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I posted this at n@wie yahoogroups. Maybe some of you will find it useful:
THEME: Harry Potter!
When I first mentioned the Harry Potter theme, a lot were saying it wasn't ideal for a birthday party cause it's a little dark. It's more appropriate for a halloween party. Still, we pushed through with it cause I love the Harry Potter movies and I know we could do a lot of things with this theme. Happy naman ako sa naging result nung party. We tried to make it super Harry Potter talaga. We even played the Harry Potter soundtrack as background music, hehehe.
VENUE: Casa Milan Clubhouse
This is not our first choice for the venue - not because it isn't pretty - but because it's a little expensive. We wanted to get Green Meadows Clubhouse, or Acropolis, or Corinthian Hills, but they were all already booked when I started planning. I totally forgot that November is peak wedding season! Anyway, it's a good thing my uncle knew someone from Casa Milan and got us a 50% discount. Asthetically, I really liked Casa Milan. It has a landscaped entrance and the main hall is air conditioned. We also rented out the terrace area for the Diagon Alley and the inflatable jumper castle. The subdivision was also near ours so it was easier to bring things back and forth from our house.
CATERER (ADULT FOOD): Verleo
What can I say? We loved Verleo! I only heard of them through the ravings at N@W, and I'm so glad I booked them. A lot of my guests commented on how great the food was. They didn't know it was not expensive at all. And it was abundant! I'm definitely getting them again in the future.
Here's what I got from them: Japanese Fried Rice, Birthday Noodles, King Dao Spareribs, Beef Teppanyaki (on the spot), Grilled Prawns (on the spot), Fish Fillet with Cream Corn, Halo Halo with Leche Flan.
KIDDIE FOOD: Grandma, Lola Pearl, and Fairview Lechon
Since the kiddie buffet will only serve around 50-60 kids and the dishes are much simpler to prepare, we decided to prepare it ourselves instead of getting from the caterer. Thanks to my mom's and tita Pearl's great cooking, we served spaghetti, fried chicken fillet and chicken lollipop. We also ordered pork barbeque at Fairview Lechon - a family long-time favorite. For drinks, we bought Zesto Orange from the supermarket. Verleo provided the kiddie buffet table, kiddie tables and chairs, and served the kiddie buffet.
CUPCAKES: Tita LA
My sister baked yummy chocolate-chip cupcakes, topped with chocolate icing and merengue colorful witch hats. It was a great complement to the cake and a yummy addition to the kiddie desserts.
HARRY POTTER CAKE: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne (polkadots)
The cake was delicious! We got the chocolate flavor and it was moist and not too sweet, even after several days. The Harry Potter topper was also nice. My aunt wanted to bring it back to the province to show to the kids there, hahaha.
Jhoanne was really great! She was so helpful and has a lot of great ideas. I also got my Main Hall Tarpaulin, Styro Happy Birthday Sign, Food carts and kiddie couches from her.
FOOD CARTS (Cotton Candy, Ice Cream, Snow Cone): c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne (polkadots)
We put the food carts at the Diagon Alley and it was a hit. I saw a lot of the adults eating cotton candy and ice cream. I was only able to try the snow cone though. It was good that we had them cause I think we ran out of juice and it was a great thirst quencher.
KIDDIE COUCHES: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne
The kiddie couches were really nice! I love the Harry Potter picture on it and the color (black). It wasn't cheap looking at all. Kalli loves it too! I saved one couch for her and she carries it all over the house.
A lot of the guests wanted to have one, but I only ordered 10. The couches were the House prize. The kids were sorted into the 4 Hogwarts houses and they earned tokens (house points) by joining game booths and the games that Wanlu prepared. The couches were great incentives for the children to participate.
