I have been busy the past months trying to think of ways to make Miguel's birthday special and the idea of throwing him a Surprise Party keeps popping in my mind but the thing is, I was not sure if he would be here for his birthday - a party won't make any sense if the birthday boy is halfway around the world, right? Stubborn girl that I am I still pushed through with my plans.
I started writing down the guest list - I started with his family, his office friends, his basketball friends, his friends at home then his college friends. I have to admit though that I did throw in the names of my friends, I figured since we travelled together already they count as his friends too. hihi The total? 50+ people. That's an ambitious number for the budget that I set aside for his party, so with a sad heart I had to cut some people off my list. I narrowed it down to 25 people then I started to stalk his friends and identify a point person for each group and contacted each one of them.
With the list of people who are invited settled, I tried scouting places that would fit the two of us plus 25 guests. For that number of people I know Linden Suites is a good candidate, I also considered Antel Spa, Serenity Towers and Legend Villas. I put off reserving the place the very last minute because I was waiting for the final news if he would be here for his birthday or not. I inquired the last week of July and the 1st week of August to all the places and September 1 was free. Too bad though that the rooms I like were already unavailable once I got confirmation around the second week of August that he would be here for his birthday. When I called Antel Spa for the nth time asking if there was a miracle cancellation they offered me a 2-bedroom suite on their sister hotel, A.venue Suites. They assured me that the place is similar to Antel Spa Suites - with that in mind, I decided to book the room via Agoda.
What's left is the food and the cake. Yeah food and cake falls into 2 different categories for me. Since A.venue Suites' kitchen does not have a burner - just a microwave, I decided to just order the food. Amber's Pancit Malabon(good for 20), Spaghetti(good for 20), 30pcs bbq and 40pcs of pichipichi. I also added 4 orders of Andok's Lechon Manok and 4 orders of their Liempo. To add variety to the food I added a tray and a half of California Maki. All that, together with lotsa booze and chips made up the menu.
The cake. I know a baker who bakes a real good red velvet cake with fondant frosting and that was what I wanted for Miguel's birthday - nothing but the best. I contacted this baker early August to let her know the design I want and when and where the cake would be delivered, but a week before the party, the baker contacted me and told me that she won't be able to make the cake because her daughter booked her a flight to Singapore to visit her grandkids that weekend. I had a tough time finding a baker who is willing to bake the cake in such short notice, so I decided to buy ready made cakes I checked out Conti's, Classic Confections and Sugarhouse. I know I had choices but the memory of Sugarhouse's Concorde cake overwhelmed me and right then and there I called their Glorietta branch and reserved a cake for the day of the party.
And with that, everything is all set up and ready to go.
With everything that's happening, all Miguel knows is that we are checking in to a hotel and celebrating his birthday with our common friends - i.e our travel buddies slash my officemates. You can award me with a Grammy or an Emmy with the performance I made up to the last second when the doorbell rang and his surprise guests started coming.
A shoutout to Gae, who put up with my OC-ness all throughout the planning. We did good, yes? :)
I don't know how I pulled it off. I really don't know how everything fell into place. I almost cried when Miguel blew his candle and I know that I did something good. I loved to hear his laughter all throughout the night. Sulit lahat, napasaya ko sya. Things might not be going his way but I wanted him to feel that despite everything that's happening he has friends and family and me to support him every step of the way.
Mission accomplished.
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