Mommy Ginger
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How to Create your Own Parties!

Calling all those who want to be Event Planners or those who want to create their own parties! Due to the success of its first run, Manila Workshops, in partnership with Best for Families Inc., is bringing back the Making Memories and Party Planning Workshop! Through this 2-in-1 session you can learn how to document milestones and important events in your children’s lives, plan for your children’s baptism, and organize memorable birthday parties.

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If you are interested to attend, it will be this Saturday, November 15, 2014 from 1:00-5:00PM at the #29 1st Street, New Manila, Quezon City.

Best of all, the speaker will be Ms. Michelle Katigbak-Alejandro. Michelle has always been passionate about creating. Whether as a writer, an editor, or a party stylist, she enjoys putting things together beautifully. The current Editor-in-Chief for Metro Weddings Magazine and a freelance party stylist, Michelle has collectively had over a decade of experience in events. From baptisms to birthdays to weddings, she has seen and participated in every aspect of special celebrations. In 2011 after having given birth to her first child, Michelle began a small party styling business with her good friend called Styled by: Sami & Bella. Their specialty was intimate events with tons of fun details. In early 2014, she merged her boutique styling business with Cuppy Puppy Bakehouse to become a one-stop shop offering both sweets and styling. An eclectic professional at heart, Michelle is constantly looking for ways to push past her boundaries. While writing and editing remain her first and true love she has been enjoying the styling and crafting arena as well. In 2014 she looks forward to more new experiences and definitely many more creative ventures.

Workshop Rates:
Regular Rate – PHP300
Couple’s Rate – PHP500

First Time Parents: Making Memories and Party Planning is presented by Manila Workshops and Best for Families Inc.

First Birthday List of Party Suppliers: Caterer, Cake and Candy Buffet (Part 3)

We all know that the biggest expense for any celebration would normally be the food. Guests make their impression (whether it be good or bad) basing it normally on the food. I have always trusted one caterer for all of my family’s celebrations. It has always been Bistro 109 Catering Company.

For Zeeaka’s Baptism and First Birthday Party, they were the ones who catered. What I like about them is that they have attentive waiters (always filling up drinks). They are easy to talk to, especially if you have so many requirements. They fulfilled all of my requirements for the table setting like what flowers to us and what frames to use so that it would match the photo. They also were the ones who brought in the kiddie chairs and tables (not only for the main set up but for the supplier of my activities), the cake tale, the gift and registration table and even the table for my dessert/candy buffet brought in by another supplier. Also, they are one of the most reasonably priced catering companies. They have packages from Php 350 per person to around Php 650 per person.

Centerpiece design: Photo on the upper right

Centerpiece design: Photo on the upper right

To contact them, here are the details:
Bistro 109 Catering Company
Tel. Number:6428123
E-mail: bistro109catering@gmail.com
Bistro 109 Facebook Page

Another supplier whom I always get and whom I trust when it comes to cakes and pastries is Tazzy Cakes. The Arboledas have always from Tazzy for all our children’s parties and celebrations.

Here is what Cats from Tazzy Cakes made for Zeeka’s First Birthday:

Little Miss Sunshine Cake

Little Miss Sunshine Cake

Blow your cake, Zeeka!

Blow your cake, Zeeka!

For how Zeeka’s baptism cake looked like (also by Tazzy Cakes), please click on this link: CLICK HERE

Asid from the 2 Cs (Caterer and Cake) for my daughter’s birthday, another important C that I got was a Candy Buffet. This is the “in” thing now. All of the kiddie birthday parties that I have attended this month (which is around 4 already) have candy buffets as one of their party suppliers. The candy or dessert buffet a great way to add decoration and to show the theme of the party.

Little Miss Sunshine Candy Buffet

Little Miss Sunshine Candy Buffet

Another shot taken from my phone

Another shot taken from my phone

My supplier was Sweet Nest Candy Buffet. This was the first time that I got them as a supplier and to tell you honestly, it was really nice talking to Jaz. She was very accommodating. I really love what she did!

For those who want to check out their packages and rates, here it is:

Sweet Nest Candy Buffet - Candy Buffet Packages (as of March 2014)

Sweet Nest Candy Buffet – Candy Buffet Packages (as of March 2014)

Aside from these, they have so many treats and pastries and other services that they can offer so I suggest that you send them an email. Jaz, I know, will be happy to email them to you.

Here are their contact details:

Sweet Nest Candy Buffet
Candy Mobile: 0932-8445529, 0998-9945529 or 0925-52CANDY(22639)
Viber: 0932-8445529, 0998-9945529
Candy Line: 399-9501
Candy Mail: sweetnestcandybuffet@gmail.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SweetNestCandyBuffet
Instagram: Sweetnestcandybuffet
Twitter: SNCandybuffet

Okay, another thing that I am thankful for was the colorful Merengue (in line with my theme) from Mamachows. You’ll notice it on top of the table with Little Miss Sunshine in this picture.

