One!

My little girl just turned one yesterday!

We had a very simple celebration at home. I had Manang Conching cook traditional Chinese birthday misua. I also ordered some food from Mr. Sun Moon and a cake for Conti's for dinner. We sang the birthday song and her Kuya E "helped" in blowing out her first birthday candle.

My mother gave her an "ang pao" (red envelope with money inside). There were no other guests and no other gifts yet, because the "real" party would be tomorrow. It's a McDonald's party. We've decided to hold it in the morning, which is different from the usual afternoon children's party.

I would have loved to a buy gold bullion coin for her today and for each of my children's birthday. That was what my father started to do when he realized that we have outgrown the desire for toys. He thought that it was a very practical gift -- and it was. It was a very good investment. While the toys we received as kids were already gone, the gold coins are still very much around. We have the assurance that if we need money, these can be easily exchanged for cash. Their value is also very stable. I haven't gone around to restarting this tradition because of budget constraints, but I have done some research on it. The US Gold Bureau seems to be a good source. Still, I do need more research -- and more money.

While I can't give much by way of material things, I do try to be the best mom that I could be. I do hope that she will grow up to be a decent person with all the right values. I know that her dad and I have the big responsibility of seeing that that happens. For now, we are cherishing the moments that we have with her.

Happy Birthday, my little baby!

Geminis all

There are so many birthdays this month for my side of the family. There's my grandma, my daughter, my uncle, my niece, my cousin-in-law and me.

June this year is especially significant (and busy) since there are 3 milestone birthdays -- two first birthdays and a 90th birthday!

Happy birthday to all of us!

Happy Birthday...

...to my grandmother! More on it here.

Ethan Turned Three! -- Part I

Ethan had his birthday a little over a month ago. We had not one , but 3 celebrations to mark the day! One in school, one in my mom's home, and one with my in-laws on the Sunday after his actual birthday.

First up, we had a small party for him at his toddler school. It was a lot easier than the McDo party we had when he turned one, since there are fewer "guests" and they are all there in school, and it was very short, only about 30 minutes. Yup, short and sweet. Just the way I like it. Theme-less too, so easier to get generic stuff.

We didn't have any invitations made. I didn't think that would be necessary, because my memories of school parties just consisted of bringing the cake and ice cream and balloons to school. Anyway, I reasoned that the little guests would already by there anyway. I did inform the teacher, not only so that he will know about the upcoming activity, but also so that he would be able to advise me on what is allowable or not in school.

We only had finger food. This was on the advise of Teacher Randy. He told us that classic fare like spaghetti and fried chicken would require the help of the yayas and/or teacher aides. Finger foods are easier for little hands to handle by themselves. Not only that, the servings are smaller, perfect for small tummies. We just bought cheese sticks, cocktail hotdogs (no sticks -- I'm an ophthalmologist and I'm paranoid about barbecue stick injuries), and chicken popcorn. I had it cooked at home and brought to school. We just HAD to include birthday misua, though, because it's traditional for us Chinese. Instead of providing paper plates, we bought small plastic microwaveable containers so that the kids can bring their food home if they cannot finish it.

Instead of getting a big cake, we got mini cuppies (not regular sized ones) from Quintbelles. I think that was a good idea! Toddlers don't really get to finish the regular sized cupcakes anyway. We just arranged it so that it spells out Happy 3rd birthday Ethan (see picture). Thank you so much Elaine! We loved how it looked! The children loved licking on the icing too!

We prepared some theme-less loot bags.
They're actually small pencil cases. We put bubbles, small jellos, lollipops, a small ball, a small toy watch and another small toy inside. Simple lang. I bought mugs for the teachers and the aides and filled them with candies and decorative paper clips -- it's a pity we forgot to take pics). For the tags, I printed out pictures of Ethan and the recipient (or of the whole class if I can't find any with just the two of them).

Balloons were provided by the school. We didn't really have a set program, but the teacher incorporated the lesson about age and birthdays in that day's class. I think that was better, actually. :)

And Ethan actually blew out the candle on his birthday cupcake for the very first time in his life!

It's just a pity that Ethan was not feeling well during his birthday (he had the beginnings of viral bronchiectasis) but he was such a trooper! I believe he would have enjoyed it even more if he were not feeling under the weather.

Will have a Part II. Watch out for it.

In the meantime, I hope that these tips for birthday celebrations on a very tight budget would help you. Enjoy!

Abangan!

My little boy had very simple birthday party celebration x 3 last week! Too bad he was a little under the weather, but the little trooper blew out the candles (for the first time in his life)! More details to follow :).

In Less Than A Month....

...Ethan will be three!

