Y's Birthday Series: Hi-5 Parties

Note: This is a lengthy post! If you just want to see the decors, scroll down to the bottom. If you want to know my encounter with Hi-5 Parties, sit down, relax and prepare to be bored. LOL! Haha.. I just want to share my experience! That's all.

Services I got from Hi-5 Parties were the decors (ceiling, backdrop, and centerpieces), candies for our giveaway, kiddie tables and chairs, and the dirty ice cream cart.

I really saved this blog post on Hi-5 Parties the last. We had a different party planner/decorator at first. I canvassed from three planners, mind you. I didn't get to confirm on our first party planner which made me panic and sad because it was two weeks before the party, I really wanted to get them and I didn't have a decorator anymore. So I had to contact whoever is available to do my decors and Hi-5 was the only one that was available on our date. We agreed to have a chat on YM to discuss what I wanted. I chatted with Kathleen dela Merced that same night, asked her if she's done decors in Mann Hann, showed her some pegs, our theme, that I wanted to have pompoms and lanterns as decors, and what we wanted her to do.

After chatting, we agreed to meet personally and discuss some more. Hubby was with me when we met up, she discussed how she'll decorate Mann Hann, what kind of balloons she'll use, how many balloons, lanterns and pompoms she'll use. For the centerpieces, I bought small plush toys to be used for the centerpiece, and I instructed her to use them. Her assistant or one of her co-planners, Sheila, was also there with her during our meeting and she quickly drafted the estimate cost of the decors, which I liked and gave us a good idea on how much we'll spent. They gave us two options with decors and also two options for the cost. Another things that I liked about Hi-5 Parties is that they sent us a digital layout of how the centerpiece or decors would mostly look like and giving us options! They mentioned what they did before was set-up the decors at 12MN in Mann Hann. After discussing with them, I felt relieved that decors for the party will be ok. That night or the night after, they sent an email on how the decors and centerpieces options.


For the centerpieces:

We chose the third one with the balloons.

Here's what we got for the decors:

• 20 pieces Pom Poms ( orange, white, and aqua blue)
• 15 pieces Lanterns (rental - orange, white and aqua blue)
• 150 pieces balloons in Balloonderitas
• Custom Styro (rental - 5 feet tall and 8 feet wide)
• 2 pieces Link-o-loons wall (as pictured)
• 12 pieces centerpieces ( flying balloon and custom base option only)

And here's another option they gave us for the decors. But we opted for the above.

During our meeting I asked them if they have orange and blue candies since I knew they also make dessert buffets for parties. It took a lot of follow-ups by SMS before they got to reply on my request on the candies. We met another night for the contract signing, me giving them the plush toys, and getting the 5.5 kilos of candies from them! Kathleen told me that on the day of the party, Sheila will be there to see over things. At this point, I was happy and lax since I had nothing to worry about until the day of the party. NOT!

Eto na ang climax...
At 10:30PM the night before the party, Mann Hann's manager texted me to call them. So I did. They said that Hi-5 Parties was there at Mann Hann ready to set up, and they don't allow that. They told them to come back the next day at 7AM to set-up. I was freakin' panicking a day before the party. If you follow me on twitter, you would have read my live tweets. GOSH. If Mann Hann didn't text, I wouldn't know about it. So I called Kathleen to check, she said they were "making pakiusap" because they were already there and she already paid the workers who'll set up the balloons. I was the one who had to talk to the manager and the manager to their boss and convince him to allow them to decorate for at least an hour. After a few more calls, they allowed them to decorate, but if they exceeded the one hour they gave us, I will charged for a set-up fee. I WAS CHARGED for Php1,500. I can't get mad at the manager because he was just doing his job. Hi-5 Parties didn't inform Mann Hann that they'll be setting up that night, they didn't coordinate with them. It was partly my fault too as I was supposed to inform Mann Hann pala (based on Hi-5's contract), I only assumed because they've done decors at Mann Hann before. I was a bit disappointed. But! They did a GOOD JOB decorating the ceiling! I loved it. I arrived around 2:30PM at Mann Hann, they were still setting up the backdrop and inflating balloons for the centerpieces. I liked the backdrop too, they copied the Tiger! Yay! Sheila was there, she helped me set-up the dessert buffet, she also checked everything. Another thing that disappointed me that the ice cream cart came late! Oh well. But nevertheless, I liked how it turned out!


Oh, and our dirty ice cream cart came an hour late! But I didn't bother to complain anymore. I was ngarag already from all the preparations and entertaining guests, I couldn't care less anymore. Sayang lang ang daming leftover and we weren't able to take it home. Anyways!


Here's how the venue looked liked.

 

They did well!


Guests even got to take home the lanterns and some balloons. Oh well. Pikit-mata na lang ako nagbayad sa Mann Hann ng extra charges. All in all, I love what they did with the decors. They are affordable! I would get them again on my next party (baby#2's birthday or maybe when Y turns 7!), I would just make sure to check everything!



Hi-5 Parties
Kathleen dela Merced
http://hi5parties.multiply.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Hi5.Parties
+639178950017
ask.hi5parties@yahoo.com