Christmas Party 2013

Dec 22, 2013

After almost three months of planning and preparation, another ground breaking event made the Road Eaters Running Club’s history.

Assuming that Christmas Parties were rarely done on a Sunday night and no other party will go with theirs, they chose December 22, 2013 as the date.

True Deli was chosen as the venue since the club is a regular customer of the restaurant. The name may sound like a bakeshop but it mainly serves Filipino dishes. Food and beverages listed on their menu are all in Filipino, such as: Pritong Manok, Sinigang na Baboy, Mainit na Tsaa, to name a few.

The club occupied the whole restaurant, expecting 40 to 50 guests. The venue’s ambiance was good enough to socialize with other guests. Its soft, low lighting created a feeling of comfort and imbue the aura of privacy and intimacy. The walls and ceilings are all painted with appetizing colours. The wood moulding in dark, rich paint colour created a relaxed and intimate feeling. The club also supplied ambient music to add greater party atmosphere in the venue.

Before 6:00 PM, Manager Jemai was the first to come at the venue. He was making the final preparations for the party. 5:00 PM was supposedly the call time of the party organizers. However, due to the many preparations, the call time was not followed. Manager Josh arrived next at exactly 6:00 PM. Both of them were rushing; the guests were expected to come one by one and it would be better if everything was ready upon their arrival.

The first guest came—Boss Winsor. He helped in doing the set up. Then came Baby Boy Jeff, Papa Pogi Don and Mr “Permission to Post” Mico. They were all assigned in the registration booth.

Madame Karen also helped the boys in doing the job. Each guest would have to pass by the registration booth. Don received the payments, while Mico and Karen took care of the HR requirements of the club. Then, Jeff facilitated the voting of the Mr. and Ms.Congeniality. Moreover, Winsor, after finishing the setup, collected all the presents brought by the guests for the exchange gifts.

Then the Mandaluyong peeps--Ronald, Lalaine, Gege and Thelsa arrived. While waiting for the other guests, they had photo ops at the venue. Next to arrive were the strong runners of the club: Ray, Christy and JL!

Managers Kirk and Jerome came, too. They went immediately to the private room of the restaurant where Jemai was preparing the surprise souvenirs.

A couple of minutes after, the Binangonan Boys—Jigs, Alfred, and Niño came followed by BFFs Rap and Pao.Then Concert King MJ, UltraRobot Kevin, and Kunehong Marvin next arrived.

Around 7:30 PM, the program started with the Opening Prayer lead by Kevin. Then the most exciting part commenced—DINNER!!!

The food served on the buffet was: Mainit na Sabaw ng Kabute, Bonggang Manok, Kalderetang Baka, Dinakdakan, Litson Kawali, Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet, Kanin, and free flowing Iced Tea.

While everybody was eating, the rest of the members came: Couples Wax and Julie; Jeck together with his girlfriend; Managers Billy and Jessica; Muse Angelbert; the Salvador family: Nora, Bhong, and Emille; Mayor Saldy; Best friends Anjo and Eya; then Pau together with his girlfriend.

It’s good to see everyone in their party attire: polo, long sleeves, dress, boots, heels, etc. because the team usually see each other in dri-fit clothes and running shoes.

The program continued with hosts Josh and Jerome. During the introduction, each were called to come up the stage for a short interview. The members were expected to be shy but just look on how well they presented themselves on stage!

Then the Opening Remarks were given by the club administrators—Jerome, BJ, Jemai, Kirk, and Josh. They gave short inspiring messages and some words of appreciation.

Fun and entertainment began when the “wholesome” games started!

The first game was Card Relay.

Three teams with five members each were called through draw lots cared of Winsor. Each team will have to pass the card successfully using their lips! Jerome was suggesting the cards should have been acetate! Haha!

The teams practiced first. They’re all having a hard time passing the card to one another. But later they got the hang of it.

During the game, an unexpected moment happened! While passing the card, a player accidentally kissed another when the card fell on the floor! Man to Man! Guess who?!!!

After successfully passing two cards from one end to another, the winning team was Team Gege, Thelsa, Ray, Emille, and Eya! Each of them won 2 pcs. of energy gels.

The next game was Trip to Jerusalem with a Twist!

Boys should form a circle and girls should circle around them. When the music stops, the girls need to insert the straw held by their mouth to the bottles held by the thighs of the boys. The girl who would not be able to insert her straw would be eliminated.

So another draw lots of 10 boys and 11 girls. Since they don’t have enough number of girls at the party, they added boys on the game: Winsor and Angelbert! It was known that Angelbert will really enjoy this game!

The music played and stopped. One by one, the girls were eliminated. Too bad, Angelbert didn’t make it to the finals!

The winning girl was Thelsa! And the boy with the bottle that was always first to be inserted with straw and remained until the last round was Anjo! Thelsa won a special gift cheque from the Road Eaters Running Club: A free race registration for the month of April! For Anjo, he also received complimentary runner items.

More Games! Beer Drinking with a Twist!

5 men were chosen to this game. The fastest to drink 500mL beer would win! But the twist was… they have to eat a secret “pulutan” first---banana!

Hosts Josh and Jerome originally chose Rap, Alfred, Jigs, Niño, and Marvin —thinking that the game was suitable for them. However, Ronald, Winsor and Emille really wanted to take the challenge so Jigs, Niño and Marvin gave up their slot.

