8th birthday

The eight birthday was a sports themed one.
Extremely convenient because the cricket party was conducted by the husband and the other stuff like football was self conducted by the kids. The baseball and badminton did not happen though.

We did a quick IPL quiz downloaded five minutes before the party. The kids answered everything. Except two questions for which they said they had not seen "that" match!. Smart

The cake was butterscotch (which the cake shop claimed as chocolate which we had ordered) decorated with green sprinkles, a pitch, toothpick stumps, cream bat and ball.
We proposed that they add chocolate dolls- 13 players and the children picked a player each after the cake was cut.

The snacks were the usual fare- chips, juice and cake along with Maggi Noodles.

We had a small dinner afterwards.
The return gifts were the books Diary of a cricket God and Diary of a Soccer star bought off landmarkonthenet.com

Happy Birthday Gifts

Tejas to me- Mamma, I will go to Odyssey (note the shop of his liking) with Dadda and buy you a gift.
And will go with you to shop and buy something for Dadda. May be a jeans.
He likes watch also very much.

Me- what will you buy for me.
Tejas- I will not tell you. I will tell Dadda

Dadda- Ojas, what gift are you giving to Mamma
Ojas- I already gave. That Story...(with an indignant look)

Hubby and I decided that the Fossil watch he got for me is the birthday gift and the shoes I bought for him a few days ago is my birthday gift for him.
We are cheap that way.

Tejas- Mamma, will you call those people who came for Donut's b'day today.
Me- Sure, why?
Tejas- they make the best gulabjamuns. (He meant the caterer not the guests)

And the Birthday Party

Was total madness. In cold blooded fashion I decided to do a painting party because 7 is all about colours.

And not just any ordinary painting. T shirt painting.

The return gifts were these very same masterpieces however the kids expected a concrete return gift which cheapo aunty me did not provide.

The preparation involved buying various sizes t shifts , 2 dozens of them including infant sized ones where their sailings could paint for them.

Buying paints, brushes and assembling other items for painting like ear buds, plastic knife, toothbrush, toys with shapes to stamp the design in a pattern.

T shirts came with their cardboards but we also inserted newspapers so that colours did not stick to the backside.

My original plan was to create ink lot designs, sprinkle paint drops and fold the t shirt lengthwise and open to get a random design.

However the kids would have none of that. They insisted they paint themselves and it was heartening to see the kids go all crazy with their own concepts. For once mine did not stick with each other but were on different tables with their friends.

The cake was great tasting with a disastrous rukando design which looked like a cross between Hanuman's langot and a devils horn, and so it is best forgotten and unphotographed. 

The food was street food concept Chole bhature, dahi vada, samosa, chicken 65, gulab jamun, ice
cream, juice.

I am not sure whether the kids will end up wearing their masterpieces but I think it was worth the experience.

What I could have done better was,
A) done the party in the afternoon so that they could play afterwards and once the t shirt would dry they could wear that for the cake cutting which was my original plan anyway however since they did not dry and it would add to the logistics it would be crazy.

B) added a piñata or a small return gift as the kids like that the best and I couldn't because I was too tired to even think of what gift to buy and manage the logistics of changing numbers of guests.

C) I wish I could have done he ink lot design as that would give it a neat finish however then the kids wouldn't have had the experience of painting the same.





The adults were around to help them with ideas and they put their names and some even put their phone numbers on the t shirt apart from a thumb or palm print.

Happy 7th

A friend says this is one anniversary (motherhood anniversary) that will not give the 7 year itch!

So a quick one to say that my babies, even though I scream at you like all the time, I still love you as much as I did 7 years ago.

Even though I cannot stand you guys for more than a few hours, I still miss you when I am travelling or at work.

My heart gives a pang everytime you walk away to the class and I think, wish I could have been a silent and far off observer while you did your own thing at school.

A few milestones that we achieved this year...
 Two lower incisors fell off for both at the same time and the upper incisors are loose for both. Tejas' one incisor has dropped off and is currently safe in my car!

I did a 10 day official trip, a first in terms of being away from my babies.

Ojas today assembled a scientific toy rocket on his own just seeing the manual. 

The kids prefer to stay home and play rather than go out with us.

We tried to instill the display of affection by designating an official bedtime huggy time between the brothers.

The birds and the bees are being observed with observations like girls like boys!!

 This time they sat up till 00 hours because they new that with the turn of the clock their birthday arrives.

The Mandatory Birthday Post

37th this year....and no, there were no flashes of regret or enlightenment or any other fireworks or bulbs glowing. In fact the bathroom bulb fused and I rang in the birthday sitting on the throne with a book and with stomach pain and nausea....ha...doing 2 of my favourite actvities after all

I realize that now I have learnt not to equate celebration with food even though we do end up eating while celebrating. But I am trying to reduce the focus on that.

That coupled with the fact that I was not feeling up to it, we did a simple lunch at home and a small party with very minimal snacks and dinner with very few friends.

I also did another of my favourite activity that is shopping for a couple of pieces of jewelry for office wear. Not the types that go into the locker. 

