I'd never given much thought to the typical kiddie birthday party. You buy some balloons, hire a clown, eat some cake, open some presents, then you go home. Party over. Simple and sweet. But also kind of expected. My wife, who in a former life was a wedding coordinator, has introduced me to the idea that a party, whether it be for a wedding or for a kids' birthday, is not just a party. It can be so much more.
It can be an experience. It can be imaginative, surprising, and even (gasp) fun. It can make you forget about the rough week you had at work. It can make you not mind that chocolate stain on your nice shirt because your taste buds are doing somersaults and high fives. It can make you feel like a kid again.
I thought, well if we're going to throw a kiddie party, might as well make it really fun for us too right? My kids probably won't remember this party but I sure as hell will. And for me, the funnest part was conceptualizing the theme of the party.
There wasn't much debate, we both really loved the idea of having a nacho libre luchador party. It's something we haven't really seen done here and we thought it also fits the hombre / destructo-boy personality of our child. Also, we love mexican food. WIN.
We immediately contacted Indy of She Dreams in Ink to help us bring this luchador party to life. Right off the bat, she had so many wonderful ideas for the party. Some of which, we couldn't include anymore due to budget constraints. But one of her ideas which I loved was her outdoor / garden movie viewing activity for the kids. Imagine an old mexican town where people would gather in the town square and watch movies being projected on a large white cloth at night beneath giant exposed light bulbs. Just magical if we'd been able to pull it off.
Collaborating with her brought out insanely fun ideas that we couldn't have thought of on our own.
(all photos courtesy of Tammy David unless watermarked by fatherland)
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A fiesta sign and luchador posters greeted the guests.
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| Table toppers using flowers, a beer bottle, an old can and a slice of lime. |
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| The spitting image of our child. |
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| Everything gave guests that mexican feel. |
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| Lucha Libre and lime. |
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| Coloring activity for the kids while mommy and daddy eat. |
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| Luchador ring / padded playmat for the toddlers. |
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Catering by Mexicali. To this day, guests still talk about
how much they enjoyed the food. |
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One of the reasons we chose Mexicali was for
their grilled vegetable quesadillas. Super yum. |
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| Can't go wrong. |
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| For the amount of food we had, their package was very affordable. |
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| Chicken and cheese enchiladas! |
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| Freshly-made tacos on the spot so they stay crunchy. |
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Freshly-made churros which we requested but was not on their menu.
They really went the extra mile to make these just for the party. |
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The churros were everyone's clear favorite.
The dark chocolate was thick and hot. |
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| Indy even made taco and churros stations for the party. |
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| You can find me here. |
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| Or here. It's in the general area. |
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| Cactus mini-cakes, m&m's, cookies, cupcakes and a giant piñata. |
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| Call them mini-cakes or gigantic cupcakes, whichever you prefer. |
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Custom made piñata with sweets inside.
Too pretty to break so we let him live. |
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Jarritos juice drinks and uh, actual juice. Guests loved the bottles so much,
they brought them home. No return, no deposit. |
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Freshly picked oranges that were loaded into a van, delivered to
a supermarket and found their way into my shopping cart. #supplychain |
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| Jarritos! You can find these in Metro Gaisano Supermarket. |
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Wall decor by She Dreams in Ink, she also cut out banderitas
that had the kid's names on them, which totally surprised us. |
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| Mamang sorbetero by Aquiles |
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| Found these guys selling dirty ice cream and taho in Powerplant mall. |
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| Taho by Nelson's Taho. |
It's funny how, even if we were planning the party with
Indy, we were still so surprised by so many little details. Things like using slices of lime to hold up flowers and name tags and the personalized paper banderitas which I'm sure took forever to make. Even making the toddler area look like a luchador ring. (two men enter, one man leave.)
Mexicali was also a surprise hit with everyone. How can you not love their burritos, quesadillas, tacos, enchiladas, oh man I'm starting to crave again. But I have to hand it to the Mexicali team, they don't actually have churros on their menu or in their restaurants, but since we requested, they made churros just for us, from scratch. And hands down, the churros was everyone's favorite food. And even if everyone kept going back for more, they didn't run out. MAD PROPS. Cuz there were some hungry people in there. Me included.
Mexicali, if you're reading this, please please please offer your churros in your restaurants!!! It is the bomb of bombs. If you make it, we will eat it.
It was really fun to go all out, sticking closely to the luchador / mexican theme. Every little detail went towards creating a complete experience and put everyone in a fun and festive mood. It's hard not to use superlatives and sound like a 5-year old writing this, but really, that's how it felt. It's how everybody felt.
Big kids playing with little children.
Thank you to the wonderful people who worked with us for the party!
Indy Ycasiano and her team at She Dreams in Ink
Instagram: shedreamsinink
Instagram: whippedbydiane
Instagram: thecakeshack
Instagram: paperchicstudio
Dr. Guzon for the custom made piñata.
mobile # 0916-388-0336
Dennis Balloons
mobile # 0917-844-0428
office # 809-2107
Nelson's Taho
mobile # 0999-439-4154
He also serves taho in Rockwell Powerplant Mall.
Sorbetes by Aquiles
mobile # 0918-285-0293
He also serves ice cream in Rockwell Powerplant Mall.
Sound System by Rene Gabriel
mobile # 0917-525-7363
hi! I want to know more about She Dreams in Ink!! :) do you have an email I can contact you on? :D
ReplyDeletesure you can check her out on her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SheDreamsInInk If you want to know more from me you can reach me at fatherlandblog@gmail.com
DeleteI appreciate your mentioning about the pinata I made. Btw, I changed my FB page to Pinatas by Marie (formerly Pinatas by mguzon) - Dr. Guzon
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your mentioning about the pinata I made. Btw, I changed my FB page to Pinatas by Marie (formerly Pinatas by mguzon) - Dr. Guzon
ReplyDelete