Filipino Fiesta Inspired 1st Birthday

Our son was born premature and for many reasons, his 1st birthday was cause for a huge celebration. I wanted to incorporate mine and my husband's Filipino heritage into the party so, we decided to have a Filipino Fiesta! Both of us coming from large families, we needed to find a space that would be large enough to accommodate our families as well as allow us to decorate as we wanted and not to mention - a place that had a kitchen! The Elks Lodge in Dumont, NJ had a working oven and large convection oven as well as a pretty great set up to display the food. It also came with the steam tables which was a huge plus (less things to bring). My husband and family are caterers/chefs and were more than happy to cook all the traditional Filipino food for the party. Our decorations were colorful pennant banners or "banderitas" with colorful table cloths. The tables were assigned different provinces throughout the Philippines as opposed to traditional numbered tables. As centerpieces, a vase full of rice (it IS after all a Filipino Fiesta) held up a picture fan of our son. Each table had a different picture of the birthday boy from every month of the year. Banana and Palm leaves were decorated on the tables which also had an authentic Jeepney from the Philippines on each one.
Our cake was decorated with the Philippines' colors and sun of the flag. The cake was a lemon cake with vanilla pudding as filling. The cupcakes were done with a fondant Philippines flag on top which were chocolate with a coconut icing. On our cake table, were the party giveaways which were macarons in sans rival (a Filipino dessert cake) and ube (purple yam) flavors. Also as giveaways, I made a moisturizing lotion that I use on my son to sooth his dry skin. I packaged them in a 5 gram container which I gave away in different colored organza bags.
I made a makeshift sari sari store (variety store in the Philippines on every neighborhood, street corner and alley) and bought different candies and chips from the Philippines which I displayed in used Filipino cookie containers. It also served as our dessert table where we served cassava cake, kutsinta and turon.
For a party game - I built a pabitin which is a Filipino pinata. I bought wood from Home Depot and duck taped it all together. Treats are dangled from the pabitin and the children jump and grab as many treat bags as they can. No hitting with a stick, candy flying and children mobbing the floor!!
For entertainment - we had a Filipino dance troupe come and perform popular folk dances in the Philippines and gave the guests the opportunity to learn the Tinikling - a popular Filipino folk dance with large bamboo sticks.
Our party would not be complete without a great DJ that played traditional Filipino folk music as our guests entered and was in tune with our guests and the genres of music we all love.

• What People Ate

  Traditional Filipino foods - pancit, kare kare, dinaguan, soy sauce chicken, beef curry, lumpia and puto

• What People Drank

  Sodas, Juice, Beer, Wine

• Desserts

  Cake, cupcakes, Filipino candies and chips, cassava cake, kutsinta and turon

• Party Favors

  Sans Rival and Ube flavored macarons, hand made moisturizing lotion

• Activities / Games

  Pabitin Filipino Dance Troupe