Vince's 3rd birthday at McDonald's - Kiddie Party 2022

A lot of things changed since the pandemic, including how we celebrate birthday parties for kids. Two years ago, Jollibee and McDonald's offered birthday party venues and packages, but these parties were restricted due to health protocols. 

With that two years passed and while the economy is starting to open again, I am so glad to hear that McDonald's finally opened its party venues at the start of the year. Although it wasn't our intention to celebrate grand parties this year because the boys are turning 3 and 9, it made me really excited to throw a small party for Vince. I remembered when Jami was the same age as Vince, he had two huge parties - Shakey's when he was 1 year old then Jollibee when he was 2 years old. I have decided that it's very timely that parties are already allowed for Vince to have a small celebration of his birthday too. So I think, it's his 1st to 3rd birthday in one. Hehe.

In May, I went to the nearest McDonald's branch in front of Robinson's Las Pinas but they said they don't offer parties yet. Super sayang because it was the closest to where we live. My next options are either in Pamplona or in front of SM Southmall. I have decided to visit the one in Pamplona since we have guests coming from Cavite and some other parts around the Metro and this is the closest to Las Pinas and Pasay/Cavite boundary. I also like this branch because they have a play area for kids (although still closed due to pandemic), Mccafe, drive-thru, and dining area, so basically a very busy branch. 

When we got there, a party has just finished so I had an idea what it will look like. I am unsure at this point as to how many people we'll invite but I opted for 50 heads. Family ko pa lang, 20 heads na so I gave 30 more for Daryl and common friends. I also chose package 2 which has Spaghetti and Chicken, regular fries, drinks, and hot fudge sundae. I also opted to serve the same food for kids and adults.

The downpayment is 2,000 pesos and they gave 30 invitation cards on the set of you paying for the downpayment. I remember during Jami's time, I think it was only 1,000 pesos but it was 8 years ago. Haha. I also chose merienda time of 3pm to 5pm. 

On the day of our party, we arrived just before 4pm and the crew was setting up the venue. It was a small venue but it was fine since we were expecting around 50 heads only. 

I like that they have a bench in front and a small chair for the celebrant alone. 

If you are from the South of Metro, you probably know how traffic is in Las Pinas especially on a Saturday afternoon so everybody was late, haha. Our guests started arriving at around 4:30pm. 

The venue can accommodate more than 100 guests in two venues together. We were given the smallest one since we are expecting only 50 pax.

The cake is from Little Bites Cupcakery. This is the second time that I ordered a cake from them pero first time kong nag order ng fondant. I will blog about Dwyane's 7th birthday and Vince's first birthday too in the coming days. I borrowed my sister's jars and bought cookies and candies in the grocery. 

Blowing of candles ng birthday celebrant. Just like the normal Jollibee/Mcdo party, they hosted 1 children's game and 1 adult game, then question and answer game tapos proceeded with blowing of candles and kainan na.

 

Binky, the birthday boy! 

Children's game

Adult game

Finally, I met these beautiful girls that I am working with since 2020. My virtual kamaritess hahaha

Walang matinong kuha, napakalikot ni Griffin! Haha

Chow time!!

Overall, it was a great experience since the pandemic. Once in a while masarap din yung maranasan mo yung mga bagay noon diba? Although be very careful pa rin kasi pandemic pa rin and Covid cases are still high. I was glad that I gave Vince the party he never had for his 1st birthday so after 4 years na ulit ang kasunod pag 7 nya. Hehe. 

New Year's Eve 2022

 Hey everyone! 

Happy New Year!! Hope you all have a good start to the year 2022! 

Just a quick update on how our January started. Our New Year's Eve went really well. I made sure we'll be wearing the color of the year shirt (which I want to make a yearly thing since 2016, lol!) 

This year's color from Pantone is Very Peri. Ang hirap ng color na ito actually! Haha. We don't have violet clothes, I realized. I don't want to buy shirts that are violet in color or buy a family shirt with prints for New Year kasi they are quite expensive talaga so I thought of doing DIY this time. I watched Youtube videos on how to dye shirt using joboss. The struggle is finding a violet joboss. I ordered through Shoppee but wasn't sure if it will be delivered on the 29th. 

I looked around dito sa area namin, but had trouble finding violet. Mostly red, blue colors lang ang available. I checked din sa National Bookstore pero sold out na daw, huhu! 

I went to Baclaran to buy plain white shirt for the family. Round neck for the boys while I got the V-neck for me and Nanay. This is the first time that I tried dyeing shirt and was quite nervous, hehe! I did Vince's shirt first then Dwyane. 

Vince's shirt went really well though mejo weak ang color. I wanted a little darker ng kaunti sana but it will do, I guess. The next shirt was Dwyane's. This time, super naging weak ang color and some of the parts were not dyed. Since bago yung shirt, it was so hard for the shirt to absorb the liquid. Dapat pala, I made the shirt wet then proceed with dyeing to make sure kapit ang kulay. Too late na so Dwyane's shirt wasn't colored as much as I want. 

I did Nanay's shirt and I loved the result. Naabsorb kasi ng tela yung color easily and it was just the right color din. I went ahead and did Daryl and my shirt since I am confident dyeing from here on. Hehe! 

This is actually the best photo na meron kami. Yearly, it's a struggle to take a nice family photo. Haha! Aside sa masikip ang house, ang hirap din mag pose ng mga batang ito, kainis! 

For our Noche Buena, we had 2 kinds of pasta (Spaghetti and Carbonara), Caldereta, Barbeque, Shanghai, Biko and Maja, Buko Pandan and Fruit Salad. I invited my youngest brother and his family to celebrate NYE at home. The kids fell asleep just before 12 midnight so wala na kaming photos after this. Lol!

The next day, my brother got sick. On the 2nd of January, Daryl went home with a high fever, headache, and body pains. The next day, I felt I'm having bad colds then went sick that same afternoon. I have a fever but easily recover after drinking Paracetamol. No other symptoms aside from colds and a little cough. We had a teleconsultation for Daryl so he can have an RT-PCR request from a doctor. 

The day Daryl and I are feeling a little better, Dwyane started getting feverish and Nanay started having bad colds, too. Later that afternoon, they both fell ill. When they started recovering after two days, Vince got feverish and fell ill that same day. I noticed the kids having really mild symptoms and only having fever. Nanay was complaining of being dizzy and she's coughing. 

We looked for a testing center so Daryl can have RT-PCR. It's a requirement for him to be able to go back to work. We started looking on the 8th and were only able to book an appointment in Red Cross on the 10th of January. Daryl was feeling a lot better at the time of saliva testing. 

At this time, we haven't received the result of the RT-PCR test from the Red Cross even after calling them yesterday to follow up. He wasn't able to come to work since the 3rd so I made him ask his superior since the quarantine requirement as per DOH is only for 10 days from the time you no longer have symptoms, sabi ko pasok na sya sa requirement. His employer allowed him to go back to work tomorrow and will have the PCR test to follow. 

I am really glad that it wasn't something serious. If it's indeed Covid-19, I am thankful no one needs to be hospitalized and it was really just like flu for us. We're not feeling any symptoms now except Nanay who's still coughing. It was crazy, her prescription meds are not available anywhere. I even went to the next city because I was told by Mercury Drug that the meds I'm looking for are not available in every branch in Las Pinas. Crazy!!!!

Anyway, hope everyone is feeling a lot better and your family's doing awesome this 2022!