Of birthday surprises

It was Erick's birthday last Wednesday and I thought to come up with a surprise for his birthday.  It was challenging this year to execute his birthday surprise since he's in Singapore. But I wouldn't be easily turned down by that.

A card sent via snail mail, an online birthday groupcard from his friends, and a birthday cake were the ones I thought from the start and decided that I could do all of them to make Erick's birthday special.

Birthday surprise #1

Birthday greeting card via snail mail.. This was Erick’s favorite birthday surprise.

I know I know.. sending letters via snail mail aren’t popular these days anymore in this age of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and internet video calls. But hey, I would still love to receive old fashioned love letters and so I did to Erick! Exactly seven days before his birthday, I sent a greeting card thru our very reliable PhilPost. And I’m happy to say that they are very reliable indeed. I was told that it’d take a week before my mail gets delivered but voila it arrived in 6 days. Woot! for the fast mail service! My letter came just in time.


Birthday surprise #2

Online birthday groupcard from all of his friends

This one’s caught Erick in a big OOOOH.. thanks love! He surely enjoyed reading all the birthday messages from his family and friends as much as I enjoyed bugging/spamming his friends to sign his card :)

Here’s Erick’s birthday greeting card. 

Birthday boi ;p

I enjoyed doing this small project for him. I found this great paid greeting card service online. GroupCard provides greeting card services where you can ask your friends and families or just everyone else to sign the card for the recipient. What’s good is that everyone can chip in to a gift for the recipient. But a simple HBD greeting goes along way! Customizing the card is free but if you want it delivered to the recipient or print it you gotta upgrade for an annual membership or pay a one-time fee to be able to send/print the card. No worries, the one time fee is very minimal. GroupCard will deliver your card via email or post in the Facebook wall of the recipient. You can specify the date and time for delivery. Easy as 1-2-3.

It wasn’t easy asking all of Erick’s friends to sign in the groupcard. But with the help of his high school friends and officemates I’ve met, we were able to come up with birthday greetings from his 70 friends. Thanks so much friends!


Birthday surprise #3

Birthday cake from moi!

It's a white chocolate cake with strawberries on top

For me, a birthday is not a birthday without a cake. I remember seeing Erick’s surprised "teary-eyed" face when I surprised him with a birthday cake last year. Although I wouldn’t be able to see that this year which I was kinda looking forward to, I still wanted to give him a cake. I know he would still look like a teary-eyed birthday boy when he gets the surprise cake delivery.

This one is the most challenging birthday surprise plan. First, I had to search for all bakeshops in Singapore that provide cake delivery. I found a few but was not quite sure if they have a good delivery service.. until I found BreadTalk. They just started their delivery service and there are quite a few cakes in the selection to choose from. What’s really great is they have free delivery offered for a limited time to anywhere in Singapore. Greatness!  I ordered a cake online two days before Erick’s birthday but encountered some problem with the processing of the payment using my credit card. I had to call my credit card company to confirm if the payment went through since I didnt get a confirmation message. I posted a message for BreadTalk's Facebook wall. After a few minutes of posting it. I got the confirmation from them that they got my order. Good thing, they confirmed my order asap. It was already 12mn when I posted that message and I received a reply in a matter of minutes. Two thumbs up for the quick response!

Preparing all these surprises made me giddy all weeklong. hehe. Erick actually hinted a few days before his day that I was hiding a secret from him. Lol. I simply told him that he will know in time. I do miss him these days but somehow I was relieved from the "pangungulila" by preparing his birthday surprises. Who said that you can’t surprise your loved one when you are apart because of time, money, and distance. For sure, there are so many ways to do that but you gotta be creative and resourceful.

Happy Birthday Love! XOXO