My kids' Halloween costume reveal

I always plan my kids costumes months before Halloween since I get so excited thinking about all the possibilities! There are three musts I follow when deciding on their costumes:

1. They must coordinate - check out their costumes last year as LILO & STITCH and the year before that as DORA & BOOTS ;p
2. It must be comfortable - nothing too hot when they go around trick or treating
3. They must love it as well - I can't force them to wear something they don't want to anyways

And so this year (if you haven't already guessed from my teaser pic of Miley's shoes), my kids came as PETER PAN and TINKERBELL! :)

off to Neverland...

It was actually last Halloween when hubby came up with the idea, since he said it would look really cute with Miley as Tinkerbell being so much bigger than Sabe as Peter Pan hehe. And he was so right! ;p

giant Tinkerbell with cutie Peter Pan :)

And it's also a good thing that Miley actually loves Tinkerbell too, especially after watching the Disney Fairies show on TV. And I'm glad they started showing classic cartoons on the Disney Channel, including Peter Pan which Sabe also ended up enjoying. Needless to say, they LOVE their costumes!

we can fly, we can fly, we can fly!

I totally love how light and comfortable both costumes are! I bought Sabe's Peter Pan costume from Divisoria, while hubby got Miley's Tinkerbell costume during a trip abroad. But they also have similar versions available in different department stores.

Anyway, here are more of their adorable photos from the mini photoshoot I did. As you can see, they had no problem getting into character. Project na project haha!

Anyway, Happy Halloween everyone! More pics to follow from our trick or treating in the coming posts. :)

All set for Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, especially now that I have kids of my own. I haven't had time to buy a lot of new spooky decorations since we've been so busy this past month, so some of these recycled ones from last year will do. :)

And of course, I'm sooooo excited for the kids' costumes this year! Here's a little teaser, can you guess what they'll go as? ;p

Shopping loot from the SM Kids Sale

Hubby and I went to SM Makati yesterday with the sole purpose of looking for a folding table for our kitchen area. But since the home section is all the way on the 5th floor, we had to pass by the children's department on the 3rd floor whether we liked it or not. ;p

I didn't even know they had a "Monstrous Sale" going on this whole month of October (yes, that's how long I haven't been to SM!). So what was supposed to be a quick trip to the mall turned out to be a couple of hours long since hubby and I couldn't resist checking out all the cute buys for the kids!

Usually, we end up buying so much stuff for our daughter Miley since girls are so much fun to shop for with all their colorful dresses, cute tops, frilly skirts, and so on. So it was such a treat yesterday when all of the clothes we found were for our son Sabe! And everything was 50% off or more!

I went crazy over these super cute shorts, I ended up buying almost every design! From P399.75, they were now about P200 each. And may belt pa! ;p

These collared shirts were also 50% off. The one on the left with the bike was now P125, while the other two shirts were now P150 each.

Sabe loves Toy Story so this sando set was a steal at just P135.

He also loves the Marvel Superheroes and this rashguard was down from P549.75 to P275.

This trolley bag will be perfect when Sabe starts school next year, and it's just P200!

Another good find was this pair of leather shoes from Fisher Price which was marked down from P799.75 to P299.

Of course, we also went around the girls section but for some reason, we couldn't find anything that Miley already didn't own or needed (she has so much clothes which I got from previous sales that she hasn't even worn yet!). But then we found this pink sandals from SugarKids which was now just P100. Super sulit!

The SM Kids Fashion Monstrous Sale is ongoing until October 31 so hurry if you still want to catch more of these great deals! :)

Crisostomo: Turn of the Century Filipino Dining

We've been eating in Filipino restaurants most of the time this past month since my brother-in-law and his wife, both based in the States, have been here in the Philippines for vacation.

To be honest, I'm not such a fan of Filipino food but I really enjoyed eating at Crisostomo when we were at Alabang Town Center.

click HERE for their full menu

I really liked the restaurant's interiors and the attention to detail - menu items (and even the servers!) were named after characters from Rizal's novels.

Here's the food we ordered:

Bagumbayan Lechon (P285)
Lechon Kawali Chips with Liver Sauce & Garlic Vinegar

Sinuglaw Tarsilo (P310)
Grilled Liempo with Kinilaw na Tuna

Maria Elena (P295)
Kangkong with Lechon Kawali Chips

Salome's Secret (P295)
Binusog na Pusit glazed with Sweet Sauce

Don Juan (P295)
"Liempo" Grilled Pork Ribs

Don Rafael (P625)
Classic Crispy Pata

Adobo Rice (P250)

Fresh Buko Juice (P150)

Everything was really good and needless to say there were no leftovers! :)

Crisostomo also has branches in Eastwood Mall, Nuvali, and Newport Mall. Check out their WEBSITE for more details.

NOEL Bazaar at the Filinvest Tent

Christmas bazaar season is finally here! And I got to go to my first one - the Noel Bazaar at the Filinvest Tent, located along Commerce Avenue corner Spectrum Midway in Alabang. It is currently ongoing until October 27 from 1pm to 11pm.

I believe regular entrance is P100 but we got in for free yesterday since no entrance fees on Monday to Wednesday.

The venue is fairly small compared to the World Trade Center or SMX, but there were still lots of finds and interesting things to check out. We went at around 4pm and there weren't that much people yet, which made it so much more enjoyable to look around.

This stall below was probably the most popular one in the bazaar - everything for P100! But you have to check the items carefully for damages since they're export overruns.

There's also food stalls inside the venue like Yellow Cab, Sbarro, Tapa King, as well as other food items for sale.

To complement the shopping event, the Mercato Centrale group is holding an outdoor food fair for those who want a break from their usual fares. We really enjoyed this part since the weather was nice and cool during the time we went. Although I wish there were more food stalls to choose from (I think there were just about 7 vendors, but maybe it will increase during the weekend).

We ate merienda right before we entered the bazaar...

isaw

chicken quesadilla from Pappy J's

 And then had a quick dinner before heading home...

yummy wagyu burger from Pappy J's

yang chow fried rice & lechon macau from Rice Pots

Here's what I ended up buying:

bangle - P350, rings - P100 each

striped shirts (the material is super nice and soft) - 2 for P250

long cardigan - P100 from the export overruns stall

our pasalubong for the kids - Monsters Inc. toys for P200

Christmas tags - P20 per pack of 100 pcs.

I didn't buy so much since there are still so many bazaars in the coming weeks. And besides, I'm still hoping to squeeze in another Divisoria trip before Christmas comes (fingers crossed!).

So hurry to the Noel Bazaar if you want to catch the last day of the free entrance (although it will run until October 27). If you don't get to go this weekend, you can catch the bazaar at the World Trade Center on November 22 - December 1 and then back at the Filinvest Tent on December 19 - 22.  Check out Noel Bazaar's FB page for more details.