sophie's rainbow birthday party (details)

When I decided that Sophie would be having a rainbow-themed party for her first birthday, all I knew was that it would have be colourful, and this could easily be solved by balloons and decorations. As I browsed the internet, I was amazed at all the unique ideas I found to incorporate the actual rainbow theme (and not just colors). And so here are the things I did to make the party over the rainbow…

Her birthday this year fell on a Friday, and since it’s a weekend, I told Hubby that we needed to book the venue months in advance. With the number of friends we would be inviting, Chowking in Al Ghurair was the only choice we had. Their affordable packages (which already included the decorations, host, a few games and prizes) and the big hall sealed the deal for us. The variety of food in their selection were safe picks as well; at least we wouldn’t have to worry if any of our guests wouldn’t be able to stomach the food.

To make sure that the food buffet had a touch of the theme, I prepared the labels myself.  You can see a glimpse of one of the labels in the photo below.

For the cake and cupcakes, I already knew what I wanted them to look like; the only problem was who could actually do them. I sent pictures of the model cake and cupcakes to many cake-makers, but Tita Rina was the only one who assured me that she could actually do the challenging design. All communications were exchanged through messages on Facebook, and on the morning of the party, Hubby and Gabe went to her home to pick up our order, along with the cake stand Tita Rina lent us. The cupcakes looked exactly what I had in mind, but the cake really surpassed my expectations.

The layers were very thick and each color vibrant. A simple design, but perfectly unique just the same. I didn’t have to worry about the taste because they were all so delicious and moist. The layers of the rainbow cake were vanilla-flavored, and the cupcakes were either chocolate or red velvet. The added bonus was the price was very, very reasonable.

Instead of an ordinary guest-book or asking the guests to write messages or wishes on pieces of paper (which majority rarely do, based from experience), we asked them to make their mark on Sophie’s special day by putting their fingerprint on a framed A3 paper with their names. The simple white frame was bought from Ikea, and I got a pack of assorted colored stamp pads from Tchibo.

I’ve been to several events where PartyRock provided the photobooth, and although they’re generally ok, I wasn’t completely satisfied with their backdrops (the background paper where the celebrant’s pictures or event details are printed). So when I booked them for the party, I told them that I would print the backdrops myself. I have to say though, that their understanding and patience was excellent. I was only able to send them Sophie’s photos less than a week before the event. They sent me the sample layout for the photobooth prints a few days later, but it wasn’t until Thursday morning (the day before the party) that I was able to find time to look at it and give my comments. Several messages were exchanged with all sorts of changes I wanted done, until finally I received a layout that I was happy with. And when I apologized for my “kaartehan,” the reply I got was “It’s your right.” Oo nga naman.

PartyRock also supplied our candy buffet. Their original package included the chocolate fountain and 7 varieties of candies and jellies, but they agreed when I asked them to replace the chocolate fountain with 3 more candies. And although the buffet was colourful and pretty by itself, I couldn’t help but add a Candy Buffet poem from a co-n@wie and the internet.

I looked practically everywhere in Dubai for a colourful dress for the birthday girl, but I didn’t find anything that I liked. Then I realized that since everything else would be all sorts of colors, Sophie should stand out…in white. It was at a small stall in Dubai Festival City (sorry, I forgot the name) where I found the perfect white dress that had a pink belt and linings to match her pink shoes and white socks that we bought from Mothercare.

Finally, our attire.  Of course our family needed to be color-coordinated too, but again, it was practically impossible to find nice, decent clothes to fit the rainbow theme. It was only when I realized that if we included the rest of our family (Mama, Ate Ning and Gabe), we could still fit the theme if each of us wore a different colour of the rainbow.

rainbow family

And those are the small things we did to make Sophie's first birthday as colorful and rainbowy as possible.