Throwing A Simple Birthday Party For The Little Man

mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
the little man + his classmate Don

I am glad that even when I do not have a regular job and online opportunities for my mum blog is getting scarce since Mr. G took away my pr, I still manage to save up for the little man’s simple birthday celebration at his playschool. I was able to save up Php7,000 from last month’s work, which I thought was just enough for the party I have in mind.

It was Jared who gave me the idea about his party’s theme while he was playing with his minion toys one day. He said he’d put the minion on top of a cake and proceeded to singing the Happy Birthday song. When I asked him who’s having a birthday, he answered “Jared,” so a light bulb flickered to life in my mind. Minion birthday it is!  😀

mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
all things minions ~ cakes, cupcakes + loot bags!

As early as the first week of August I was already busy creating my birthday party checklist and scouting for items both online and off that I thought I could use for the party. I have also scoured a lot of minion-related Pinterest boards and got tons of ideas from them!

A minion cake and a bunch of cuppies were on the top of my list. Fortunately, I do not have to look far to find the perfect cake maker. I ordered Jared’s sweet birthday treats from the local shop Just Sweets and even the little man was delighted with his minion cake! 🙂

mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
our birthday invite

As usual I commissioned my brother to make the birthday invites, the banner, as well as the thank you stickers which I used to lock my loot bags. He printed the stickers and the invites, while I have the tarp printed in a local bookshop a day before our party.

mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
the contents of our loot bags
mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
thank you stickers for our loot bags!

I made my own loot bags from yellow colored papers I got from the bookstore and put these printed minion eyes I got from another Pinterest board, for finishing touches, and viola! I now have my very own affordable and cute minion bags! I filled them with these minion toys I got from an online shop on Facebook and these minion felt keychain I chanced upon at a local mall in our city. I also added a couple of scented colored pens that I am sure the kids will love!

mum's thoughts, simple pleasures, Jared, Jared's nook, occasions, celebration, children's birthday party, birthdays
the minion pattern I got from the net

To make our celebration more fun, I planned some fun activities for the kiddos at playschool. With my sister Cel’s help, we cut these create-a-minion cut outs for the kids to make and I printed a number of minion color pages for the children to color. I also got those printable page online.

Minion stuff are rather difficult to find, so for our piñata, I diy-ed a minion one out of a 100-peso-plus Spongebob piñata I got from this Divisoria-like shop I discovered at Maunlad Mall {thanks to sis Jhona, one of the mums at playschool, for graciously offering to accompany us there}. I also bought 6 stationery set for boys and girls as prizes for our party games there. Bel cut out a yellow colored paper for the minion body of our piñata, as well as a blue colored paper for its cover-alls, and pasted a couple of these minion eyes print outs to create our very own minion piñata! We filled it lollipops, candies and chocolates for the children to enjoy at the party.

For the food, we just ordered one-piece chicken/spaghetti meals from Jollibee. I opted for pineapple juice for the kiddos, too.

Here is the summary of my expenses for my son’s party:

  • Food {for 6 kids and 10 adults} ~ Php 1,829
  • Cake and cupcakes ~ 2,490
  • Loot bag {minion felt keychain Php180/minion toys P230/scented pens P60} ~ 470
  • Prizes ~ 300
  • Piñata ~ 110
  • Tarpaulin ~ 90
  • Candies for the piñata ~ approx 200
  • Coloring printables ~ 50
  • Invites and stickers ~ 100
  • Balloons ~ 100

Total ~ Php 5,739

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welcome 2012!

greetings, new year, happy new year

Happy first day of 2012 everyone! 😀

How was last night’s celebration?

We agreed to celebrate here in our apartment + had pasta, hotdogs, grilled tilapia,  porkchop and a few desserts, including a cassava cake + a black forest cake {which was left untouched + waiting to be devoured in the fridge :)} + half-a-dozen round fruits. We really did not fuss over our celebration as there are only 4 of us + there is just no space for everything we desire to eat in our bulging stomachs 😀

We counted down the remaining hours + minutes of 2011 by lying cooped up in the cozy sofa, watching a Rizal special in one of the local channels + another channel’s own countdown to 2012 whilst the little man fuss over his tito, very much delighted with his company 😀

new year, 2012, greetings

As 2012 inched closer, we prepared the table {+ took a few shots, which am glad I remembered} and  excitedly anticipated to welcome the New Year.

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