The first and the last time I decided on Anika’s birthday party theme was when she was a year old. Kaya naman kinareer ko ng bongga yung first birthday party niya because I know, as soon as magkaron ng diwa itong batang ito, she will have her own decisions. Hindi na ako masusunod kung ano ang gusto ko. She’s an Aries born on the year of the Tiger so inassume ko na that she has a strong personality.
True enough, as soon as Anika turned 2, she has been the one deciding on her party theme.
For this year, I asked her what she wants to do for her birthday and what she wants for her birthday theme.
I was surprised and got a bit teary eyed when she said, “Nanay, I want to spend my birthday going around the mall with my good friends.”
Naka ng teteng. No more parties? No more na daw.
Matanda na. Hindi na baby. Ayaw na ng kiddie parties! Huhuhuhu!
Since hindi pa ako ready to let go of my baby girl, I organized a swimming party for our respective families the weekend before her actual birthday. Immediate family on both sides lang ang ininvite ko. Nice also because we have never gone swimming na kami kami lang.
We held it at one of our projects, the Fairway Residences in Villamor, Pasay City.
Simple lang kako. Swimming lang and then I’ll order food and have it delivered.
Of course there was cake.
I asked Anika what theme she likes for her swimming party. She likes Spongebob so okay, Spongebob it is!
I ordered a Spongebob Carrot Cake from Anika’s Ninang Nessie and Ninong Karlo. Ang sarap ng merong baker and cake designer within the family! I love it! If you like to order from them, you can message Nessie through Facebook. FYI, she’s giving birth by next month so I’m not sure when she will accept last orders and when she will accept orders again. Ask niyo na lang siya, ayt?
I had food delivered from KFC, Shakey’s and Amber’s.
I bought Spongebob balloons and banners at the party shop in our village. Alvin blew the big one.
We set up everything in one of the gazebos.
I was able to take photos of everyone with Anika except with her Lola Lydia and her Ninang Tin. Sayang nga wala silang picture. Towards the end kasi of the swimming party, sumakit na yung tahi ko. I was sitting down na lang and I was concentrating to be able to make it until matapos.
I was satisfied with the party. I saw that Anika, Gabo, Ellie and Isabel enjoyed swimming at the kiddie pool. Sama sama sila dun.
Wowa brought California Maki. That’s Anika’s favorite. She can eat a lot of that in one sitting!
Wowa also brought this Conti’s Bottled Salmon that can be topped on crackers. Masarap.
Anika blew out her birthday candles by the pool with her immediate cousins.
After swimming, I took them to the roofdeck to see the sunset. Fairway Terraces is overlooking the Villamor Golf Course and South Super Highway. Nakakakilabot sa pwet that the kids were running around so after a few minutes, Alvin said uwian na. Hahahaha!
I’m glad we did the swimming party. It was a simple celebration but it was a first time for the families in both our sides to be together. Ang init nga lang. Feel na feel mo talaga ang summer. I reserved the KTV room, which is airconditioned, for Lolo Papa na hindi sanay sa sobrang mainit na weather. He stayed there for a bit. Inisip ko din kasi baka may mga kids na gusto mag-nap, pwede sila dun. Kaso hindi sila nag-nap hahaha! They swam and swam lang until inawat na namin so we can go home.
I heard Anika say, “Best birthday ever!” when we were going home so my heart was really full.
Standby for my kwento about what we did on Anika’s actual birthday =)