Zoe's 3rd Birthday Party - Supplier Review

Zoe celebrated her 3rd birthday last September 22nd at McDonald's Filinvest Marcos Highway. It was a relatively small and intimate party, we only invited her first cousins. 

In relation to that, here is my mini supplier review for her party.

Venue: McDonald's Filinvest Marcos Highway
Peso Power: P7,072 for 34 sets of Spaghetti and chicken, cheeseburger, fries, drinks, and sundae; P3,000 for 30 sets of lootbags and prizes, P500 1 hour extension
Review:
We reserved the venue back in June simply because I'm an overly excited parent who always wants things done ahead of time. Naturally, I was also expecting that if there were any kinks to the party, then I should be made aware AHEAD of time. This wasn't my first choice of venue, it was supposed to be McDonald's Libis but we settled for this branch because of our decision to have a short guest list. Let me enumerate the disastrous events that happened:

1. I pencil-booked September 22nd 2pm-4pm and was told that the slot won't be given to anyone else without informing us. This was back in May, I came back in June to make a deposit but was told that  somebody had booked the function room from 3:30PM-5PM on the said date. Fine, I adjusted and booked 12:30PM-3PM

2. They called me the NIGHT BEFORE my daughter's party to inform me that there were no Toy Story amenities available and they can only provide Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I didn't make any fuss since my daughter also likes MMC. Sure.

3. On the day of the party, they told me that there were no AVAILABLE LOOTBAGS and the party favors will only be distributed to the kids.This was when I lost my patience and almost ate the crew alive. WTF?! Even if this was just a small party, it deserved the respect deemed for all their other parties. They will hand out the party favors to the kids?? I booked and paid 3k in June, couldn't they have ordered their supplies then? Even if it was their supplier's fault, didn't they have MORE THAN AMPLE TIME to inform me so I could have at least bought themed lootbags?? Nakakabwisit! I went out of the party area and really shouted at the crew members. Kakabastos eh. They were frantic and they offered to put the party favors on McDonald's brown bags. Yes, the ones they use for take out food. Hinde ka ba maha-highblood nyan? San napunta 3k ko? Hay grabe. Super bwisit tong branch na to. Another thing, parang walang utak ang 2 hosts. Alam nilang 3-year old yung may birthday and the kids are also very young, yung games nila parang mga 10 steps yata kahaba ang instructions. Nag-react tuloy the parents of the kids. Bobo lang??

Lastly, Ronald McDonald decided to crash the event. OK lang sana, additional entertainment eh. Kaso he was so rude to plug his appearances in that branch ON OUR PARTY and stole the limelight by asking the guests to POSE with HIM FOR PHOTOS when my daughter was already seated in front and parang naiwan tuloy sya. I said talaga to the host and Ronald's assistant to get him out of our party
 area. 

Photography: For Keeps Photography
Peso Power: P3,500 (4 hours of coverage, 40 5R prints, and DVD of edited photos)
Review:
I found out about For Keeps through GT. They have so many good reviews and their photos are so nice talaga. When I contacted them back in June, they didn't even require a deposit so mejo nagulat ako. 
On the day of the party, I texted David to remind him that the party will start at 12:30PM. Lo and behold, ang alam nya pala was 2PM because I gave him the details of our pencil-booking with McDo so when I adjusted the time because we were bumped off, I forgot to inform him. I got surprised pa when I got a text from him saying that I told him the party was at 2PM. When I checked my email, that was what I told him nga. I already accepted that he will be late because it was my fault. I was super amazed when he got to the venue way BEFORE it started. 

David was a joy to work with. He never stopped taking photos, he had a lot of nice ideas for poses, and he had good camaraderie with the guests. In two days time, he already had Zoe's teaser photos uploaded in his FB site and Weebly site (zoebday.weebly.com). I highly recommed For Keeps.

Cake: Swirls n Sprinkles (Nadine Abraham)
Peso Power: P2,000 for a 9" cake with 12 free cupcakes
Review:
Nadine has always been my cake supplier from Zoe's christening to birth month celebrations to birthdays. I've also recommended her to friends in and out of GT and they all had good things to say about her. 




















For Zoe's 3rd birthday, I decided to order just slightly bigger cake than her 1st birthday cus I wasn't planning on getting cupcakes anymore. However, Nadine gave Zoe 12 cupcakes as her birthday gift. I was super happy =). My husband and I asked Zoe what cake design she liked and since she chose Toy Story as her McDonald's party theme, she also said she wanted Toy Story for her birthday cake. HOWEVER, she changed her mind about a week before her party and said she wanted a Doc McStuffins cake instead. It's a good thing that nadine still had time to come up with a design. 

Nadine delivered the cake for free, ang hilig sa free ng babaeng to, ako na nahihiya hahaha. The cake was delivered even before we got there. When Zoe saw it, she was just enamored. I think we could've gotten away with not pushing through with the party basta katabi nya lang her cake :P I gave the cupcakes to the kids after the party and we kept the cake. It was too beautiful to eat, honestly. It broke my heart when we cut a slice to give to my brother and my nephews. 

Zoe's outfit: Peach dress from Gingersnaps and gold studded T-strap shoes from Marie Antoinette Baby 
Peso Power: P800++ for the dress and P650 for the shoes
Review:
I tried almost all the clothes in Gingersnaps cus I was unecided on the look that I wanted for Zoe. I didn't want it to be too dressy cus it was a simple McDo party and I wanted her to be able to move around without dress constraints. I thought of a shorts ensemble, pants ensemble, several dresses, jumpsuits, the works. I finally settled on the peach dress that I've seen couple of store visits ago and sure enough, it was the winner. I also bought another top as an alternate but she didn't get to wear it anymore.

I had been wanting to buy the shoes from MABC for Zoe but kept on holding it off cus the first pair that I bought for her wasn't very comfortable and she ended up only wearing it twice. This pair however is not only very pretty but quite comfy too (according to Zoe). My only comment is that the shoes had a different hook; I thought it was like most kids' shoes that comes with a 'belt-like' strap that you can close securely. It came with that design but it wasn't made to be closed like that, you simply hook the strap to an L-shaped metal. For kids who like to jump and run, the shoes can easily unhook itself. 


Overall, it was still a nice and fun party. It rained non-stop on that day and it was a good thing that the venue is just across our village. That was the only good thing about that McDonald's branch, really, and we got them for that reason alone. I'm still waiting for final photos from For Keeps but here are some shots that David uploaded in Zoe's site (zoebday.weebly.com). 

With Dan's family

The Manila-Dys

With cousins from Manila and Dy sides

It was good thing that my cousin, Sugar, was able to join this party before flying to Germany with her two daughters

Piñata 

Zoe with Tita Mye and Tito Mark, Jessalyn, Cacai, Russell, and Mama Lola

with achie Meg and baby Zara

Ang saya naman ni Mama Lola ;D