Marielle's 2nd Birthday

A week after Marielle's party I still feel a bit harrassed! Unlike her 1st birthday party which I planned for at least 6 months, her 2nd party was somewhat "photo-finished." First of all, we didn't really want a big party for her and secondly when we decided that we'll throw her one again this year, a lot of circumstances/occasions came in such as Kuya Arman's illness that led to his death :(, Mark and Geny's wedding which all 3 of us were part of, and little celebrations here and there. So pretty much, I only had 2 weeks to prepare for Marielle's party!! whew!!



I started off with the theme. Ever since last year, I've already thought of having Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as a theme for her party. Marielle loves Mickey and Minnie!!! In fact, Minnie Mouse is the very first character that she knew of!

Then we picked the venue. Originally we told ourselves that we'll just have it at my parents house but I realized that there's not much space for the kids to play at since the swimming pool occupies most of the backyard! So we ended up reserving a spot at the park specifically at the Casa Adobe de San Rafael Historic Park in Glendale. We've been eyeing this park for the longest time already because of the "exclusivity" that it gives. However, due to unfortunate circumstances such as the big fire that broke out in La Canada and La Crescenta, having the party at the park posted the risk of people inhaling the smoke that comes from the fire and not to mention the possibility of ashes falling down on our food!! Ugly ugly picture!! So in order to avoid this, we just decided to move the venue to the Brand Studios which is also in Glendale. Compared to Casa Adobe, Brand Studios is enclosed and is airconditioned which made the guests very happy :)

2 weeks before the party, I went to the Toy District in dowtown LA to shop for prizes, giveaways, pinata, and all the other stuff I can use for the party. I'm so happy with all the stuff I bought. The bakugan toys were a big hit with the little boys, the little girls loved the Minnie ears headband that light up as well as the Mickey head "wand" that also light up in different colors!! For giveaways, I bought little Minnie&Mickey gift bags and stuffed them with writing set, coloring book with crayons and blowing bubbles. Luckily, my mom in law sent me more Mickey&Minnie stuff from the Philippines. She sent little backpacks that the kids loved!! And more bag stuffers like the handfan, yoyo, cotton candy -- all of which are Mickey&Minnie!!

The food were mostly homemade. Except for the famouse OK Chinese Fried Chicken, Pork BBQ, Pancit Malabon, and Turon. My mom cooked Roast beef with mushroom sauce, Pinoy style spaghetti, leche flan, and almond jelly. Mama La cooked the Lumpiang Hubad and she also made a tray of the Peach float. I baked mini Red Velvet cupcakes and also made Rice kripies in the form of Mickey's head! We were so afraid we'd run out of food since we don't usually cook for that much people...thankfully we didn't instead there were a lot left for the others to take home.

Overall, the party was a success!! The kids had fun and Marielle has been recounting this special day and in fact she had been reenacting how she blew her birthday candle! That's all that matters to me...that Marielle was happy and that she felt very very special on her birthday.

Until next year! :)