2nd Birthday Celebrations

The heroes of the occassion wore their new T-shirts and Trousers (previously gifted by their Mami and Mami-Nani) respectively. New shoes gifted by Tatta & Paati were worn. I picked them up at Metro yesterday and they were just right fit. So I called Metro (adyar) that I would need 1 size bigger and they very sweetly send their person with the bigger size shoes to our place and we exchanged them. A big thankyou to Metro adyar.

Cake- chocolate cake from cake world in the shape of a fish (dolphin) as that was among the first few words they had learnt. We parents got the kids to cut their cake for the first time after 2 years. Last year it was the granparents who did that. Clean sweep by the time the part ended. Infact ArtNavy missed the cake and poori.

The Haul- a good haul of books and puzzles this year, including some gift vouchers- all from Words & Worth luckily. Restoring my faith in the fun of gifting!

Mausi gifted them puzzles, kids' crockery and air filled fish. The fish were a big hit.
Some of the gifts were passed on to the maids who have small children

The rest have been stashed in my cupboard to pass on to them two at a time so that every month has something exciting in store for them.

The take home gifts- Reynolds pen set + board game, water color boxes, color pencils, tiny board books, pencils.

The Menu- Poori, chole, gulabjamun, cutlet.

The Guests- aroud 50 kids from the complex. Some of our friends who have "girlfriends and friends" of my kids' age- Both An(o)ushkas expecially. Another friend where we regularly camp out for dinner (SS & V). And some close school friends of my hubby.

A few Mums joined in to ensure that their little kids managed to feed themselves. Thank you for doing that. It was heartening to see a few older brothers/ sisters taking complete care of their younger sibling, especially during the games & eating.

Games- Chinese whispers ( failed miserably), Musical chairs (great confusion as some of the kids would sit before the music (plate & spoon) ended) and fire in the mountain- succesful as this was organised by Priya my neighbour's daughter- Thank you.

Birthday Song- Ojas & Tejas were quite dazed especially when the entire crowd sang 'Happy...To You" for them. Even though I had been practicing with them for a month.

Duggi- resplendant in his red ribbon.

Moral of the story-

• Never delay the cake cutting beyond 20 minutes after every kid has arrived. They keep pestering you that they are hungry
• Either do not have multiple gifts or if you have age wise gifts, tell them firmly that whatever is fished out for them is final- no exchanges. Beware of repeat requests.
• Always ask one of the proactive kids to organise the games.
• Phase out food and drinks. And when they are troubling you too much for cold drinks/ food- distract them by giving away the take-home gifts. They will forget that they wanted specifically Pepsi or Mirinda.
• Always invite the older friends to arrive after the kids have left. This worked well for me as then I could sit and catch up with them.
• Appoint the official photographer/ videographer well in advance. And let it be someone other than the husband. Else he will simply take refuge behind it and stand in one corner and enjoy the proceedings while you struggle with your kid and the rest of the kids. Refer photograph.
• Always ask the mom of the younger kids to join you. They will help you with their own kids and also some of the others while you are busy doing overall supervision.