Celebrating the Year of the Rat

Because of the Taal Volcano phreatic eruption and ash fall, a lot of planned events were rescheduled. Swatch Philippines president Virgie Ramos optimistically decided to proceed with the long-time Swatch tradition of celebrating Chinese New Year. Swatch raced to celebrate the Year of the Rat and pulled off an amazing celebration at Rockwell Power Plant Mall in Makati City last Jan. 25.

Event director Rowell Santiago came up with the idea of having a big cheese installation with playful young “mice-masked” Hallili-Cruz ballerinas and international wushu champ Janice Hung opening the celebration and leading the guests to the Swatch cheese buffet on the second floor.

Then, the Swatch Dream Team of chef Margarita Fores, Moss Manila, endorsers and good friends Matteo Guidicelli, Nico Bolzico, Chris Tiu, Christian Bautista, Martin Nievera, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Doctors Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho with their daughter Scarlet Snow, Susan Joven, Jojie Dingcong and many more, all made everything possible, even getting the small details right.

Tita Virgie prepared so many games including the dice game, where Tessa and I won prizes; Cheeses and Traps Wall Board, where Scarlet Snow won over Derek Ramsay; and the Pin the Nose on the Rat game, where Hayden was a champion.

Margarita’s food was superb, as usual! She served tons of food including wagyu and cheese gyoza, prawn and lobster rolls with gorgonzola, Chinese sausage and Hong Kong roast goose puffs, and pasta! Tita Virgie also presented Vicki with a birthday cake as it was her birthday that day!

Love and joy was in the air as guests looked optimistically and playfully towards the future.  This celebration was a welcome break from all the bad news. I am glad the event pushed through.

Do check out the cutest Year of the Rat limited edition Swatch at several Swatch shops including those in Greenhills, Megamall, Trinoma, Greenbelt 5, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Glorietta 1, Alabang Town Center, Powerplant Mall, Ayala Center Cebu, and more.

(Check out www.swatch.com/en/store-locator/philippines for other Swatch locations.)