Kharl’s Baptismal: Preparations and Expenses

Whew!! At last, my long overdued post is here. As promised, I’m sharing everything we’ve done for my Baby Kharl’s baptism. From the preparations to the actual event, I’ll give full details and reviews.

Kharl’s baptismal rites was held at Ermita church and it was a successful one. It was a very humid and hot day but Kharl was welcomed warmly to the Christian world.

Here are the preparations we’ve done and the expenses incurred as well.

Baptism Clothes/Shoes
The small barong Kharl wore on his baptism was bought at the Sm department store and it was a really good purchase. It comes with a blue shorts and a white cap. The barong has blue accentuates and a litle blue tie that looks really cute. We also bought the white shoes from SM department store.

Cost:
Barong – Php 299.00
White shoes – Php 120.00

Candles
Candles used were just the normal white ones bought from the grocery. We bought ribbons to roll around the lower half of the candle to give it a simple design.

Cost:
Candles – Php 45.00
Ribbon – Php 150.00

Church

Originally, we were planning to have Kharl’s baptism either in Binondo church or Malate Church. Binondo was far from the reception so we removed that from our choice. Malate church doesn’t offer special baptisms so we opted for other churches. It was destined I think that on the day we were already considering not having a special baptism and go with Malate church, that we passed by Ermita church. We inquired and then, voila!! We’ve found our church!! They offer special baptism and it’s not that pricey unlike in San Agustin Church (Baptism fee is Php 2000 and each sponsor is 200).

Cost:
Special Baptism fee – Php 1,000
Sponsor’s fee – Php 50.00 per sponsor (we had 8 pairs of sponsors so all in all, we paid Php 1,700)

Invitations
The invitations were just Do-It-Yourself. I specially designed the card and everything on it and then printed it ourselves.

Cost:
Paper – Php 45.00
Ribbon – Php 85

Reception
After scouting from several hotels and restaurants, we chose Pearl Garden Hotel for their Baptism Package. Package comes with 4hrs use of function room, theme-designed place, three-layered fondant cake (though the cake was not themed, but it was ok), buffet meal, 30 pcs giveaways, 30 pcs balloons, free use of videoke system, customized tarpaulin, and one night stay for two at their hotel (which was actually why we gave in to their package). On the event, I overly joyed on how they have designed the place because it exceeded my expectation. I super love the effect of the floating balloons and I love how they arranged our giveaways in front. The mood was ok, their airconditioning was good (it was actually cold in the place though it was very hot outside), their staff is very welcoming and the buffet table (which was setup on one end of the function hall) was setup nicely. The food was ok (not the best but it was good) and servings were a handful. The cake they provided was a fondant cake and it was chocolate moist inside. It was actually good but we were not able to offer it to the guests. All in all, I’d say the reception was a success and worth the money.

Cost:
Package for 50 person – Php 28,000
In excess of the 50 is 350/pax and we paid for 70pax.
Total – Php 35,000

Giveaways
Our giveaways were all from Divisoria. For our sponsors, we got a cute teddy bear and requested to have it in color blue (to match the theme). And we got a box for it also. Then for the guests, we bought small baby bottles and tiny teddy bears were placed inside. I also included a sort of fortune cookie message in the bottle. The bottles were then placed in a small native pouch called “sinamay” and we put some ribbons to accessorize it a little.

Cost:
Bears – Php 70.00/each
Box – Php 15.00 / each

Baby bottles – Php 8.00 / each
Sinamay – Php 5.00 / each
Little bears – Php 10.00 / each
Ribbon – Php 85.00
Flower – Php 2.00 / each

Misc (glue stick, staple wire, magic wire, etc.) – Php 100.00

Total – Php 2,795.00

Photo Coverage
For photo coverage, I wanted to make sure that I get the best photographer in town. So months before the event, I was already on the lookout for the best. Among the list I got, JRaon photography was the one who stand out for me. I love his pictures and I’ve read very good feedbacks from his clients. So after much decision making, I went and booked him. And I’m glad I did. He was very professional,he was on time on our event, he brought along a friend who also helped in getting good shots, he was able to capture everything from the church to the reception and to our guests. He’s also very easy to talk to and was always available to answer my queries. I would suggest him to anyone seeking for a good photographer. And I’ll definitely get him again on our next big event.

Cost:
Photo coverage – Php 5,850
Downpayment of Php 1,000 to book them
Package is unlimited shots for 4hours, unedited shots given on dvd, 20 page 6×6 photobook (70 pictures)

Visit his site to see his other pictures. Very awesome!!
http://www.jraonphotography.tk/

http://www.facebook.com/jraonphotography

Table Assignments
We planned on having table assignments but on the day itself, it was not followed. Oh well! I created a table number specially made for the event. Too bad it was not used.

Total of our expenses is more or less Php 46,000. Not bad for a very successful christening for our baby. Hope this helps other mom’s out their planning for their baby’s baptismal.