December holds two of my favorite occasions of the year: Christmas and the Birthday of our baby girl Natacia Gael (aka Baby Tash).    So in thanksgiving for our daughter’s first birthday and celebration of the Christmas season, we decided to have a Christmas ONEderland-themed birthday Party for our little girl and the children of our relatives and family’s friends.  After all, Natacia means “born in the Christmas season” and Gael means “rejoice”. 

My motto in organizing our baby’s Birthday Party is the same motto I held on to when organizing our wedding two years ago — “Pick the most beautiful among the affordable finds, and pick the most affordable among the most beautiful ones.”  So what do you do when like me, you’re “kuripot” enough to spend a lot for a birthday party, but picky enough not to settle for less.

After a few months of research and evaluation, I was so happy when my prudent conscience and my choosy palate finally arrived at a common decision. So thankful that I found the right kiddie birthday party suppliers that delivered quality service without breaking our budget.  For that, these event suppliers deserve to be known by other mommies and daddies planning for their child’s party.

Venue: Bulwagang Recoletos

At first, my hubby and I considered having our baby girl’s birthday in fast food stores and restos.  If you think of it, it’s a more convenient option since most restos offer a full party package.  However, with the number of guests on our list, booking a kiddie party in a restaurant would not be ideal.  Most birthday party packages of fast food stores and restaurants can only accommodate 100 guests at most.  And adding additional heads will only mean more expenses.  Plus, the parking spaces in most restos are limited. So we opted to look for an events venue in our home sweet home Quezon City.

Just a few minutes’ drive away from our home is a spacious events venue called Bulwagang Recoletos.  Hiding inside the quite subdivision Mira Nila Homes, Bulwagang Recoletos sits right beside Our Lady of Consolation.  This building houses the Museo Recoleto and three fully airconditioned functional halls.  For our daughter’s birthday party, we booked the Bagumbayan function hall, which can accommodate 160 people.

Why you should try it:

• Scenic façade
• Spacious function hall
• Air conditioned
• Enough parking space
• Easy mode of payment (BPI bank deposit)
• Not strict when it comes to suppliers

Bulwagang Recoletos: [email protected]

Caterer: Joejeff’s Catering

Getting Joejeff’s as our caterer was a no brainer decision.  Our family picked this caterer for many birthday parties and reunions already.  Joejeff’s food is good and gives good value for the money.

For Tash’s birthday, we had a buffet table filled with afternoon snacks for adults and packed meals for the kids.

While getting a caterer seems more expensive than ordering food from fast food stores, I believe otherwise.  If you’re patient and clever enough (haha!), you can actually save more in getting a caterer, especially if your guests are more than a hundred.  (Thanks to my sis-in-law Manay for all the practical mom wisdom!)  The key is to get a caterer that is flexible in terms of menu selection and to come up with the right combination of food in the menu.  After all, when it’s a kiddie party, you don’t have to bother having too many food on the buffet table.  Save that lechon for adult affairs coz in reality, kids attend parties to play and have fun than to eat. Don’t be pressured too much to overfeed the adult guests; it’s not their event.

Why you should try it:

• Delicious food
• Not too expensive
• Friendly and hard-working staff
• On time during set up

Joejeff’s Catering: 02-4197423

Host/Magician/Ventriloquist/Balloon Twister: Cyrus Tan of Liwanag Party Needs

I honestly spent two months in search of a quality English-speaking host/magician whose talent fee won’t break our budget.  It’s not that I’m discriminating Filipino-speaking magicians. It’s just that most of the kids on Tash’s guest list are not well versed in Filipino.  Hence, I was pressured to look for a magician who can speak in English fluently.    Online search made my head ache as most English-speaking magicians’ fees are too expensive for hubby and me.  And many of them would charge extra for hosting.