I have already talked with Teacher Randy regarding Ethan's birthday to be celebrated at school. I guess I am more excited than my boy. I have already ordered cupcakes and I am already thinking of the food that will be served. Nothing fancy, just simple finger foods that the toddlers can handle themselves without much assistance. I have even thought of his gift!

Although it's just a simple school party, I would like my son to enjoy his birthday party. Hence I am looking for birthday party supplies that would fit his interests and his personality. I'm thinking a simple art party might be nice. Or a Sesame Street themed one since it's his favorite. Since I am on a really tight budget, I'd prefer if I can find discount party supplies that would not break my very small budget. Otherwise, we'd have to make do with whatever DIY party supplies that my husband and I can make ourselves.

Birthdays for kids are big here in the Philippines, with some people spending as much as 200 thousand pesos for parties. I am more of a frugal mommy because, really, we cannot afford to spend that much for a one day celebration. We had a McDonald's party because that is what we can afford. It's a good thing that we were able to entertain more than a hundred guests (the original guest list was for 200 people) for much lower than a regular kiddie party with a party host and all the bells and whistles. His second birthday "party" was just a family celebration at home since I just got out of surgery that week. Now, his third birthday is a celebration in school. It will probably be similar for his fourth, but, we'll see.

Whatever happens, I really hope that Ethan and his classmates will enjoy the celebration!

Toys For Ethan!

My son's third birthday is less than a month away. My husband and I are excitedly planning for a simple school celebration on this day. Of course, we also want to give him a gift on his special day. Since Ethan is already showing signs of analytical thinking at this early age, we are thinking that any one of the best selling toys from Atomic Elephant Science and Toy Company might not only pique his interest, but also make him learn about Science in a fun way.

I grew up during the Martial Law era when good toys are scarce, so my parents bought our toys whenever they went to Hong Kong for business. They would look for the best selling toys there and bring them to us as pasalubong (going home gifts), together with oranges and apples. These things are hard to find in Manila during those times. To think we do not think a lot about these things nowadays. Maybe it's just the sign of the times. Those were the times when austerity was the rule.

Thankfully, our kids don't have that problem anymore. We can buy them practically anything they want, if we want to. We do have to control our spending, though.

A spooky birthday celebration :)

My friend Clarice invited me to her birthday party last October 31. We, together with Kitte, Rhodora, Denise, Teenee, Monet, Abie and Diosa became close since the days of our wedding preps, having met through weddings @work 3 years ago.. We have kept in touch and have remained close, even though we don't get to see each other that much lately. The internet really brings people together. I wouldn't have known these great gals if it were,'t fot this modern wonder!

Anyway, I digress. Clarice, the birthday celebrant, is now a sought after wedding coordinator. She was a top ten w@w supplier last year! In fact, she's again in this year's list of the top ten suppliers! I'm so happy for her :)

The party was kinda last minute, so from the way she worded her email invitation to us, we thought that it was going to be a small, simple affair -- you know, one of the things I would throw on a last minute notice.

I thought wrong :)

We thought we went to the wrong place. The place was decorated with skulls, spider webs, a skeleton, and the lighting was muted. I have never gone to a BIRTHDAY party decorated in that way and we thought that somebody else was having a halloween party!

Well, Clarice was there, so it was definitely HER party. Well, it WAS October 31 so halloween decors WERE appropriate :)

Good food, nice though spooky ambiance, good conversation with good friends...I really enjoyed myself that evening. Didn't get to the Mongolian barbecue and the bar because we'd rather stay put and talk. We were seated with Fred and Teenee and we mostly talked about our kids :). Abie and Rey were not seated with us, but they came over to chat too.

Thanks, Clarice, for inviting us! Pahingi pictures ha?

Ethan is 2!

Ethan turned 2 last September 16. We didn't have a big celebration this time around. We just had the traditional Chinese birthday misua for breakfast and invited my relatives from my father's side. In the afternoon, my in-laws came over and feasted on merienda consisting of barbecue, cheesecake (for the birthday cake), tortilla chips, birthday misua, ice cream, sapin sapin and softdrinks. My brothers were on hand to take some pictures.

Last year, the celebration was bigger. We had it at McDonald's Greenhills, with games, a mascot, balloons, lootbags, and more than a hundred guests. My brother was the photo video man and my husband's niece distributed the glimmer tattoo stickers. My son, who wasn't walking yet at that time, was sleepy throughout most of the party (because he still had 2 naps a day and that was the time for his afternoon nap).

My son was happier on his 2nd birthday celebration. I think it's because he now has a concept of "birthday", "party" and is much more sociable. If we had the McDo party this year rather than last year, we'd probably see him running around laughing like he did in our small celebration.

He's now very malikot and makulit. I thank God everyday that he is healthy and happy! My wish for him is for him to continue being the healthy and happy child that he is. He is such a blessing to our family!