‘Occasions’ Articles at Mumwrites

Remembering Our Dearly Departed Today

11.01.2014 by mumwrites // Leave a Comment

It is our 7th year of observing All Saints’ Day without my parents and we shall be spending the day {mostly the later part of it till the night} at their resting place at the memorial. Very different from its usual peace and solemnity, our local memorial will be filled with people milling about, excited noise and chatter, kids playing with those light up toys tossing them here and there, but most importantly, the place will be filled with flowers, lit candles, and prayers for our dearly departed. I am sure that my Mama and Papa, along with the many souls whose remains lay in the memorial grounds, will be happy to be remembered and prayed for today.

I was not able to get those special candles which my Mama used to get for her parents and brother when she was alive, but I do hope she liked the green tea-scented we got for her and Papa, instead. I am sure she will also be delighted at the sight of the many tea candles we plan to light up today.

It will never be easy losing someone you love dearly, sure I lost my one and only tito when I was in kindergarten but I was too little to remember the loss now, whereas I will feel the loss of my parents every single day of my life, but to know that they are happily looking down on us from heaven, and that they are in a much better place now with our Creator, is more than enough consolation. I look forward to reuniting with them one day.

I hope you had a meaningful and safe day remembering and celebrating the lives of your dearly departed. Let us keep their memories alive by praying for their eternal repose and celebrating the life they led when they were still with us. Most of all, let us never cease to follow the invaluable lessons they taught us when they were still alive, let us not stop loving them, just like what my parent’s tombstone say:

“love is how you stay alive,

even after you are gone.” ~ Mitch Albom

Celebrate The Fourth Of July + Other Special Occasions With #BouqLove

06.18.2014 by mumwrites // Leave a Comment

occasions, gift ideas, tips + tricks — *say it with flowers…*

You can never really go wrong with flowers. They instantly add a pop of color to any party set-up while bringing along happy and vibrant mood with them. They are the perfect welcome home present for someone who has been sick and spent a few days in the hospital and a great present for just about any occasions ~ Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays and even Christmas and other special holidays!

It is no wonder why a lot of people are accustomed to including a bunch or two of lovely and colorful flowers to celebrate momentous occasions. This is probably the same reason why a considerable number of people are also fond of sending and bringing bouquets or vases of flowers to parties and other celebrations they go to. Flowers automatically add to the festive mood while making any space they occupy beautiful in an instant!

The Fourth of July is another special holiday best celebrated with a bevy of lovely blooms and it is very timely that The Bouqs is bringing back their Red, White and Bouq to celebrate the occasion. Nothing would best celebrate the Red Letter day than with a bouquet of red, white and blue roses. Set them up in lovely vases when you host a Fourth of July BBQ at home or bring them when you attend your best friend’s celebration.

Apart from being featured in Forbes and O! Oprah Magazine and in televisions shows like E! and The Today Show, you would be delighted to opt for a Bouq’s bouquet as they take the pain out of choosing flowers. They will choose the best from their bunch and send them right to your doorsteps at a flat rate of $40 for all Original size bouquets and with Free shipping, too!

The Bouqs is revolutionizing the flower industry one bouquet at a time by raising their flowers in eco-friendly and responsible sustainable farms with rich soil from an active volcano. All bouquets are also cut when you order so they are guaranteed fresh when they reach your doorsteps, avoiding wastage of stems in the process, too.

To celebrate the holidays, do not forget to send those you love with 4th of July Flowers – Red, White and Bouq and spread the #BouqLove!

image is from freedigitalphotos.net

Just Enough To Melt A Mum’s Heart

02.16.2014 by mumwrites // 2 Comments

Valentine’s is something we do not celebrate at home, but this year I received a very pleasant surprise which is just enough to melt this mum’s heart!

Right after the day’s lessons were over, the little man handed me this lovely Valentine card, which he made himself. Sure the words are badly scrawled, but for someone who’ve just recently appreciated writing, this sure is a great feat and mum couldn’t be prouder. Apart from the letters and the heart he’s patiently colored, my little pre-schooler also drew mum, dad, himself, and our house inside the card. You can check out the rest of the card in this week’s edition of Kids In Doodles.

This is mum’s little treasure and I shall keep it with my valuables. Although this is just a simple card, the effort made by the little man’s little fingers to write and color it is something really precious. Thank you my love for this and thanks to Teacher Pam, too, for helping you make it.

I am sure your little ones also have little Valentines surprises for you and it will be a delight to read all about it in a comment below.

Throwing A Simple Birthday Party For The Little Man

09.01.2013 by mumwrites // 3 Comments

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!

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!

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.

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!

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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