Saturday, November 5, 2011

Mateo's Baptism

We initially planned to do M's baptism somewhere around April to coincide with my mother-in-law's visit from Europe. But after his scary pneumonia hospitalization during the first week of February, we decided to do it early. You know how superstitious the oldies are: that he got sick because he has not been baptized. So to pacify them and also to get the Church's blessing, we decided not to wait anymore for MIL. 

With just a a little over a week to prepare, I had to do away with the pomp and  decided to go with simple elegance. We decided to do it last March 12. Yes, a day after the infamous March 11 Japan Tsunami. (side kuwento/story: S was baptized a day after the October 19 Glorietta Bombing and believe it or not, I was there to pick up some baptismal giveaways. I was in Glorietta 4 but had to rush to SM Makati since all BDO atms in Glorietta were down. I was on my way back to Glorietta when I saw people running toward my direction yelling at me not to go there because there was a bomb. And with M's baptism happening a day after the Japan tsunami, my mom kept insisting it's a sign for me to repent and change my ways. Sometimes my mom can be too hard core. Lol!)

 

Photo credits: http://www.myweddingphilippines.com
Ceremony/Church: The Christ the King Parish, Greenmeadows Libis Quezon City

For the Church, we decided to do it at Christ The King Parish Church. This is where S was baptized in 2007 and it is very near our place. We wanted to do a private baptism so as not to expose M to a lot of people, but sadly all solo weekend baptisms has been booked for the next 3 weeks so we had to join the Mass Baptism. Saturday Mass Baptisms are done every Saturday at 10 AM. You can register as late as 30 minutes before the baptism. What to bring: your baby's birth certificate (original and a photocopy). You have to provide your own candles. For inquiries, you may call the Parish Office at 633-0280/638-4838.

The dining room has the simple elegance that I was aiming for
Reception: Eastwood Cafe, The Eastwood Richmonde Hotel

Since Eastwood is very near to our place, we decided to do the reception in a restaurant there. We inquired in Sambo Kojin and in Somethin' Fishy, two popular places in Eastwood to do receptions. But we found the two places very crowded and since we didn't want M to get exposed to too many people, we had to remove these off our list. We decided to inquire with The Eastwood Richmonde Hotel . They have a lovely private dining room in the Eastwood Cafe. The size is perfect for our small guest list. We only had 22 guests, mostly aunts and uncles plus a few close friends. Instead of ordering ala carte, we availed their Php 888/net lunch buffet. They had mostly Asian selections but my husband loves their cheese and dessert choices.


Theme: Teddy Bears and Blue and Chocolate Brown motif


Since I didn't have a lot of time to prepare I decided to go with the easiest motif for baby boys: blue and teddy bears. I got S's old teddy bears and replaced all their bows with chocolate brown and blue grosgrain ribbons I bought from Carolina's in Megamall. It was a plus as well that the function room did not need extra decorations since it is elegant already by itself. I placed the bears together with my giveaways at one end of the room and viola, instant decors.






Giveaways: Chocolate Chip Cookies and Royce Chocolates in Chinese Takeout Boxes

Let me say this...I'm allergic to souvenirs that does not serve any function aside from cabinet display and future dust gatherer. That's why I don't give out those cheap figurines, towels, snow globes, teddy bears, magnets with the baby's name, date of baptism, etc plastered or etched on it. Sorry for the fans, but it's just me.

I always give out something functional or if not something edible. For S's baptism, the craze then was caramel apples. I ordered a couple of those then attached a thank you card. Something sweet for the guests to eat when they get home. For the Ninongs and Ninangs, I got them Cross Pens with their names engraved on it.

For M's baptism, my ever generous Tita Joy of Big Al's Cookie Jar baked a couple of batches of her best seller chocolate chip cookies. I placed them inside Chinese takeout boxes (bought from Chocolate Lovers) and then I placed brown and blue grosgrain ribbons around them to finish the look. I also placed a monogrammed 'M' logo downloaded from the Martha Stewart Weddings website. I loved how the end product looked like...very elegant and chic!

For the ninongs and ninangs, instead of choco chip cookies, I placed a couple of Royce Chocolates inside. Royce was my favorite chocolate at the time when I was pregnant with M.


Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out despite having only a little over a week to prepare.







7 comments:

  1. I'm allergic to souvenirs that do not serve any function aside from cabinet display and future dust gatherer.

    I agree so much. Why would anyone else care about a magnet with someone else's face or name on it? You can't even display that hahaha. Yep, it's advisable to give something functional or better yet, edible!

    I love your giveaway ideas especially the takeout boxes. I might do that for Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cute! I love the ideas of the take-away boxes. I'm also planning the Little One's baptism this December. =)

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  3. I very much agree to "I'm allergic to souvenirs that does not serve any function aside from cabinet display and future dust gatherer."

    Our house has lots of those, and they just sit in the corner of our living area gathering dust.

    Anyway, I love your baby M's baptism motif. Brown and blue + bears = awesomely cute. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. thebackgroundstory, include those bags with the birthday kid's photo. I've attended a party where they gave those as souvenirs. my husband said it feels like it's election time.

    Average Jane, I'm sure your baby's baptism will be as successful. Share the pics

    Sumi, it's hard already to keep the house dust free and adding more items is making the task doubly hard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This hotel in Quezon City, Philippines claiming to be of four star standards but provides sub standard services. If you have existing health conditions, stay away from this hotel as they are not equipped to handle health related emergencies!
    http://www.eastwoodrichmondehotel.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mateo's Baptism looks nice and I am just so impressed to have these details here. I also would be hosting the party for my little one for his first birthday and Baptism celebration and have been seeking some suggestions for the affordable event venue.

    ReplyDelete

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