Caila's 9th Birthday with Lego, Sprinkles, Sports, and Cream

Just like all her past birthdays, Caila had to have a theme when she turned 9 this year. And since she and her little sister had been spending their free time playing with Lego sets that their Oma and Opa gave last year, it was practically a no-brainer that she would choose that to be her theme. The good thing about it was we only had to spend on the giveaways and the family dinner to celebrate because she agreed not to have a party again. Whew! ☺

Happy Emojis for Sophie's 5th Birthday

Ever since we received the news that Sophie was accepted in her big sister’s school, I immediately knew she would celebrate her next birthday there. And after speaking to her teacher during the Parents Orientation to make sure it was ok to have it on the date of her actual birthday, I set to work in planning and preparing.

Caila's Trolls Themed 8th Birthday

Since my sister treated Caila (and the rest of us) to a luxurious weekend stay at the InterContinental Dubai Marina as a gift for her 8th birthday, I knew I couldn't top that... material-wise, at least.  Thankfully, my eldest daughter had already told me how she wanted to spend her actual birthday and it didn't include a big party so we didn't have to dig too deep into our pockets this time. Whew! 

However, it did include giving away goody bags to her close friends and classmates at school.  It would have been an easy task (just buy treats and put them in bags, right?), but since she was so used to having a theme every year for her birthday, she insisted that there be a theme as well this year...yes, even though it would just be for the lootbags. This time it was Trolls. 

Sophie's Last Minute Book Character Parade Costume

When it comes to resourcefulness and creativity, nothing brings out these qualities faster from a mother than her child who has an activity or requirement at school and there's no time or budget to go out and buy.

Yes, that's what happened to me when I read in my youngest's school diary that they were having a Book Character Parade the following week...and only remembering that she still didn't have a costume two days before the actual activity would take place.  Aacckk!

A PJ Masks Birthday Party at Popeye's, Karama

We had originally planned for Sophie to have her 4th birthday at school. A simple one with a cake, cupcakes, and lootbags like her sister…nothing too fancy, just something to celebrate her special day. But because of the school’s rules, we opted to give her a party elsewhere instead.

And since it was almost last minute when we had to change our plans, naturally, all the popular fast food restaurants that had party halls were already booked for the date we were eyeing. It’s a good thing when I called Popeye’s in Karama, they were available on the date and time we wanted, so Hubby and I rushed over after work and paid Dhs200 as deposit to book them.

A My Little Pony Party at Chuck E. Cheese's

Right after she had turned 6 years old, Caila was already looking forward to her 7th birthday. She must have enjoyed her Play-doh themed birthday so much, she couldn’t wait to start planning for her next party. Which is why, as early as May last year, our eldest daughter told me that she wanted a My Little Pony themed birthday party when she turned 7. Yes, that was just 3 months after she turned 6! Talk about excited! ☺  Of course we didn’t start preparing for the party that soon, though. That would have been too early!

After scouting around for fast food restaurants that had party halls, we attended a birthday at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Oud Metha…and as soon as the party was over, Caila told us that that’s where she wanted to celebrate her next birthday. I admit it is a great place. It has a wide variety of machines that kids and kids-at-heart can enjoy; and the best thing is, you only need 1 coin per game! However, I was hesitant to have the party there; mainly because the packages were just too expensive! Hubby and I tried to look for other options, but in the end, we gave in. After all, it was her 7th birthday...a special age to be celebrated (at least, that’s what almost everyone we know tells us)…so we blindly booked the hall in January and started preparations.

A Play-Doh Themed Birthday Party

When we asked our eldest daughter if she wanted to celebrate her birthday at school again this year, Caila said “no.” What she wanted was a party at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and to invite all her classmates from school and friends from the KFC community.

A Great Wedding Gift Idea

Hubby and I were part of the service team of our CFC cluster’s Marriage Enrichment Retreat 1 that took place over the weekend, and definitely we were busy. Hubby was the head of the Marshalls and Logistics Committee while I was part of the Child Care Committee. Fortunately, the overnight activity took place in Auris Hotel at Tecom (unlike past MERs that took place in other emirates), so the journey going to and from there wasn’t long.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the souvenir that the participants received. It was such a nice token, the service team also ordered these souvenirs as well.

It’s a Marriage Memory Jar! Whenever something good or special happens, the couple will just need to write the details on a piece of paper, and put it inside. Or if they go out on a date, they can get a remembrance from that event (a paper napkin from the restaurant, a movie ticket, stationery from the hotel, etc. ) and put that in. It’s a nice way to remember all the special things that they shared and went through together.

