How to Throw a Kick Ass Party in 48 Hours or Less

(Now, how about that for an article title?)


The holidays are just coming around the corner and they have no plans of slowing down! It’s deck the malls today, and you just can’t wait to go to all the parties which have been bleeding red on your planner! However, you won’t always be the visitor all the time. Sometimes, you also have to throw your own party—whether it’s by peer pressure or sheer gratitude—and boy, it ain’t that easy.

However, with everything that’s instant today, you can make do with a fabulous holiday party with a few quick and easy tips. Read on.

1. Set the mood. When people enter your place, or even as early as they are looking for a parking space in front of your home, they should already feel the Christmas spirit or the festivity brewing around the area. If you don’t have time to clean up the place, at least de-clutter. Fill the place with cheap (or not!) decoration and brighten up the place.

2. Spend a little time on making a playlist of upbeat and contemporary Christmas songs and when the party mellows down, switch to some piano and/or acoustic melodies. Working on this playlist will just take an hour tops. With fast internet today, all those downloading would be done in a jiffy.

3. Fake home cooking. A big chunk of what really makes a party cozy is the food. The truth is, you can make do with good old lechon manok (rotisserie chicken) and just put it in a nice looking plate. To make it look extra special, try to steam vegetables or put fried potatoes on the side. There’s also powdered gravy sold in the market. You can place that on the side for that extra gourmet feel. Sometimes the plate makes all the difference. Imagine takeout chopsuey, pansit and baby back ribs in a very regal looking plate. Imagine grilled meat on a banana leaf. Now THAT’s what I’m talking about.

4. For posh cocktails, don’t serve chips but instead, prepare cheese, little sandwiches, salami or even buttered French bread. Carrots, lettuce and cucumber also makes for a great salad, the “healthier” cocktail.

5. Serve champagne/ wine. Isn’t it good that you can purchase them now from convenience stores? They promise a lovely time and some space for great conversations in between. Unlike beer. But if the boys complain, then simply order beer from the sari-sari store at the corner! No sweat!

With these quick and easy throw-a-party tips, you won’t be left wondering what to do to make your party fabulous and memorable while on a very tight time schedule. Just remember that days before the party, you should organize your calendar well.

And don’t forget to take pictures! :) Email me other posh ideas at live_out_loud@ymail.com.

How to be English-ly Eloquent

How to be English-ly Eloquent

A lot of people nowadays find eloquence in the English language a very good advantage. In fact, one of the biggest reasons why I landed a job I wanted so much is my mastery of the English language.

With call centers sprouting like crazy and more ESL centers expanding, learning how to communicate in English (both oral and written) becomes one of the country’s leading concerns. In fact, there is more pressure for us Filipinos to up the ante because we are considered as one of the best English speakers in the world. If you feel left out because you can’t even put your is’s and are’s properly, here are a few tips on how to get chummy with the English language.

1. Learn the basics. Nothing beats learning the basics. Re-learn what nouns, pronouns, verbs. adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections are. (They are called eight parts of speech, by the way.) I’m sure you remember encountering these words when you were in your elementary years. Rekindle your memories with them and vow to never forget their worth. Thank me later.

2. Read, read, read! Read everything you can get your hands on. I am a very industrious reader; I’d read anything, from the Bible to the back of a shampoo bottle, to an eight-page celebrity magazine expose. This helps me get used to English, and my brain also gets used to processing things in English. Hence, when I start forming and opinion or an idea, I do so in English already…instinctively. If you are not a very industrious reader, I recommend reading “easy” materials like magazines or preteen novels. In this way, the learning becomes light and at the same time enjoyable. You can move on to reading Ayn Rand and Tom Clancy and John Locke later.


3. Actually speak English. Now this is the tricky part. In the Philippines, where people are taught to be humble, speaking English comes off as cocky to a lot of people because it is not our native language. However, there is no better practice than actually speaking English (I don’t care who you speak English to!) because it is where you can apply everything you’ve learned—the basics and the advanced ones. If you find this difficult, you can start singing in English (hehe!) and move on to speaking whenever you’re more comfortable.

4. Appreciate English. English is home to a lot of very good artistry—talk about Nobel prize winners, the local Palanca and Pablo Neruda. There are so many things to appreciate in the English language. I recommend reading poetry, since they’re short and oftentimes very moving. They’re compacted emotions, and beautiful symphonies arrested in flight. There are poems which haunt you to sleep and poems which make you shiver, fall in love, timetravel... No, poems are not 4D, but they’re good tools to help you appreciate the English language in a jiffy. My personal favorites include John Donne, Sylvia Plath and our very own Edith Tiempo.


5. Surround yourself with English. Now this is a habit; and this must not stop. Listen to English songs, read English literature, watch movies in English (switch the subtitles on for better comprehension!) and most importantly, talk to people in English. You’ll be an expert in no time. And don’t forget your basics.

Congratulations, you can now call yourself a Filipino. Oops! Just kidding.

Let’s try your English out, email me IN ENGLISH--- live_out_loud@ymai.com