Friday, March 25, 2011

A sugar and spice party for the twins!

We had a double-all party for the twins this March.  It was 2 months past their birthday for we had some problems with the venue.  The celebration was supposed to be December. But, because that month is the busiest time of the year we opted to move it and I'm glad I didn't have to rush things for this party.

The party theme was "Sugar and spice and everything nice" party with the colors of Magenta + Tangerine with touches of Lavander.  My twins, Callie and Dashie are my Sugar and Spice and everything nice. Each unique and different in their own special way.  The party speaks everything about my little girls.

My DIY invite.  Made by yours truly. :)
I wanted a unique, simple yet classy, within-budget but memorable 1st birthday party for them.

But, for my twins... all I wanted is a day to celebrate and thank the Lord how we were able to surpass the 1st year of our "Suddenly 3!" experience.  We know that if we were able to surpass a year trusting the Lord for this wonderful journey, then... the years to come will be an expectation of God's ultimate provision of Wisdom and Provision for our family.

The party started with a dedication by our favorite Pastor Etienne.  We love this guy and we personally chose him for the dedication because he is very special in me and my husbands heart.  He is the 1st Pastor in our church who inspires and gives us Godly wisdom especially when me and my husband were just starting out in ministry.

Daddy with the girls and Pastor Etienne!
As to the party, I opted for something unique and different.  But, most importantly I wanted the best and only - THE BEST for my girls (and the big brother).  Being the Mother of Tulle (haha!) Dressing up the birthday girls is not a challenge for I know exactly what they will wear.  An Erin et Vivien Petit Bloom that matches their theme colors (personally made by yours truly), with a pretty swimsuit top, colorful knee-high socks and of course corker screw headbands!
Callie - My funny, outgoing birthday dress (Tutu made by www.erinetvivien.com)

Dashie - My sweet, girly birthday outfit (Tutu by www.erinetvivien.com)


The venue itself is beautiful and I didn't want to go overboard on the decors but, to the experience of the guests - it has to be special.

Part of my 6 months in the making mood board.
The colors from my mood board.

The beautiful photographs were captured by Noel Salazar (http://www.noelsalazar.com) and one of our very cose friend, Axel Exconde.

In lieu of balloons, we made paper pom poms for the centerpiece and decors to be placed on the venue.  These were personally handmade by a dear friend.  I tried doing this but I just can't seem to perfect the way my friend does this... oh so beautifully.
The twins' cute centerpiece!

These were the flower pom poms made as centerpieces.

Part of the decors were the beautiful colors of Magenta and Tangerine!  We had the party catered by Queensland Catering (although, I didn't quite like the way our caterer handled the event).  I will have to post a separate review about them.
The colors bouncing everywhere matched the garden.

I am a designer at heart and can easily make a tarpaulin design backdrop with ease, but after several parties I have done for my son I realized they are not earth-frienldy and are not reusable.  Same with balloon decors, we always end up popping the balloons right after the event.

So we opted for simple, earth-conscious and reusable decors.  The photos on the photowall are used for safekeeping in an album, the paper flowers were to nice to be thrown away so I plan to hang it on the twins' playroom.  The centerpieces were mounted on pots, so it can be used for planting.  After the party, we didn't do much cleaning or rearranging.  The decors were all packed and kept nicely and my parent's house were left clean after the event.
Our backdrop is a simple DIY Photo collage of the twins' Initials. 
D is for Dashie! I can't seem to find Callie's Photo Collage. :/

The real icing on the twins' party - Baked Twinkles' Dessert Table! Superb!

One of the big hit of the party, is the dessert table.  They were beautifully made and set-up by Baked Twinkles!  This was a really, really big hit among my guests.  The sizes were bite-sized for the cupcakes, which were just enough to go back for more.

I got so much complements with the desserts by Baked Twinkles even after the party.  Everything was done so special and I really love how it was set-up.  Thanks so much Baked Twinkles! A perfect 10 for my review!  Till our next orders...

The pretty cake made by Baked Twinkles - Thanks, Nikko!
These are really cute and the twins love these!
I love the personalized touch!
Love the colors and the not-too-sweet but just right Lemon Sensation!
These are simply addicting!
Healthy and very flavorful!

Beautiful and chewy!
My guests loved this while they had coffee during the evening serenade dinner.
Moist Choco Pops! A favorite during the party.
I didn't want to just settle for anything less for the birthday cakes.  I was supposed to get a supplier who makes really good fondant cakes but too bad our date with her schedule is not available anymore.

