My Super Sweet 5th Birthday
14 Mar
When my brother and I were kids, birthdays were a simple affair consisting of a few family friends, their kids, a cake, and my mother cooking up a storm. Instead of my birthday being about a theme or expensive loot bags, it was about hanging out with my friends and having good, home cooked food. Despite the simplicity I always recall having the best time on my birthday! I’ll spare you the pain of hearing my version of the “I walked in 2 feet of snow to get to the bus so I could get to school,” speech, but I must say, oh how things have changed.
Maya’s real birthday is actually tomorrow, March 15, but we celebrated it yesterday. Initially I wanted to do a Fancy Nancy tea party for her and her little friends, but somehow a small gathering of about 10 kids morphed into a huge event at my in-laws house for 75 people. And despite not lifting a finger in the kitchen I was still busy doing 100 other things yesterday, and for the weeks leading up to yesterday. Favors, decor, outfits, activities, and more…planning a kid’s birthday is a full-time job.
It was freezing cold outside yesterday, so instead of setting things up outside we went to Plan B and set up tables for the kids in the house:
We arranged the party favors: Fancy Nancy favor boxes for the girls, coloring books and crayons for the boys, and I had placemats made for all of the kids.
We blew up about a million balloons and set up the dining table, the appetizer area, and the drinks:
Thanks to Royal Kabob, the food was fabulous. We had samosas, three different kinds of chicken, rice with peas, naan, spinach paneer, daal, and salad. There was also fruit and kulfi (Indian ice cream) for dessert.
After lunch, Maya and the kids took out some of their aggression on the poor pinata:
We encountered a pinata malfunction which resulted in my brother having to empty the candy manually. This resulted in candy being hurled from great heights:
Which resulted in a small stampede and a few injuries:
But it was nothing a two layer Fancy Nancy cake, complete with feathers, a boa, a crown, and butterflies, couldn’t fix:
There were a few scary moments when Maya caught other little guests trying to blow out her candles. She screamed out a big “NO” and then knives were drawn in protest:
But luckily no injuries were sustained.
After the cake fiasco, we moved downstairs for coffee. My friend Nadia enjoyed a coffee lesson by my father-in-law:
I subjected my family to more pictures:
And cigars were smoked by the adults while kids worked off their cake in the jumper.
Since Maya literally has every single toy in the world, we requested that guests donate books for the Developments in Literacy book drive in lieu of gifts. I am thrilled to report that we collected at least 50 brand new books to send to Pakistan. This is definitely a great organization, and they take used books as well, so if you are looking for somewhere to donate children’s books, please check out their site or contact me for more information.
Our generous friends and family still brought gifts for Maya…she scored some gorgeous Fancy Nancy ensembles, a trampoline, a bowling alley, a tent, a new bedspread, an air hockey game, lots of great books, and a pair of cute Burberry shoes. Don’t be surprised if her shoes mysteriously disappear and you see me wearing identical shoes in my size.
All in all, the event was a success. Now I just need to get through the birthday celebration at Maya’s school tomorrow and I can breathe a sigh of relief before I have to start planning her 6th Birthday….
