I guess the tittle says it all.. We finally had Tuka's Christening! Yay! And it went off really well despite our lack of funds, last minute preparations, last minute invites, really tight schedule, gloomy weather and many more! YESSSSSSS! (dance around, dance around)
So, I initially wanted a GOT (Game of Thrones) themed party since we wanted to play around with the celebration a bit but that theme requires a bit more dough, dough that I do not have. I wanted a cake with the words: CHRISTIANITY IS COMING! and I wanted my giveaways to represent the House of the Lannisters (chocolate gold coins with the message: A Lannister always pays his debt.) and the House Targaryen (chocolate eggs that will serve as "dragon eggs") and I wanted my invitations to be a scroll with a black feather (symbolism for ravens). I was going to make the Ninongs & Ninangs as "Men & Women of Tuka's Watch" (my take on the Men of the Wall). SIGH!
That would have been fun but other than the fact that I had no money, I was worried that some people might find the party errr.. wrong for a religious event. So I entertained other possible themes. Some of them were dragons & Little Prince. Finally, I decided on a theme that was fun, easy & simple, affordable and most of all - not cliche: WORMS! ^_^
But before that, we had to do the church seminar and church ceremony first. The need-to-dos were simple enough. We had to pass a photocopy of Tuka's birth certificate at the Church's office, register Tuka, choose a date then set the date then show up on the said date. Upon arriving at the church, Henden had to list down the names of the Ninangs & Ninongs, pay up the required fee and wait for the church to start.
We had to attend a seminar first then the ceremony. Everything went fine. Tuka did not throw a tantrum, didn't cry, we were on our best behavior, we were dressed well (that is saying something!) and we did our best to ignore all the negativity that we witnessed IN church. o_o Tsk.
The seminar talked about the responsibilities of a Christian parent and the roles of a Christian Ninong & Ninang. It talked about why a Christening is needed and it talked about the importance of faith with action. The ceremony included making the sign of the cross on Tuka's forehead, anointing him with oil, cleansing him with holy water and praying over him.
OOTD Amihan version - no head.
I had no decent shot while at church but this pic is all about the outfit anyway.
Besides my cousin has been bugging me about OOTD shots of Tuka.
Polo shirt by Gingersnaps, pants by Garfield, diaper by Huggies, shoes by Converse, overall good looks - halin sa genes ni Amihan.
Tuka with Tatay at church.
Ninongs: Gabs, Andoy, Ikoy & Mekz.
Ninangs: Mutya, Ayek, Tata & Ting.
Good people, people that I can trust and people that I know have Tuka's best interest at heart. :)
Right after the ceremony, we went home right away. We didn't do the 'picture-taking-pose-sa-altar' thing. We were all hungry, tired, hot and restless. The ceremony took 2 and a half hours so we were all itching to get out of our formal clothing, eat and relax at home.
Now, I have a lot of reasons for choosing our house to be the venue of our mini-celebration. 1 - I know there will be a lot of kids so I wanted a place where the kids can run around freely, can take a bath once they get dirty and have a quiet room with a bed to change clothes, drink milk or sleep when needed. 2 - it's free. Nyahahaha!! ^_^ And 3 - I wanted everyone to feel at home. To be as comfortable as possible. If I chose a resto or a hotel, most of my attendees would have felt the need to dress up and be a little bit more formal, which for me doesn't really sound too comfy.
Anyhoo, back to the worm theme. Our cake was simple. I had two cakes. One was for the kids, the other for the grown-ups. The 'worm cake' (for the kids) was decorated by my 11-year old cousin (GM), my 10-year old sister (ILAYA) and my baby cousin (PUGAK). We ordered a plain chocolate cake but when we went home we had this...
Ta-daaaaaaaaa!
Not bad eh? Worm overload. Arrrrrgh! ^_^
I wanted the event to be as kid involved as possible so I had the kids do the cake decoration. I specifically requested the cake to be moist and soft because I wanted the kids to 'dig' the cake instead of slice it. You know because they're digging for worms. Hehehe.. I bought two mini shovels just for the 'cake digging' and the rest was wormy chocolatey history.
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| Me and Tuka digging into our worm cake. |
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KL and Baby Ibus doing their own digging.
Naka bold si Baby para indi ma mantsahan ang bongga nga dress. ;) |
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Manang Colai (Mekz's daughter) and Manong Sheb (Reb's son) with Ninang Mutya dig into the cake as well.
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The cake after a bit of digging.
The cake was delish! Thanks to Ma'am Beth for accommodating our order despite the short notice.
We got a discount too! Hihihi. ^_^
The kids got dirty but they had fun and they got to eat worms and chocolate cake so they seemed happy. Even the babies. Those who got really messy just took a bath afterwards. So the Iloys and Amays weren't that pressured to keep their kids clean. ;)
Our menu was simple as well. Nothing fancy. Fried chicken wings, patotin (c/o Ninong Andoy), lumpia nga ubod (c/o Lolo Papa & Lola Mama), fruit salad, grilled milkfish, grilled pork and cake. Beer and softdrinks follow.
We didn't have a program of some sort. For the kids, we just cleared out the living room furniture, laid out some kiddie mats, scattered toys all over and let the kids watch cartoons on TV. Kiddie haven.
Living room turned temporary day care center.
For decorations, we just cut up some wormy figures in different shapes and colors using cartolinas and hanged them from the ceiling. Here's how it looked...
Other decorations were made by the kids as well. They made a "worm of fame" and filled it with worm drawings and wormy facts and trivia. I also laid out a table with my digi photo frame and played a slide show of Tuka's baby pictures.
My giveaways were different kinds of gummy worms wrapped in plain clear plastic then placed inside a plain brown paper bag. To give the giveaways a personal touch, I wrote a note in each of the giveaway using a colored pen borrowed from my sister.
Examples of my personalized notes were:
"Christianity is coming!"
"Worm wishes!"
"Eat dirt. Stay wormy"
"Baby we were born this way. - Lady Gaga"
"Thanks for letting me worm my way into your heart."
"Just keep wriggling, just keep wriggling... Just keep wriggling..."
And many more! :)
Here's a picture of the "worm of fame" and the giveaways...
Sorry I wasn't able to take better pictures of the event. I was busy with Tuka, I was busy cleaning, I was busy making sure that the kids and the parents are eating, doing okay and still sane and most of all I was busy having fun.
So there you have it. Tuka's Awesome Christening.
Sa uulitin!
More kiddie parties to come! xx
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