Calling All Superheros - Dylan's 2nd Birthday (Part 3)

Ready for some more details from Dylan’s Birthday Bash? There are tons of amazing vendors out there and hopefully this will be an inspiration to other hostesses who are interested in using some of the ones we’ve used.

Everything came together so well and each vendor we’ve selected was such an important part into making the party a success. As mentioned in one of the previous post, Dylan’s birthday was supposed to be at Zoomar’s Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano, but due to the rain, we moved it (literally) last minute to Mon Cheri in Garden Grove (thanks to our good friend). The venue was perfect in every way and had such a modern touch to it. I was only afraid that it was going to be too big since it holds 400 people, but we made it work out where it didn’t make the party look so empty.

Vendor Credits:

Mon Cheri: Thanks a million to our good friend for pulling through to make this happen for us last minute. I am still thankful to this day that the venue was available! It’s a wedding reception venue / special events. If you’re getting married and want to keep it nice/classy, I would recommend coming here.

Instant Party Pix:  I can’t stop thanking our good friends from Instant Party Pix for coming through last minute for us. Their photo booth was such a hit at the birthday bash. IPP produces quality prints and amazing layouts. Did I mention – their prints print fast unlike other photo booth vendors? I highly recommend them for your next event!

Lacy Ink’s Art:  Oh, my caricature artist! We’ve hired her every single year for our boy’s birthday and have collected her caricature posters of our boys with their birthday theme each year. Her pricing is very reasonable and service is fabulous!

Art by Charlene Ngo: Charlene is a true artist full of creativity and is definitely gifted. We hired her for 3-hours to do face painting on the little ones and the line was ridiculously long! She’s my good friend's cousin and I remember going to church when I was younger and always thought that her family was so beautiful in every way. I wasn’t a stalker (OK, maybe a little). Charlene never ceases to amaze me and I’m glad I was able to book her last minute when the event was moved indoors! I have a feeling she’s going to be famous one day with her skills!

Taylor Cake Creation:  Taylor has made several cakes for us and I’m glad she was able to bring our theme to life with her “superhero” cake creation. Her design was fabulous.  She designed a 3-tier cake for our little man with red velvet and chocolate fillings. It was very moist and delectable! For someone with such a big sweet tooth, I was in heaven!

Have a Ball Catering: I was so impressed with Heather’s cake pop at my gf’s daughter’s birthday that I had to book her for Dilly’s bash. She was very accommodating and made a special delivery at no cost to my house.  She had 3 designs: superman and batman logos and spiderman face. It came out great and her cake pop was so yummy! Mhmmmm!

Vivian’s Cookies: Our good friend loves to bake cookies and make chocolate dipped pretzel sticks! Thanks for taking the time to make some yummy for our tummy.

Wiki Wiki Shaved Ice: Van and Sheri are amazing and always come through for us. Sheri kept texting me that day to make sure I was still having the birthday bash. If you ever had Matsumoto Shaved Ice in Hawaii, I would say that their shaved ice is ten times better!

DJ Dan/Triple D/Tdang:  The dynamic triple duos (our good friends / bro) for coming through and playing music during the birthday bash! Thanks a million. I know music is your life.

Stay tuned for Part 4…………

30 years

(A blog is not a blog without pictures. My husband made me a slideshow for my birthday but it's unfinished, however, he found this family picture of us that I thought would be nice to post)

So, I turned the big 3-0 (yes, as it’s invariably called) yesterday and now I finally have the chance to reflect. I feel no different than yesterday; however, I’m welcoming the 30s with open arms. I’ve grown more as a person throughout these past years, but I’m still the same person deep down inside. Again, age is a matter of perspective.

I’ve learned that not everything comes my way and that I’ll take what I’ve been given and make the best of it and have fun. I’ve learned that people are selfish, ignorant and uncaring at times, but there are others people who are selfless and give completely of themselves and time without asking for anything in return.

My 20’s was about self-discovery. After getting married at age 24 to my high school sweetheart, which by the way, was the best decision I’ve ever made, I knew I was ready to start a family. By age 25, I was pregnant with our first son and had him at 26. Aiden was the greatest joy that ever happened and by age 27, I was pregnant again, this time with Dylan and had him at 28. I was faced with challenges of being a mom and learned how to manage the demands of work and family and achieving a “balance” between both aspects of life was hard at one point. By age 29, I did it again. I’m now pregnant with our 3rd son and will be meeting him in 6 weeks. My oven is set to bake again one last time because this is what “we” want and I’m always ready for the challenges that it would bring. Having kids in my mid-20s have tested my character and strength and the parenting skills I’ve accrued thus far has made me more mature and relatively more patient.

The wisdom I’ve possess is a result of the experience and reading I’ve done. But, youth has its way of being frivolity, but in my books, who say that we can’t be forever young! Then again, it’s true. I’ve grown and changed with age.

