We're Going To Party Karamu Fiesta Forever

My family's legendary themed birthday parties

Jul 01, 2023

Credit: Motown Records

Well, my friends, the time has come! For me to respond to the writing challenge issued by my pal

. I recently commented on her excellent and wildly hilarious as per usual post here, about the 1920s-era New England mansions of wealthy families such as the Rockefellers, and one thing led to another. Next thing you know, my arm gets twisted (well not really) into writing a minimum 250 words (honey, it’s gonna be a lot longer than that) about the themed parties that my family has been famously throwing for the past more than a decade.

OK, let me explain how we get from people like stodgy railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt to party-all-night-long Lionel Richie. I was telling Sheila how we have both role-played the most famous aviatrix ever. Except that she did so while touring the estate of the Crane plumbing dynasty, whilst I dressed up as Amelia Earhart for my Lola’s birthday party. She almost made it to 100 years old! (In case it wasn’t obvious, I am referring to Lola, not to Amelia Earhart who mysteriously disappeared somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle.)

We had several birthday parties we put on for her in her 90s, and one of them had a Roaring Twenties theme since that was the decade in which she was born in the Philippines. I didn’t want to go all Daisy Gatsby, because I hate to wear high heels and dresses, much less flapper ones. Homie don’t play that. But, I didn’t want to spoil the fun for Lola by showing up in normal attire.

Thus, at rather the last minute I cobbled together an outfit to resemble Amelia Earhart. I must say I was really proud of how it turned out. Maybe I’ll ask my cousins if any of them can go through their prodigious volumes of party photos, and I’ll post a copy of it here later. Hopefully, they or Facebook automatically tagged it with the words “Amelia Earhart,” or maybe “swim goggles” for ease of searching.

I can, however, provide photographic evidence of my aunt’s French-themed birthday party below, followed by what everyone agrees was the most fantabulous, stupendous fiesta to end all fiestas. This was the final big birthday party we had for Lola before she had to hang up her dancing shoes for the last time: our infamous, rollicking Pista sa Nayon.

On the first of this year, we had my Tita Mener’s 70th birthday (this is the aunt for whom we rang in her 60th with the Coco Chanel theme). In between, it wasn’t a milestone birthday; thus we Filipinos have traditionally celebrated New Year’s Day another way. Please see my story from last year here, where I compare and contrast how Flips do it on January 1 vs. how other Asians do it according to the lunar calendar.

So obviously, the theme for Tita Mener’s birthday party was 70s! The 1970s because the actual decade my aunt was born, the 1950s, was not as fun in terms of the clothing, you dig? See my pics below. Needless to say, it was groovalicious, baby!

Sadly, that one may have been the last of our epic family shindigs. My cousins, who were always the ones who did all the heavy lifting in terms of the planning, decorating, entertainment, etc. have deservedly earned their retirement from organizational duties.

We still try to do a color theme for Christmas! But the thing is, we’ve already gone through the whole rainbow and in recent years have had to resort to plaid, pajamas, even The Sound of Music “These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.” Didn’t get to go to that one due to I believe this was after my family and I had moved out of California.

Here’s hoping they’ll revive that theme for a future Christmas. If they do, my hubs will go as Mr. T, and I’ll be a piece of toast with dreadlocks and Rastafarian accessories. (Tea with jammin’ bread, duh!)