Dibo's 1st Birthday Party - Racing Cars at Max's Restaurant

I wanted to create a new blog site ever since I gave birth to my first son last year but I only got to finally put it into a reality just now simply because I feel very masipag at the moment. You're not aware, but I do have a personal blog site that's been lying around somewhere here in the Internet. It's been inactive for a while now and believe me, I'd rather it stays that way for the rest of my life. Haha! 

Moving on...

So I guess it's a little late for me to share with you some of the little milestone that we've witnessed from our son. But just in case you're curious, feel free to browse my tumblr page. I'm just way too lazy to put them all into writing right now *grinning*

Let's continue...

As you may not know it, our son is super fond of cars or anything with wheels. You'll hear him say "broom, broom" while pointing to the car he's attentively observing, moving or not. Place a steering wheel in front of him and he'll know what to do. He'll even make a brrrrrrrm sound as if he was actually driving. Because of this, for his first birthday party, I imposed suggested to have cars as our theme. At first I wanted to organize the whole party all by myself - hire a caterer, rent a venue, create personalized loot bags, hire a host, create list of games, etc. But as it turned out, it is more tiring, not to mention more expensive, than I though. It was frustrating not being able to find the right (and cheap?) venue with a good parking space, considering some guests are coming from all over. In the end I finally gave in to the idea of holding it in one of the food establishments here Makati City. In one condition: That there would be a candy buffet station and I would have to do it myself. So this establishment should allow me to do that, or else it will not be our option. Good thing Max's Restaurant at Greenbelt 1 is so accommodating that after I learned that they allow candy buffet setup (without corkage!) I instantly booked them. They also allowed us to bring our own cupcakes, as long as it is for our giveaways. 

Behold, my candy buffet station:

Everything was personalized. I borrowed the containers from my officemate and I bought those sweets from Subic freeport and from Cash and Carry. I personalized those chocolate bars by printing out themed wrappers and replacing them with a local chocolate brand I also found from Cash and Carry. I thought I wouldn't be able to find those dotted cups because Living Well seems to forever run out of stocks.  Fortunately, Cash and Carry supermarket have them. I had so much fun labeling them into car parts. This was a hit during the party. *ahem ahem*

The cupcakes, the cake (courtesy of Max's Restaurant) and the picture frame that I made (taray! talent! LOL)

I had my friend/officemate Joey to thank for for my son's picture. The shots were awesome and I love it. 

I had the tarpaulin edited and printed at only Php150 at a shop along Buendia. For the magician, since I wanted to have a magician do tricks at the party, though Max's includes hosting in their package, we hired Rap-Rap the Magician who did magic, balloon twisting and games. Oh, he's good!

At first, I didn't believe Max's function hall can actually fit 100 people as what they have claimed. I was expecting 70-80 people and voila, look! 

What a fun party it was, our son even did an impromptu dance number.

He also liked the mascot.

Everything was great except for the loot bags. I'm a bit disappointed thought. I even added some Dole products in it because I find it's not enough. I had the magician bring the car pinata (additional charge) while I brought the candies for it.

Nevertheless, it was such a great experience for us having to host a birthday party for the first time. Of course, I would never stop thanking all those people who've helped us, our families for instance. It was fulfilling and definitely one of the proud moments I would cherish for the rest of my life. This is me immortalizing this experience.

Oh, by the way, the food were great, too.