This school year was Coco’s first year as a pre-school student, so I didn’t miss the chance for him to celebrate his birthday in school. Twas supposed to be celebrated on the 14th (Wednesday) but school called me up, if we could have it on the 13th instead. Thank God I’m quite ready already and my cake supplier was cool with the change as well.

We just ordered food from Jollibee for both the kids and the teachers/school staff. Tip: Teacher said, kids prefer food that they are familiar with, so best is to bring McDonald’s or Jollibee meals. I was supposed to bring spaghetti too, but teacher said, most kids, Coco included aren’t keen with spaghetti, so I brought chicken meal instead.

I made Coco’s invitation, inspired from Etsy, Dia Delos Muertos-inspired of course. I didn’t prepare any decors because it was just a short celebration during their recess time, right before they go home.

I prepared something for the kids of course, something that would make them remember Coco too, since it’s vacation time and some of them might not be classmates next school year. I ordered bag tags from Print City PH. They were very accommodating. I sent them my own layout with the names of the kids, and offered to print back to back. We used Grab Express for delivery. Colors were bright and bold.

I ordered Hector Rivera’s guitar shaped pillows from Instagram Account, RM Pillows ETC. I spoke to her end of January, and has sent her down payment the following day, since she said, I need to hold my slot ASAP for it to be readily available on the second week of March. I sent her my layout peg and the files that I used for the layout peg.

Issues:
No updates for production and what not, which is fine. I messaged her March 5 to ask when ETA is, she replied March 6 and said that delivery will be on march 9 (Friday). I woke up early on a Friday and messaged her to update me. Friday night came, still no update. Saturday, I found out from her Instagram account that there are also around 10 other accounts, asking her to read her DM. I started to worry. One mommy told me about a certain negative feedback of her that she saw from Facebook. Panic mode, I posted her on my account to get her attention because she has been ignoring my DMs and comments both Friday and Saturday. Lo and behold, she finally updated me that my pillows are now for printing (or just finished printing) and can be shipped out that day. Imagine, Feb 1 pa ako paid, she just printed my pillows the day she was going to ship the pillows to me. Paying early was useless. Since I wasn’t able to book a Grab Express from Bacoor, Cavite to Pasig, I just obliged with her shipping it to me Monday, via her own rider. She also told be that she added 5 more pieces of pillows plus waived delivery fee. It arrived Monday afternoon. Most pillows are nicely printed, but 7 of the 20 pillows has print defects (so 2 of them are paid, 5 are free). I also noticed that she didn’t do her own layout anymore, and printed the peg I sent her, as is. Because if she did, there wouldn’t be light ballpens marks like around the man design at the bottom. The peg I sent her wasn’t fully made up. Since, I assume she will be making her own layout with adjustments with the size of the neck of the guitar. My bad, I didn’t ask for it anymore, I was assuming that she will just remake my peg with just the neck adjustment. Anyway, what done is done. I don’t recommend her. As much I want to support a co-mompreneur, I don’t want to be compromised with the people whom I;m going to refer her to. I just hope she do better next time, especially with her customer assistance/communication.

I shied away from fondant cakes this year, as I was only planning to buy a ready made cake. Then, I saw the pull-apart cupcake concept while browsing for cupcakes and I saw a Hector Rivera guitar cake while browsing for Pixar Coco theme parties. It was a last minutes decision, thank God for accepting my order, Bake Wishes. As well as still pursuing even after our mini party was rescheduled a day earlier. Since it was almost “rushed”, you exceeded my expectations. I just expected a white guitar, but she added golden leaves, which made it even more beautiful. The cupcakes were scrumptious. The buttercream icing was not too sweet and it perfectly complemented the cupcakes. The cupcakes were still soft even after 2 days inside the fridge. Nothing but good words, really worth referring to my friends and family.

Here’s a short clip of his party, enjoy!