I remember setting goals and would measure my accomplishment arbitrarily by my age, you know, you’ll say “I want to accomplish this by …” but it should never be like that. It should be about living life to the fullest, giving, loving, and caring to those closest to me. I find them more important.

I’ll keep this short since I could probably write a book about my reflection, but I am content with where life has taken me. I’ve had my up’s and down’s. My greatest joys are my boys and new friendships I’ve developed over these years. I’m excited for this new phase and will live in the present and never in the past. I love my job and the people I work with …….. but most of all, I love being a mom, friend, sister, and wife and will strive to be the best I can be.

P.S. I will always love Britney Spears no matter what age I turn!

XOXO, Mama Dang

Turning the Big 3-0!

i never ask for much and i never have. i never want to celebrate my birthday, but love celebrating others. if you ever ask papa dang what i want, it's always a "card". i love getting mails or having people write to me. last year was probably the only year that i decided to have a birthday party and my husband threw it at the usher concert. but, this year probably top everything thanks to my wonderful sisters, friends, and husband. they threw me a surprise 30th and baby shower combined. then, my parents had a lovely dinner for me and cat helped put together the slideshow above. plus, my in-laws had a nice birthday cake (thanks tdang) for me yesterday!

btw, the slideshow makes me cry every single time i watch it. i guess i'm jackie's favorite sister in "disguise". also, i never take the time to absorb how much i've grown over the years and how much i'm loved. it was nicely captured! thanks a million! 

i'll blog later tonight about hitting my big 3-0! xoxo.

Calling All Superheros - Dylan's 2nd Birthday (Part 2)

OK, here’s more of the DIY projects we did for Dylan’s 2^nd bash.

Dessert Buildings:

Materials Required: Cardboard Boxes, Spray Paint, Post-It Notes, Double-Sided Tape, Cutting Blade

I always do what I love and that’s planning our son’s birthday parties. I always tell myself that I’m going to keep it simple, but then, I get carried away because I’ve turned their birthday parties into projects that I would never be able to do or showcase without having them. I always get my inspiration from other moms on the net and then put my own flare to it because it brings out the uniqueness.

I couldn’t thank my husband enough. My original plan was to have the buildings made out of wood, but then, I didn’t think about how I would transport the buildings to Zoomars unless I rented a U-Haul truck. We decided to try out boxes even though they were not going to be sturdy to hold our desserts, but we had to figure out how to make it work, which we did in the end. It took Papa Dang about 5 hours to spray paint all the boxes since it required several coats to hide all the wordings that were on the outside. The boxes were purchased at Home Depot for less than $1.50 each and spray paint was approx. $3.75. Each box required at least 4 to 5 spray cans. Once it was completed, he added windows using yellow post-it notes.

Phonebooth:

Materials Required: Closet Box, Ruler, Cutting Blade, Poster Boards, Scissors, Spray Paint, Mailbox Letter Stickers

The phone booth was a must have. I originally sent my sisters to go hunt down refrigerator boxes for me, but mission failed. So, Papa Dang purchased a closet box for $13 dollars. The signs were made by Tank Driver Sissy and Uncle Stinky, which took hours to complete.  It turned out great in the end and you can tell that it’s not difficult to make. If you have a boy, this would be a fun project to do together.

Balloon Arch:

Materials Required: Balloons, Helium Tank, Fishing Line

Thanks to my Tank Driver Sissy who used to be in ASB for her talented skills in making the balloon arch. This was a last minute vision since I knew it was going to be indoors. I needed colors to make the cake/dessert table stand out. Luckily, she made a quick stop at Party City to purchase the materials needed and called up her counter partner, Linda, to make the arch within an hour.

I’m so thankful to those who assisted, but most of all, I couldn’t have done it without Papa Dang. I see him every single day and he never complains. There’s just something amazing about looking at him every single day and knowing he loves me and accepts me for me. He always makes me feel special.

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Love my boys. XOXO.

Calling All Superheros - Dylan's 2nd Birthday (Part 1)

We did it! I don’t know how we managed to pull off Dylan’s 2nd bash, but I can say that I’m pleased it went the way it did. It wasn’t how I envisioned it, but due to the unforeseen weather forecast with mother nature, we were either going to cancel the party or have it go on. And, for Dilly Willy, the party had to go on! For the first time in my life, I tracked the weather hourly since Saturday night, in hopes, that the weather was wrong (like it is sometimes).

