closing prayer where I tried to relate the lessons in Cinderella’s story to our lives.  I said in my prayer that may we not forget that though we do not have a fairy godmother like Cinderella, we have God our Father who helps us and watches over us and who sends us friends who helps us in our needs.  I also prayed that we would not lose hope and not give up our dreams easily but trust that God could make them come true if they are best for us.  I prayed in Filipino of course.

It took me a week to finalize the details of the party and source the suppliers.  It’s a good thing that I had planned parties including kiddie parties in the past.  It made it easier although my schedule was still jam-packed two days prior to the event. 

My princess-themed birthday cake
did not only look nice.
It was also yummy!

To make my life easier, I ordered cooked spaghetti from Amber’s branch in Mandaluyong and hearts and blossoms cake with Disney Princess cake topper from Goldilocks and asked them to deliver the food to the orphanage.  We bought chicken drumsticks and frozen lumpia from the grocery and asked my maid to cook them.  I bought the fairy tale book, name tags, art materials, prizes and giveaways which were mainly food items from the grocery too.  

It was also good that I found balloons and balloon sticks in the department store of the mall near our place.  I just borrowed a pump from one of my friends who volunteered to join the outreach.  Then, I asked one of my maids to buy the Disney Princess-themed party decors (banner and banderitas) and the loot bags I reserved from a store that sells party needs near our place also.

It was a very good experience not just for the girls in the orphanage but for my family and friends as well.  We all had a great time! It was also a dream come true for me. I have dreamed of having a princess-themed birthday party when I was a little girl but we didn't have much money when I was growing up. That day, my childhood dream came true and what made it more meaningful was that I got to share it with little girls who might not also have a chance to have one if I didn't organize this party for them. 




Group picture with the kids, my family and my friends.




Enjoying my time with the kids.

And all of us look forward to visiting the orphanage again next time including my friend’s little girl who found new friends in the orphanage.  According to my friend, her daughter was inspired to celebrate her next birthday in the orphanage also so she can share her blessings to the less fortunate.


In case you are inspired by this post to celebrate your birthday in a charitable institution, here is a list of some of the ministries we have in the Light of Jesus Community and Kerygma Family.

If you give to the poor, your needs will be supplied! (Proverbs 28:27)

When you help the poor you are lending to the Lord -- and he pays wonderful interest on your loan! (Proverbs 19:17)

 

·   Tahanan ng Pagmamahal Children’s Home (for girls) – This is located in Barangay Oranbo in Pasig near the Valle Verde Country Club and Oranbo Elementary School.  You may call 9014490 to get in touch with Sister Elvie, FCJ, Reena Mae or Menchie. 

·      Tahanan ng Pagmamahal Children’s Home (for boys) – This is in Barangay San Antonio in Francisco del Monte, Quezon City.  Their contact number is 4414931.  You may look for Sister Anastacia Puji Hastuti, SSCC, Jinky or Ruby.

·   Tahanan ng Pagmamahal Children’s Home (for abandoned babies) – This is in Barangay Barangka, Ilaya, Mandaluyong.  You may call Delfin/Gloria Viola, Angel Membrado or Dhee Almoite at 6648992 to inquire.

·       He Cares Foundation Street Children Caring Center (our street kids ministry) – You may contact Joe Dean or Ardis  Sola at 9288910 or 4530100.

·       Grace to be Born Center (for women with unwanted pregnancies or pregnant women in crisis) – This is also in Pasig at Dr. Sixto Antionio, Barangay Kapasigan.  You may contact Rey and Myrna Ortega at 9101895, 6356056 and 5010965.

·       Anawim (home for the abandoned elderly) – This is in Barangay San Isidro, Rodriguez, Montalban, Rizal.  You may call 7105273 or Tim Duran at 6552219.

If you want to donate to the ministries that the Kerygma Family supports, kindly click here to find out more.

Let me end with some Bible verses:

Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. (1 John 3:18)



The happy faces of God's favorites during the party.


Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. (1 Timothy 6:18)

Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven - it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well. (1 Timothy 6:19)

Photos courtesy of Ricky Pascual Photography.