It’s been ages since I’ve last attended a house blessing. It’s no wonder I was a bit rusty in preparing for our own. Whew! We’ve managed to pull it off though. For future reference and for the benefit of others as well, I thought I’d write down the essentials in preparing for a house blessing.

1. Candles

Choose long candles as they symbolize long life. Get the coloured ones over white, they’re so much nicer. Be sure to get (or make) candle drip catchers as the participants will be walking all around the house with the candles lit. You won’t want to see your floor covered with wax spots all over! Here, I made the drip holders with coloured cardboards. I cut a 3-inch square and folded up a 1-cm border on all sides. I added curling ribbons for each candle to complete the look.

2. Coins

Coins (and candies) for abundance. There’s no specific amount, just how much you’d want your guests to get when they participate in the coin/candy tossing.

3. Candies

4. Priest

We visited the village chapel weeks before the event and they recommended a priest for us. There’s Father Jerry reading prayers for the blessing.

The priests don’t usually require payment for their services so it’s up to us how much we’d like to give them. For us, we gave him snacks and drinks after the ceremony, plus a little more to take home. We also gave him a red envelope (angpao) with money. Since it was Christmas Eve and he had other masses to preside on, we also drove him to his next church.

5. Photographer

House blessing is actually a very quick ceremony so it’s not necessary to hire a professional photographer for the event. It’s enough to assign someone to take photos just to be able to remember the event by.

You wouldn’t want to miss priceless photos of your guests such as these!

Or these!

6. Food

We coincided the blessing with Christmas Eve so it was a House Blessing and Christmas Eve celebration in one.

For this occasion, we ordered our food from my favorite caterer, Golden Cape Catering. Despite their packed schedule, it being the 24th, and my late notice, I was so glad that they were still able to accommodate us. We picked the food up at their office and they came in these chafing dishes, complete with burners for reheating.

We just set it up on a long table and we’re ready to entertain our guests with good food. Easy peasy. 🙂

Here are some of the guests’ favorites: Baked Salmon.

Sweet Chili Crab

Cha Misua

Steamed Prawns

The guests all went home with a happy and full tummy. Yey! 🙂

For your parties and celebrations, I highly recommend Golden Cape Catering. Apart from good food, they also offer exemplary and commendable service. I remember back in the day when I had a party catered by them and they were nice enough to match the buffet centrepiece according to my theme without me telling them to. I was so surprised and touched by their nice gesture. My guests all commended me for that centrepiece, thinking that it was part of my decor. Hihihihi! 🙂

Golden Cape Catering
304 D. Tuazon Street,
Quezon City
365-71-50
416-58-56
http://www.goldencapecatering.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GoldenCape