What is a Gift-Buying Guide?

Gifts are an important element of any party, especially one being held for a kid. Just imagining a little child's face light up when he/she opens a present, is enough consolation for going through the stress of planning a party.

But has it ever happened to you that you got gifts that your kid wasn't able to use, wear, or simply did not appreciate? I'm pretty sure you've experienced that at one time. :)

It seems inevitable, that we'll get birthday gifts like clothes that are too big or too small, toys that cannot be played with by your kid at his/her age, or items that your kid simply can't use.

BUT THEN AGAIN, gift registries and wishlists happened.

Mexican Fiesta: Success! (BIRTHDAY OUTFIT)

One of the things that amazed me with kiddie parties of this generation are the pre-birthday activities. All I remember about my childhood pre-birthday events is well composed of one most-anticipated moment - buying a new dress. And by dress, I mean nothing grand, just a prettier dress than the usual stuff in my wardrobe.

But nowadays, kids go through a slew of pre-birthday activities and preps. There are pre-birthday photoshoots, pre-birthday shopping for party stuff, pre-birthday dress fittings and dress rehearsals, and lots more. I bet those who have a bigger budget for their kiddie parties have even more pre-birthday stuff going on. Hehe.

Mexican Fiesta: Success! (PHOTO COVERAGE)

Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤ out of 5

I am a self-confessed camwhore. I love taking pictures of myself, and I love taking pictures of my kid, and just about anything and everything that I do with her, and with our family.

And being a lover of great photos, I wanted to make sure that we get quality photo coverage for Keisha's 2nd birthday party. Since we were not keen on getting video coverage (we're not comfortable with video cams. hehe), I decided to scout for the best person who's talent I can afford. :-)

One of my dream photogs for a kiddie party is Ging Lorenzo (http://photosbyging.blogspot.com/).I love her simple yet elegant style, and how her output don't look too post-processed. Maybe they are post-processed to make them look flawless, but hey, they don't look it. :-) I actually stumbled upon a blog post of hers where she covered a Jollibee party in Bluewave Macapagal Ave, and it looked a-mazing!

I personally think Jollibee parties are harder to cover than the clubhouse kiddie parties that run for about four hours. First off, because Jollibee parties are just two-hour events, they are usually fast-paced. Set-up's only for 30 minutes, and the program itself runs for only two hours. Aside from that, Jollibee parties aren't usually as detail-rich, as one is not given free rein with decors and themes due to company/brand restrictions.

Photogs who cover Jollibee parties must be used to fast-paced shoots, and already know what details to catch. They must also be pretty creative, so as to get a unique perspective on what moments to capture. :-)

In my search for great kiddie party photographers, I chanced upon a couple which really caught my interest, one of which is Sophiaphotography. I love the way they capture quirky, fun moments at parties, and make them even more interesting through post-processing. They also offer a really good deal at 4,000 (or is it 5k? I'm not 100% sure anymore. Hehe) for two photographers to cover the event.

The other one is Warren Camitan. I believe he was (not sure if he still is) the other half of Image Warehouse Photography, a photo coverage supplier that offers affordable yet quality services. Upon checking their body of work, I was immediately convinced that they have enough experience to handle a fast-paced Jollibee party. It was Warren's shots that I first found with a Google search, so I contacted him. His style was a lot like Ging's (point number 1! :-)), communication with him was quick and easy (point number 2!), and most importantly, his rate was very affordable (three points!).

I actually thought he'd charge somewhere from 5,000 to 6,000 pesos, but no, his rate was at 4,000, and only requires a 25% deposit.

I was a wee bit OC with email and text responses, and in all fairness, he always gave a timely response (with a couple of hours from the time you texted or emailed at the most). Never did I feel that scary 'oh no, hindi pa sya nagrereply' that you get when a supplier has not responded after a couple of text messages, and within 24-48 hours.

There were specific that I wanted, so I made sure to email him about those details. He quickly acknowledged those requests via email, and gave clear answers. From there, I knew, this was one supplier I'm never going to have a problem with. :-)

On the party date, he was there at 9am, just as I had asked him to. :-) I originally planned to have a mini-shoot before the party starts for our family and Keisha. Unfortunately though, since most of our decor is DIY, hubby and I were quite busy most of the one-hour allowance we had.

