Barefooted Me: Before You Call Me a Tease… (BFMUBL Part 4)

Here’s the continuation to the “Back from My Unannounced Blog Leave (BFMUBL)” series. :)

As a first time mother, I was clueless as to how kiddie parties work. Before I became a mom, the ones I attended were all of the same kind. So I promised myself that when the Little Lady’s turn comes, her parties need not be grand, but I want guests to remember them for a long time.

I always want to create something and not just buy ready-made stuff. As I said in a previous post, I love the challenge of having to create something out of limited resources and just my wild imagination. My sister would tease me every year that I’m making my life complicated with my ‘labor of love projects’.

I shared with you last time, the Little Lady’s 3rd and 4th birthday invites. During her 1st and 2nd birthdays, I just used generic invites that can be bought at any party supplies shop so I'll just post today her 5th and 6th, to complete the list along with a rundown of how we celebrated her birthdays in the past:

1st Birthday: Powerpuff - Disney Babies - Popeye

Venue: Park
Food: Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits meal; Ice cream and Cotton Candy carts
Program: Games with *Pabitin and Hit the Pot; Popeye & Olive mascot appearance

Giveaways: I single-handedly made around 40 loot bags out of brightly-colored cartolinas/thin construction boards. I placed handles and pasted Powerpuff Girls cut-outs at the front to give it a more personalized look.

Labor of Love: The lootbag making activity gave me callus on the side of my right hand’s index finger, due to excessive scissor usage. :-P I placed toys, candies, milk (care of Sustagen) and chocolate crinkles I baked myself (last minute!), inside the bags.

2nd Birthday: Hello Kitty

Venue: Pavilion
Food: Catered Buffet; French fries, Dimsum and Fiorgelato carts

Program: Kiddie Salon; games with *Pabitin and Piñata; Magic Show; Hello Kitty mascot appearance

Giveaways: Character designed plates, pencil case and tumbler wrapped as a set in transparent cellophane and tied with curling ribbons; cupcakes.

Labor of Love: Candy bouquet in Hello Kitty holders - different kinds of candies were attached to hard colored straws with metallic wrapper, and arranged to look like bouquets.

3rd Birthday: Dora the Explorer

Venue: Home
Food: Home cooked buffet; French fries and Dimsum food cart

Program: Dora show on TV; games with *Pabitin and Piñata; Dora mascot appearance; Song number by the Little Lady

Giveaways: I saved the Little Lady’s empty 1.8kg milk cans and was able to collect more than 30 cans. I painted them with the colors orange and yellow, placed rope handles, personalized stickers and put goodies, Dora CDs and toys inside.

Labor of Love: The can painting part plus the backdrop where I made Dora and friends styro cutouts (as shown below). I painted and attached them on plain yellow tarpaulin along with the text "Feliz Cumpleaños, Chestene!"

4th Birthday: Disney Princess

Venue: Home
Food: Home cooked buffet; Dimsum food cart

Program: Games with *Pabitin; Digital show presentation; Princess song number by the Little Lady

Giveaways: Pink canvas bags for girls with assorted goodies (stickers, comb, metallic rubberbands, pearls, etc.); lunchboxes for boys with toys and candies inside; metallic mugs with candies for adults.

Labor of Love: Digital show; tiaras made out of thin board, designed with metallic foil hearts and glitters.

5th Birthday: Disney Princess (again!)

Disney Princess Invite

Venue: McDonald’s
Food: McDonald’s meal
Program: Games with *Pabitin; story telling by the Little Lady
Giveaways: Gift-wrapped Princess art set portfolio for girls; robots for boys.

Labor of Love: Disney Princess tarpaulin layout

6th Birthday: Total Girl - Fashion Barbie

Barbie Invite

Venue: Pizza Hut
Food: Pizza Hut meal
Program: Games with *Pabitin; Model interview

Giveaways: Beads set for girls (assorted beads, sequins, strings, jewel hair clips, wire and glitters) placed in violet microwavable containers. I just punched holes, placed a piece of hard metallic ribbon as handle and designed the cover with fuchsia sequins to make it look personalized. I placed them in Barbie lootbags together with headbands, stickers and candy cups; basketball hoop sets and Toy Story place mats for boys.

Labor of Love: Organizing the beads set giveaways and making the Total Girl Magazine cover layout.

Total Girl Backdrop

*Pabitin – The idea of this Filipino classic party game is to grab all you can from the toys and goodies tied to the hanging crisscrossed pieces of wood/bamboo.