Merengue

Colorful Merengue from Mamachows

Colorful Merengue from Mamachows

Raquel from Mamachows main business is that she provides lactation cookies to women who just gave birth. But aside from that, she and her husband Chef John also make delicious meals and pastries for all of us to enjoy. Thank you, Mamachows, for this wonderful gift for Zeeka!

For those who want to get in touch with them, you can visit their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MamaChows

Watch out for two more posts on my party suppliers for Zeeka’s first birthday!

First Birthday List of Party Suppliers: Giveaways and Prizes (Part 2)

So as mentioned yesterday, I am bad at creating graphics. I don’t know how to manipulate or edit photos using Photoshop. It’s a good thing that I got help from another amazing artist named Ena Tabora Quinto from Art Recipes by Mrs. Q. Enah and I have been working together for the free printables that you can get from this blog. With this, I did not have any hesitations in making her one of my party suppliers.

I needed help with my mug design for the giveaways for the adults and the nametags of the children. I knew that I could always rely on Enah to create great designs for me. Here is the artwork that she made for the mug and the nameplates for the children.

Nameplate for the Kids with the theme Little Miss Sunshine

Nameplate for the Kids with the theme Little Miss Sunshine

Mug Design with Little Miss Sunshine Theme

Mug Design with Little Miss Sunshine Theme

She’s so amazing, right? I just had to interview her for this article!

Ginger: How do you describe your style?

Enah: Simple, Elegant and Modern…the three adjectives that best describes my kind of my style in creatively designing artworks to liven up life’s celebrations. I go for the simple elements of design and refrain from using effects like gradients, shadows and embossed types. Polka dots and stripes are never out-dated so they are a common element in my designs.

Ginger: What are the services that you can offer for a mom who is planning their kid’s party?

Enah: Art Recipes aims to bring chicness to house parties. We encourage moms to DIY. We design and produce printables like invites, backdrops, favor tags, favors, candy buffet essentials (cupcake toppers, candy labels), posters, etc.

Ginger: What advice can you give those who are planning to do a DIY party?

Enah: Decide on a theme and create a moodboard. It’s just basically gathering all the inspiration you get from the internet and deciding which ones you want to execute. From there you will know the things you can DIY and which ones you need to order from suppliers.

Ginger: Any tips on design (what colors to use, etc.)

Enah: You can never go wrong with simplicity and elegance. When it comes to colors, Colors will depend on the theme. Pastel colors will go well with vintage or shabby chic themes. Bold colors for circus or safari theme parties.

Ginger: Where can they get in touch with you? 🙂

Enah: Please do check and LIKE our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/artrecipesbymrsq
Instagram: artrecipesbymrsq
Mobile Number: 09272557663
Email: artrecipesbymrsq@gmail.com

What an impressive lady! 🙂 BTW, here is how the mugs and the name plates looked like during the party.

 

mugs and tags

 

These mugs were given to the adults. For the kids, we ordered 50 pieces of Canned Goods. Haha! Not the ones that you get from the grocery, by from a supplier called Canned Goods (Facebook Page).

They created a design that matched the them of the party.

Canned Goods design

Canned Goods design

We saw this at a coupons site so we got discounted rates for the items. We got it for Php 3,375 (Php 7,500 value) for 50 cans + a Php 700 design fee. Each can was at Php 81.50.

You have a choice of what you want the can to come with. Here are the choices:

Toy Soldiers (Classic Green Soldiers inside)
Space/Sci-Fi Kit (Small Toy Robots inside)
Classic Kit for Boys (Trumpo & Candies)
Classic Kit for Girls (Jackstone & Candies)
Safari Kit (Small Toy Animals)
Nostalgia Candy Kit (Haw-Haw, Potchi, Yaki, Chocnut, etc)
Carnival (Cotton Candy)
Bubbles (Bubble Toys)
Arts and Crafts (Origami Set)

I chose the bubbles. When the cans arrived, they looked so cute. Check this out!

Canned Goods with Little Miss Sunshine Theme

Canned Goods with Little Miss Sunshine Theme

But as for what was inside, I was a bit disappointed. It contained just one little container for the bubbles. I actually saw this same container at Divisoria so I knew how much it costs. What my sister and I did was we filled the can with a lot of stuff (candies and treats) for our guests to enjoy.

The payment of Php 81.50 (discounted price) was really for the can, but if I were to suggest, I wished Canned Goods would make the freebies inside look more “special” and more customized. For the bubbles, I would have just used another customized container and not pack it straight from the supplier. Also, in terms of following up with them, it took them a long time to respond to my sister’s inquiries.

So to sum it all up, the idea of Canned Goods is great, but I hope they take this post as something that they can refer to in improving their services.

This is their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CannedGoodsPH

As for the prizes, I got them all from 168 Divisoria. We spent the whole day looking for great items to give to out as prizes. These are the things that we saw and bought:

Zeeka's Giveaways

Zeeka’s Giveaways

I hope you liked them! 🙂

Watch out for our next posts on the other party suppliers for Little Miss Zeeka’s Party!

