February 20, 2023
Birthday is one of a special day being celebrated by everyone. This special day is being celebrated in different manners and with different people. Some is celebrating it with their family only, some is celebrating it with family and friends, some is celebrating it with friends only and others are with workmates or classmates.
Last February 17, 2023 my husband celebrated his 35th birthday. Initially, we don't have a plan to celebrate it with family members and friends because of a limited budget but his birthday turned out to be a great day even with a simple birthday celebration.
Last week, Dole Philippines Incorporated gave 23 cans of fruit cocktail to it's employees. We are so happy about it because it is so many and fruit cocktail is a big help in a celebrations like birthday. But when we check on it, we found out that it is about to expire on March 02 of this year. So, all of us can't store it for the next celebration.
Instead of storing it, we distributed some to our friends, family and neighbors and they were so happy having it. It only needs some additional ingredients and it looks so yummy.
Birthday celebration at work
My husband and his workmates planned to have buko salad at work. They have coconut tree there and they get some buko, then he brought some fruit cocktail and condensed milk. Some of his workmates also brought condensed milk as additional and my husband bought loaf breads.
I also cooked kutsinta (I will share the procedure in different article) and let him bring more or less 60 pieces. So, with his workmates help, they celebrated his birthday in their workplace with bread and buko salad.
Birthday celebration at home
As the one who do the budgeting in our family, I know that we don't have enough budget for a birthday celebration but I still planned for a celebration of my husband's birthday even a very simple one.
I don't know how to cook viand but I know how to cook some desserts and other food. So, I decided to offer just a merienda instead of dinner.
I wanted my husband to be happy so I prepare a simple celebration at home. I look for my son's happy birthday banner and use it for him too.
We don't have a big table outside so I borrow unused table of our neighbor and covered it with curtain to make it looks clean and presentable.
Here are the foods we prepared:
Meatless spaghetti
I always wanted a meatless spaghetti so I prefer to cook it that way but this time I added nestle cream to make it more creamy and didn't add cabbage just like my previous meatless spaghetti. Instead of meat I use mushroom.
I never expected that people will like it because it is not a usual spaghetti for them but I am glad they like it.
Sweet corn
This is simple yet healthy and delicious food for merienda. I resell sweet corn last week and this also gave me an idea to cook sweet corn in my husband's birthday.
People love it too because it is not usual to have it in the table.
Gulaman
I planned to make tapioca but I forgot to buy sago so instead I just make gulaman, slice it and make a delicious drinks with it by adding condensed and evaporated milk in it.
Kutsinta
I also cookedkutsinta and our friends and church mate is looking forward for it when we have celebration at home because they knew I am cooking it.
Bihon
This is a common food in Filipinos but you might laugh at me, honestly, I don't know how to cook it, lol. I tried but the result is not that good, lol. So, instead of trying hard, I just prepared all the ingredients and let my husband cook it when he reached home from work.
Bread
An additional food for merienda.
Cake
This red ribbon cake is a birthday gift from his workmate.
This mocha cake from gala is my gift to him. It cost 290 and I just choose the smallest one because this is the only I can afford.
When my husband reached home, he was surprised to see a simple decoration outside and he was so grateful for it. He said that he didn't expect that I will prepare and gave some effort for it.
I am happy that he appreciates it even it is so simple. He invited his friends, our neighbors, church mates and our family to come over and celebrate with us his birthday.
We thank God for His goodness in my husband's life and we asked Him to be with him in the other years to come.
My husband is not fond of blowing candles but my son is. So, my son blow the candle for his father.
We have some picture taking and kids really wanted to join so here they are smiling in front of the camera.
Birthday celebrations don't need to be expensive especially if you can't afford to have one. A simple celebration is enough to make the celebrant happy as long as their is effort and happiness while doing it.
Thank you for reading and happy birthday to all February celebrants.