Welcome back to Team Tala Travels! In this article, we want to talk to you about Tala’s 7th birthday party celebration at Jollibee!

If you are not aware yet, a 7th birthday celebration is a big tradition in the Philippines. Unlike in other countries where children celebrate birthday parties yearly, most children, except those in the upper classes) are aware that their parents will only host parties for them on their 1st, 7th, and 18th birthdays.

So, we thought of hosting a 7th birthday party for Tala in the Philippines! And so, when we asked her where she wanted to have her 7th birthday party in the Philippines, she immediately answered, JOLLIBEE!!!

For those of you who do not know yet, Jollibee is a famous fast food chain in the Philippines – if not the most famous restaurant for children! This is actually Tala’s favorite restaurant – even if she already ate at so many other restaurants in our past travels!

In this article, we will walk you through our whole experience about the Jollibee party – from party reservations to the party itself!

Let’s begin!

Planning Stage

When will the party be? Where is it going to be?

Tala’s birthday is on March 5th, but we couldn’t have the party on this day because we have to be back in Cambodia, so we decided to have it on March 1st, a Saturday!

There is a week-long holiday in Cambodia from Feb 22 to March 2, so we decided to fly to the Philippines at this time!

We sent out Save the Date cards to our friends and family back home!

Where is the party?

Tala’s first choice is indeed Jollibee! We tried to contact Jollibee in August 2024 to reserve for a March 2025 party, but Jollibee only accepts within-the-year reservations, so we couldn’t book a slot yet.

Tala’s second choice was Shakey’s because it has a make-your-own-pizza party theme, but their customer service was terrible! We were kept hanging on three separate occasions, so we decided to just wait for January 2025 for our Jollibee reservation to push through.

Fast forward to January 2025, we finally got a reservation for Tala’s March 1 Jollibee party! Thanks to Ate Kathy M. for her help in going to Jollibee Shangri-la Plaza Mall, filling out documents, and paying for the P3,000 (USD52.34) reservation fee.

So, this is what we sent to family and friends!

We wanted to invite as many friends and family as we can, but the venue only allows a maximum of 100 guests. We were so excited and touched to find out that most of our invited guests could make it… and actually DID make it!

What party package did we have?

We decided to go with a Jollitown theme. As for the food, we chose Jollibee Party Menu 4.

The total party package price is P34,600 (USD 603.8). This includes the party venue, the food, a cake, a host, prizes, and souvenirs.

What souvenirs will we give?

As a way of thanking them for going out of their way and braving the terrible Manila traffic, we decided to give them these tokens as souvenirs!

P300 Starbucks gift cards for guests aged 9 and up, and P400 Kidzoona gift cards for the kids! We were really happy to see that our guests appreciated the souvenirs, and even sent us their photos either in Starbucks or in Kidzoona!

What prizes will we give?

The day before the party, my sister Kat and I went to the grocery to look for chocolates that we would give out as additional prizes during the games.

You see, there are a couple of Jollibee merch (pencil cases, toys, notebook, and lunch boxes) that are part of the party package, but we wanted to give more to our guests.

We decided to prepare assorted chocolates so that our guests will be excited to join our games!

We also added Kinderjoy chocolates, thanks to Ninang Kat B! Inside the envelopes are the gift cards that we are giving out as souvenirs.

True enough, our guests were very participative during the games! Tala chose which chocolate to give to each winner.

There were more than enough chocolates for the game winners, so I asked the kids to choose an item that they wanted to bring home.

Will we have a photo booth?

We went with Jollibee’s recommended photo booth company, Shashintoru Photobooth. They charged us P7,000 (USD 122.16) for unlimited photo magnets for 2 hours and photo coverage for the entire party. They also gave us digital copies of all the photos.

What will we wear?

When it comes to clothes, Tala has a lot to say about what to wear! She is always saying that she is a “shirt and pants girl” or “shirt and shorts girl”. There is nothing wrong with that. We are actually proud that she is confident to wear her own clothing style.

But, the problem was, she still wanted to stick to her “shirt and pants” style even during her party. We explained to her that her party is a special occasion and that she should dress in special clothes. We went here and there to every shop we could visit until we found one at H&M that she was excited to wear to her party.

But, then I saw a unicorn-themed dress from Cheska & Gab that Tala might love. Good thing she liked how it looks. I let her imagine herself wearing it to her party. Finally, she agreed to have it, so I ordered it online and had it delivered to Ninang Kat’s address in Manila.

As for Emman and I, we decided to wear neutral colors so Tala’s dress will stand out. This was our look at Tala’s party!

The Party

When we got to Jollibee Shangri-la Plaza Mall at 10 in the morning, the party place was already decorated!

Even the photo booth was already set up.

MC, the party host, was already there. We chatted for a bit about what to expect about the party. I also spoke to him about our trivia game and how to go about it.

I also set up the prizes for the games.

Our Guests

Slowly, guests started to come in. We were so pleased to see friends and family we have not seen for a long time! Tala was also so excited to see friends she played with before coming up to greet her a Happy Birthday!

There were activity pages on each table for kids to be busy with while waiting for the party.

We asked MC to give out French fries to the guests as soon as they come in. These will serve as appetizers before lunch will be served.

The Games

MC, our host, prepared three games for the guests. The first game is The Boat is Sinking. Tala, Marga, Kassie, Alee, and Jeremy emerged as the winners!

The second game is a Trivia Game about Tala. We asked the guests to guess Tala’s favorites – fruit, color, country, vegetable, etc. The winner in each round gets a chocolate from Tala!

The third game is a Bring Me game! The first one to give us the item mentioned by MC gets a prize!

The fourth game is a game for 5 ninangs (godmothers) and 5 ninongs (godfathers). The host asked them to memorize the pattern with hand actions – siomai, siopao, suman, hotdog. Each of them has to be ready to say the next item during their turn. Otherwise they will be out of the game and dance as a consequence!

Food and Cake

Before the food was served, MC called me and Emman to share our birthday wishes for Tala before she blew her cake candle! Of course, we just want Tala to be happy, healthy, and safe all the time!

Soon, the food is served! The guests had spaghetti, fried chicken with rice, French fries, pineapple juice, and ice cream!

We sliced the cake and distributed it to those who want to bring home a slice or two. Birthday cakes are not allowed to be consumed inside Jollibee restaurants!

Photos and Photo Booth

While eating, each table was called to have a photo taken with us at the front. I also used that time to give kids chocolates or Jollibee merchandise to bring home as an extra souvenir.

Guests who wanted more photo magnets also went to the photo booth area.

Souvenirs

Emman and I handed out envelopes with Kidzoona and Starbucks gift cards to each family while they were eating.

We were so happy with the reactions of our guests! They expressed how excited they are to use their GCs. Some couples even shared how they will have a Starbucks coffee date while their kids are playing at Kidzoona!

We were so happy that our guests were happy! Some even remembered to share snapshots of themselves or their kids using their GCs!