HOGWARTS TARPAULIN AND STYRO HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIGN: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne
One of the problems I had with tarps in the past was that it almost always didn't show the correct color, specially for gold and orange. I was worried that the big castle tarp will have the same problem. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't so. The colors were vivid and correct, and you wouldn't notice the place where they connected the 2 tarps to create the 1 big tarp. The Styro sign was also very nice :)
HOST, MAGICIAN, VENTRILOQUIST - Wanlu
I heard that Wanlu was great that is why I booked him, though I haven't seen him perform before. And WOW, he really was great! He really knows how to capture the audience. He gave life to the party, and his magic show was awesome! The puppets were also very entertaining. We laughed and laughed and laughed, hehehe.
GLITTER TATTOO - c/o Wanlu
The glitter tattoo station was a hit. Even though it was stationed at the Diagon Alley at the clubhouse terrace and the show has already started inside the main dining, the guests were still going out for the Glitter Tattoo. Too bad I wasn't able to get one :( The kids and adults loved it.
GAME BOOTHS (Bull's Eye, Hoop-a-loop, Shoot that Ball) - www.kiddie-party.com
I got the game booths from Kiddie Party because they had the best package price. I also got the standees from them. I am quite happy with what I got. What really surprised and WOWed me was that they were SO VERY helpful! They came early to set up, around 11am. We were also there already cause we were doing the decorating and balloon columns ourselves. We didn't really have any experience with balloon decors and ended up making sloppy balloon columns, hahaha. Truth is we were really pathetic. I guess the kiddie party team noticed that too cause all of a sudden they started making the balloon columns and doing the decors! They were really awesome and I was so thankful :)
STANDEES (Harry Potter, Hermoine and Ron, Hagrid) - www.kiddie-party.com
Instead of getting a styro backdrop, I opted for a big tarpaulin backdrop (c/o Jhoanne, see above) and some Harry Potter standees from kiddie-party. They were cheaper alternatives and worked quite well in setting up the theme too. The guests loved the standees. A lot of them had their pictures taken with them, some even staying after the party just to take pictures :)
HARRY POTTER LOOT BUCKETS: DIY
The loot buckets were a hit, if I say so myself, hahaha. Even some of the adults wanted to get one. It was really a labor of love cause we made it ourselves and it was kinda hard to do! But in the end, I was more than satisfied with it :) We put Harry Potter things in it from Divisoria (pen, sticker, bubble, ruler, keychain, puzzle cube), and some toys and candies.
ADULT GIVE-AWAY (RUM BALLS): Tita LA
My sister made the Rum Balls and we packaged it in small pretty tin cans. If you like rum cakes, you'll love these. I'm so addicted to them! Some guests started ordering after they tasted it from the party. Visit http://www.zoto.com/iyaleo/albums/12924 to see the packagings and other flavors.(Shameless plugging here!)
INVITATIONS: DIY
I'm also very happy with how the invitation turned out. I did the layout and we just printed it at home. I had to test different papers cause I wanted to make it like one of those greeting cards. I think I ended up using the board photo paper from CDR King. My sister and hubby had to cut it for me though cause I couldn't cut straight to save myself, hahaha. The rolled parchment paper attached to the owl's feet contained the invited kid's acceptance letter to Hogwarts. We tried to make the wordings pretty authentic, hahaha.
INFLATABLE CASTLE: MyJumper
My sister found this supplier via sulit.com. I found their rates and terms quite reasonable and they were easy to talk to. My only problem was that they were a little late cause they got lost on the way to the clubhouse. Some of the guests were already there when they were setting up. Another thing, I didn't think the jumper was used much during the party cause I had it set-up outside (at Diagon Alley) and the show was inside. I believe they preferred to watch Wanlu more than play in the jumper, hahaha. It was good that they stayed late though cause some of the kids were able to play after the show. My baby girl loved it too :)
CONTEST PRIZES: Divisoria
I think I went overboard with the prizes, hahaha. I believe I went 3 or 4 times to divisoria to buy them. But it was so nice seeing all the toys on the table. Really great incentive for the kids to join the games. I also had really nice best costume prizes to encourage them to buy scarves and hats and brooms and robes from the Diagon Alley (with their play money of course) - that is if they didn't come in costume.