Papa Dang and I didn’t have a contingency plan in place in the event it was going to rain. We were just going to cancel. We couldn’t think of where else to host the party that could accommodate our guests (approx. 150 people) until 11:25 a.m. the day of the party. I was down to the buckle when the weather changed from sunny to 70% probability of rain starting at 2 p.m. There was no way I was going to have our guests stand in the cold anyways and just like being at work, I put my thinking cap on quickly. Within 10 minutes of contacting folks I had connections with, the party was moved from Zoomars Petting Zoo to Mon Cheri. It was the best decisions I’ve made!!  I kept our guests updated via e-mail of any changes. Thanks to the ever-so-technological advancement with cell phones – it definitely saved my life since e-mail was accessible to most within minutes. In addition, I didn’t want to toss everything Papa Dang and I worked on so hard away. It took us an entire month to plan and the last week was brutal. We would stay up together working on details (once our boys were sound asleep) to make our vision come to life. I’m so thankful for Papa Dang; he’s very accommodating and normally gives his two cents on my vision, which is sometimes better than what I originally planned.

I designed everything on paper, laid it out in word document / PS, loaded our guest lists to Excel, reviewed vendor contracts and booked them, kept a spreadsheet with vendor information, weekly agenda (to-do list) and expected completion date…. I was very organized and you basically have to be when you’re trying to execute a birthday party to ensure it goes smoothly. Yup, it’s time management.

Ok, let’s get down to the details, which will have to be broken in several posts. Hopefully, this will insipre or help you when you decide to throw a superhero bash of your own. I’m going to start with the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects (love doing these) for making superhero capes:

Materials Required – Fabric, Sewing Machine, Velcro, Cape Pattern, Scissor, Pins (Cost per Cape - $1.75)

My original plan was to not make capes and have kids come in their alter-ego superhero costumes, but since I knew that some wouldn’t have any, I had to accommodate them to make them fit in. Kids shouldn’t feel left out (in my opinion). It was basically all or nothing. I was set to make 20 capes, which then turn to 50 capes and for someone who never sew before, this was going to be an interesting and fun task. Thanks to my Crazy Cousin Diane for the pattern and for teaching me the basics of sewing. Also, thanks to Lil Anh for coming over to help cut fabrics and later took some home to sew, but I went “sew-crazy” one night, I basically didn’t need her help. However, she did sew 10 capes for me!  

I decided to invest in a sewing machine from Target for $100 bucks. I remember the first night I brought it home and started practicing in our bedroom while Papa Dang was asleep. It was such a bad idea because he kept waking up to the loud noise that I had to move myself the following day to the dining room. I am funny.

I used cotton fabrics that were purchased from Joanns. Joanns have the coolest deals ever! You don’t ever have to pay full-price for anything. There are always coupons and it is easily available through the web or weekly ads.

I would put together instructions on how to make the cape, but I don’t have pictures to show right now on how it was done. If you want to learn, just ask me and I’ll show you. The capes were not perfect, but good enough to allow kids to run around being little superhero. In the end, I was able to mass produce and it became an addiction. I went “sew-crazy”, people! I would normally sew late at night after our boys were asleep, but there was only one Saturday morning, where I worked on it for 30 minutes and allowed Aiden and Dilly to watch TV. As a result, I let them watch "diego" and Aiden picked up "hola amigo". Haha!

Thanks to our friend, Tony, for the superhero vinyl that were pressed on each cape.

Personalized Name Hangers:

Materials Required: Hangers, 18 or 16 Gauge - 200 ft. Galvanized Wire, Long Nose Pliers, Ribbons (Cost per Hanger $1.00)

Papa Dang showed me a personalized wire hanger name from a wedding he saw on Facebook and I thought to myself, would it not be cool if I could do this for each little superhero? I spent the night doing some research and the following day, I asked Papa Dang to buy me some galvanized wire from Home Depot. We spent a few nights trying to figure out how to twist the names to make it look decent. I would write the name on a piece of paper and then, tried twisting it. I started off with both our boy’s name. Again, another hideous attempt that I dare not to show! I wasted about 100 ft of galvanized wire before I was able to master what turned out to be “OK” looking. I was very close to just putting them on wooden hangers, but I’m very optimistic and continue to teach myself.

After several attempts, my hands got used to twisting the names. I could twist one name in about 3-5 minutes.

I didn’t take pictures of how the hangers were made, but can show you if you’re interested. I taught my friend, Vivian, when she came over to our house one night. If I can do it, so can you! They are very inexpensive to make.

Here’s the breakdown:

Wooden hangers purchased from IKEA (8 for $3.99).

Ribbons purchased at Michaels ($1.00)

18 or 16 Gauge - 200 ft. Galvanized Wire ($6.29)

Long Nose Pliers (every guy owns this – just borrow it – haha).

All of the hangers were made by yours truly, except for one. I couldn't believe I made them. :)

Thanks to Tank Driver Sissy and Uncle Stinky for tying the ribbons on the hangers.

