Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

June 16, 2007 - We have been preparing for this day two months ago when we finally got to know that we would be spending vacation in the Philippines in time for Xianelle’s birthday. She would be turning 4 but this would be her first time to celebrate it here, with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and the whole lot. We decided early on that the celebration would be held on Saturday, June 16, so as to have people from different cities attend and not worry about the party ending late as there wouldn’t be any work on a Sunday. Her grandparents in Angeles, Pampanga looked at several places where we can hold the party months ahead and were informing us through calls and SMS messages to Qatar of the cost of the packages for each. We decided to hold it where Mavis and I had our reception to our wedding 5 years ago. Once we got to the Philippines, we started the real preparations for the party; buying give aways, talking to the caterer, planning the program,  hiring clowns, etc...By June 16, the party was on its way.

Lolo and I were there in Unichefs at around 2:00 PM. The party was supposed to start at 4:30 PM but we were early as we still had lots to prepare. Mavis have been preparing the children’s giveaways for the last 2 weeks. We expected more than 50 kids so those give aways alone required us to go up and down the stairs a minimum of 4 times. We also brought in several food stuffs that needed to be placed on the tables, some gift items for adults, gift items for the game prizes, party poppers, Xiane’s tarpaulin which we had made in Divisoria, costumes, and a whole lot more. I was also bringing my equipment, Video cam and Digital SLR.

They have already been talking about wearing Disney costumes for the party 2 weeks ago but were not really serious about it till the Sunday before the party. They bought cloth for the respective costumes and by Monday, we were already looking for a seamstress who could finish them in 5 days. We were lucky to find one and everyone got their measures on Tuesday. Everyone got more excited. By 4 P.M. Saturday, all of us were already dressed in our costumes. I would be one of the Dwarfs, Mavis was Mulan, Lolo was dressed as Aladdin, Mamita was Lilo, Tita Tin was Pocahontas, Tita Doc was Alice in Wonderland, Grammy was The Blue Fairy, Tita Ninang was also a fairy, and Tito Den (Tita Doc’s husband) and Grandy would be Pirates.

It was a costume party! Kids came in their costumes; Princesses, fairies, cowboys, pirates, Batman, Green Lantern, Angels, and what have you. Some adults asked for Tiara's so they could wear them on the party. Others were bringing their wings! Clowns greeted the guests as children registered and were given either a tiara (for girls) or a party hat (for boys).Balloons shaped like animals were given to kids who were not really afraid of the clowns. Guests were also able to get treats from the Cotton Candy corner and Ice cream on cones to boot as they waited for the program to start. The children who came early were also able to get some face/body painting.