The final challengers were: Rap, Winsor, Ronald, Emille, and Alfred.

Eating the banana was choking already, added the beer that everyone have to drink upfast!

After a couple of minutes, The Master Tomadero was revealed—Ronald! Take note, he’s the only one who drank the beer without ice! Bottoms up! Ronald won 200 pesos worth of gift cheque from SM Malls.

Next in line: Fruit Cocktail!

Participants will have to follow instructions of the Game Master. A fruit will have a designated movement: Apple –Shake to the right. Orange –Shake to the left. Grapes –Shake backward. Banana –Shake forward. The instructions would get faster and faster. If a participant made a mistake, he would be eliminated.

Again, 10 boys were selected via draw lots. As the game went on, participants got confused of the movements. One by one, they got eliminated. In the middle of the game, the audience suggested to add another movement: Watermelon: shake hands upward; and coconut: shake hands downward.

Everyone’s favourite was the banana and watermelon movement. While for Angelbert, it was grapes and coconut. Haha!

When two boys remained, Niño and Kevin, they decided to do the movements face to face! Haha! Funny how they did banana, watermelon, and coconut!

Finally, the winner was Kevin UltraRobot! He won complimentary runner items.

The last but not the least game: Identify that body part!

Partners would identify body parts that starts in the letter P (parts of the female) and T (parts of the male). English or Filipino. The most number of identified body parts will win.

The participants were JL and Nora, BJ and Jessica, then Pao and Karen.

Funny how creative both partners on naming the letter Ts and letter Ps on the body parts of their partners!

Only one pair identified the “perfect” letter T on the male. Haha! It’s Nora to JL! Guess what that body part is!

Cumulatively, the most number of identified body parts were team Pao and Karen! Both of them received complimentary runner items and energy gels.

Next parts of the program were song and dance numbers:

Song numbers from:

Josh--“I don’t wanna Miss a Thing”—Birit King!

and MJ--“Himala”—cool voice as the winds!

Also, dance numbers from:

Don--“Stay the Night”—smooth, sharp, and sweet!

Pao--“Gimme Gimme”—wild and vibrating!!!

and Jerome--“Oops Kiri Oops”—spicy and sexy!

While having fun on these entertainment numbers, guests had their take 2s, take 3s and take 4s at meals on the buffet! Too bad, True Deli has forgotten to prepare the Buko Pandan desert.

The club also surprised the November and December Birthday Celebrants though a Delightful Birthday Cake! The celebrants were Eya, Anjo, Jerome, Alfred, Lalaine, and JL! They blew the candles on the cake as if the Christmas party was the exact date of their birthday!

The program continued with the exchange gifts. Worth 300 Php gifts that should be creative. The club set the exchange gift No-No’s such as:

picture frame/album

towel/handkerchief

wall clock

flower vase

plate/glass/cup/etc

soap

candle

wine

cash/piggy bank/GC

cell phone load

Good thing, everybody followed the guidelines! Some brought runners items, physical fitness, apparel, and other stuff. Upon receiving, the gifts were opened immediately and judged if it’s really worth 300 Php! Some gifts seemed more than the price!

After that, the Road Eaters Running Club recognized a few people for the RERC Awards.

They first awarded the voted Mister and Miss Congeniality Award.

Miss Congeniality was Karen Nuez! She already left the party so she was represented by Billy.

Next, Mister Congeniality was Ray Sarmiento!

Both of them received certificate and Exclusive Gift Cheques from the Road Eaters Running Club: Worth 250 Php meals on the official run events for September and November respectively.

Moreover, the Administrators chose the recipient of the Exemplar and Loyalty Award—deserved by Marvin Maquirang!

He started his barefoot running career through the Road Eaters Running Club (21K at SIM 2013). He also level up to 32K barefoot (RU2 2013), 42K barefoot (RUPM 2013), 50K barefoot (R2L 2013).

Present in 8 out of 10 official races (runner in 7 races, support in 1 race). Representing Road Eaters Running Club in every event, because he always wears the club official singlet and tech shirt.

The grandest award—Runner of the Year 2013—went to Kevin Eusebio!

Started his running career through the Road Eaters Running Club (10K at RU3 2013). Trained and level up with the club: from his first 10k, first 21k, first 32k, first 42k, and first 50k. He has outstanding PR: Sub 1 for 10K, Sub 2 for 21k. He is also present in 9 out of 10 official races.

Both of them also received certificate and Exclusive Gift Cheques from the Road Eaters Running Club: Free race registration for the month of March and June respectively.

The club also awarded the Stag and Star of the Night. It was none other than Emille Salvador and Julie Ann Palmares! How gorgeous they were that night! Both of them received certificate of recognition.

The next part of the program was the traditional Symbolic Wine Toast. Each of the club members had a drink. By the leading of Josh, he wished success and prosperity of the club for 2014 and the years to come. Cheers!

The party concluded with photo ops. They had their group picture! They also maximized the use of the photo wall! Solos and groups were made. Most of them were wacky shots!

Then everyone kissed and bid goodbye. All of the club members were very thankful for the Christmas party. May it be personal message, group message through text and wall posts on the Facebook group of the club--all were signs of everyone’s appreciation.

Truly, the Road Eaters Christmas Party was a night to remember.