Kyle's Baptism

Kyle's invitation by Eileen Tomacruz
Invite pictures by me

The Baptism of Kyle would be the first of many special occasions that I would be preparing for, now that I have a baby.  My older son Paolo is now 12 years old and his parties no longer require tedious preparations. 

I am purely breastfeeding baby Kyle.  I didn't think that it would be that hard but I stuck to it because of the many benefits it would have both for me and especially for the baby.  My education on breastfeeding mainly came from my researches on the net and a handful of useful advise from my office mate in HK and my high school classmate. I was also influenced by them as they have also purely breastfed their kids, and mind you, they breastfed all of their kidS (plural, more than one!).  Jennifer has 2 kids and Aura has 3 kids.  They are both an inspiration.

Back to my baptism preparation. 

For the candles, I spruced it up by using gift wrapper, sequins, cross

 I actually didn't have a picture of the finished decorated candle but it more or less looks like this, just add the silver cross in the middle

Kyle's baptism outfits

Kyle's baptismal gown was bought at Glorietta for only P550!
His reception outfit was bought at Periwinkle.  Sorry I can't remember the price but it was more expensive than the gown.

I was hoping to find a Church that:
had an intersting and historical architecture

was air-conditioned

will not require for the godparents to attend a seminar

is not too expensive

I guess I'm in luck because I had the answer: 
Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori Parish (Magallanes Church)

Requirements:
photocopy of birth certificate and marriage certificate
parish permit
payment of P3,000

 
Kyle did not cry when he was blessed with holy water

Family picture outside the Baptistry

L-R: Dino de Jesus, Claire Ann Yap, Ofie Nunez, Jojo, Me, Paolo,
Ailene Litonjua, Sandy Cortes, Jackie Tomacruz

These special people are Kyle's godparents

Godfather Gene Abao was unfortunately not able to attend

David Lim was my photographer for this event.  I don't know David nor was he referred by anyone to me.  I 'found' him online.  Yeah, he power of the net.  I liked his portfolio and his rate was very competitive. And he took very nice pictures.

Photographer: P2,500 for the first 4 hours.  P500 hourly in excess.  Additional P500 if the venue is far from where he resides (Betterliving Paranaque). He will also provide 40 printed copies of his choice after 1 week, in addition to the softcopy of all the pictures stored in a disc.

Now I wanted to have a very nice baptismal cake.  There are so many beautiful cakes on the net but my budget was only P4,000.  

I decided to contact Michelle Hechanova.  She made Paolo's 3rd birthday Cookie Monster cake back in 2002 and it was very nice! I told her my budget.  She first asked how many guests I would have. Then upon learning this, she suggested to make cupcakes for me because if she were to do a cake with my budget, this would turn out to be small and would not be noticed. She does have a point!

  I also ordered another set of cupcakes for the godparents where I said a wanted a pram topper design.

Here is my final order:

Close-up of the very yummy cupcakes

Full view of the cupcake display with some of the guests at the background

P3,600.00

• 40 pieces cupcakes in Paper Eskimo cups (cute and more sturdy than regular paper), with frosting swirls and monogrammed (letter 'K') sugar hearts: Golden butter cream cake with vanilla butter cream
• Custom tiered cupcake stand embellished with white cotton eyelet lace trim and ribbon
• Cupcakes boxes DIY by me (bought the boxes from a bakeshop store in BF Homes Paranaque, white ribbon from National Bookstore)
• TY card, DIY by sister-in-law, Eileen Tomacruz

godparent cupcakes
Unfortunately, there was no picture taken of the actual godparent cupcake :( but believe me, it was beautiful and tasted yummy.

P1,520.00

• 16 pieces godparent cupcakes with frosting swirl, butter shortbread disk, sugar baby-in-pram design: golden butter cream cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream (alternating)
• cupcake boxes - provided by me, bought at a bakeshope store in BF Homes Paranaque
• Thank you card, DIY by my sister-in-law, Eileen Tomacruz

P600.00

Delivery fee to Makati Shangri-la 

For his outfit, 
I only had one venue in mind - Shang Palace of Makati Shangri-la. My favorite Chinese Restaurant
  
Because I already had relations with this hotel (due to work requirements), I felt very comfortable dealing with the hotel staff.  The Shang Palace staff were very pleasant to work with.  

Thank you Cindy, Beth, Angela and Janice!!
Thank you also to Cap Noel, Joey and the other staff who served us well.

I availed of their Dim sum Plus and pre-ordered everything so that food would be served ala lauriat style.  I was also given a few freebies but I'd rather not mention it here.

Dim sum Plus: P1,100/head (nett)

THE MENU

DIM SUM 
Steamed pork dumplings filled with shrimp
Steamed barbecue minced pork buns
Steamed Shanghai "Xiao Lung Pao"
Hong Kong-style deep fried shrimp spring rolls
Steamed pork spareribs with black bean sauce

APPETIZER 
Honey glazed barbecue pork
Jelly fish with century egg

SOUP AND BROTH 
Sichuan style hot and sour soup

RICE, NOODLES AND CONGEE
Fragrant fried with diced honey pork and shrimps "Yang Chow" style
Stir-fried noodles "Fujan" style

MAIN COURSE 
Hot prawn salad
Sautéed scallops with broccoli in X.O. sauce

DESSERT 
Chilled mango purée with sago and diced mango
Chilled almond jelly with mixed fruits (fruits: melon and mango)
Egg tart

Unknown to husband Jojo, I chose May 26 as the baptism date because it will also coincide with his birthday (which is on May 27).  So I can do dual celebration in one event! Translation: Savings!

Here he is, surprised when I announced that there is another celebration that day, and that was his birthday!

Mini cake courtesy of Shang Palace.  I didn't even have to ask. They are really so sweet!

A little birthday giveaway. Cupcake ordered from Cielin's Cake House. TY card by Eileen Tomacruz. Store-bought cupcake box.

The birthday boy blowing his birthday candle


I was surprised that Shang Palace staff rendered a birthday song!! Again, I didn't have to ask

This was a very memorable event as it is Kyle's first milestone.  
Welcome to the Christian World, Kyle Steven!
May you grow up to be God-fearing, respectful and successful person.