Michi Photostory

Since I was celebrating my birthday on a budget, I wanted to make the day special without going overboard on expenses. So, I started looking for good dining deals and promotions, and I found a few options that I want to try. 

Some of the promos I found required a minimum of 4 guests, but we’re just a family of three, so I was glad to discover that The Café at Hyatt Regency only required a minimum of 2 guests. Their discount was 30% off, which may not be the biggest, but it worked for us. A week before my birthday, my husband called the hotel to reserve a table. 

Breakfast (6:30 AM to 11:00 AM) – PHP 1,400 

Lunch (12:00 NN to 3:00 PM) – PHP 1,950 

Dinner (5:30 PM to 11:00 PM) – PHP 3,150 

How time flies! After ten years, we finally revisited City of Dreams. The last time we were here was also for my birthday. We visited DreamPlay back then, parang anak ko yung may birthday! Hehehe!

We arrived at The Café just five minutes before 12NN, and there was already a long line. But they let guests in right on time. 

All seats were already pre-reserved, so even if you arrive early, you can’t change tables. The Café can accommodate 315 guests, and during our visit, the place was almost full. Because of that, I only managed to take a few photos of the buffet spread. 

The Cafe has different stations such as Italian Kitchen, Carving Station, Flame and Skewer, Mexican Fiesta, Maki Bar, Fresh Catch on Ice, Asian Noodle Bar, Taste of India, Crispy & Crunchy, and Sweet Endings. They also have live cooking stations, which make the experience more interactive. 

I explored the different stations, and I was a little bit disappointed because they don’t have steak and ebi tempura. Ito kasi yung favorite ko sa mga buffet and hindi avaialable. 

After our food trip, I looked up more information and found this on the City of Dreams website: “Chef’s Carving Station - a daily highlight from our rotating selection of one premium meat or one fresh seafood”. Waah! 

Meat: Roasted Pork Loin, Roasted Whole Chicken, Lechon Belly Roll, Slow-Roasted Brisket. 

Seafood: Shrimp, Fish 

One meat or one seafood lang so I can’t help but compare it to Cucina by Marco Polo na marami choices sa Carving Station. But I’m happy with the Lechon Belly Roll, masarap ito. 

Among the stations, I focused on Carving Stations, Flame & Skewer, and Fresh Catch on Ice. These had the most satisfying selections for me. 

To top it all off, the staff surprised all birthday celebrants with a birthday cake, complete with a candle and a birthday song. Now I understand, bakit hindi pwedeng magpalipat ng table. hehehe! Kasi per section yung kanta nila so nung turn ko, 3 kaming sabay-sabay na binigyan ng cake and kinantahan.

When the staff brought us the bill, she mentioned that we could stay until 3:00 PM, but since we were already full, we left before 2:00 PM.

As always, I kept my birthday simple and intimate; just me and my little family of three. I didn’t need a crowd or a big party to celebrate, just great food, a cozy setting, and each other. 

This birthday reminded me that luxury is not always about how much you spend, it’s about how you feel. And on that day, I felt happy, content, and loved. Here’s to more joyful celebrations, smart spending, and memories that last way beyond the bill! 

Ground Floor, Hyatt Regency Manila, City of Dreams 

Aseana Avenue corner Roxas Boulevard, 

Entertainment City Parañaque, Manila 1701 

Tel:+63 2 8691 1234 ext. 1163 

Email: HyattTheCafe@cod-manila.com

So for now, I will just share my birthday cake topper projects. 

This design is available on Cricut Design Space, easy to cut and assemble. 

I made these two cake toppers using my favorite font Birthday Verygood font. 

These two cake toppers are for Senior Citizens so I used black and gold cardstock. The font is Billion Dreams. 

This cake topper is for my uncle, who celebrated his 90th Birthday last month. To design this cake topper, I used two fonts: Aloha Chunky and Muthiara 

This cake topper is for my grandmother-in-law. I used two fonts for this cake topper: Balbek and Muthiara. 

