Ashrie's First Birthday Party

All’s well that ends well. It’s a cliché people use to justify the means. That if everything turned out to be okay in the end, well everything is okay! But they may have experienced difficulties and hair-pulling moments along the way.

Organizing a party is just one of the many stressful events in a parent’s life, so to avoid the hassles (and to save your hair) I would like to share some tips on organizing a party.

Just recently, we had a successful event. Ashrie’s First Birthday Party. It started well and ended well. We are happy, our one year old daughter enjoyed it, and the guests were delighted. How did we do it? Let me count the ways:

1. PREPARE. Are you ready? Even before her birth month arrived, we have already decided on the budget, venue, food, number of guests, and the theme. For this three-hour event, we set almost the full month of April in planning, preparing the decorations, shopping and contacting important parties- the caterer, the bakeshop, and guests.

2. VENUE. The right place to be. You can celebrate it in a hotel ballroom (if you are willing to spend thousands of dollars), you can use party places (if you don’t care to know that your kid’s birthday photos looks just like the others) or a nearby park (if you don’t mind the public to watch or even gatecrash your gathering). So what’s the best venue for your child’s first birthday party? There’s no place like home. Think of your child’s comfort. It’s the place where you and especially your child can be most comfy, there’s privacy, and it’s free!

3. FOOD. My wife and I have decided that we will not cook for Ashrie’s party. There are numerous caterers in Singapore if you search online. But we got ours from the church recommendation. Incidentally, our caterer Purple Sage just won in the recently concluded World Gourmet Summit Singapore 2010 as this year’s Outstanding Caterer in Singapore. They won the award for two consecutive years now. That’s a bonus for us because initially we didn’t know that they are of that high calibre status. Needless to say, the food was great! Not the usual dishes we see in Filipino gatherings but nonetheless mouth-watering. Aside from the food we ordered from them, we prepared a Kid’s Menu on a separate table consisting of chicken nuggets, french fries, popcorn, and sweets. Even the kids-at-heart loved it!

4. INVITATIONS. Hear Ye, Hear Ye! My wife Jane made lovely invites (photos of which were in my previous post) and I made a Facebook event to invite special people, mostly those who are very close to us. This was done exactly a month before the event. Follow-ups were done the week before the party. Save the earth, go paperless!

5. DECORATIONS. Paint the town pink! As an Event Coordinator for our church when I was still in the Philippines and with my architectural background, decoration is my cup of tea. For this event, it took me two weeks of nightly lettering, cutting and pasting. I personally am not impressed with character themes (sorry Disney!) so we opted for a color theme. Shades of pink and purple were the color of choice. I did a birthday backdrop, prepare a wreath, a topiary, and several tabletop centerpieces. Balloons and other knickknacks were also in the same shade.

6. CAKE. The Birthday Centerpiece. The ham as they is the star of the Noche Buena feast, now for birthday parties, especially for kids, the cake and candle-blowing is the event’s highlight. You will be spoiled for choice when it comes to cakes. We picked a ladybird/ladybug 3D cake from Secret Recipe. Its bright red and black color really stood out among the blushing shades of the color scheme. It’s an eye candy, a showstopper, a conversation piece, so it’s very important to choose a good one. Also, make sure you order in advance because bakeshops usually accept made-to-order cakes a week before you need it.

7. FUN GAMES. Be sure to keep your guest entertained. Aside from the nursery rhymes playing along, we played a Nursery Rhyme Charade, All Things Pink, and a Guessing Game. Most of our guests are adults but age did not hinder them to have fun especially if the prizes were shopping vouchers!

8. THE DRESS. The Angel Wears ZARA! Of course the celebrator needed a dress. We buy clothes for Ashrie on common days so why not buy one for her on her very special day? We went to ZARA Baby (our favorite shop) for her outfit. It was an ivory-colored floral dress with a gold brooch matched with a gold leather Mary Jane shoes. Her casual attire was white shirt with embossed flower motif paired with leggings in pink.

9. PHOTOGRAPHY. It must be Picture Perfect. Nowadays, that we don’t use films on our cameras anymore, you only need to check that your equipment is ready. Are your lenses clean? Do you have enough storage? Is your battery full? Will someone take over as photographer when you need to be in the frame? Things like that. Remember to take photos of your venue before the guests arrive, and take photos of your little one as much as you like because we can never go back to these precious moments.

I think that’s it! The night before the event, I picked up the cake, installed my decorations, balloons and all, and followed-up on the caterer. The event date, made some finishing touches, bought fresh flowers and waited to welcome the arrival of our dear friends!

Here are some of the priceless photos we took on her birthday. There are more on my Facebook Photos. Enjoy!

The Birthday Girl

Me and my girls, Ashrie and Jane

Fun times with Ashrie before the event

Come to think of it, It's Jane's birthday too, 
a celebration of the date when she first gave birth!



With a fun-loving bunch of officemates

With dear friends

Ashrie's happy with her gifts!

Thanks to all who prayed, cheered, and celebrated with us on her First Birthday! Blessings to you all!