Little Dude's Third

It's been three months since we celebrated little dude's 3rd birthday.  Oh yes, this is another super late post! Grrrr! But never late than never, right?

This is what Marcus woke up to on the day of his birthday:

 

I would've wanted to fill our entire room with balloons; however, we didn't have time to order the ones with helium plus I wasn't sure we'd be able to hide it until the eve of his birthday.  Marcus enjoyed it nevertheless.  He kept on saying, "Ma, ba-yooon!" when he saw them. :)

For his birthday, we (all three of us plus yaya) just had lunch and went to Timezone at ATC.

 

As I've mentioned before, the little dude is so addicted to bowling.  Can you guess then what the theme of his school party was? ;)

The Monday after his birthday (which fell on a Sunday), we had a simple celebration at his school.  I intend to throw small parties for him every other year until he's seven (that means odd-numbered ages) when hopefully we could have a bigger "all-out" party for him.  This is what we wore that day - matching shirts with the bowling design in front and each one's "role" printed at the back.  I blogged a preview of our uniform here.

I made an effort to decorate the school's play area with round buntings and balloons.

 

I know, execution could be improved.  But hey, to my defense, everything was DIY so I did not have time to supervise yaya and hubster when they put this up.  Haha!  I was touched though that Marcus' teachers prepared a signage too:

 

Although we're having a simple celebration, I still got a themed cake.  How else can we sing a birthday song and have candle blowing without it anyway?!  I got this from Iko's for a very affordable price.  I really wasn't expecting much from them but I was pretty happy with the output.  I just dropped by their branch at Festival mall a week before the party and told them about the theme and voila!   I also ordered cupcakes in different colored marshmallow icings, the taste of which I loved, by the way.  If I'm not mistaken, I think I only spent about P800 for everything.

Toppers DIY-ed by me!

I also made sort of a dessert buffet table with candies and popcorn from Chef Tony's.  It makes an instant festive touch for small parties like this. 

Shortly after we did the set-up, the little ones fell in line and went outside the classroom to the play area where we were having the celebration.

Like I said, everything was DIY - even hosting! I initially wanted to get a magician or character host but decided against it a few weeks before because I felt it wasn't practical since it's not a big party anyway.  Therefore, I just researched for bowling-themed games and played game master myself!

 

One thing I learned from that experience is that it's so difficult to control kids! Naloka ako, promise!!! I prepared lots of games but ended up just doing two because I was already getting crazy by the end of the second game!  The teachers helped out on picking out who were going to join but they couldn't do much with the execution since there wasn't enough time for me to brief them.

For the snacks, I had the caterer from Marcus' first birthday to deliver packed spaghetti, chicken lollipops, and juice.  She did just that (deliciously, if I may add) and also brought treats for the kids.  I love her!  The kids and adults all enjoyed the food.

 

We also gave out prizes for the games and lootbags for the kiddos but I forgot to take pictures.  I just made gift bags from yellow construction paper, filled it with candies and small toys, and sealed it with a sticker which I just photoshopped to fit the theme.  Oooh here are some of the stuff I had printed:

Aside from little dude's classmates, Momsy, Papsy, Tita Ems, and Rafa were also there to celebrate with us. :)

At the end of the mini-party, I was so tired that hubby said next time we have a birthday celebration for Marcus, we should just go to McDo or Jollibee.  However, I'd still much rather want a themed party like this because (1) I want it to be as personalized as possible, representing what little dude's current favorite is, and (2) I'm a budget-conscious party planner at heart.

On his fourth birthday, I hope my little dude reaches the height requirement of most attractions in Disneyland HK so we can celebrate there.  Next party will be on his 5th! :)