HMP’s Hands-on Celebration

It was exactly a month ago when we mounted Hands-on Celebration, HMP’s first event and hopefully the first of many. This DIY party decorating workshop was the perfect way to to celebrate the blog’s turning one. Leading the workshop was Nica Cosio of Craft Party PH, the talented mom whose DIY parties have been gracing the blog since we started. I’m happy to be looking at these photos again and reliving the fun afternoon I shared with friends from the HMP community. Aldrin and Lulai of Ingente-Valencerina Photography made sure I had these pretty pictures to share with you! Join us next time, maybe?

If you follow HMP then you know how much I love to spruce up dessert spreads. Sometimes I wonder why I still haven’t pursued this professionally (I love party planning in general!) but hey, maybe in the future. Not once did I dream about having a blog, and now here I am running Homemade Parties. So one day I’ll probably act on this other dream and help you with your own parties. Anyway, going back to the dessert spread…this has got to be one of the prettiest we’ve ever made! I say WE because my dessert tables aren’t usually a “yourself” affair but more of a collaborative effort between my sister and I, and the rest of the household. The morning of the craft party, we were all in Canvas setting up for the day. My husband was lugging our heavy boxes of props, my nephew was folding tassels, my sister was puffing the pompoms and my little boy…well, he was providing us entertainment with his cute little antics! And the end result, a sweet and dainty spread filled with sweet treats and adorned by all these gorgeous colors! 😍

We had a fun party filled with lots of crafting! We carved rubber stamps, made buntings and watched Nica as she demonstrated how to make a piñata. It was a light afternoon of just chit chats and exchanging stories and tips from our own DIY party experiences. Most of us got fixated on perfecting our rubber stamp carving skills (raising my hand here!) and never even got to start with the buntings! Believe me it’s so addicting! That’s me excitedly welcoming the participants and Nica opening the workshop by sharing her love for DIY parties.

I thank these lovely ladies for indulging me and joining my little celebration of HMP’s first year. It was nice to be surrounded by friends who have been very supportive of the blog, and even nicer to finally meet in person some mommies from the HMP community! I was also blessed to be able to partner with generous sponsors who made sure we had a great space to work in (thank you Canvas!), that our tummies were filled (thank you Bite Me and Lovelots Cakes!), that we had eye-candy decors (thank you My Little Party Shop!), that we were gorgeous in every photo (thank you Ingente-Valencerina Photography) and, finally, that we went home with freebies and souvenirs from this crafternoon (thank you Beyond Stitched, Celebrations Party Central, Dino Tails by Smitten, Kitchen Counter MNL, Noteworthy, Pixie Dolls, Sabon Co, and Treatcetera!)

Oh what a year it has been and truly looking forward to HMP’s second year! Happy partying folks! 😉

People are going to celebrate #thanksgiving soon so I thought I’d give a shoutout to some of the things I’m thankful for in #handsoncelebration. To our workshop attendees and our sponsors, some pictured here, thank you for helping make our craft party a success! Here are some of our winners from the raffle. Happy that our 9-year old attendee won her very own #dinotail! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 (photos by @ingentevalencerinaphotography)

A photo posted by A DIY Party Inspirations Blog (@homemadeparties) on Nov 25, 2015 at 7:12pm PST

Event partners and sponsors:

• Venue: Canvas Alabang
• Photography: Ingente-Valencerina Photography You can view the full set of photos from this fun afternoon here.
• Dessert Buffet Decors: My Little Party Shop Manila
• Sweet Treats: Bite Me | Lovelots Cakes
• Lootbags and Raffle Items: Beyond Stitched | Celebrations Party Central | Dino Tails by Smitten | Kitchen Counter MNL | Noteworthy | Pixie Dolls | Sabon Co | Treatcetera