Super Saver, Simple Baptism

Event or party planning can be fun but it can turn into a daunting, stressful task. I actually started looking around and even making calls as early as my 6th month of pregnancy. You read it right! It never hurts to prepare early and to lay down a blue print for your event. And, yes, I am an eager beaver like that.

The funny thing about this early bird preparation is, there are still last minute changes. In our case, a major one. 

Let me take you to our simple DIY Baptism for, supposedly, 50 guests and only about 30 guests came.

Catholic Side

Your baby is born into the world and the next occasion you are looking forward to is his/her Christening or Baptism Day. As a Catholic family, it is mandatory for a baby to be baptized within his/her first year. Old folks and the Church encourages parents to get their children baptized as soon as within 2 to 4 months old. We held Baby G's Baptism when he was 6 months old (a few months back - oh how time flies!).

The Church and the venue are the first items I had to check on. I've scouted the web for places, Churches, budgets, tips and so on. I had a list of Churches and nearby venues, however, our main parish does not issue a permit allowing our child to be baptized in any other church and most churches now, require parish permits. So, Mommies, please check with your local parish first so it would save you time, effort and broken dreams. Just kidding! 

Our local Parish is at Five Wounds Parish of Our Lord (just click the name and it will give you the contact information). Requirements can be submitted within 1 month of the Baptism date. They do not accept it if it's earlier than that. The processing fee for these are very affordable. This parish longs to reach out to all patrons so they only cater to a Mass Baptism. They also have a "No Seminar, No Baptism" policy which requires the child's parents AND one (1) pair of Major Sponsors to attend. A recommendation for the seminar is to hold it at an earlier schedule because they hold it after the anticipated Mass schedule which ends at 7:30pm. Since there's a thing called "Filipino time", it started at 8:30pm and ended at almost 10pm. The Church does not have airconditioning, although it is very large and has fans all around, it was still a stuffy and humid night for babies (and adults) to bear on a Saturday night. The seminar includes the overview of Baptism and its relevance to the other Sacraments, the explanation of all Sacraments and what to expect, what to answer during the Baptism rites. They only provide the white cloth for the rite and it needs to be returned right after.

The parish is also lenient with the baby's outfits. I still hear about strict dress codes from other parishes. 

A plus for this parish is its location along the main highway of Alabang Zapote Road; this is always plus point for Mr. Dtown and me so guests have no trouble looking for your venue. Check out the map Mr. Dtown made:

Baptismal certificates are available after one (1) week. 

Venue

Our venue was supposed to be with Amici but there were a couple of changes with menu and pricing; and a little strain with the the lunch schedule we picked out. It was a lucky last minute stroke of luck that we thought of inquiring at the new Classic Savory in Robinson's Place, Las Pinas. As expected, the menu is perfect for a simple gathering. I originally wanted to be rebellious and serve dainty pastries and desserts, like a cocktail type or a tea party kind of reception. I could not help but succumb to the Filipino tradition of providing guests with rice meals, hence, we took the opportunity to schedule a lunch reception. 

We skipped the program and had a more laid back, informal way of interacting with our guests. 

Let's get down to business, shall we?

Price tag: Their price range per meal starts at 230php per head which includes drink and sweet coolie like gulaman or pandan.

Food: Standard Filipino/Chinese taste; can be plated or buffet style

Ambiance: It's a small branch but the entire place can accommodate 50 pax. At that time, they offered us to rent the entire place for 2 hours if we have 50 guests. Their function room can accommodate 30 pax but if you want a wiggle room, say a staging area or a entertainment place to host or hold party games, limit it to 20 pax max. 

Decorations: They can include a few balloons and you may request for more (at that time, it was new so they were quite flexible). They have a default tarp for birthdays and baptism. No centerpieces. You may also customize their LED Bulletin board that's shown outside of the resto. They're not strict if you bring your own decors and centerpieces.

For Improvement: There was a misunderstanding with the schedule and when we got there. There were only 2 people who were organizing everything. I also handed down materials and instructions for the decorations and centerpieces as early as Thursday that same week since the event was on a Sunday. The staff was very accommodating and showed that they understood everything I've endorsed to them. When the day came, they were all clueless. The manager apparently was on his off; the point of contact (whom I spoke with as well) was nowhere to be fond and came in very late. Most folks were clueless with what to do with the reception. Eventually, everything was set up for about 30 minutes.  The food for our event was not ready for about an hour.

The dainty DIY details

Most of my DIY items were printables I got from Pinterest. I had framed signs, labels and wishes for baby printed and cut out. I designed the candle holder instead of buying. We had  our own centerpieces: balloons, ribbons and sticks were bought but the stuffed toys were ours which Mr. Dtown got from the catcher machines at Timezone (yes, my mister got skills!).

I will update my blog later on to share the free printables I used for this event. 

The themes is light green and light blue, chevron stripes. 

We just sent out digital invitation and created a Facebook event to get people informed. We did not hire a photographer or a photobooth for this instance. We had our talented family and friends take our simple yet memorable Baptism gathering.

Giveaways

Our giveaways were chocolate cupcakes from Crumbs Cake Art. Their cupcakes are super yummy, moist and dense. Just the way we like it!

Gift Registry

We tried the Baptismal gift registry from SM and the staff were very accommodating. We opted for this since the godparents/guests can get the items listed in our registry at 10% off. 


Budget

Time to do the math!
(these are rough estimates of what we spent on)

Venue/food                         - 10,000 to 15,000 (range)
Church                                - 500 (range)
Cardboard paper for DIY      - 20
Cupcakes (50pcs)                - 2, 250
Baby's OOTD                       - 1,000
Mommy's OOTD                   - 1,000
Candles                              - 50

Minimum of 14, 820 php if you start at 10,000 worth of venue and food. It's not too shabby and very pocket friendly. That's under 15,000!


Summary
A smaller event can be easy to manage yet can still be very exhausting even if it's just about almost half a day!

I hope my "shabby chic" style of Baptism celebration helps and enjoy party planning!

I'd like to know how you planned or how you're planning your party, too. Feel free to share below.