Since we couldn't make use of the time for a pre-shoot, Warren made himself busy by shooting some of the colorful party details. One of my favorites was this photo of Keisha's party dress:

Here are other photos that I suuuuper love out of the 800+ shots by Warren Camitan. Oh and yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that he had that many. Hehe. The party went on for just a little under two hours, and I was expecting that he wouldn't be able to get a lot. :-)

I'm still in the process of uploading the rest of the pics on my multiply page, but if you want a sneak peek of more photos, you can go here.


Many thanks for the visit! :-) Look out for my next post. It's going to be about the cake and the sweet treats! :-)

(UPDATE: As of this date, 8/9/2011, I found out that Warren (as well as a lot of other photogs) have increased their rates. Please get in touch with Warren for the updated price. :) I still highly recommend him though, increased rate and all. :) ) 

Mexican Fiesta: Success! (CANDY BAGS and SOUVENIRS)

I originally wanted Dora Fun Fiesta to be my daughter's theme for her 2nd Birthday party. The picture on the right is my 'inspiration' for the theme. However, due to restrictions at the venue (Jollibee Bluewave Macapagal Ave.), I had to work around the theme and make it generic.

Here's what I did:

For the color scheme, I chose violet and orange, which are the colors on Dora's dress here. I also designed my little girl's dress based on Dora's dress on this picture. I then revised the theme to Mexican Fiesta which turned out to be a fun and colorful choice, and it didn't clash with any of the Jollibee branch's restrictions.


CANDY BAGS
❤❤❤❤ out of 5


You might be wondering, what are candy bags? Is it the same as lootbags?

Hmmmm, it's basically very simple, candy bags are party give-aways which only holds sweet treats! :-) Lootbags on the other hand can contain any kind of party favor like notepads, stickers, pens, small toys, etc.

For my daughter's 2nd birthday, I actually wanted customized Dora and Boots lootbags, and had originally planned to get canvas bags customized for the event. Unfortunately though, those turned out to be expensive. So I had to find a way to find something that works with my 20-25 PHP/piece budget.

Luckily, I stumbled upon this picture from Ma Arte Aims site. And I immediately fell in love with it.


Transacting with sis Aimee was a breeze. She gave timely responses to my questions, and was always willing to make adjustments to the design. She was also very punctual in sending back proofs for me to check on before they were printed.

Since one of the restrictions of Jollibee included 'no character lootbags', I had to find a way to be able to still display my lootbags and not have problems with their restrictions as well. Since I was having these customized, adjusting the design was pretty easy. If you would notice on the picture above, the back part of the candy bag shows the pic of the baby and the name/message. Since I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be hassled with it on the party date, I asked sis Aimee to make sure that the design on the back would show no indication that it was a Dora character candy bag. Here's what she made:

back of Dora candy bag

back of Boots candy bag

I was so happy with how it turned out! :-) Since sis Aimee is also from Bacoor Cavite, we just met up, and I was so glad to be able to save on shipping fees! Hehe. And to add to that, they were only 25 pesos each! :-)

When I got the products, I was initially a tad disappointed, mainly because they weren't the size I was expecting them to be. I thought they will be big, perhaps the size of a short bond paper when folded in half, but no, they were more like 1/4 the size of a bond paper in height.

BUT, nonetheless, I was happy with the output. The colors on the bag were bright, the layout was beautiful, the materials/paper was of good quality, and the make was sturdy. These candy bags can hold a lot of sweet treats! :-) BTW, I won Milkita Lollipops' Kiddie Birthday Treats FB promo, and I got two heaping bags of candies and lollipops! :-)

Here are pics of the final output from sis Ma Arte Aims:

Sweet contents - Lollipops, candies, gummy worms

Treats from Milkita

SOUVENIR/REF MAGNETS
❤❤❤❤❤ out of 5
I actually had second thoughts of getting a souvenir for adults. I wanted something that's personalized, can be used as decor, and would have some substantial use. Mugs and tumblers were actually my first choice, but were a bit expensive.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon ref magnets on Ma Arte Aims site, and I really liked how it was packaged. I inquired from sis Aimee about costing, and they were just for 28 pesos! Yey! Pasok sa budget. :-) And it had everything I was looking for.

I really liked the acetate packaging with matching ribbon and wooden flower accent, it made the ref magnet look sosyal. The colors on the magnet itself were bright and printing was of good quality. All in all, it was a great deal. :-)

Here's a photo of the layout and the ref magnet output:

layout

Final output