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A Pandemic-Friendly Birthday Celebration for a Pandemic Baby
Our second baby, Bianco, turned one last December 1 (proof that this blog only gets resurrected once a year HAHAHA)!
Days leading up to his birthday, I was seesawing between getting stressed about what to do, and not stressing at all because how do we even safely celebrate his birthday with COVID still lurking?!
We were thinking of doing a little birthday celebration at home, and rent out inflatables, and invite neighbor-friends, but safety was still a major concern.
Then I remembered that a friend posted about Yoki's Farm a few months ago. I told Nicollo that when it's safer, I wanted to take the kids there. With the declining cases and increasing confidence to travel, we decided to invite our family to a farm day in Tagaytay for Coco's first birthday celebration.
As soon as Nicollo gave me the go-signal, I worked on the invitation straightaway! Isn't it cute?!
We sent these out a month before Bianco's birthday, so it gave our family time to plan and prepare -- even a trip to Tagaytay these days require thoughtful planning, don't you think? Gone are those spontaneous trips! Especially with a young family.
Excited for Bianco's first time in Tagaytay!
Coco and Ninang Holly
Baby boy knew it was HIS day!
Lunch at Gourmet Farms
Nicollo and I decided to host lunch in Gourmet Farms because it seemed to be the closest restaurant (that we knew of) to Yoki's farm (despite it still being a 35-min drive away).
It was also a special place to Nicollo because his late father frequented Gourmet Farms years ago! We also had a good experience there when we were still dating, so revisiting it was nostalgic.
We weren't disappointed!
We got there much earlier than our guests, but there was enough space and greenery for the boys to enjoy.
To make life easier for everyone, we ordered our meals in advance, and gave our guests the option to have beef, pork or chicken (ano to, airplane?! HAHA). We also ordered pizzas and soup, which the kids loved! And for the kids, we ordered the restaurant's Bambino meal, which had pasta and chicken cutlets.
There was even a salad bar in the restaurant that served homegrown greens! They charged 1 peso per gram on your plate, and everyone got a good fill of greens. We loved this!
Bianco with Kuya Julian
FUN while waiting for food to arrive
We brought our own birthday cake, which my sister, Julia, gifted to Bianco and Holly (whose birthday falls a day after Bianco's). We ordered it from The Delightful Miss Joyce, and it was SO GOOD!
COVID-proof way of blowing out a birthday candle -- take it out of the cake!
Happiness!
After lunch, we asked the staff if we could do our little Montessori birthday ceremony in their garden. I brought a round banig, our Sun and months cut-outs, our globe, and a candle. I had sintra board cut-outs made for the Sun and months as an investment for years to come, because I have the bad habit of scrambling to print these out the night before a birthday and they come out so bad! Hahaha Unfortunately for this Mama, I wasn't able to print out any photos from his first year, so instead of showing photos, we just gave anecdotes and honored Bianco!
We shared how much we've learned from and about Bianco. We honored how unique he is, how much he loves food, how lambing he is, and just how big his personality is! We honored all his firsts, all his falls and all his triumphs.
Our lovely Ates
I just love this birthday ceremony because it is a visual and tangible representation of a birthday. It teaches the kids what it means to turn a year older.
Hopefully on Bianco's next birthday, Kuya Inio can contribute too.
Yoki's Farm
After dessert and coffee, we were on our way to Yoki's Farm! Hurrah!
When we got there, we were so pleasantly surprised by how clean and well-kept everything was! And by how big it was, too!
We started the tour at the Rabbit Barn & the Koi Pond. Such cuties! We could already tell that the animals were so happy and well-fed. Ang lalaki ng koi!
I especially loved how interactive it was! The kids were allowed inside the barn and cages, and feed and interact with the creatures.
One of my favorite parts was the aviary. WOW. How did God design all of these BEAUTIFUL BIRDS!?
After the aviary, we visited their Reptile Room, some hydroponic green houses, and then found ourselves in a wide open field with Zebras, Ostriches, Miniature Horses, and an assortment of other birds.
At this point, Bianco was getting fussy and sleepy, so he asked for some milk. We breastfed with the ostriches in the background. Hahaha
After this, we pretty much thought the tour was over. BUT IT WASN'T. Hahaha
We saw Mr. Yoki's HUGE collection of antiques in their museum!
THEN saw a bunch of tortoises after. Hahaha!
We also got to buy some greens! Affordable and SUPER FRESH. We are still enjoying them 'til now.
We all had such an enjoyable day in Tagaytay! The whole day pretty much went off without a hitch. We went on a Friday, so the traffic wasn't so bad. But admittedly, I got SO POOPED! As pooped as this pony here. LOL I'm not used to going out anymore!
I highly recommend both Gourmet Farms and Yoki's Farm to families who need to decompress. Our kids loved it, Inio can't stop talking about Yoki's farm til now!
Sharing booking details below. :)
Good night, y'all!
Gourmet Farms: (0917) 585 4674
Yoki's Farm: book through their Facebook page. They're super responsive! They only accommodate groups per time slot. No need to provide a down payment, just pay upon entry.