One thing that makes it a memory jar especially for (church) married couples, is the sand. There are 3 different colors of sand inside: neutral (white-brown), blue, and orange. There’s an explanation for this.

In all marriages, there is the husband (blue) and wife (orange). But a couple alone can never make their marriage work. Someone should be part of it. Of course I’m not talking about having an affair. I’m talking about God…who is the only third person that can should be part of every relationship. Without Him as the foundation, couples won’t be able to face and overcome the problems that come their way…their marriage wouldn’t last.

Initially, the jars were distributed with only the neutral colored sand in the jar, and the blue and orange sands were given separately.

At the signal during the program, the couples poured in their colored sands into their jars together, at the same time, and were asked to mix them well. The challenge given to them was if the day comes when one or both of them want to part ways (and for sure, that day will happen), they need to separate the different grains of sand. If they could do that, then and only then can they break up.

Practically impossible to do, of course.

Which is why the jar was such a nice token for the MER1. And why I think it’s such a great wedding gift idea. Or even a wedding anniversary gift to couples.

And it’s not expensive too! All you need is a big glass jar, normal sand (from the beach), 2 different colored sands (the ones used for ours were from Ikea; any colors will do), different colored papers to write down memories in, and whatever things you want to use to decorate the jar.

Simple, easy, yet very meaningful.

turning 5 with a hi-5 celebration

Although the celebration wasn’t until 3 days after her actual birthday, I couldn’t let her special day pass without doing something for our eldest daughter. So on the morning of the 27th of February, we made a number 5 pancake, prepared a banner, and stuck it on the wall.

And thanks to my co-n@wies for the reminder, I sent all the information needed to E-Junior more than a month earlier, and on her special day, Caila had a nice surprise when she saw this on our television screen:

She was so, so happy! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take a picture or video of her face when she saw the greeting, but I could see it really made her day. Even until now, she likes to look at that greeting on Tisay, and show it off to our friends.

That night, our family celebrated with dinner at Texas Roadhouse, along with my sister and Gabe. However, when the servers came to sing her Happy Birthday, Caila just wouldn’t cooperate…because her birthday party is on Sunday pa. She didn’t want her picture taken either. Haaaay! Kids! Go figure!

Sunday finally arrived on the 2nd of March and this was the day that she was looking forward to. As expected, I had been the busy one preparing for that day. Since there are absolutely no Hi-5 themed stuff anywhere in Dubai, I had to make-do with whatever I could find (again…for the second year in a row).

I designed and printed the toppers for the cupcakes almost a month in advance, and whenever I had the free time, I would cut them out and stick them on toothpicks.

Hi-5 cupcake toppers

I had also downloaded song videos of Hi-5 episodes from Youtube, and burned these on CDs for each of the kids’ goodybags. Except for the candies and jellies which we bought the day before, the non-edible stuff and paper goodybags were bought a week earlier from Party Centre, Day to Day, and Daiso.

As for the cupcakes, I made them as soon as we finished having dinner on Saturday night. The little girl wanted vanilla Oreo cupcakes for her classmates, and since it was her birthday after all, that’s what I baked…with cookies and cream frosting…all from scratch. Whew!



one of the extra cupcakes for our consumption

The only thing that I didn’t prepare was the cake. I left that to the expert. When I showed Caila pictures of several Hi-5 cakes that I got from the internet, she sat down with me and explained what she wanted her cake to look like.  After sending the draft and exchanging several messages on Facebook, Tita Rina made the perfect cake for our girl


vanilla flavoured with chocolate ganache filling
all-edible...even JupJup and the Hi-5 logo!

That morning, our little girl wore one of her pink dresses. She told us that whenever her classmates would celebrate their birthdays at school, they were allowed to wear something else instead of their usual uniforms. So that’s what she did. She rode on the bus, excitedly looking forward to her celebration later.

By 9:30am, all of us (Hubby, me, Sophie, and Jovy) headed to the school, and at 9:55am, we were setting up everything in front of the kids in the classroom. It just so happened that almost all of them liked Hi-5, plus the program had just returned on E-Junior a few days ago, so they really appreciated the cake and cupcakes.

the celebrant with her Hi-5 cupcakes and cake

As they began singing Happy Birthday, Caila started cutting the cake. She just put the knife in the cake, then cut, then stuck the knife again in the cake and cut again, over and over. She didn’t or couldn’t wait! Excited lang masyado. After the kids stopped singing, that’s when she stopped cutting to blow the candles.