The next day, the spouse's birthday was celebrated at Mainland China which was our combined birthday lunch and watching the Dark Knight Rises on popular demand from the kids. And a simple cake cutting back home.

It gets so tiring on 12th that the spouse's birthday celebration on 13th gets compromised....
May be I should start celebrating a month late to spread the celebrations!!!

The 6th Birthday Post- Belatedly

The 6th Birthday post coming up for record purpose.

I was too lazy to transfer the pictures and therefore the delay.

This time I just decided to sit pretty and not do a single thing. I had been wanting to do a story theme for the birthday party and I felt the time was right for the kids to appreciate stories.

I invited a very talented story teller praba of the saffron tree fame.

Her venture is Little Owl Story Time,...you can see the owl puppet she uses for the stories.

We had a delightful story session starting with a very delightful theatrical finger play where in she uses antonyms to create a lovely finger and body action play which serves as a very good ice breaker.

The kids were in rapt attention as Praba read stories to them. The best part is she makes them informal. Books are strewn around. Musical instruments and props like a globe and puppets were there to create a welcome distraction.

The theme was stories specific to countries and their wildlife and she took them to Africa and the Snowy lands and all.

The cake that the kids selected were Batman and Powerranger. T shirts to match were also worn!

The food was a buffet and bearing in mind the story theme, the return gifts were books.

Cancellation

Ojas- tomorrow is my birthday?
Me- no, tomorrow is not your birthday
Ojas- mera birthday cancel ho gaya?
has my b'day been cancelled?

"his b'day is on tuesday!''

What has really been worrying them, especially Ojas is that the other set ( of twins ) had their b'day alderry...(already in their language), and their's has not yet come. And everyone seems to be buying stuff for them but not for Ojas and Tejas.
They are also expecting that we will have lots of games but Mamma has other plans this time. In fact she is not even properly planned. No frantic list making. No advance planning. In fact the excuse of a list is made on a post it booklet. And the guest list is pared to a minimum. Therefore the invitations also were done in a jiffy.
And therefore we are ready for the party but there is actually no slogging this time. Basically less of effort because as kids grow, they learn to enjoy themselves as soon as they gather.
The focus will be on learning something and experiencing a different thing and enjoying it too!
So watch this space for more.

Sent from my Nokia phone

Birthdays

How much ever I tell myself that next year I am going to be more matured about my birthday, the day the birthday arrives, I refuse to grow up and act cool.

I wait for the husband to arrive at midnight, keep checking fb and mails and phone for messages or missed calls and anticipate what the husband may gift me.

The gifts this time was the renewal of gym membership with personal training sessions and a set of lovely mugs with our pictures on them- 4 - 1 for each of us!

We went for lunch at Barbecue Nation and went for Zindagi Mile na Doobara- a nice movie and to think I spent my birthday with (as Boo says) 3 hot men on the screen and 3 hot men on my side!

Some Shopping followed by cake cutting with friends

Next day was the hubby's birthday spend in Copper Chimmney As a concession on his birthday I allowed him to spend many (boring, long) hours in the men's clothing shops. The things I do to pamper him on his birthday.

Evening we had a kabab and pizza dinner with friends and a cake cutting. Yumm

Pizza Hut

The least few occassions we have gone to various birthday parties at different locations. Hansel and Gretel being one of them where the kids had a great time being all over the place.

While this is all very good and convenient- I have always liked to do it at home, organise all the games myself and look at various return gifts, various food options.

Until the other day when, we were off to a Pizza Hut Birthday party.

So said Tejas- everyone has a birthday party where we go somewhere, play and eat.

Me- Do you like that? do you want to have your birthday in those places or at home?

Tejas- just shrugged his shoulders and said I don't know.

Another day and we were invited to Ojas' classmate's birthday party at Pizza Hut again.

A milestone indeed. My first rider given to the Mom was that I have twins and perhaps they are not yet ready to go separate ways and that both of them would not like to be going/ left alone.

The excitement was on the entire week with the two brothers- Ojas had got the invite which had Ben 10 theme all over the place. And since they had already attended another Pizza Hut party, they knew what to expect or hope- a Ben 10 bottle/ pencil box etc

What I found the most reassuring with this party was that the crowd was familiar for the kids. I saw them participating in musical chairs- a first - because the two of them never ever participate.

They sat with their classmates and pretty much took care of themselves without me standing over their heads shoving food into their mouths.

Now that sets me thinking. Should the next birthday party be with their school crowd?

And I simultaneously die thinking of the crowd for 2 classes at one go apart from the building crowd.

Happy Birthday Donut

And someone is a year old today. Happy B'day Baby from your Mausa, Mausi and Bhaiyas Ojas & Tejas

5 * 2 = The Ben 10 Party

I tried hard to convince the kids that they can have a Ben 10 party only at the age of 10.
And failed miserably.
They were very clear that they wanted a Ben 10 party only.
So push came to shove and I had to comply.
So here are the details of the Ben 10 party on a budget!!!
Conceptualizing
First of all, I had to aquaint myself with the Ben 10 character. I always assumed 10 is a number with some significance in the cartoon but it is simply derived from Ben Tennyson so there ended the matter of why we should or should not celebrate a Ben 10 party at the age of 5!


