Our pretty little monster Rui turned one last July 28, and to celebrate, our little family went out for a date at SM Aura where we had lunch at Lugang Cafe plus cupcakes for dessert. We also visited the Chapel at the 7th floor to give thanks for Rui and our first year as parents.

We then held a Monster smash party for her last Saturday (Aug. 2) with our family and friends. The plan was to hold a small DIY party, and I think we succeeded with that. Although the husband and I had  a number of sleepless nights just to accomplish all the DIYs. And considering the prices of some kiddie party details – na at times can be considered highway robbery, I think DIY is the way to go. Here are just some of the things we did:

1. Party hats: basic cone shaped party hats at Chedengs cost around PhP 150 for a pack of 8pcs. And since our motif/theme was not character-related (I think these cost around PhP 80 for a pack of 8 pcs.), having Hello Kitty or Disney princess hats would be out of place. So we came up with our own monster hats made from cartolina and board paper:

Dada made templates for the eyes, mouth, and horns, which I then traced and cut from cartolina – which I think is way too soft and thin compared to the cartolina I used as a kid. The headbands were supposed to be made from cartolina too but we changed it to the more expensive board paper because the cartolina just wouldn’t hold. Price? I’m not good in math but considering we did not encounter any monster hats anywhere, we’re happy with it as it goes with our theme. And here they are in action (dear friends, please don’t kill me).

They know all the hard work we did so they had no choice but to wear it! Tenchuuu!!

2. Pinata. I saw a ready made pinata from Celebrations party central and asked how much it was. The answer: tumataginting na PhP 1,900. Good thing they don’t have a monster pinata or I’d be tempted (yeah right). They had generic shapes of a ball, a star, and I think one for a nautical theme. At home we recently installed steel shelves in our bathroom and it came in a huge rectangular box, perfect for…

a monster pinata! Covered it with manila and crepe paper, then asked Dada to draw a face to go with it. Price = around less than PhP 500, excluding the sweets that went into it. Good thing also that we went for a monster theme (good luck naman to make a Hello Kitty or a Princess Sofia one). Here he is in action:

He’s not bulag in one eye ha. Lumipad lang.

3. Decors. Before I got a coupon that included balloons, we planned to decorate the venue with balloons and flower pompoms. Flower pompoms cost PhP 100 each at Celebrations party central. There are a lot of YouTube videos on how to do it so I decided to make some. One pompom is made of 1 pack of japanese paper which costs PhP 17 at National Bookstore. Cheap diba. Here they are:

Dada also stuck eyes on them to make them monsters (unfortunately I don’t have photos of them). We also added those paper lanterns we got from Saizen.

We also saw that our venue’s wall is panget na, and at the same time, I’ve been having sleepless nights about how our backdrop will look. So on the night before the party, we did this:

A balloon wall! It’s supposed to be a monster too but I think it looked more like a clown. We pumped balloons the whole Friday afternoon and then taped them directly into the wall until 1am (the guard had to ask us to leave lol). Thanks to Ninang Irish for the letter balloons.

4. Signs and prizes.

I made loom bands for prizes and we got Lego toys for the kids, which Dada wrapped and also made into monsters (yes, naaliw siya sa theme).

Dada also posted signs using chalk and illustration board for our party booths and around the venue. This is the only photo I have of this, which was taken after the party.

So that’s it. Eyebags and sleepless nights aside, we had a lot of fun with all the party preps and diys. So much that last weekend after the party we were a bit surprised that we had no errands or anything to do lol. But I don’t think I can do this every year.

A big thank you to all our friends who helped out before and after the event. Rui owes each and every one of you a big kiss 🙂