Picture courtesy of Catherine Tang Photography.

my everything

i have unfinished blogs and i'm so behind with posting them because i've been spending my days being a mom and wife, but most of all, i have been trying to plan an exciting birthday bash for my little superhero this sunday. yes, the little man you see below! he's my everything and each birthday, i put my heart into celebrating yet another year of my son's life. 


stay tuned for details and planning that took me exactly one month. xoxo.

a wink of an eye

i can't believe it either. it's my little energizer bunny's birthday month and he's turning two. i've finally started planning and hopefully, his birthday party turns out the way i've envisioned it. here's a picture captured from his boo-fest birthday bash last year except he's not featured and co anh is! this was the only picture i had on my comp. plus, i'm too lazy to waddle downstairs to grab my hard drive to post a few pics. haha. how time flies. 

love my boys. xoxo

Pool Day for Audrey's 1st Birthday

audrey had an amazing first birthday planned by her parents. our boys had a great time since they love any activities that includes water. for the first time, dilly walked out of the pool and tried jumping in. i don't know how he learned to hold his breath under water after his jump for a few seconds before he popped up. he's a natural. i must admit. i was standing from the sideline and almost had a panic attack. he had his life jacket on, but continues to do things with no fear. whereas, aiden is extremely careful. he takes precaution because he's afraid of the consequences. they're both so different, which makes them so unique.


it's awesome to see papa dang spend time with his sons, which i know he's pretty darn good at. he never ever complained once. there are so many activities that they do together. i know it will help mold them into becoming man we will be proud of. plus, the relationship they have with their family will help shape them. that's why i believe that it's important to spend quality time together as a family. you get one shot at it and if you mess up, you'll just have to work harder at reshaping it. i'll do it right from the beginning no matter how much energy it takes. i love our boys more than anything in this world. it's about acceptance and i can tell you, life gives us experience to learn and that's why it's truly worth living. i live for my boys and family.


love my boys. xoxo.

Aiden's Hoe Down | Zoomar's Petting Zoo (Part 1 of 2)

I divided my blog post into two parts: Part 1 will be about decors and party favors. Part 2 will be about venue and catering services.

Note to self: I’m starting to hate watching my babies get older.

My goal was to create an atmosphere (without going beyond and spending outrageous money) to make my guest feel as though they’ve arrived at the Wild West. It took me exactly one month to plan for Aiden’s birthday. If you know me, you know I love to plan birthday parties for my kids or any parties, in general. I always start off with an idea/concept and envision how I want things to be.  You have to know what you want to make it come to life and need to set a budget.  Since Aiden loves animals and Toy Story (the movie), we had to figure out how to incorporate this into his birthday. It wasn’t rocket science.  We chose Zoomar’s Petting Zoo for his love for animals and the “Wild West” theme to go with “Woody” from Toy Story. Taa-daaaa!

We were allowed 30 minutes to set up prior to event start time. I knew from the very beginning that I had to lay out my ideas at home in order to execute quickly.

My cake table took me one week to plan. I wanted to make sure I had elements that would remind people they’re in the Wild West. I knew I wanted décor items and picked them up from Michaels, Joann Fabric, Home Goods, IKEA, and Target.  The cake, by Taylor Cake Creation, was inspired by a cake she designed before. The cow cake pops was created by my lovely cousin and “crazy” cousin, which turned out nice. Mini-cupcakes were purchased from My Sweet and Saucy. Red velvet cupcakes were purchased from Costco.  As a gift to Aiden, KC and E provided chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels from Intricakes. To top it off, my good and amazing singer friend, Vivian, made the customized cookies to fit the theme.

I took pictures of Aiden the day before his birthday party and printed 10 of his images at Walgreens. It was the only place I could think of that was available at 9 p.m. at night. Each picture was placed in a frame purchased at IKEA for $2.99 and placed on the tables at the party. What a deal!

For party favors, I wanted to make sure all the little kids would look like cute cowboys and cowgirls. I purchased fake mustaches, bandanas, sheriff badges, and hats from Oriental Trading. Because I’m an organize freak, I made sure these items (minus the hats) were package nicely for each kid. I placed all the items in a lunch bag and placed a nice “Thank You” tag on the outside of it (which I printed). Each kid giddy up’d with their very own pony on a stick that was purchased from Joissu. I ended up paying more for the ponies because my guest list changed. I wanted to make sure each child received one. In addition, each kid got their very own pet cow walking balloon.

Besides this, each kid received a ticket to board the Zoomars mini-train, pony ride and a basket of carrots or pellet cone to feed the animals.  I’m sure it was heaven for all the little ones.

Remember, I’m a wife and mother. I am obsessed with my boys – this is the reason why I always put my heart and time regardless if it’s going to make me exhausted for them. They’ve change my perception in life. Love, love, love them! P.S. I want more. Haha!

Thanks to everyone who came …. Stay tuned for Part 2.