Halloween! July 21, 2006

How to host a Halloween party for friends
By Arlene Paredes
Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT’S Halloween, and while we continue to remember our loved ones who have passed away, it’s not bad to go with “other traditions” this season. Like Halloween parties.

You can simply invite your friends over to watch horror flicks while eating popcorn, or you can cook up more adventurous (yet safe at home!) Halloween happenings this year.

How about an intimate masquerade party exclusively for your close friends? You can be Sadako. Or Dracula. Or one of the Charmed ones.

Or, you can host a friends-meet-friends Halloween party, where you can meet the other friends of your friends from school, workplace or church. Now is the time to let your circle of friends mingle in one bigger circle and have fun!

2bU! shares with you a few tips on hosting a Halloween party:

Mark your calendar. Set the date on when and where you want your party to be held. Setting a definite date will help your friends to plan ahead, adjust their schedule or ask permission from their parents early on.

Conceptualize. Think of a motif. Ask some friends to help you in the planning stage of your party. Brainstorm. The more ideas you toss around, the more creative you’ll be.

Delegate. Know that you can’t pull off a party alone. You need help from friends, and they’ll gladly help as much as they can. Assign different friends to oversee food and drinks, decor, costume coordination, presentations, games, etc.

Choose food and refreshments. If you have a theme for your party, it will be more fun if you can reconcile your theme with your food and drinks. Ask the help of your friends who are aspiring to be chefs someday. Or, you can check the Internet for recipes that go with Halloween parties.

Involve as many friends as possible in your Halloween program. If you’d like to have a ghost story-sharing session a la “Are You Afraid of the Dark,” make sure to ask everyone for stories. Or ask them to bring the most delicious and unique Halloween meal, drinks or dessert.

List your wanted guests. Make sure you have a clear idea of the number of your guests to avoid running out on food and drinks. If you have big shockers and effects at your door, make sure all your friends are healthy and will not wind up with a heart attack because of utter shock.

Invite in style. Instead of a regular invitation card or a text message, you can try sending an invite using spooky items like a rag doll, a toy spider or anything creepy.

Whatever you do, just have clean fun and stay sober. Enjoy!

Christmas in June July 27, 2005

Merry Christmas in June
Arlene M. Paredes

Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 27, 2005

WHO said Christmas can only be celebrated in December? Twelve blessed children had their Christmas in June. And it felt just right.

They were meek and rather bashful on stage, answering questions in at most, three-worded phrases, but what they lacked in words they made up for with the genuine expressions of gratitude and delight in their beautiful little faces as they received their Christmas wishes in June.

Twelve children, aged 4-17 years old, received their Christmas wishes from Make-A-Wish Foundation (MAWF) Philippines during “MAWF Christmas in June” at the SM Megamall Ice Skating Rink in June 29.

Recipients of Christmas wishes were: Wilgein Oraye, 4, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; Bryan Jasper Manila, 7, with brain tumor; Lani Versoza, 11, with brain tumor; Alvin James Castillo, 7, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; Paul Rodriguez, 7, with acute myelogenous leukemia; Brian Edward Hermogeno, 7, with beta thalassemia (blood disorder); Yanna Rose Guevarra, 6, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; Ana Margarita Pangilinan, 17, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; Jayson Tunay, 9, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; Bianca Ericka Valencia, 8, with yolk sac tumor; Samantha Luz, 14, with acute lymphocytic leukemia; and Juan Carlo Ramos, 4, with acute lymphocytic leukemia.

The children are separately confined at the Philippine General Hospital, University of Sto. Tomas Hospital, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Fe Del Mundo Medical Center.

Three of them wished for a Gameboy SP, another three wished for a television, while the others separately wished for a bike, a remote-controlled car, a cell phone with radio, a cell phone with camera, a discman, and a Spiderman toy.

Their wishes were rather simple, mostly things that they could use every day, things that a regular kid would wish to have. This means my friends and I could sponsor a wish and take part in the wonderful mission of MAWF: “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

Astonishing courage

It was a blessing to witness the wish-granting ceremony and see the precious smiles on the little children’s faces. This author felt truly humbled by the astonishing courage the children displayed: though they were all suffering from a serious illness, there was not a clue on their faces that they were ready to give up or stop enjoying life to the fullest.

Despite the discomfort of masks and their ailing bodies, they were radiating with a different kind of energy-the kind that would generate strength and hope in the hearts of those who would care to really look at them. It should not be surprising, though. They are children. If anyone could inspire us at the most trying times in our life, it would be the children, with their unfailing hope and unwavering faith.

Christmas in June was made possible by MAWF Philippines along with MAWF-Canada (represented by Canadian Ambassador Peter Sutherland and Gerard Belanger, head of Canadian International Development Agency), Philippine Daily Inquirer, Toy Kingdom, and individual sponsors, Celine Madamba and Elaine Maralit.

MAWF was founded in 1980 when a little boy named Chris Greicius, who was suffering from leukemia, realized his wish to become a police officer. Since then, MAWF has granted the wishes of over a hundred thousand children with life-threatening medical conditions all over the world.

Here in the Philippines, MAWF first granted a wish in 1999. Christian Lanzar, who had hemophilia since birth, had wished to sing to the world. His wish won Best Wish of the Year International. MAWF made Chris’s wish possible in a grand fashion when it made Christian sing with no less than Regine Velasquez at the Manila Peninsula fountain during the millennium welcome celebration, broadcast all over the world. (Inquirer link here.)

Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Philippines holds office at Suite 303 I-Care Building, 167 Legaspi Corner De La Rosa St., Legaspi Village, Makati City 1229. (Telefax: 840-1553, Website: www.makeawish.org.ph ) Donations are accepted through RCBC Peso Account No: 1-288-36555-1.