Right after that, the kids were asked to sit down at their tables while I helped Caila as she handed out the cupcakes to each of them. I’m happy to say the cupcakes were devoured in minutes! The kids and teachers found them really yummy. Hurray!

The entire celebration was over so fast, and before we knew it, it was time for us to pack and leave. We left the goodybags by the door for Caila to give out before they all left later.

family pic

A small celebration, but one that put a big smile on our 5 year old’s face.  All the effort was worth it.

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.

leih's baby shower

Two weeks ago, I received an SMS from Leih inviting me to her baby shower which would be held that Friday. I immediately called her up and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Leih, di ako makakapunta sa shower mo. May MER kami ni Guchi nun. Service team kami.
Leih: Ganon ba? Sige, i-move na lang. Ikaw pa lang naman ang nasasabihan ko eh.
Me: Talaga? Sige, i-resched mo na lang please. The following Friday, pwede ako.
Leih: Ok po. Next Friday na lang. Ikaw na lang magsabi sa mga anakis mo na kapatid ko ha.
Me: Yehey! Walang problema. Akong bahala mag-inform sa kanila. Salamat!

After we ended the conversation, I immediately sent an SMS to my SFC babies to block their schedules for the 28th of June, and the following day I sent a message to all of them. Then I sent a message to Leih asking her for the details of the shower. Apparently, she hadn’t planned anything yet. Just the date, food and venue. In the end, I instantly became the organizer and Leih told me to just coordinate with her former SFC member to assist me. Ayos!

There wasn’t too much to do, though. Just make a picture invitation, create an event on facebook and invite Leih’s family and friends, think of games, and prepare the stuff needed for the games. The couple were simple, so they didn’t need too much decors, although I did print the door sign and photowall just to make the place a bit more festive.  Medyo na-toxic lang ako on the day of the shower because that morning, I had to bake apple muffins (my promise to the preggy lady) because I didn’t have time to do so the night before, then show up for my 11am appointment at UniCare before going to the shower venue which was the apartment of Leih’s sister and her family.

I had originally planned on having just 4 games, but because the guests were enjoying themselves (and after the 4th game, their faces seemed to be waiting for me to tell them what the next game was), I had to instantly think of another one. The first game was Stick the Sperm on the Egg, and we all had a good laugh while watching the blindfolded men stick the sperm (with the daddy-to-be’s face) near the expectant mommy’s face which was shaped like an egg. The next game was “How Big is Mommy’s Belly” which the female guests took part in. The third game was a team effort in figuring out the seven different chocolates used in Dirty Diapers, and the supposed to be last one was a relay where each team had to transfer the most number of cereal balls from a cup via a formula milk scoop to a plate. The really last game was another group activity where the teams had to think of the most number of songs that had the words Babe, Baby, Child or Children in it.

We’re all excited to see Renjith and Leih’s little princess who’ll be coming out next month. Oh no, this means that I’ll be a grandma soon! Hahaha!

the nihao kai-lan party she wanted

As planned, Caila celebrated her 4th birthday at school last Wednesday...and fortunately, she was happy. Well, she should be. My fingers hurt from cutting the toppers, bottle labels, and container labels, and my arms hurt from mixing and stirring the batter for the cupcakes because I still haven’t been able to convince Hubby to get me an electric mixer. I had been up late the night before baking the cupcakes, and I had to wake up early the next day for the nuggets and frosting of the cupcakes. But of course, all these aches and pains weren’t much and I forgot about how tired I was when I saw how cute the little table in the classroom looked with everything we had prepared and how happy our daughter was on her special day. Allow me to share my first semi-DIY birthday project.

sophie's christening

Baptisms at St. Mary’s Church are held on Thursdays only (except Maundy Thursday), but after attending the Baptism Seminar in October, Hubby immediately went to Fr. Tom (the Parish Priest) to speak to him. Fortunately, after a pretty long talk, he allowed us to have what they call a “special baptism” on the 17th of November, a Saturday. Once we got the date finalized, I started preparing the list of things to do: book the reception venue, ask and inform the godparents-to-be, order the cake, giveaways, etc. Fortunately, I was still on my maternity leave and would only return to work on the 10th of November, so it gave me lots of time to do whatever I needed to accomplish.