1st #School Birthday Party!
Joshua celebrated his 1st ever school #birthday party 2 days after his real #birthday. Since the school had a few strict rules about birthday celebrations, we had to keep it simple. No balloons, no games, no programs and only 3 adults to attend the party. Nice thing was he gets to come to school in civilian clothes. So to keep with his birthday party theme, he will wear his “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” t-shirt again.
PREPS
The Food
I went to the McDonald’s branch near us the day before to pre-order the snacks for Joshua’s #school party. We only needed 15 Happy Meals of chicken nuggets, french fries and orange juice to be delivered at 9am. At first there was a problem with the nuggets order since these were not yet available at 9am. After seeing my stubborn demeanor, the manager finally agreed to deliver the chicken nuggets. Whew!
I was able to choose the toys to go with the Happy Meals: 5 cutie bear toys for the girls and 10 Transformer robots for the boys. The manager allowed me to bring them home right then for safekeeping.
The Cake
Since Joshua refused to have his birthday cake, Jake’s pirate ship, to be cut and eaten during his official party, it will be brought to school for the candle blowing.
My sister, Mia, made cupcakes to go with the party Pirate theme using the ship/pirate toppers and gold coin chocolates we bought earlier. All set!
SCHOOL BIRTHDAY PARTY DAY
We brought Joshua to school really early that morning. He got some “Happy Birthday” greetings because he was wearing civilian clothes so everyone knew he was a celebrator. Ate Irene (nanny) and I then rushed home to make sure everything was ready to go. My other sister, Agie, who works at the office above Joshua’s school, joined us as the 3rd adult in the party .
We were able to park at Agie’s parking slot beside the school and their office guard came over to carry the big pirate ship cake for us. It sure got some wild reactions from the crowd haha! There were parents/nannies waiting by the school and they all “oohed” and “aahhed” how beautiful the cake was. One even chided the guard, “Naku, wag kang madadapa!” (Oh no, make sure you don’t trip!)
Mishaps!
The McDonald’s delivery guy was there ahead of us, hooray! But in his haste to get the food out of his bag, he accidentally bumped the box of cupcakes and it toppled off the table and landed on the floor upside down. “@#&^%$*!!!” I wanted to shout but couldn’t because we were in the school hallway. Take a deep breath!
The delivery guy saw my red face and kept apologizing, “Sorry ma’am, sorry ma’am.” I knew nothing could change things and what’s done was done. (Thought bubble: “Never mind the cupcakes. At least it wasn’t the pirate ship birthday cake… Or else I’ll wring his neck haha kidding!”)
Damage check: Pirate cake toppers were broken, gold chocolate coins got dislodged, grass and ocean icing design smudged. Waaah! Good thing the cupcakes were individually boxed or else it would have been worse. Plus those at the bottom of the box were still ok. We just chose the least damaged cupcakes to give to the kids. The rest would be given to the adults.
The food was laid out on the table. Good thing I decided to check it first before letting the McDonalds guy go. “Where’s the french fries? Where are the Happy Meal boxes?” They were missing! After the cupcake fiasco, now this. I really wanted to wring the guy’s neck… Can’t! He was insisting that there were no boxes included. “Duh? Pag Happy Meal laging may box.” (If it’s a Happy Meal, there’s always a box.) The delivery guy had to go back to the store to retrieve the missing stuff and promised to rush back. Tic Tock! Snack time was fast approaching! Did I have a choice?
While waiting for the rest of the snacks to arrive, Ate Irene and I started removing the tape from the juice covers to insert the straws. She accidentally toppled over 2 glasses from the table. Crash! Juice spilled all over the school hall. Haaaaayyy! Can anything else go wrong??? The guard helped mop up the spilled juice, thank you. Good thing only 2 glasses were wasted, there were still enough juice to give the kids.
Here comes the teacher, “You can serve the snacks now.” Wala pa yung french fries! (The french fries wasn’t there yet!) Good thing she improvised and decided to just let the kids blow the birthday candle first to give time for the snacks to arrive. Whew!
Oh What Fun!
Teacher Mona invited us to the classroom to watch the birthday cake candle blowing. We were surprised to see that they decorated the blackboard with a “Happy Birthday Joshua” sign. We brought the pirate ship cake to the front and the kids were all “Ooh! It’s Jake and Captain Hook!” It was a huge hit! There were presents on the floor. Gifts? Wow, Joshua’s classmates brought gifts for him.
Candle Blowing Time!
Teacher Mona played a birthday cd so the kids could sing the “Happy Birthday” song. Joshua was all smiles! He gleefully blew out his birthday candle, yey!
Snack Time!
It was time to serve the snacks. Cute how the kids set up their own place mats and fell in line to the bathroom to wash their hands. This gave us time to serve the chicken nuggets and juice on their tables. Here comes the McDonald’s delivery guy! Whew! Now we have french fries yey! (We blocked the pirate ship cake from him for fear that he might topple it over too, hehe!)
Now we had the Happy Meal boxes! We went out to the hall again to assemble them, put the cupcakes and toy giveaways inside. All is well! The kids were happily munching on their nuggets and fries and drinking juice. Josh took sooo long eating his fries, his favorite, that he was the last kid to go back on the mat. Good choice of snacks!
Gifts Time!
It was gift giving time! The kids each went forward to give their gift. Joshua couldn’t contain his excitement, “Open!” he kept saying hehe. So the teacher had to help him open them all up. Oh what fun! His smiles were priceless!
Pack-up!
The kids had more school activities to do after the mini-party so we had to go. As we were bringing the pirate ship cake out, the parents/nannies waiting outside were again “Oohing” and “Wowing” the cake hehe. We brought everything back to the car and went upstairs to my sister’s office to wait for Joshua’s class to end.
We finally had time to eat the remaining nuggets, fries and cupcakes (No more juice for us because of the spill.) My sister’s boss, Fr.Dennis, the school guards and some of her co-workers were really happy to partake of the snacks. So many more shared blessings!
When we were headed back to the car with Joshua after class, a co-worker of my sister was there and laughing at how “haggard” I looked. I felt like a wilted veggie haha! This was just our 1st school birthday party, many more to come, and I was already shuddering at the thought. Well at least now I know what to expect so it will be less stressful next year… I hope!
Seeing Joshua so happy made it all worth it!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Decide and prepare for your child’s party early so everything is not last minute.
- Ensure that the vendors you choose are reliable and will deliver their end complete and on time.
- Coordinate with your child’s teacher so in case something goes wrong, she can easily improvise and adjust.
- Always keep your cool. Accept that there are things you cannot control and change. Take a deep breath and move on. (The toughest lesson yet especially for an O.C. like me!)
- Expect great things after great mishaps. God has wonderful surprises in store for you. Just open your eyes and your mind or you just might miss it.
- Parents will always look for rainbows amidst the storm. We will overcome great difficulties for the sake of our child. We will do everything to ensure their happiness. And when we see those smiles and receive their big hugs afterwards, you’ll say to yourself, “It was all worth it!”
QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
- What major stumbling block did you overcome for the sake of your child?
- Did you also find the “rainbow” after the “storm?”
