My Son's 3rd Birthday Party: Barney & Friends (Part 1)

We initially planned to have an out of town trip to celebrate our son's 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, my hubby's schedule couldnt accommodate it.  His company will be visited by foreign auditors and they will arrive on the day of my son's birthday.  We decided to have a simple get-together with immediate family (his and my side) roughly a week before the DATE. I can accept a small celebration but I still wanted to have a nice cake for my son and some balloons to liven the place up.

 

To go through the birthday decisions and preparations:

 

1) Theme: Barney & Friends

 

My son likes watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and other Disney Junior characters. But his utmost fave is Barney & Friends so even though I wanted other characters for him, Barney it is.  Also his 2nd birthday at McDo was a combined Mickey Mouse and Toy Story so these are out.  I was thinking, he will outgrow Barney eventually so this is the right time to have this theme. 

 

  2)    Venue: Dad’s Restaurant, Glorietta 3, Merienda Buffet 3 to 5pm

 

Our wedding was held at 10am and we were so harassed by the early time. Since then, we wanted all the birthday parties/events to be in the afternoon. This time slot availability is a big factor when choosing the venue. 

 

Why Dad's and not another restaurant? Because they allowed us to bring and eat our own cake without corkage. 

 

The buffet set-up was just a little confusing because there’s no clear label where the merienda buffet is and the lunch buffet is still available.  It's also crowded because the lunch and merienda diners are simultaneously going around the buffet areas.  I was expecting lunch should have been finished by merienda time.  Also, they always run out of plates so we were allowed to get plates from their lunch buffet.

 

When we arrived at Dad's 2:45pm to set up, we were met by Pam, the reservations representative who is very accommodating and nice.  Good thing she was the one (hostess) who was there on the actual date.  Initially I reserved the area beside the entrance and they arranged it as two tables with 6 chairs each.  When Pam saw us with the cake and other things, she then offerred us the mini private function room near the door which can sit more than 12 people.  There's no additional cost. The room has two extra tables for the cake and balloons.  And its enclosed so there's added security for our valuables.  

 

It's just unfortunate that when I went there to finalize reservation and check out the place earlier that week, it was Meann who was the hostess. I was asking where we can sit and whether I can add more people to my reservation of 10 people.  She didnt mention they had the function room. I could have had more decorations and a tarpaulin made for the event.  Anyway, Meaan was a little rude and seemed to me she didnt want anyone to eat there.  Good thing I had a lot of patience that Monday and didnt have time to look for another venue that would allow us to bring our own cake and balloons without corkage.

Verdict: If budget is an issue and there are a lot of invitees, the merienda buffet is a good option because it only costs P219 per person (excluding drinks). Sometimes they also have a promo wherein all drinks from 3 to 5pm are 50% off. We were able to get this deal. Im just not sure if the 50% off on drinks is available all year-round.
 

3) Cake: Cakeworks (pickup branches in Paranaque and Makati)

Due to the limited time, I planned to order the cake at Goldilocks because they have license for Barney design.  I browsed their album but I really didnt like how their cakes (with soft icing) looked.  I decided to find another cake supplier who can accommodate a rush order and my budget of P3k. I have two days to decide because Goldilocks need 3 to 5 days lead time.  Most of the popular cake suppliers were located in the North and have delivery charges.  I wasnt willing to pay delivery so I focused my search within Makati only.  Fortunately, in one group buying site, there was a deal for a one layer fondant cake and best of all, it can be picked up in Makati!  Before I "bought" the deal, I called up the number and met with the owner on Monday afternoon.  I was planning to order 9inch only because it seems the best deal to me @ P1400. However, my hubby thought the cake was too small so I ordered the 12inch cake instead @ 2,250 (value of P4,500).  

For this cost, I was told the inclusions and details are: 
a) cake type/flavor options: vanilla, lemon, mocha and chocolate chiffon
b) one 2D topper only, additional topper is P200
c) the edible cake height is 3inches
d) no styro will be put under the cake to make it higher

If I decide to have a two-layer cake 10" + 6",  I'll need to "buy" the P2250 deal and pay additional P1000.  The bottom layer is edible while the 6" top layer is just styro. When I gave this option to hubby, he went with the 12inch cake since the two layers are not all edible.  My hubby is the type who is not too concerned with the design.

 

I changed the red "3" candle provided by the supplier with this green one which I bought at Gourdo's

I bought the colorful balloons at Bestway Divi 

The 2D topper is 10.5" high and 5" wide

The "Happy Birthday" seems to be done by an amateur. It was very obvious on the letters T and Y. 

 

I was told by the owner that there's no styro and the actual cake is 3".

What we got is height of 2"cake with 1" styro plus additional bottom layer of 1" styro

 

In summary:

I did not have time to research on the design, the competitive prices and the best cake suppliers due to the limited time.  But I was happy with the cake dimension, height of the cake and 2D topper.  I also liked the fondant icing, its sweet and soft but not too sweet and hard as the other fondant icing I have tasted.  I also appreciate that this was finalized less than 5 days (thanks to the owner for accepting the order). However, I did not like the lettering, some of the circles on the cake were about to fall off, and they got the flavor wrong. I ordered lemon, they gave us vanilla.

I will still order from this supplier, if they are a much cheaper alternative to the more famous ones in forums I read.  I just have to make sure that I give them the right design and there's enough time for discussions and changes. So I'm not sure if I did get a good deal on this cake.  You be the judge. :)

4) Balloon/Decors:

Really simple decors/balloons because I didnt know we will be given the function room.  If we were seated outside the function room, there is no available area to put balloons, even on the chairs. The tables are also small, a Barney balloon is too big for each table. 

The balloon holder is my son's old milk cans. Good thing also that the covers were made of plastic and not metal. We punched three holes on the milk cover so we can insert the balloon sticks then put crumpled newspapers inside and tied up the balloon sticks to hold them in place. Lastly, we wrapped the cans in bond paper before the thin orange wrapping paper. All the items we used, except for the balloons, were already available at home.  I just looked around and made do with what we have. We started to do this three hours before the party.  I conceptualized but thanks to our helper who assisted me.

 

 

 

5) Loot bags - Yes, there's a loot bag even though we are only 12 adults and no other kids but my son. hehe.

To be continued in another post.