I could have just bought a regular commercialized birthday cake but, I only want the best for my girls.  So, I researched for the best Chocolate cake in the Philippines and I found... Karen's Kitchen!  3 weeks before the event, I emailed them my order of 1 Chocolate Ganache and 1 Red Velvet Cake.  All with a light pink dedication and a simple pink candle.

Simple, elegant and beautiful were the words that best describes the 1st birthday cake for my twins.  And yes, the cakes were another sure hit during the party.

I had a cake disaster on Callie's cake - but so happy with a loving friend who improvised something.  It was so cute that it resembled Callie's personality.  Dark, sweet and very outgoing!
These were the giveaways to the kids and kids-at-heart. :) Our twin stars and moon.  
For the giveaways, I bought yards of complementing fabrics and had a friend who hired a sewer to make them.  I just gave them a pattern of the shape and voila! Cute!

The prizes! Assorted table alarm clocks, colorful tops, educational bath letters, cute mugs, colored metallic markers, cute pearl bracelets, battery-operated fans, pencil cases, assorted toys, coin bank with lock, and several toys.
I didn't want a magician for this party (it just didn't match with the theme).  But, just to add a bit of entertainment, we had a host (By Anna Banana), a Golden Show (Acrobatic Show) and some cool games.
My Ice (who is a semi-pro :D Razor Scooter Boy) tries out the small bicycle.
Abraham Velasco of The Golden Show!  
We had unicyclists, juggling act, Balancing Act and Mini Bicycle act in one show!

The party did not end just yet, but instead... we had an evening serenade dinner.  We invited a duo musician (Violin + Keyboard) Tales of Music to serenade our guests during the dinner party.  They played all our guests requests, that is how good this group are.

The party is beautiful.  It was simple and sweet.  I didn't hire any party planner but I have all the loving people who helped me make this party possible.  I thank my parents too for the love and support (and the beautiful home) that made the event truly special.  

I guess, there is just no perfect party or event even how much preparation you put in. Beyond all the beautiful decors and things... it is those who took the time, effort and money for your event that makes a lot of difference to make your event perfect in each and every way. 

Daddy and Callie!
Mom and Dashie!


A fun way to teach kids about Sight Words!

My little guy learns a lot if you inject some silly, nonsense humor (sometimes kid-friendly toilet humor).  So, I have improvised something to make him memorize sight words easily!

What are sight words?
Words recognised immediately by the reader without his having to go through the process of breaking them into constituent parts. 
Words such as The, Little, Please, Blue etc. are some words that cannot be sounded out.  So, teaching sight words become very important.  You can check the complete list of the Dolch Sight Words here (http://gemini.es.brevard.k12.fl.us/sheppard/reading/dolch.html).

Anyway, I am not quite a cartoonist myself, but I made a simple way to make sight words much easier to remember than just memorizing the actual words like these below (These are actually just plain sheets of paper cutouts with handwritten words of most common sight words that I want to teach my son).

I would show these words initially, then one by one flip it and show the story of the word at the back.  

 and made to these (These drawings are drawn at the back of each sight word to look like actual flash cards - yes, no printing needed).  I will be uploading the flashcard I have made with the sight words for download soon on my blog.

These are the sketch drawings I made on each word.  Just make it simple drawings, then mark the letters with a dark colored pen for emphasis.

At the back of each sight word, you might be wondering what those things are and how were they created.  Well, they are simple stick drawings that I have placed on each letter to tell a story about the word.

ex. the word LITTLE.  The story would go like this: Look at the LITTLE (empahisis on this word) i and e, they are too LITTLE unlike L's and the T's!

Example, the word Little.  We have come up with a simple story about Little.  The giant twin L's and T's looks at Little i and e!  I would tell the story like this, "The word is Little! Look at the LITTLE (empahisis on this word) i and e, they are too LITTLE unlike L's and the T's!"

Some other sight words we practiced:
There! There goes the ball!

"Can - I can Read! (or look, N looks like a can) 

I have read that this kind of teaching sticks like velcro to the brain.  The process of being able to use the Left Brain (thru words/letter) then actually transferring the info to the right brain (thru interesting visuals) is very good memorization technique.  The brain processes this info better and gets them attached for easier future retrieval.  The same way we remember a brand by its icon (ex. the Golden Arches for McDonald's, or the simple check with Nike).

This has helped my son very much.  With this, he has memorized all 13 sight words in just one sitting and are doing more.  We didn't even bother sounding them out or even explaining the silent e or whatever.

There's one product that is really nice that you can buy online that is similar to this at Dianne Kraft: http://stores.diannecraft.org/Detail.bok?no=54

I love this method!  Try this and let me know if this has helped you in your teaching journey!