Rafa’s Day In The Park

I’M SO TIRED OF NOISY, ROWDY AND STRESSFUL CHILDREN’S PARTIES. IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A “CHILL” PARTY WITHOUT BEING BORING?

My answer to this is often-asked question is a resounding, capitalized, YES.

Rafa’s Fun Day at The Park – It was, truly!

It is always a matter of preference, but more and more parents nowadays are opting for this route. Maybe it’s also because of the more subdued (but sophisticated) aesthetic of a styled party, but finally, people are starting to realize that a party doesn’t have to have screeching hosts and blaring music to be a success.

The best party I can show you as an example is one I did for two good friends of mine:

Daddy Ryan and Mommy Lorce with Dear Rafa

RAFA’S DAY: A STROLL IN THE PARK

Interestingly, the idea for this unique type of party was sourced from the birthday boy himself! Rafa becomes a bit stressed with crowds and loud noises, so my client Lorce thought about the concept Fun Day At The Park. But before I show you the details, first I need to tell you about this artist named Nila Aye…

 

Please Spring hurry up. #illustration #illustrator #kidlitart #childrensbook #children #nature #springwatch #walk #art #drawing #nilaaye #junior #editorial

A photo posted by Nila Aye (@nilaaye) on Mar 21, 2016 at 12:01am PDT

The main concept art of Rafa’s party was based on the works of Nila Aye. She is this great professional illustrator that is known for her specific artistic style of depicting cartoons in that adorable, cutesy doodle. If you like her style, you can purchase her work in Etsy here. For more on her portfolio, check out her website here.

My mockup for the stage turned out this way –

The actual stage? Kind of the same!

I think the fact that the venue was in Wack-Wack helped tremendously. The function room has ample sources of natural sunlight which helped produce naturally bright images, images such as these:

Rafa’s cake made by cake boss Lovely Jiao of Sugarplum Pastries

RAFA’S MAIN FEATURE: A “CENTRAL PARK” WITHIN THE PARTY

In the midst of our planning, Lorce had a brilliant idea: what if we created a sort park area inside the party, and fill it up with a slide, picnic benches, a petting zoo, sorbetes and taho vendors, kinetic sandbox and other fun stuff people do in the park? It was the sort of Eureka moment that you knew would make a party EXTRA special. And more importantly, Lorce had a looonngg grass turf that she said we could use as flooring!

Turned out the kids (and a few adults) loved the area so much they stayed most of the time there!

Rafa with dad and mom, enjoying Central Park

Mommy Lorce and Rafa playing sand

All the kids had a blast at the bunny petting station!

Cuddly bunnies waiting for some love

Mommy Lorce entertaining guests at the park

Manong sorbetero’s cart as he awaits a multitude of children

Kids could sit on the swing, or try the slide in Rafa’s park

Guests loitering on the picnic bench. They seemed to love doing that!

The gang enjoying the chill and sunshine

Rafa’s Party: The Rest of the Fun Stuff

Here are some other additional elements of Rafa’s party that I think made it special:

A park treats table filled with all sorts of goodies:

If you guys are wondering who made these delectable desserts, it’s none other than my dear sister, Chef Nikki from Simply Paris!

Here’s some sad news though:

Simply Paris is now closing its doors as Nikki has now moved to New Zealand :c. As I speak though, she is delighting New Zealanders with her magic at her newly established pastry shop, Sugarpuff Pastries!

MORE FUN STUFF

Some more fun stuff at Rafa’s Park:

We gave out free balloons. Lots of it. Because what’s a day in the park without balloons!

We set-up these cool game booths, and mommy Lorce supplied the best incentive of all: teddy bear prizes!

We named one of the game booths “Shooting Saloon”. It’s an idea I got while traveling abroad. Kids aim a nerf gun and try to shoot bullet thru various sized holes.

The birthday boy couldn’t be left out of the games too, of course.

I think these guys had so much fun they had to take this picture!

Mommy Lorce had prepacked, branded food for the kids. Too cute!

Daddy Ryan kind of got scared that people would starve to death in the park (never mind the buffet table). So he filled it up with the best kind of treats: food carts! Rafa’s park had everything: siomai, milk tea (Happy Lemon), fries (Potato Corner), pizza (Pizza Pedricos), burgers (Brothers Burgers), taho, and ice cream! (phew)

Kites were flying all over the park. I think some kids even tried to snatch some of them out of the sky!

Lorce made sure that a LOT of prizes were available in the game booths.

Here’s the fam enjoying the immortal Bubble Show. Let’s face it. Kids love bubbles (and apparently from the smile on her face, mommy Lorce too)!

Here’s mommy Jasslyn (I also styled her precious Sophia and Liam’s birthday party in Chef Jessie’s 100 Revolving Restaurant!) enclosed in a magical bubble!

RAFA’S DAY IS COMPLETE

For those of you who are tired of rowdy, loud kiddie parties, a viable alternative is a more relaxed, activities-based party that centers on such themes as A Fun Day In The Park. 

A most memorable party for you, dear Rafa! I hope you enjoyed your day in the park, just as much as I did!

Love,

Michelle