Heavens answered my prayer when I received a positive reply from one of the event suppliers I contacted. “Yes, we have an English-speaking magician who can do hosting at the same time.”  I asked for a video of the magician’s sample magic tricks/hosting, and I was convinced he could make our daughter’s party as lively as possible.  The best part is the fee is just within our budget for host/magician.  Plus, there’s a bonus.  This kiddie party host and magician can also do balloon twisting and ventriloquism. And true enough, Mr. Cyrus Tan of Liwanag Party Needs made all our guests happy during Tash’s birthday.

Why you should try it:

• All-in-one (host/magician/balloon twister/ventriloquist)
• Good at speaking with kids
• Entertaining for adults too
• Comes up with own parlor games for kids and adults
• Speaks English fluently
• Punctual and easy to deal with

Sorbetes Cart: Liwanag Party Needs

Another service we availed from Liwanag Party Needs is the sorbetes/dirty icecream cart.  My hubby really wanted the traditional Pinoy icecream for our baby’s birthday party, so I’m glad we availed of this sorbetes cart at a reasonable price.

Venue Decorations, Sound System, Photo Booth, Candy Buffet: JD’s Party Shop

I considered DIY decors for the party venue at first.  However, with the many events in our family and my work in the merry month of December, I accepted the fact that I could no longer afford to create my own decors for Tash’s birthday party.  So hubby and I proceeded to Plan B, which is to get an events supplier that will offer an affordable package of venue decors.

JD’s Party Shop was that heaven-sent supplier for us.  It offered a reasonably priced package of venue decors and many more!  The party package contained the following:

• Venue backdrop and entrance sign
• 60 pcs balloonderitas
• Linking cake arch
• 2 pcs 5 ft balloon pillars
• Candy buffet for 50 kids
• Photo booth
• Basic sound system
• Free inflatable bounce playground for kids

This party package was the most practical offer I found from online party shops.  They offer more than 20 different themes for the backdrop. We chose the Candyland theme as it was the most appropriate for our Christmas ONEderland theme.  I’m sure parents and their children would love the other themes available.

For the photo booth, I designed our own photo booth print layout.

Why you should try it:

• Good value for money
• On time set up
• Various theme options for backdrop

Cake and cupcakes: Le Petit Chef

I was attracted by the Christmas giveaway cake designs of Le Petit Chef a year ago, and I really wanted one of its Christmas cake designs for my baby’s first birthday.  So I contacted Ms. Gel of Le Petit Chef four months before our daughter’s party, told her it’s a Christmas-themed party, gave her the colors we wanted, and she just surprised us on the day of the event with these cute and Instagram-worthy Christmas-themed cake and pastries.

Why you should try it:

• Instagram-worthy cake and pastries design
• Easy transaction with supplier
• On time delivery of product

Photographer: Tabula Rasa PH Photography

Sam of Tabula Rasa PH Photography is an event photographer any millennial mom would want to have.  Every photo she took (even unedited) was worth uploading on social media.  And since, she’ll transfer all photos to your laptop right after the event, you can upload ‘em on Instagram or Facebook right away!   Plus, Sam knew well what shots she wanted to take and what shots we wanted her to take.  I also like that she kept on reminding us to take time for photo ops with guests, because when you’re the parent of the birthday girl, you’re just all over the place.

Click here to view the pretty photos she took during our baby girl’s birthday party.

Why you should try it:

• Instagramable photos
• Variety of photos is good (all guests, group, solo, candid, photos of Instagram-worthy decors)
• Good value for money
• Transfer of all raw photos to your USB or laptop.

Lootbags, Party Hats, Game Prizes: Divisoria shops

Where else to get party goodies in bulk at their most affordable price than in Divisoria? I’m glad my sis-in-law knows Divisoria Kingdom by heart that we didn’t find a hard time locating the party supplies stores.

Ivy Party Needs is one of the party supplies store in 168 Mall. It’s heaven for anyone organizing a party.

We bought Christmas-colored paper bags in Ivy Part Needs shop and filled it with cookies, candies and choco mallow bars I bought in the grocery store. We also added a spring toy which I bought from Divisoria as well.