KALLI's GOLDEN SNITCH COSTUME: Bengie Agustin
Tita Bengie is our suki designer/mananahi. She was the one who did my wedding and entourage gowns. We're always happy with her work, and Kalli's costume was no exception.
ENTRANCE TARPAULIN: Ninong JunI made the layout of the Tarp and Kalli's ninong printed it. I love Kalli's pictures in the tarp. She looked so happy in them :)
DIAGON ALLEY ITEMS and PROPS
SCARVES: Grandma
My mom made scarves (around 10 for each house) for the Diagon Alley. Again that was a labor of love since she had to stay up pretty late some nights just to finish them. The guests loved them - even the adults. Everywhere, you'd see them wearing the scarves :)
HATS and BROOMS: DIY
I wanted the brooms to look like those in the harry potter movies so we used twigs instead of the "walis tingting". I got the twigs from divisoria. I made the hats from cartolinas and felt paper (for the sorting hat).
ROBES: Becky
We bought black cloth from divisoria and had our neighbor mananahi sow them into toga-like robes. We intended to do it ourselves but we just ran out of time.
WANDS: Divisoria and DIY
I bought some harry potter toy wands from divisoria. Others, I just made from sticks, hahaha. We put them in DIY boxes and "sold" them at the Olivander's shop :)
PHOTOGRAPHER: Us? and friends
We didn't hire any photogapher since my husband and I do photography ourselves and we thought we could handle it. Unfortunately, we got so busy mingling and looking into the details that we forgot to take pictures! I was sooooo sad about it given that we spent so much time and effort on the details of the party :( But good thing we had some friends who were there and took some pictures. We didn't have a video though :(
Anyway, here are some pictures of the party:
Party Details:
http://iyaleo.smugmug.com/Birthdays/KalliTurns1/Kalli-Turns-One-Party-Details/18334378_LZ94vh#1411897675_c3pRH9J
Party Pictures:
http://iyaleo.smugmug.com/Birthdays/KalliTurns1/Kalli-Turns-1/18337705_wBcKsS#1412348975_7v4x3fz
THEME: Harry Potter!
When I first mentioned the Harry Potter theme, a lot were saying it wasn't ideal for a birthday party cause it's a little dark. It's more appropriate for a halloween party. Still, we pushed through with it cause I love the Harry Potter movies and I know we could do a lot of things with this theme. Happy naman ako sa naging result nung party. We tried to make it super Harry Potter talaga. We even played the Harry Potter soundtrack as background music, hehehe.
VENUE: Casa Milan Clubhouse
This is not our first choice for the venue - not because it isn't pretty - but because it's a little expensive. We wanted to get Green Meadows Clubhouse, or Acropolis, or Corinthian Hills, but they were all already booked when I started planning. I totally forgot that November is peak wedding season! Anyway, it's a good thing my uncle knew someone from Casa Milan and got us a 50% discount. Asthetically, I really liked Casa Milan. It has a landscaped entrance and the main hall is air conditioned. We also rented out the terrace area for the Diagon Alley and the inflatable jumper castle. The subdivision was also near ours so it was easier to bring things back and forth from our house.
CATERER (ADULT FOOD): Verleo
What can I say? We loved Verleo! I only heard of them through the ravings at N@W, and I'm so glad I booked them. A lot of my guests commented on how great the food was. They didn't know it was not expensive at all. And it was abundant! I'm definitely getting them again in the future.
Here's what I got from them: Japanese Fried Rice, Birthday Noodles, King Dao Spareribs, Beef Teppanyaki (on the spot), Grilled Prawns (on the spot), Fish Fillet with Cream Corn, Halo Halo with Leche Flan.
KIDDIE FOOD: Grandma, Lola Pearl, and Fairview Lechon
Since the kiddie buffet will only serve around 50-60 kids and the dishes are much simpler to prepare, we decided to prepare it ourselves instead of getting from the caterer. Thanks to my mom's and tita Pearl's great cooking, we served spaghetti, fried chicken fillet and chicken lollipop. We also ordered pork barbeque at Fairview Lechon - a family long-time favorite. For drinks, we bought Zesto Orange from the supermarket. Verleo provided the kiddie buffet table, kiddie tables and chairs, and served the kiddie buffet.
