Posting a blog after a lull is little bit knotty. So much has happened since February that I am quite undecided on what to share first. Joys? Woes? Challenges? I guess we can start with the joys first. Celebrating Bea's Birthday.
The little girl is not so little anymore. She turned 6 last July and we celebrated with her friends at the village clubhouse function room. The theme for her party this year was Bea Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. She's a big fan of the movie Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Although she likes Gene Wilder's old flick, she is more partial to Tim Burton's interpretation. Well, it is more colorful and the musical score's more catchy, not to mention the Oompa-loompas are crazier. And she prefers Johnny Depp's bangs over Gene Wilder's curls?
Going back, preparations for the party began four weeks before the factory gates opened. It was just a small gathering, so it was not that hard to pull off without professional help. And even if it were a big event, I'd still take matters into my own hands ... it is less expensive. The guests loved the faux chocolate bars I made for invitations. Materials were readily available at National Bookstore. Paper for the "golden ticket" was from the Astral Sparkle Paper Collection of our local Star Paper Corporation. Was about to create the Wonka wrapper using Microsoft Publisher, lucky for me I browsed the net and found a free template and just printed it on a regular white vellum board. It's just amazing the amount of stuff you can come up with just by having a reliable computer, printer and internet connection. Wrapped the ticket with a gold metallic paper for the foil effect and voila! A personalized Wonka chocolate bar.
An economical way of hosting a party nowadays would require a trip to the local bargain hunters' shopping mecca: Divisoria. Everything is just there! I even saw the Christmas decors I bought from Divisoria last year in Rustan's. I swear, exactly the same decor at a much lower price. Willy Wonka had a little notebook to write his "discoveries" on. So for giveaways, I got these cute little notepad board with a pen for PhP15.00 each instead and personalized it using my ever-reliable HP K209-A printer. Chocolatiers would need aprons as chocolate making is messy. Bought aprons, in one the stores between 168 Mall and DV Mall, for PhP25.00 a piece. That's like PhP25.00 cheaper than the PhP50.00 kiddie aprons they're selling in SM. My sister-in-law, C, and I had them personalized at Divisoria Mall for PhP5.00 per letter; much, much cheaper than the stalls in malls outside Divisoria. And we did not have to come back for them too! It just took 30 minutes for all aprons to get named.
You need a lot of candies and chocolate for a chocolate factory themed affair. The kids had a chocolate candy making activity, now this was a first for me. I mean I love chocolate. I eat them, I don't actually make them. So googleize I did. With a downloaded idea on how to make chocolates, I called the local suppliers I saw online to canvass for supplies. Chocolate Lover was my first stop, as friends and relatives suggested it too. Got most of the chocolate making materials from them, save the chocolate molds. It was PhP80.00 per piece. With more than 30 kids on her guest list, I figured it would be better to check out Killion and The Nutstore in Quiapo first since it's near Divisoria. And surprise! They were selling it for PhP60.00 at The Nutstore. My mommy friends, J and J, and my cousin, G, helped in melting the chocolate bars for the mold. As for the candies, now this one is tricky. No matter how you want to cut on cost, feeding unbranded candies to kids is NOT an option . The SM candy section has a wide array of goodies. Got a variety of Wonka and Trolli candies and some lollipops as well.
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| Glass from my kitchen cabinet, ribbon from National Bookstore, chocolate balls and ladybugs from Chocolate Lover , lollipop and candy canes from SM candy section. |
My cousin, G, baked this awesome cake and scrumptilicious cupcakes for Bea. It was a labor of love. Her first time to make a multi-layered fondant cake. She is a cupcake expert though. I just can't get enough of her yummy chocolate and vanilla cupcakes! As for the food, everything was home-cooked. We had Potato Marble Salad, Mini Burgers, Pork Barbecue, Hotdogs on Stick, Chicken Lollipop with Garlic Ranch Dip, and Hungarian Sausage Pasta ---all prepared, marinated and cooked at home. Thank goodness for household staff!
Kids, young and not-so-young, had fun making their signature chocolates, designed their own cupcake and joined in the parlor games. All the preparations paid off. Even the hubby was very much involved in making this occasion a success, he got ice cubes from the store LOL. Just kidding. He helped facilitate the games. We were all pooped after the party. But seeing the daughter have so much fun made it all worth it :)
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| Kids busy in The Inventing Room |
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| Cupcakelicious Art |
