Here’s a review of the suppliers I’ve had for little Z’s baby dedication:
Venue: Kalapaw – Taste of Laoag
I had booked Kalapaw – Taste of Laoag as my venue. It was suggested by a relative when I was still searching for a venue. I chose this one because it offered the cheapest package compared to all the other caterers and venues I have checked. I didn’t really have the time for food tasting prior to the event so I just crossed my fingers and prayed real hard that the food will be at least good.
I was not disappointed. 🙂
I ordered one of their packages and initially had it quoted at 75 pax. Given that there were quite a few guests who wouldn’t be able to make it, I had the total head count cut down to 65 pax. Here is the original menu of the package I chose:
Since I have kids included in the guest list, I opted to change two of the food choices to something more suitable for the younger ones. I changed Chicken Inasal to Chicken Lollipop and Palabok to Spaghetti.
Desserts/Pastries and the Likes: Jovy’s Kitchen
I checked for cupcake suppliers and tried to get quotes but it was not so easy to get them due to the lag in responses on both ends. I was able to get responses from three suppliers (one was where I got the cupcakes for my parents’ renewal of vows a few years ago and the other one was a cousin’s supplier for cupcakes during my nephew’s dedication last December). But since I was thinking that I might be short on the budget (paranoia effect, I guess), I asked my cousin if she could sponsor the cupcakes. 🙂 She said yes. In the end, in lieu of cupcakes, she asked if she can change it to smores. And I thought, hmmm, why not? At least it would be something different.
She ordered it from Jovy’s Kitchen. I think the owner is the wife of one of her former work colleague.
Apart from smores, she also ordered Apple Turon (I was not able to take a photo, though) but I was not able to taste it, too. 🙁 But from what I heard, it tasted good as well.
The smores were good. Though I think it would be a lot better if the marshmallow inside had been melted (not sure how they would do that though). This was the same thought my brother mentioned.
Tokens: Clay Land Shop
I have been thinking of something unique to give as tokens for my guests and yet I never really had the time to sit down, search and decide what I would like to give as tokens. Since I was already cramming and still no idea in mind, I searched for suppliers for acrylic photo frame ref magnets. I decided that if I can get a supplier, I would do the lay out and have it printed and insert the photo myself. However, a lot of the suppliers I found online would not really sell just the frame itself as what they offer really was the personalized item. They make the lay out, they work on the photo insertions and packaging and they send it to you all done. There were a couple of suppliers that would sell just the frames but their bulk orders were about 100 pieces and above which is way too much for what I need.
I found Clay Land Shop online and saw that they make customized clay items for tokens, cake toppers and the likes. They also have non-clay items and it included cute photo frame ref magnets for baby events. Given that I was pressed for time, I made the deal with her, ordered 35 pieces of assorted designs of the photo frame ref magnets and arranged for meet up instead of having it shipped (again, I was really pressed for time). She included individual plastic bag for packaging since I don’t have packaging stuff yet. It was free of charge. 🙂
Clay Land Shop was easy to deal with and had I found her sooner, I might have ordered her clay items instead. 🙂 I might have to keep that in mind for Z’s next events. 🙂
For the loot bags, I just bought goodies from the grocery, asked my brother to help pack the loot bags using sandwich bags. LOL! I was not able to buy small paper bags as was my original plan. Since they are kids anyway, the sandwich bags would do. 🙂
For the token and loot bag labels, I made the lay out using pixlr for quick photo editing and MS Publisher for the tag layout design. (Again, I was cramming with a capital C, LOL!) And here is how the final output came about:
All in all, with the limited time and resources that I had to prepare, I am satisfied with the turn out. The food was good, there were a lot of food left after wards for take away, the guests appreciated the tokens and the kids enjoyed their loot bags.
I would say, I am a happy camper! 🙂
Will be posting photos from the event next time. But for now, here is the little boy’s outfit of the day:
Let me give you a little story about this outfit. Since I never really set up a theme for the dedication ceremony of Z, I thought of finding him an orange polo shirt to wear to the event instead. This has been the plan since a few months back though I never really got around to looking for one. My plan B was to get him a white polo shirt if I wouldn’t be able to find what I was really looking for.
Last Thursday, since I had to drop by the mall to pay bills, I decided to look around the baby and toddler clothing section. I just passed by one shop but already thinking that I wouldn’t be able to buy anything there given the price ranges. The sales lady assisted and asked what I was looking for. I said I was just checking for polo shirts for a one year old baby boy (well, my little Z wears size 12mos clothes now and he’s just 7.5 months!). They showed me their new arrivals and all that and I said, no thanks. Then she said that have items on sale and led me to the racks of discounted items. There I found the orange polo shirt, hanging on the front of the rack as if shouting to me, “I’m the one you’re looking for!” The sales lady said that it was on sale at 50% off. It was definitely a good deal given that it was branded. Without hesitation, knowing that Z will be able to use it for the next three months, I bought it. 😀
And that completed the little boy’s outfit of the day.
Orange polo from Periwinkle (bought at 50% off, a good steal for me); Khaki pants from Polo by Ralph Lauren (bought second hand by my sister a few months back); brown crib shoes from Pitter-Pat (bought by one of my cousins as his christmas gift for little Z).
Til next post. More on the Dedication event. 😀