CUPCAKES: Tita LA
My sister baked yummy chocolate-chip cupcakes, topped with chocolate icing and merengue colorful witch hats. It was a great complement to the cake and a yummy addition to the kiddie desserts.
HARRY POTTER CAKE: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne (polkadots)
The cake was delicious! We got the chocolate flavor and it was moist and not too sweet, even after several days. The Harry Potter topper was also nice. My aunt wanted to bring it back to the province to show to the kids there, hahaha.
Jhoanne was really great! She was so helpful and has a lot of great ideas. I also got my Main Hall Tarpaulin, Styro Happy Birthday Sign, Food carts and kiddie couches from her.
FOOD CARTS (Cotton Candy, Ice Cream, Snow Cone): c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne (polkadots)
We put the food carts at the Diagon Alley and it was a hit. I saw a lot of the adults eating cotton candy and ice cream. I was only able to try the snow cone though. It was good that we had them cause I think we ran out of juice and it was a great thirst quencher.
KIDDIE COUCHES: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne
The kiddie couches were really nice! I love the Harry Potter picture on it and the color (black). It wasn't cheap looking at all. Kalli loves it too! I saved one couch for her and she carries it all over the house.
A lot of the guests wanted to have one, but I only ordered 10. The couches were the House prize. The kids were sorted into the 4 Hogwarts houses and they earned tokens (house points) by joining game booths and the games that Wanlu prepared. The couches were great incentives for the children to participate.
HOGWARTS TARPAULIN AND STYRO HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIGN: c/o fellow n@wie Jhoanne
One of the problems I had with tarps in the past was that it almost always didn't show the correct color, specially for gold and orange. I was worried that the big castle tarp will have the same problem. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't so. The colors were vivid and correct, and you wouldn't notice the place where they connected the 2 tarps to create the 1 big tarp. The Styro sign was also very nice :)
HOST, MAGICIAN, VENTRILOQUIST - Wanlu
I heard that Wanlu was great that is why I booked him, though I haven't seen him perform before. And WOW, he really was great! He really knows how to capture the audience. He gave life to the party, and his magic show was awesome! The puppets were also very entertaining. We laughed and laughed and laughed, hehehe.
GLITTER TATTOO - c/o Wanlu
The glitter tattoo station was a hit. Even though it was stationed at the Diagon Alley at the clubhouse terrace and the show has already started inside the main dining, the guests were still going out for the Glitter Tattoo. Too bad I wasn't able to get one :( The kids and adults loved it.
GAME BOOTHS (Bull's Eye, Hoop-a-loop, Shoot that Ball) - www.kiddie-party.com
I got the game booths from Kiddie Party because they had the best package price. I also got the standees from them. I am quite happy with what I got. What really surprised and WOWed me was that they were SO VERY helpful! They came early to set up, around 11am. We were also there already cause we were doing the decorating and balloon columns ourselves. We didn't really have any experience with balloon decors and ended up making sloppy balloon columns, hahaha. Truth is we were really pathetic. I guess the kiddie party team noticed that too cause all of a sudden they started making the balloon columns and doing the decors! They were really awesome and I was so thankful :)
STANDEES (Harry Potter, Hermoine and Ron, Hagrid) - www.kiddie-party.com
Instead of getting a styro backdrop, I opted for a big tarpaulin backdrop (c/o Jhoanne, see above) and some Harry Potter standees from kiddie-party. They were cheaper alternatives and worked quite well in setting up the theme too. The guests loved the standees. A lot of them had their pictures taken with them, some even staying after the party just to take pictures :)
HARRY POTTER LOOT BUCKETS: DIY
The loot buckets were a hit, if I say so myself, hahaha. Even some of the adults wanted to get one. It was really a labor of love cause we made it ourselves and it was kinda hard to do! But in the end, I was more than satisfied with it :) We put Harry Potter things in it from Divisoria (pen, sticker, bubble, ruler, keychain, puzzle cube), and some toys and candies.
