Our Ethan Isaiah, our bunso :)

It dawned on me that I forgot my bunso to document his milestones here.  Sorry anak.  Thanks to Sean for making me realized that this blog is not only for kuya Kiel! Here is my pangbawi! :)

For the past few days, I've  been so busy preparing for my Ethan's first birthday! It's just that we're now on a tight budget that's why I need to be focus on how to get suppliers, hope the quality of their services will not be sacrificed because of the cheap fee that I got from them.  Before I close any engagement with the suppliers, I have a dialogue to them "I trust you and your team that you will do good on my son's 1st bday celebration!" so by that note, it seems they got what I meant and they just thanked us for trusting them.  I also gained some friends in the process of looking for suppliers.  Thanks Ethan for this wonderful experience.

Here are the details of suppliers for Ethan's birthday:

Venue:  Jubilation West Village Clubhouse, Binan, Laguna

Photobooth - c/o my cousin, Ianne Ricafort Young.  As she promised, entrance tarpaulin is their gift to Ethan.  Thank You! :)

Host/Magician/Ventriloquist - This is the hardest part! I was able to contact 6 magicians before we finally get this one, Rene Salamangkiko Mucha.  Thanks to Leodini, one of the great magicians in the Phils, for recommending Salamangkiko since he is already booked on Dec 22, 2012.  Gosh! I got so many magician friends while looking for one...hehehe (let's say, feeling "close" lang ako sa kanila, I even texted them "I'm so desperate, all good magicians are all booked on my son's bday, please help me get one."  I almost texted all of them like that, and glad to know that they were so accommodating and really helped me look for one, it's just that all of them are already booked on that day except for Salamangkiko.)  Kuya Mau, Kuya Ted, Chubsters, Lhen Peralta, Leodini, Wizzo are all booked on that day! Super thanks to Leodini, I got the cheapest one since Salamangkiko is also from Laguna so no additional transpo charge.  You may want to watch him here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5nVY8rmTSg

Food from ate Evie's Catering Services ("E-b's House Cuisine and Catering Services").  She is a former officemate of my Kuya Eric, she was able to do catering services in some of our family occasions.  It's cheap and the food is good! :)  We chose to hold the party in the afternoon in time for merienda.  Our food will be pasta, pasta, pasta! :) hehehe with Fried Chicken for kids and BBQ for adults.  Instead of having rice, it's cheaper to have pasta! :) (in this post, the common words you will see are "cheap", "cheaper", "tight budget" hehehe that's what we need e! :)  I am so sure that Ethan will understand it and by the time he can read this, he will realize how much time and effort that nanay gave to this party preparation and I hope he will appreciate it. Love you anak! )

Decorations - I asked ate Evie if she knows someone who can do the decorations.  She immediately offered that she can do it and just add some additional service charge on that.  What a great deal! Thanks te evie, it's so affordable unlike those I inquired from internet, there's a fixed charge then an additional P4.5K transpo fee (grabe naman yun! transpo lang un ah, OA makasingil)  I trust ate Evie, in fact, she requested for a meeting on the first week of December to discuss everything and show me her sample decorations for a Justice League theme party. :)

Food carts - Good to know that Evelyn Peralta, one of the magician/hosts that I inquired with, also offers food carts.  We chose sweetcorn, hotdog and taho food carts.  The fee is so affordable! and they only charge P500 transpo.  It's so cheap considering they are from Bulacan! Thanks Lhen for a great deal! :)

Sounds System - I asked my cousin, Marisol, if she has a contact for sounds system, she gave me the no. and inquired, I guess my budget doesn't fit to their charges.  So I asked again ate Evie (hehehe it seems like ate Evie is my angel for this event), she gave me the no. of JMB Sounds System, she is related to the owner.  When ate Evie forwarded me the contact no. of Jun Betco, I just remembered that it's owned by my former English teacher in high school, hehehe so I introduced myself as one of his wife's students before and he gave me a discount! hehehe (ang kapal ng mukha ko pero para makatipid, go lang ng go! kung san makakatipid dun tayo.) hehehe their service charge is half the charge of the first one I inquired with.

so eto na lang ang kulang ko which I think carryng-carry ko na :)

1.  Cake - I'm thinking of Goldilocks like this one:


2.  Giveaways, lootbags and game prizes - I'll visit Edeng's store at Market! Market! my ever reliable and affordable source of toys hehehe (suking suki na ko dito, dapat may discount card na ko dito e, from Kuya Kiel's 1st bday up to 4th, eto ang aking supplier ng toys hehehe) Pero I'm still thinking if I can still visit Divisoria, iniisip ko kasi pag punta palang dun pagod na, toll fees pa tapos sobra dami tao tapos may risk pa na baka madukutan ka, which I actually experienced in 2000, I was with my nanay then, buti na lang nakapamili na kami and P50 na lang ang nasa wallet ko, naghahanap na lang kami ni nanay ng ATM para magwithdraw na pamasahe namin kaso sa kasamaang palad, nalaslas yung bag ko, nakuha ang wallet ko, nakakataka, di kinuha ang cp ko, BOSCH pa nun cp ko, hehehe naalala ko tuloy sa PwC, niloloko ang BOSCH cp ko, kahit daw ibigay ko sa snatcher, tatanggihin, mga loko din friends ko e no? (ayan bigla ko silang namiss....hahaha, ang haba ng kwento.) so eto na, wala na din ATM ko kasi kasama ng wallet, pano na kami uuwi ni nanay.  Ang matalino kong nanay, naisip agad na isangla ang wedding ring nya only for P200 ah, takang taka ung taga pawnshop at bakit daw ang mura, sabi ni nanay, babalikan ko yan bukas, ayun kinabukasan, lumuwas uli si nanay para tubusin ang wedding ring. hehehe bow! :)

sobrang haba ata nito :) hope you still enjoy reading it! :)

Some photos taken during Ethan's monthly bday celebration: