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| Guijo completely enamored with "his" birthday mascot. |
24 hours was all it took to organize Guijo's 2nd birthday party. I just drove by Shakey's Katipunan to get some take-out, and admired the newly renovated party space and fun zone, when the branch manager told me: "we have a cancellation for tomorrow, do you want to take the slot?" I called my husband, he said yes. And just like that, we had a party. It was Friday, I was done with a difficult week. I had just returned from a busy trip to Ireland a few days before, and I was plagued by the fatiguing combo of jetlag and backlog all week. Adding a birthday party to my to-do list was the last thing I wanted. But the Shakey's option was quite inviting. It promised to be stress free.
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To book the function room for exclusive use, a minimum order of 6 Monster Meal Deals good for 60 persons was required (P12k). In addition, there was an additional required purchase of 300 tokens for the arcade games in the adjacent Fun Zone (3k). I had to pay extra for the birthday cake (1.5k), and the mascot appearance (900 pesos). Usually, the Justice League theme party amenities cost an extra 3.9k (for decor, invites, hats, capes, nice game prizes, loot bags, and party hosting) but they were unable to offer this to me because I booked the party on such short notice and the supplies had to be ordered in advance. The party manager kindly offered some freebies: party hosting, use of the party banner with Guijo's name, and some Superman capes they had on hand, and a few balloons for the kids (in addition to some leftover ceiling balloons from the party prior to ours). I just had to worry about loot bags and game prizes - but even that wasn't a big challenge - I just got bags and goodies from a grocery store, and a few prizes. Also, the party organizer from Shakey's had a brilliant suggestion to give away some of the Fun Zone tokens as game prizes. Following her advice, I created a "pabitin" with paper tags that can be exchanged for tokens.
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| Guijo's "pabitin" with coupons for arcade tokens. |
I believe the Fun Zone was the life of the party. Young and old alike enjoyed the arcade games. My dad was playing air hockey with Narra, and my husband had basketball contests with his nephews, and my sister and I followed suit. In truth, the party program suffered a bit from the distraction of the Fun Zone, the host had to deal with an audience that kept darting in and out of the function room. The sound system wasn't working well, so whatever the party host was saying was lost on us most of the time. It's a good thing the game prizes were more tokens for Fun Zone, so people participated in the games. Shakey's has a lot to learn from Jollibee when it comes to staging an entertaining program people would actually enjoy. This goes for the mascot as well.
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| My dad and my daughter enjoying their Air Hockey marathon. |
We originally chose Captain Shakey's for our mascot, so imagine our surprise when a Giant Slice of Pizza came instead. It's a good thing Guijo, our little celebrant, absolutely loved the mascot. He kept giving the Giant Pizza a "high-five" in its "fun zone"... hahaha... a strategically positioned red circle representing pepperoni in the mascot's groin area was just the right height for Guijo, and he kept whacking away at it... it was slightly embarrassing, but also greatly amusing! Guijo kept addressing the pizza as "Jollibee" even after his party. Whenever he sees pictures of it, he still calls it "Jollibee"... I guess he still had a hangover from his sister's Jollibee party. My mother liked this party better though, because of the venue. The Katipunan branch of Shakey's was freshly renovated the floors were gleaming. Everything felt clean and new. The Fun Zone was shiny, and the game machines were all in great condition.
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| Family pic with a Giant Slice of pizza. |
A highlight of the party was Guijo's great moment in the Fun Zone. He hit the jackpot in one of the games and he caused quite a commotion as his machine ran out of tickets to dispense because he won 3,000 tickets! What a lucky boy! His sister Narra went crazy announcing the news to anyone who'd listen. Grandparents and cousins, aunts and uncles, all were summoned by Narra to witness the spectacular flow of tickets. My dad and mom were extremely delighted at the promise of Guijo's potentially high "GQ" (gaming quotient). For my parents, it's not enough to have high IQ and high EQ, one must also have a high "GQ"!!! (let's just say my parents are exceptional recreational-retiree-casino-goers - they actually win!)
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| Guijo hitting the "jackpot"! |
Guijo was beaming throughout his party, and especially at the end when he claimed a full-size basketball as his prize. He's been wanting one for some time now, but we refused to buy him a big ball, and only gave him miniature ones that were more proportionate to his height. At last, through his own efforts, he was able to get the gift he really wanted: a big basketball! He looked so proud and happy. He was absolutely overjoyed. Without doubt, Guijo knew it was HIS birthday party. He strutted about in a celebrant-like manner - with a cheerful charm so obvious that it made me glad we managed to pull of a last-minute birthday party for him.
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| Guijo with his prize-catch - his first adult-sized basketball! |
When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Guijo reveled in the attention. He watched everyone sing to him, for him! And after he blew his candle, my naughty little boy decided to give people a show - he leaned towards my mom as though to give her a kiss, but last minute chose to execute a perfect head butt, in front of everyone! He was laughing mischievously as he did it! He knew what he was doing! And he knew how to do it with comedic timing, so all of us were laughing (even my prim and proper mom who had to rub her sore cheek with a good-natured smile).
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| Naughty Guijo, after having executed a painful head butt. |
It was a happy party full of simple joys. I was glad family came on such short notice. I feel the impromptu spirit of the party added to its success. We were all relaxed and ready for some casual fun. What made the party a success was the joy it brought to Guijo, our little two-year-old, who's now old enough to know we gathered together in his honor. And boy did he let us know how much he loved his day - he danced and laughed, and how he smiled! And even as I wrote this blog post weeks after the event, he saw the pictures, and squealed in remembered delight. For an instant party, I feel we'll be getting a lot of mileage for many years to come.