I made a Superb Sixteen cake topper for my son. And I also made a Sweet Sixteen cake topper even though I don’t have a daughter, gusto ko kasi itry yung design na nasa isip ko. I used two fonts for this cake topper Amazing Teacher and Festive.

After a few days, my aunt messaged me because she likes this cake topper, magpapagawa daw siya. But I told her, na ibibigay ko na lang itong cake topper kasi wala din naman gagamit. 

Ang laki ng age gap namin ng yougest cousin ko, ka-age lang ng anak ko. Naalala ko tuloy yung anak ng eldest cousin ko, ka-age ko naman. Anyway, my aunt only asked for a “Sweet Sixteen” cake topper but I made another one para more choices para sulit na rin yung shipping fee. This was the first time I shipped my cake toppers and I felt relieved that my cake toppers arrived in good condition. I used Samantha Craft font to design this cake topper. 

The last cake topper I made is "Juliana is 15" using the Amazing Teacher Font. This font is a combination of Sans Serif and Script Font. 

A birthday easel card for the October celebrant. The fish design is from Craft with Sarah’s website.

I only need a few gift tags but I want to maximize my paper sheets so I made a lot. I used the following fonts.

This is the reason why I had limited time to blog because I was preparing for my son’s birthday. I made a banner, a cake topper, and a birthday mini album. 

For girls, they always say “Sweet Sixteen” but I had no idea about boys. While browsing Pinterest, I stumbled on “Superb Sixteen” so I used it for my cake topper. I made two cake toppers using Thinker and Bright fonts.  

This Happy Birthday Banner has been on my list for a long time. I told myself that I would make it for my husband’s birthday and then for my birthday but it didn’t happen. Finally, I made it just in time for my son’s birthday. 

This is the biggest project that I have done so far. It took me 2 hours of cutting and 3 hours of assembling the project. I was tired but happy. I plan to use this banner for our future birthdays. 

Last June, I joined Card Making Countdown and there are two projects that I did not do because of limited time. But I knew that I would make the mini album card for my son’s birthday. I finished the mini album card in 3 days. Installment ko ginawa, first day yung card template, then yung box and last yung mga pictures and message na ilalagay ko. 

Natagalan ako sa pictures because my son has thousands of pictures so imagine, I browsed his pictures since day one of his existence. I chose pictures, edited and printed them. I attached them to my card template. Buong araw ko talaga ginawa. 

Even though it took me 3 days to finish the album, I felt satisfied after finishing my project and enjoyed looking at his pictures since birth. Kita ko talaga yung transition from babyhood to teenager. I miss those childhood days, iba na kasi kapag teenager na at may sarili na buhay. 

For the birthday celebration, we can really travel because my son has two days of asynchronous class but unfortunately, my husband has a business trip so we decided to have lunch buffet na lang. We looked for different credit card promotions but when we checked the date, hindi na naman aabot. 

Good thing, I saw The Westin Manila promo of “50% off Lunch Buffet and Weekend Dinner Buffet from October 1 to 31, 2024” so I told my husband about it. My husband already ate there so he warned me na maliit lang daw restaurant ng The Westin Manila. But I said, okay lang kasi 50% off naman. Mas okay na yan kaysa sa Yurakuen natin last year. Hehehe! 

After our lunch buffet, I invited my husband’s family to go to our house for merienda. I bought cake and my husband ordered pizza. My husband ordered the Triple Cheesy Pizza Craze for PHP1549. This package includes 12 inches of Pepperoni Pan Pizza, Triple Cheesy Burger Mega Crunch Pizza, and Hawaiian Supreme Stuffed Crust Pizza. 

I did not eat kasi busog ako sa buffet pero naubos agad yung Triple Cheesy Burger Mega Crunch Pizza kasi masarap daw so nacurious tuloy ako so next time, bibili ulit ako para matry. I don't have picture of the pizzas, late kasi nadeliver.

That's our 16th birthday mini-celebration.