February Blog Theme is Planning… Mostly Zeeka’s First Birthday Plans!

Are you curious to know if I already started planning for my daughter’s first birthday party? If you’re not, I will tell you anyway (haha!). Well, for those who know that I am very OC when it comes to planning, I’m sure you have already figured out that I have already started.

It’s been a while since I have planned a party like this for myself. Well, you’d probably think “Oh, she’s an events planner so she probably holds a lot of workshops AND parties for herself and her family…” WRONG! It’s so sad, since most of the planning that I do is for other people…. huhuhu! I think the last time I got to plan for myself was for my wedding. But of course, for my little sweetheart’s first birthday, I could and would not let this occasion pass. I want to be hands-on on this one. So last October 2014 (I think!), I started planning already for Zeeka’s birthday. Of course, it wasn’t ‘panic-mode’ planning, but more of relaxed canvassing of different suppliers.

Call me crazy, but an important part to having a great party is really the planning stage. With planning, you set the direction for everything that will happen during the party. You need to show the suppliers that you know what you want. You need to see that you have enough budget for everything that’s necessary.

For Zeeka’s party, my theme will be….

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

I think it’s the perfect them for Zeeka, since she has this bright and sunny disposition always. She makes her DADA and me smile all the time. 🙂 Plus, the character reminds me of Zeeka… hehe!

Little Miss Zeeka!

Little Miss Zeeka!

This is actually the title slide of a presentation composed of 17 slides. I love Power Point and I use it for everything — even Zeeka’s first birthday party. This presentation is made out of little notes that I made for my possible and chosen suppliers. It has pictures of pegs and samples of how I would want things to look like. It sets the tone, mood and feel of the entire event.

The notes in the slides are detailed. I will show the slides to you as I go through each supplier one by one this month, since February’s posts are dedicated to planning for Zeeka’s party (I’m sure i’ll be preoccupied with that so I thought about writing a about it).

As for the budget, looking at the actual costs, it turns out that the total budget that I have when divided by the number guests (approximation) turns out to be around Php 1200 – Php 1500 per person (but that’s just me). If you want a breakdown of the costs on a per ‘type of expense’ basis, do leave a comment in this post and i’ll email it to you. The costs that I will email you is based on what I have for Zeeka. Your costs can actually increase or decrease based on certain priorities that you have (for example, if you really really want a videographer, then you can add that to the budget that I made or if styro backdrops are not necessary for you, then you can adjust that in the budget that I made).

Again, throughout February, I will be featuring party suppliers which I have worked with for Zeeka’s first birthday party. If you are offering a unique product that I might be interested in getting since it works with Zeeka’s theme, do let me know.

For those who want to share their own parties and if you want to be featured in my blog, feel free to check out the guidelines on this page: http://mommyginger.com/party-planning.

Enjoy planning!

Party Planning Fair at Rockwell: Celebrations Fair

Stressing out on what to do for your kid’s birthday party? I am one who can relate. Every time I create a party, I always make it a point to have really good suppliers. These suppliers need to be those who can give quality work and who can deliver on time. It’s 7 more months before I celebrate Baby Z’s first birthday and to tell you honestly, I am always “career” when creating a party for my child, even more meticulous than creating the workshops that I have for my business.

I just had one party for Baby Z, which was her baptism and I made it a point that the party had everything and the experience of Baby Z (although I think she still wouldn’t remember it) and the guests were superb. You can read all about Baby Z’s Baptism HERE.

I was so happy to see this while I was surfing. This party planning fair poster was posted by my friend, Christine.

Celebrations Fair

This fair is brought to you by SKY cable and Nido 3+. Celebrations Fair will bring together incredible party suppliers under one roof on August 17, Saturday from 11am to 6pm at the Rockwell Tent.

I was so happy since I would be able to scout for good suppliers for Baby Z’s first birthday. I am actually so excited to plan and put together the party! And there will be special discounts available from the exhibitors from costume makers, caterers, venues, entertainment, stylists, photographers, souvenir and specialty shops, party supplies and decors and so much more!

Here are the list of the supplier exhibitors:
CelebrationsFair - exhibitors edition

Those who book on the same day get the chance to win packages and treats from our participating exhibitors.
It’s a whole day celebration of party planning peppered with fun games and entertainment for the whole family! We have eats and treats too! And also, the first 150 guests who register onsite get to receive goody bags.

Celebrations Fair is presented by SKY cable and Nido 3 +. It’s made possible by Hot Wheels, Digestics, National Bookstore, Wilkins Distilled Water and Fun Ranch. Special thanks also go to Alpenliebe, Mentos, Fruittella, Chupa Chups, The Parteizeit, Pose and Print, Zoomanity, Figaro, Big Red Barn, Swell Sweets, Fax Parcel and Print, Party Starters and Made in Candy.

Read all about the CELEBRATIONS FAIR HERE.

I am so excited for this party planning fair! I hope to see you there!

Love lots,

Mommy Ginger

Mommy Ginger