Last year, the party was much bigger - attended by different families living in our street, and we were all amazed to see that this year we had the biggest attendance. I am thankful that families within families were there, and that so many kids have asked their parents to come as well.
Dance Number. After the short prayer and the welcome remarks, the Pink Ladies opened the party with a dance number. Dancing to Justin Bieber's "Baby," they practiced the dance routine in about three days.
Trip to Jerusalem. As much as it was a party to celebrate togetherness and friendly ties between neighbors, it was much more a kids' party. Each family were asked to think of several parlor games (they also would shoulder the prizes for the games). First game was the Trip to Jerusalem, and since the last two kids were a boy and a girl, the game master decided to make them both winners.
Bring Me. This game was something the Rama Family thought of... groups of 5 members each had a big plastic bag, and taking cue from the game master, they had to put items in the bag starting with the letter given. The group with the most number of points after three rounds won, and it was really funny because when the game master called out the letter "P," a group put in "pantalon," and "polo," leaving a boy in his underwear. Good thing they didn't take out his "panloob (underwear)."
Bottle's Up. After mom hosted the game for the wives, tito Emer then hosted this game for the boys. They had to successfully let an empty plastic container stand up using only their feet. First round was won by one of the tweens, second round was won by an SC (senior citizen), so the game master just made them both winners.
Pinoy Henyo. People who watch "Eat Bulaga" knows this game very much.. for those who don't, the object of the game was to guess the word by giving out one word questions which the partner can only guess with "yes," "no," and "could be."
Table Spread. While some were busy with the games, some of us were busy attending to the buffet table. Part of the party was for each families to bring their pot luck dishes, and it was so amazing to see that much food in the table. We brought in some Lumpiang Shanghai and Spaghetti... and even if there were a lot of foods, it was also surprising to see the table empty after 30 minutes. I wasn't able to taste the Buco Pandan (which I heard was delicious), but I was able to eat a lot of the cassava cake.
Banana Game. The games continued... and after a few games for the kids, one hosted a game only for husbands and wives. Each team were given one banana, and on the game master's cue, the husbands would feed their wives with the banana, but... they can only make one bite. The team with the least amount of banana left will win. Very naughty game, and quite interesting, too.
So many games that night - the kids were very energetic and they loved the prizes... however, we already had to call it a night because it was getting late and the oldies could no longer think of games.
Us in 2010. Before we called it a night, each family took turns in posing for the cameras, and at the end we had some "class" pictures. So many cameras on stand by... and it was difficult to coordinate each other. Well, whether we were all looking at the camera or not, having all of us together in one picture was happiness enough.
As early as now, we were already open to talks about the summer neighborhood outing!
*** Jenn ***
