Grad Ball 2013: Nostalgia - Where It All Started

Just one more day and it's the Marist School Marikina High School Graduation Batch 2013. The 42nd Commencement Exercise on March 17, 2013 at 8am will be held at the New Marist Gymnasium. The Seniors are all excited, happy and at the same time sad. It marks the end of high school but the beginning of college life.

But wait, after graduation, there's still the Marist School Graduation Ball 2013. The seniors, rather the graduates can still get-together, party and have fun in this special occasion. The graduation ball entitled "Nostalgia: Where It All Started" will be held on March 21, 2013 at Ballroom A of the Crowne Plaza Manila  Galleria (beside the Robinson's Galleria Mall). Come early! Registration starts at 5:30pm. Photo booth sessions start at 6pm, choose from the two Photo Booths or try both. Have as many pictures as you want. Event proper starts at 7pm. There will also be two professional photographers and one videographer (of Jay Santos Photography) to cover the event.

This is the Ballroom A layout for the Marist School Graduation Ball:

These are the souvenir items, antique necklace with locket watch pendant.

Of course, you'll also enjoy a mouth watering and delectable dinner buffet.

BREADS

·         Assorted Bread Rolls
 
COLD APPETIZERS
·         Chicken Liver Paté with Toasted French Bread
·         Rosace of Tomato Mozzarella scented with Pesto
·         Vegetable Frittata

SALAD

·         Tomato and Onion Salad
·         Cucumber and Smoked Tanguingue in Yoghurt Dressing
·         Assorted Green Salad with Selection of Dressings
·         Potato Salad with Spring Onion,Pommery and Mustard Dressing
·         Marinated Cabbage with Cumin Spice

SOUP

·         Asparagus Soup with Croutons

HOT DISHES
·         Chicken Cordon Bleu with Mushroom Sauce
·         Breaded Pork Chop with Gravy
·         Beef Stroganoff
·         Maya-maya fillet with Black Beans
·         Buttered Vegetables
·         Roasted Potatoes
·         Plain Rice

HOT DESSERT

·         Apple Crumble

COLD DESSERTS

·         Vanilla Surprise
·         Fresh Fruit Flan
·         Praline Frankfurter

SAUCES / COMPOTES / CONDIMENTS

·         Apple Compote
·         Chocolate Sauce
·         Fresh Cream

Freshly Brewed Coffee or Tea

One round of either iced tea, softdrinks or chilled juice per guest

Marist School Grad Ball 2013: Ballroom A Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria - Reserve a slot now!

As previously announced, the Marist School Graduation Ball 2013 will be at the Grand Ballroom A of Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria Hotel beside the Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas Center on March 21, 2013, Thursday at 6pm.  It will be a grand event, with a buffet dinner,  one round of iced tea and lots of pictures. 

Click here to view pictures of Grand Ballroom A, Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria.

As of January 23 there are only 217 (182 students and 35 partners) confirmed/paid attendees, but we have reserved and confirmed Ballroom A  with a maximum capacity of 450 guests to give everyone a chance to join the event. We already paid hotel reservation fees of P60,000 last November 7, 2012 and another P143,402.43 last January 25, 2013. We’ll be paying the balance this February 2013 and we hope to have enough Grad Ball Ticket sales to pay the balance before the event.

We will be accepting new Grad Ball Ticket payments (P 1,900) and balance payments (for those who are not yet fully paid) until February 19, 2013. Payments can be made through the Marist Business Office. The ticket fees are non-refundable, but fully transferable.

Optional expenses (such as additional decorations, souvenir items, awards or raffle items) should be covered by funds from fund-raising activities such as the cake raffle, bottled water booth during the fair.

We strongly urge you to let our 338 Year 10 students be part of this once-in-a-lifetime event and be together with their high school friends for the last time before going different paths in their journey through college and adult life. The Graduation Ball will be their last Marist activity as students, to give thanks to their Marist teachers, to look at the past 10 years, and to wish each other good luck as they welcome new beginnings in college, and to commit to continued friendship. 

Please let our sons have this chance to participate and enjoy this unique event, a memorable finale to ten years of joys and hard work as proud students of Marist School.

Crowne Plaza Galleria

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is a strong candidate venue for the Marist 2011 Graduation Ball. Located beside Robinson's Galleria Mall in Ortigas Center, it can be conveniently reached from Marikina, Quezon City and Makati.

