EVEN with a little preparation and planning, you can still host a Halloween party of the year.

This actually happened at The Hub, a laundry shop that eventually became a favorite hangout of friends on Ponciano Street, fronting the Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Elementary School. It's the only laundry shop that offers beer to friends and the best dinuguan, grilled porkchop, and papaitan in town.

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Two days before that "big event," the indefatigable organizer Paul Garcia was calling up friends, giving them details of the plan -- A Halloween Party on the 30th of October.

"You can bring anything for pulutan," he said, meaning it's "potluck."

"And we need prizes, anything basta pwedeng i-prize," he was telling friends, who eagerly offered what they have.

With such support, there were lots of prizes to raffle off -- from pens, lighters, tumblers, table cocks, ash trays, and even a gift check for an overnight stay in one of the city's premier hotels.

The party wasn't spooky -- masks provided by Paul and Patricia Joven, of Philipp Morris, became a subject of fun and laughter.

As what Patricia said in jest: "With or without masks nakakatakot ang mga dagway!"

Some friends came in red.

But there was lots of food and beer overflowed that night -- that went on until the wee hours of the morning. It was indeed a fun-filled party.

As turned out, the party was a welcome one for Paul's Tita Minda Ford who arrived that day from the US.

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(November 21, 2008 issue)
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