ADULT GIVE-AWAY (RUM BALLS): Tita LA
My sister made the Rum Balls and we packaged it in small pretty tin cans. If you like rum cakes, you'll love these. I'm so addicted to them! Some guests started ordering after they tasted it from the party. Visit http://www.zoto.com/iyaleo/albums/12924 to see the packagings and other flavors.(Shameless plugging here!)
INVITATIONS: DIY
I'm also very happy with how the invitation turned out. I did the layout and we just printed it at home. I had to test different papers cause I wanted to make it like one of those greeting cards. I think I ended up using the board photo paper from CDR King. My sister and hubby had to cut it for me though cause I couldn't cut straight to save myself, hahaha. The rolled parchment paper attached to the owl's feet contained the invited kid's acceptance letter to Hogwarts. We tried to make the wordings pretty authentic, hahaha.
INFLATABLE CASTLE: MyJumper
My sister found this supplier via sulit.com. I found their rates and terms quite reasonable and they were easy to talk to. My only problem was that they were a little late cause they got lost on the way to the clubhouse. Some of the guests were already there when they were setting up. Another thing, I didn't think the jumper was used much during the party cause I had it set-up outside (at Diagon Alley) and the show was inside. I believe they preferred to watch Wanlu more than play in the jumper, hahaha. It was good that they stayed late though cause some of the kids were able to play after the show. My baby girl loved it too :)
CONTEST PRIZES: Divisoria
I think I went overboard with the prizes, hahaha. I believe I went 3 or 4 times to divisoria to buy them. But it was so nice seeing all the toys on the table. Really great incentive for the kids to join the games. I also had really nice best costume prizes to encourage them to buy scarves and hats and brooms and robes from the Diagon Alley (with their play money of course) - that is if they didn't come in costume.
KALLI's GOLDEN SNITCH COSTUME: Bengie Agustin
Tita Bengie is our suki designer/mananahi. She was the one who did my wedding and entourage gowns. We're always happy with her work, and Kalli's costume was no exception.
ENTRANCE TARPAULIN: Ninong JunI made the layout of the Tarp and Kalli's ninong printed it. I love Kalli's pictures in the tarp. She looked so happy in them :)
DIAGON ALLEY ITEMS and PROPS
SCARVES: Grandma
My mom made scarves (around 10 for each house) for the Diagon Alley. Again that was a labor of love since she had to stay up pretty late some nights just to finish them. The guests loved them - even the adults. Everywhere, you'd see them wearing the scarves :)
HATS and BROOMS: DIY
I wanted the brooms to look like those in the harry potter movies so we used twigs instead of the "walis tingting". I got the twigs from divisoria. I made the hats from cartolinas and felt paper (for the sorting hat).
ROBES: Becky
We bought black cloth from divisoria and had our neighbor mananahi sow them into toga-like robes. We intended to do it ourselves but we just ran out of time.
WANDS: Divisoria and DIY
I bought some harry potter toy wands from divisoria. Others, I just made from sticks, hahaha. We put them in DIY boxes and "sold" them at the Olivander's shop :)
PHOTOGRAPHER: Us? and friends
We didn't hire any photogapher since my husband and I do photography ourselves and we thought we could handle it. Unfortunately, we got so busy mingling and looking into the details that we forgot to take pictures! I was sooooo sad about it given that we spent so much time and effort on the details of the party :( But good thing we had some friends who were there and took some pictures. We didn't have a video though :(
Anyway, here are some pictures of the party:
Party Details:
http://iyaleo.smugmug.com/Birthdays/KalliTurns1/Kalli-Turns-One-Party-Details/18334378_LZ94vh#1411897675_c3pRH9J
Party Pictures:
http://iyaleo.smugmug.com/Birthdays/KalliTurns1/Kalli-Turns-1/18337705_wBcKsS#1412348975_7v4x3fz
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