Annual Christmas Party with My AC Friends

I always look forward to our traditional Christmas party with my AC friends for two reasons: #1 because I love these people! We've known each other since gradeschool/highschool, way before we even learned about make-up, boys and how to pluck our eyebrows. You girls are lucky I don't have any gradeschool pics here with me, or else I would have posted them for everyone to see! Haha! #2 our parties are so much fun! Hanging out with your bestbuds, doing nothing but eat, eat, eat and laugh all night...what else can be more fun than that? By the way, let me share with you some of our party traditions/customs. You might pick up a thing or two for your next party.

• Potluck is the way!
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• Each person should bring a bag of chips and a bottle of soda.


• We always have a theme because it's easier to think of the other details once you have one.


• We always have games. You're never too old to have fun!


• Exchange gift is a must! Bring something unisex.


• No matter how hard we try to make adjustments each year, they always arrive late!
  

This year, our theme was masquerade ball. We use the theme mostly for the decor. Sometimes, we also apply the theme to the food if it's easy to execute. Pero medyo mahirap yata yun with this year's theme so we decided to stick to the decor na lang. For the costume...well, it's not easy to travel all the way to Tagaytay in a big gown, so wear something sparkly, dressy, etc. There was, however, a slight misunderstanding about the theme details/attire because someone showed up in full masquerade regalia...I'll tell you more about it later.

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Anyway, let me start my kwento with the party decor. I love decorating! I didn't have time to buy stuff, except for the masks and garlands that I bought from Bangkok, so I had to make the best out of the stuff that I already have. the venue, by the way, was my parents' house in Tagaytay.

I'm so happy I kept last year's Christmas decor! I was able to use my old gold ribbons, gold trimmings and Christmas balls again. The black vase and the silver tray are wedding gifts. The martini glasses are my mom's.

Chocolate Kiss trio. The one in the red wrapper is cherry cordial (milk chocolate kiss with cherry flavored ganache filling), blue wrapper is truffle (milk chocolate kiss with truffle centers), and silver/red wrapper is candy cane flavor (white chocolate kiss with candy cane bits).

The metallic masks (thb29 for a pack of two), feathered masks (Thb50 per piece) and garland (Thb9 per meter) are from Bangkok.

Table centerpiece.

Pat bought these masks at a bazaar for only Php100 each. Tama ba Pat?

Now let's talk about the chow...

I made roast pork with gravy...

...and spicy bacon pasta. This dish is a Bangkok discovery. I wanted to share it with my friends back home. I'm happy that my friends loved it!

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a We also had roast chicken, pat's famous marbled potatoes, ate Gelyn made Pancit...and for dessert, we had chocolate fondue...

...and this killer chocolate-caramel cake from Aggy's. Soo sinfully delicious!

Wala pa ba sila? Gutom na kami! As expected, my friends arrived fashionably late.

Hanggang tingin na lang kayo. Sorry, no alcohol for you guys!

Picture muna bago kumain.

Aris, Katab + Jofe.

Bianca + Alyannah.

Pat, Abi + Kay Anne.

Fides prepared two games for the group.

For the first game, she needed two teams with three members each, girls vs boys.

Nga pala, meet our game master/best-in-costume winner. Winner sya kasi she was the only one who showed up wearing a costume. Haha! When she went to Sr Pedro to buy the roast chicken, pinagtitinginan daw sya ng mga tao kasi naka-bihis mayaman sya. Haha! Fids, you're such a good sport! So if anyone in our group deserves this kind of mistake, it should only happen to you! Haha!

Meet the players. They're laughing because Fides was explaining the mechanics to them.

Each player has to run to the front, get one paper bag, open it and eat the contents -- whatever is inside. The first team to finish wins.

Nagagalit na yung team mates nila kasi para silang ibon kung kumain!

Next, it was Richard...

...and Abi's turn. Habol sila to make up for Aris and Ria's kabagalan.

Last players, Jofe and Katab. It was a close fight!

Pero ang boys pa rin ang nanalo.

Game #2 was musical chairs.

Practice round muna.

Si Fides and unang natanggal...

...okay, bawasan natin ng isang upuan...

...and so on...

...hanggang si Kay Anne and Ria na lang ang natira.

Whattaface! Akala mo milyon ang mapapanalunan nila. Haha!

And the winner is...Kay Anne! Yey!

Next, we had our white elephant exchange gift. Each one of us had to bring something that we already have in your house. It can be an old gift that you do not like, or something lying around in your house that you do not need. The weirder the gift, the better.

First, we had to show off our gifts. Fides brought a picture frame.

Kerwin brought a plate made from Pinatubo ash.

Si Aris naman, orange teddy bear.

Richard brought a flat-screen tv. Haha! It's not a real tv, it just looks like one. It'a actually a lamp with a picture that scrolls sideways when you plug it on. This was the most kwela gift kasi pinag-aagawan nila ito. We all took turns in choosing the gift that we want.

Ang saya saya!

The final round was timed. We had 30 seconds to exchange our gifts. We had to stand up para mas mabilis kasi whatever gift you're holding when the 30 seconds are up, that will be your final gift. It was a riot!

Fides got the much-coveted flat screen tv!

Showing off our white elephants. I got the orange teddy bear which Alyannah loved!

Thank you, tito Aris!

Here's Fides showing off her new tv...

...to the amazed audience.

She even gave a free demo to the kids!

Up next: exchange gift naman. Pero pa-kiss daw muna Aris sabi ni Katab.

O, Kerwin, halika dito ikaw naman. Mwahahaha!!!

For the exchange gift, we all had to bring a unisex gift worth at least Php300.

And we used the same prcoedure for the white elephant. The last round was really intense. This time, yung gift naman ni Katab yung star. We were all curious about what's inside the crumpled piece of wrapper.

Ria won it! Aba, dollars pala ang laman nun!

Richard got a belt bag, which he exchanged with Pat's bag organizer and toiletry kit.

Posing with our gifts!

Aly with Ashley.

One last pic before going home.

Oh, gosh...I had a blast! We were practically laughing the whole night! Thanks to Katab's antics and the crazy gifts and the wacky games...samahan mo pa ng tequila sunrise! Till our next Christmas party!