The Crowne Plaza has several possible function rooms, with capacity ranging from 100 to 800 ( Grand Ballroom). However, each function room has its assigned minimum consumable rate, which would probably translate to high per head rates if fewer people decide to attend. For example, the Grand Ballroom, with capacity for 800 has a P1,000,000 minimum consumable rate (before VAT and service charges), which translates to about P1,250 per head(before VAT and service charges), ASSUMING 800 people. But if fewer attend, e.g. 500, that would translate to P2,000 per head. Plus VAT, service charges and local taxes, this may reach P2,800 per head. Crowne Plaza is good if you can reserve and exactly fill the correct sized function room.


Crowne Plaza's beautiful ballrooms with sparkling chandeliers and high ceilings, make any event especially picturesque

Being beside a mall ( actually a part of the mall ) has its conveniences: it is very accessible, shares parking with the mall, has lots of activities for waiting parents, and numerous dining choices ( up to 10pm ).

Features

• FULLY AIR-CONDITIONED
• Capacity 100 – 800 ( Grandballroom )
• Mall parking
• High quality mobile sound system
• Handicap-friendly facilities
• Standby generator
• Air-conditioned restrooms
• Danceable flooring

The proposed menus are positively mouth watering, but include only one round of either iced tea, softdrinks, chilled juices or local beers per guest. Additional drinks cost extra, to the tune of probably P200 (plus VAT and service charge ) per drink.

Crowne Plaza will cost us about P2,000 per head, inclusive of hotel costs ( food, venue, photo booth

One of the Proposed Menus for the Graduation Ball.

BREADS
Assorted Bread Rolls

COLD APPETIZERS
Fish Terrine with Bell Pepper Coulis
Rosace of Melon and Shavings of Dried Smoked Ham
Platters of Assorted Grilled Vegetables and Confit in Olive Oil scented
with Garlic and Thyme
Seafood Tabouleh

SALAD
Seafood Penne Pasta scented with Dill Dressing
Assorted Green Salad with Selection of Dressings
Native Cheese Salad (Kesong Puti, Mozzarella, Ricotta)
with Marinated Eggplant
Niçoise Salad
Baby Potato Salad with Chorizo-Spiced
Dressing

SOUP
Crecy Soup (Carrot Soup with Bacon Shaving)

HOT DISHES
Chicken Fricassée in Red Wine Sauce with Braised Shallots,
Croutons and Parsley
Sweet and Sour Pork
Braised Flounder Fillet served with Sauce Aurore
Beef Medallion in Creamy Szechuan Pepper
Pilaf Rice with Garden Green Peas
Sautéed Baguio Beans and Carrots in Olive Oil with Rosemary
Gratin Dauphinois

HOT DESSERT
Bread and Butter Pudding

COLD DESSERT
Apple Jalousie
Chocolate Brownie
Fresh Fruit Pavlova and Cream
Raspberry Mousse Cake

SAUCES / COMPOTES / CONDIMENTS
Berry Compote
Chocolate Grissini Sticks

Freshly Brewed Coffee or Tea

Candidate Venues

We scouted several venues in Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig and Makati. Our candidate venues include

Non-Hotel Venues

• Water Nymph Resort near Marikina Convention Center
• Marikina Convention Center
• UP Bahay ng Alumni inside UP Diliman Campus
• Marist School Gym inside Marist School Campus
• Glass Garden near Santolan MRT Station

Hotel Venues

• Eastwood Richmonde Hotel in Eastwood City
• The Manila Peninsula Hotel along Ayala Avenue
• Crowne Plaza at Robinsons Galleria

The best options seem to be the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel and the Glass Garden.
Non-Hotel Venues
Non-hotel venues provide us better flexibility since they allow us to choose from among their accredited caterers. See catering options

When considering non-hotel venues, we look at venue facilities and ask

• is it air-conditioned?
• is it big enough?
• are the toilets clean?
• is it accessible?
• does it include sound/lighting systems?
• does it have a standby generator?
• does it have sufficient parking?
• is there a dance floor?
• etc, etc

Hotel Venues
Hotel venues are normally more expensive, and offer less food choices. Hotels will require minimum revenues depending on the size, location of the venue within the hotel.

Hotels will normally not allow outside caterers to provide the food and drinks. Most food packages will have only one free drink, which is insufficient for a long affair such as our planned graduation ball from 6pm to midnight.

Additional drinks are normally P150 to P250 per, a bit prohibitive to most students.

Hotel published rates are normally VAT exclusive, hence most hotel proposals have fine print stating rates are exclusive of VAT and subject to 10 to 20% service charge. Hence we should expect to pay 22 to 32% more than quoted.