Hellobee

The 7th birthday is one of the biggest birthday celebrations in the Philippines, with many parents renting out banquet halls in hotels and having wedding-sized affairs. The 7th year is considered especially important because that’s when children here start first grade, when they are old enough to be held accountable for their actions, and when they leave behind early childhood. Olive was turning 7 and all her friends were having big 7th birthday bashes. While birthdays in El Nido were very simple affairs, once we moved to the island capital and had access to many more options, I decided to throw her a 7th birthday/housewarming party. She asked for an art-themed party, and I missed throwing a good party too!

The biggest difference between parties here and in the US is that hiring vendors is much, much more affordable, so even children’s parties have planners, caterers, magicians, etc. I actually had two party planners quit on me because I just wanted help executing a couple diy projects and some help the day of, but they typically oversaw every aspect of big events. I ended up hiring a balloon artist who was able to do all the DIY projects I wanted to do while I did the rest, and we really had a lovely celebration!

I told the balloon artist I wanted 3 projects: a balloon wall backdrop for pictures, the number 7 made out of balloons, and a stairway arch of balloons. “Let’s keep it simple,” I told her when she wanted to decorate every room. She showed up at 6am the day of the party, which was supposed to start at 12pm, with a team of 4 people. I had no idea she was gonna go so over the top, but it turned out to be a fantastic balloon fantasyland!

For the kids I just ordered pizza. For the adults, I had plenty of alcohol (my signature party move ), a California roll boat, and veggie/fruit/cured meat/cheese/cracker platters. Having thrown tons of parties, I still always prepare way too much food. Half what you think you’ll need!

I had 8 different kinds of cheeses (cheddar not pictured), and by far the 2 blue cheeses were the most popular.

A fantastic local baker made rice krispies treats paintbrushes, paint palette cookies, macarons, and a watercolor painted salted caramel cake.

Cupcake decorating was one of the activities, and it was a massive hit. We ran out of cupcakes because kids decorated multiple cupcakes and took them home!

Two weeks before the party, I found the only calligrapher on the island and commissioned her to create some signs for the party, as well as write the kids’ names live during the party. The names would then be framed and given as favors, keeping with the art theme.

We also had canvas painting, rock painting, play doh (for younger siblings), and bubble painting. Rock painting with paint markers was by far the biggest hit. I bought a huge bag of rocks for less than $3 at a garden supply store!

The adults painted these.

We also had 2 face painters that cost $9 each for 3 hours of painting. Here kids like to get paintings on their hands instead of their faces so they can see them.

We also had a photobooth that brought tons of props and gave unlimited prints to guests as favors. All the pictures are on cd so I can’t access them on my laptop for now, but the Philippines is known as the selfie capital of the world, so they love to take pictures!

We ended the day with a bubble machine and some popsicles!

The party ended up being a ton of work the day of, but luckily I had two friends help me pull the whole thing off. I couldn’t have done it without them! Setting up all the food and different stations ended up taking much longer than anticipated. But we had a really lovely day with our new friends in our new city, and I have no regrets. (Except maybe not hiring that professional photographer for $35 since almost all my pictures are from before the party started!). Future parties will be simple again, but it was nice to go all out for Olive’s 7th birthday, as it really is a big celebration here in the Philippines!