Got Milk?

I just realized... The Cookie Monster theme will not be complete without a glass of milk. But that will only work for kids!!

After much pondering and tearing at my hair, I was able to think of a way to complete the milk part of the theme... By making white cocktails!! Something simple and white so it looks like milk. I searched the net and found:

THE WHITE RUSSIAN

It's fairly simple to do. I learned from this link:

http://supercocktails.com/985/White-Russian

I will serve this after everyone is done eating. Post dessert thing, like coffee. But that is not yet final, though, because I am sure the boys would prefer San Mig Light to it. And mixing beer with hard is never a good thing. So for the moment this is still on the idea stage only.

Let's Not Forget the Cake

There were so many Cookie Monster cake designs but I didn't want just the face. I am willing to spend good money for a very nice cake. But I don't want it big too because I want it to be in a cupcake tower type of set up. Something like this.

I ordered a three tier cupcake tower so this is probably how it will look like. I want the cupcakes exactly like that. But I want the cake to look like this instead.

Sheron, my batchmate from Grace Christian, will be making the cake. She hasn't done a Cookie Monster cake before. But she already made an Elmo cake. She will just replace Elmo and the color of the cake so it will be a Cookie Monster cake. She will also be doing the cupcakes. I have faith in her even if she has not done this yet. I mean, her existing works are amazing. Here are some samples:

And check out these amazing Angry Birds cupcakes! I ordered these for Benz's birthday. Simply Amazing!
So, don't you agree that I don't have to worry about her messing up my Cookie Monster orders? Hmmm?

How Should the Party Look Like?

I haven't checked in with his dad yet on where he wants the party: In the garage and living area or in the terrace. I am thinking he might prefer it in the terrace. Anyway, there would only be minor tweaking anyway so it does not matter as much where the venue would be.

I was browsing through the net to get ideas on how to decorate the place. I wanted to maintain a Sesame Street kind of feel to it. I found this in one blog where they celebrated their son's 1st birthday. I think I will make something like this too.

This should be the first thing that the guests will see upon entering the house. If it will be done on the terrace it would be much better. I can post this in the living area when they get in.

For the Buffet Table, I made labels for the food so they would know what they are getting. Here is a sample of what I made. I will print it out and stick it into a styro board, cut it and use something heavy as a stand, wood or thick plastic.

I used the same template in one of the birthday banners. But I think I prefer to use it for the food labels.

And then on the dessert table I also want to put all kinds of blue candies and pastries in a clear jar. Something like this.

I found these in the website called Coolest Parties. There are printable stuff that I can use for the party too.

These are place cards for the table. I am not sure if I will use this for that purpose, though, since there are only 30 people. But I can use it to place instructions for the centerpiece.

For the centerpiece, I will put either a bowl or a jar with cookies on it. Something like this.

I can probably find jars like this in Divisoria. I will buy around 3 or 4 and fill them up with cookies. I like the idea of the label on the jars to. Here's my cookie jar tag:

So instead of the guests munching on peanuts while waiting for dinner to commence, they can munch on the cookies.

Next, for the utensils to be used when eating I have decided to look for blue table napkins, paper plates, paper cups and cutlery. I will go to Divisoria and scour the area for these by next month. It should be something like this.

I am still wondering if I need to put in googly eyes on the glass and put in a make shift Cookie Monster mouth, but it might look too kiddie already.

*LOL*

And of course, I will order blue balloons. Around 30 pieces of helium balloons. One really big one so he can write his wish in a paper and tie it with the balloon and we will let it fly to heaven together.

*smiles*

Cookie Monster!!!

Parties would not be complete without a theme. So I went about asking Mitch some questions which he probably found weird and out of place. But it was my strategy to find out what he likes. The ending was Cookie Monster. He does play basketball but is not overly in love with it, loves to eat pancit but hardly theme material, no favorite TV show or movie. And his favorite character of all time is Cookie Monster.

Next challenge: How can I come up with an adult party with a Cookie Monster theme? And the answer to that is a gray area. It is just not possible. So Mitch will just have to settle to a somewhat kiddie party type of surprise birthday.

*LOL*

The date is still tentative because the 25th is a Friday and I am not sure people would be able to attend. But I figured we can start around 8:00 PM for those who would be coming from the office. Here is the invitation that I made.

Cute, huh? I won't be actually printing this, anyway. I will just make an event invitation in Facebook since the people I am inviting are all in TAN Bayan.

*GUFFAW*

Next thing I designed in the birthday banner. I made quite a few because I could not decide which ones I like best.

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

I haven't made my final decisions yet. Anyway, I still have time to choose. I will just ask for a vote again from people on which one is the nicest.

Getting Started

After deciding on having the Chinese Buffet at his place, the next thing for me to ponder on was headcount. How many people will I be inviting.

Now this got me to thinking, really. I realized the people I know to be his friends are only those that we know from high school. That left me with very little choices. So I contacted his friend, John Paul, in Facebook. Now this guy, he created a group called TAN Bayan, where he invited friends from high school and this was like a common interaction page. So I involved him in my headcount research. He gave me a total of 20 names, some of which were out of the country and would not be able to make it to the party for sure. Now, I counted the initial list which included members of the family from both out sides. It came to a total of 11. And out of the 20 names John Paul rattled, I think around 17 would probably make it. So headcount is roughly at 28 for the moment. So I think I will order food for 30 heads then.

Next came the choosing of the caterer. Since I would be feeding 30 people, cooking for the event is out of the option.

*duh*

I checked around the net to see what options are available. I found out that catering for just 30 heads is almost impossible. It's either they charge you really high because there are only a few people, or they just don't cater to 30 heads at all. I was beginning to lose hope, so I texted my sister and asked for her suggestion on how I can feed 30 heads. She mentioned Verleo provides food per tray good for 20 people. But I told her I needed food for 30 heads. She suggested to just order lots of viands, the amount of food will cover for what each tray lacks in quantity. She sent me the menu so I can make my choices. Here is what I've decided on.

Braised Birthday Noodles with Quail Eggs
Chicken with lemon sauce
Lumpiang Shanghai
Roast Beef
King Dao Spareribs
Squid with Salt & Pepper
Yang Chow Fried Rice

Mango Crepe

I decided not to get the rice from the caterer because they can just cook it at home. And I will have to ask his dad if he can make some Leche Flan for the event (Mitch's favorite). If not, no big deal I will just buy elsewhere. It's just that Verleo did not have that in their menu.

I asked permission from his dad to hold this party at home. I verified if it's ok for him to have around 30 people at their place for the surprise party. And he gave the go signal.

*GREEN LIGHT*