Arya’s Rainbow Brite Party

I belong to the children of the 80s.

I watched Regal Shocker with my siblings. During vacations in Manila, I would drink bottled chocolate drinks at the Magnolia shop at Quad (now Greenbelt). Plane fare was still free for children up to seven years old. I knew all the songs by Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper because my older siblings liked their songs. My favorite cartoons included The Smurfs. I was able to watch Snoopy on Ice with my cousins.

The 80s was a fun time to grow up. Everything was in full color. The 80s will always hold fond memories for me.

So when our firstborn celebrated his first birthday in 2009, we had a Care Bears-themed party. When I was planning our second child’s first birthday, I immediately thought of the theme I wanted. A Rainbow Brite-themed party! My friends would tell me that I’m imposing MY favorite cartoon characters on my kids. Guilty as charged, haha. But you have to admit, the Care Bears and Rainbow Brite ARE very cute.

However, planning a Rainbow Brite party wasn’t as easy as I thought. For one thing, Rainbow Brite items aren’t readily available anymore in the Philippines. I could have bought items from eBay and Amazon, but that would entail extra cost for international shipping, which would be very impractical. We improvised by availing of colorful items that WERE on hand and available. Let me share with you how we prepared for this colorful event.

PREPARATIONS

We made photo invitations for Arya’s party. We got Arya’s photo from her recent pictorial at The Picture Company and the Rainbow Brite image from the net. My husband’s cousin Jamil Bejerano did the layout using Photoshop while I inserted the text using Picnik. I had the photos printed by Fujifilm Cotabato. Each photo cost PhP 8. Fujifilm service is always good since you can get your pictures an hour after, but when I had the photo invitations printed, I had to wait until the next day because their machine was broken. The photos had to be printed in their Midsayap branch.

These cute rainbow coin purses (for the moms) were made by my good friend Sherrie Bandila-Sinsuat, for PhP 20 apiece. You may check out her other colorful and pretty creations at Craft Home along Quezon Avenue, Cotabato City. I’m very satisfied with these purses.

Stickers were made by iDesign and Print for PhP 300 for 75 stickers (PhP4/sticker). The output was all right. If only our colored printer wasn’t acting up, I would have made the stickers myself.

These are the tarpaulin layouts. The tarpaulins were made and printed by Pixel Werx. The 4×8 feet tarp cost us PhP 640 while the 4x12feet tarp cost PhP 960. I loved the layouts, because they’re both very colorful. Printing is also fast. The best part however, about working with Pixel Werx is that I was able to communicate with them through the internet. They didn’t ask me to visit their shop until after the tarpaulins were ready. It was very convenient for me.

The button pins were created by Heartech for PhP 35 per piece. They have quick service. I told them what I wanted and the next morning, they called me up so I could check the layouts they made. I chose this layout and the button pins were ready after a few hours. I only had a few pins made, since only the registration team, my nieces and nephews were going to wear them.

The prizes were bought in Davao City, from various shops. Since I couldn’t find Rainbow Brite items, I just settled for prizes of various colors.

The birthday girl looking on as we prepare the prizes for the event.

ACTUAL PARTY

We had the party at Casa Blanca. This restaurant is a family favorite, since their food is ALWAYS good, worth every penny. The venue is also spacious. They used table cloths of various colors, as I requested. The cost per head now is PhP 180, with a choice of three viands, dessert and drinks.

The decor was colorfully handled by Party Fun, ably headed by my cousin Maleha Biruar-Ibay, together with Ate Gnee Ann Castro. I told them my budget for the decor, and they worked on that budget. It’s SO EASY to work with them and they can be reached any time.

The registration table (including hats, stickers ids, pens) and the table centerpieces were also prepared by Party Fun, as part of the decor package.

As a personal touch, I placed Nips chocolate candies on each table, as well as tipas, a Maguindanaoan native delicacy. I bought the Nips from the grocery, while the tipas was made by my aunt, Saadah Biruar-Ampatuan.

The Rainbow Brite loot boxes were created by Sweetlilsoles Favors. Ms. Rhea Diputado of Sweetlilsoles also created the giveaways for Arya’s Aqiqah (baptismal) a year ago. Needless to say, she’s a personal favorite. You can place your orders online and she’ll have the products shipped on the day you need them. Each Rainbow Brite loot box cost PhP 55, and each box came with star-shaped pastillas, ribbon, wrapper and gift tag. The pastillas are yummy and the loot boxes are SO colorful.

The cake and cupcakes were created by Ate Gnee Ann Castro. The cake was delicious and had the right amount of sweetness. The cupcakes were also delicious, soft inside, with creamy icing outside. The cakes and cupcakes are worth PhP 5,000.

Here are the prizes arranged on the table, ready for their winners.

The photo booth service was provided by Photofun Shots for PhP 5,500, with unlimited number of shots. I was very glad to see that the guests enjoyed the photo booth.

Here is a photo from the photo booth.

This is the birthday girl Arya with her Daddy. We had her Rainbow Brite costume made by a local seamstress , Manang Elsa. The costume cost about PhP 600, materials included.

Party Fun also provided popcorn and cotton candy treats for the kids. Together with the temporary tattoo service (not in the photo), the popcorn and cotton candy cost PhP 1,000.

Entertainment was provided by Myke@Works. We asked them not to wear clown costumes because our son (and I believe a lot of other kids) is afraid of clowns. There were two entertainers and they were a lively bunch.  Their services cost PhP 2,500.

My former officemates at the Bureau on Cultural Heritage-ARMM helped me with the preparations. You guys rock!  Thank you so much for the assistance. Also, thanks for the chocolate cake you gave us for Arya’s birthday.

All in all, I was satisfied with the way the Rainbow Brite party turned out. I have lots of photos of the event, which I hope Arya will enjoy looking at when she grows older, in shaa Allah. Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make the party successful.

To make the Rainbow Brite theme more authentic, so to speak, I also downloaded various Rainbow Brite songs for the background music. I got the songs from RainbowBrite.net.

If you’re also planning a Rainbow Brite party, you might also want to check the following blogs by fellow Filipinos who have staged Rainbow Brite parties themselves. I drew inspiration from their photos and great ideas. Enjoy!

Darla’s First Birthday – Supplier Ratings by Our Little Piece of Heaven

Rainbow Brite Party by NY Gift Works