I went through Wiki sites and did lots of google searches to aquaint myself with the character and plot. I extracted characters that I would use to build games around. I made a huge list of possible Ben 10 theme games, borrowing from various sites/ blogs and ideating on my own. In the end I eliminated games that required too much logistic preparation like Ben 10 poster coloring relay race or were slightly unsafe like "Upchuck"- the character who has huge digestive capacity- I wanted the kids to compete to eat alien slime - green jelly or simply green/ yellow candies or maybe drink some green juice. But I discarded the idea ultimately.



Ben 10 "Collaterals"


The Cake
A 5 kg Ben 10 cake to feed a 90 strong alien force, with supposedly alien figures (grrr not) positioned in strategic corners. We had candles with figure 5, Happy Birthday letters and the magical relighting candle for luck!

The Decor

For once the menfolk out-ideated the women folk - they created a cool poster of Ojas & Tejas on a Ben10 body- courtsey design team of the husband's office. I tried hard to put green & yellow balloons only but a few other colors were also sneaked past!

The Planned Gifts

To set the mood, Ben10 gifts were bought - Ben 10 toys, lunch boxes, water bottles, stickers, crayons, color books from Nana, Nani, Mausi, Mamu

Alien colored -blue green Love birds & Ben 10 Football and alien gun from Paati, TaathaThe attire
Green & Yellow T shirts to wear to schoolAfter a morning of cake cutting
Ben 10 alien force T shirts, caps and watch for the games time before cake cuttingBlack Ben 10 T shirts for the cake cutting and the dinner partyBen 10 Themed Games
The spoils of war
Ben 10 toys - bubble, rubik cube, phone were the stakes for the games, along with a few candy bags thrown in. The original Ben 10 merchandise are expensive- I found a lovely lot of Ben 10 stickered toys that served the purpose for the theme party.

The games
Breaking the Ice- A Ben 10 Badge was frozen in an ice cube. The kids had to melt the ice cubes using water in the tub provided and free the badge. The badge served dual purpose- a nice keepsake and also a tactful party invitee identification.
Items needed for the game- a small plastic disposable cub, the badge/small toy.
Procedure- Freeze half a cup of ice. Free the ice from the cup, place the badge (wrapped in the plastic pouch it came with) in the cup, pour half a cup of water and place the ice on top. The water is at the bottom, badge tends to float to the surface, the ice on top prevents the badge from coming to surface and floats on top. Freeze the cup again. The ice above and the water below traps the badge in the centre else the badge will float to the top and the fun is lost.
Before starting the game I asked the kids lots of questions. What is ice made of, how do you melt ice and other such scientific questions. Well, maybe I phrased the question wrongly- but when I asked what does ice contain- Ojas & Tejas answered "badge" loudly even though they had promised they will say it has nothing as it is a surprise. I conducted this game first before the ice melted and also so that all kids could have their badges to wear. I kept a towel on hand to immediately wipe the ice cold little hands.

(Mummy) Unwrap- A Mummy character turns up in one of the Ben 10 episodes. I used that to build an idea for a game. Wrapped Ben 10 bubbles in newspapers and threw them around. Kids had to run around and find their "gift" and "unwrap" them.

It was fun to see them quickly tear the wrapping and then exclaim to each other- look I found a bubble, then another one says- me too! The bubbles served dual purpose too- it was a nice toy to take back since kids in upto 5 years age group are more interested in toys than food. And also- it was a distraction break when games for older kids were being conducted. We needed to just tell them- now all of you should blow bubbles and we peacefully conducted games for other age group.Crash Site Clean up- was the original idea- to create an Alien crash site, fill it with junk along with Ben 10 mobiles, cubes & bubbles and wrap them in green paper (alien theme) and ask the kids to clean up the site. Well, logistics & time famine was a problem and I was not sure the alien crash site would look like a space ship crash site at all so in the end, we just hid the "finds" around the play area- behind cars, in the garden, in a helmet and all and asked the kids to look for such green wrapped stuff.

Hoopy Loopy- We arranged Ben 10 cubes, bubbles, toffee bags on the ground and gave them a ring to target at a gift. The gifts were anyway given on the second chance as they could not really target them right4 Arm Ben 10 Relay- Kids had to do the traditional lemon and spoon race in pairs. Instead of lemon I used a bouncy ball. It was fun seeing kids chase the ball that would bounce away everytime they tried to do a test step or two. Wild Vine- is a character that can lengthen itself. I used this idea and superimposed it on a corporate team game I have heard about. Divided the kids into 2 groups and instructed them to try and make the longer chain using themselves and any other object they could get their hands on- within a given time frame of 1-1.5 minutes. So it is not only team work but also strategy- you need to ask for dupattas from various aunties, remove your shoes/ jacket even, pick up bats, cycles, leaves and all. I appointed the husband and neighbour to assist each team in strategising. I liked the dead palm leaf of one team and the way they held a one leg up pose to increase the length and the final clincher from the other team- an auto happened to come and park right next to Ojas and the husband just instructed Ojas to touch the auto to attach it to their chain. Toffee bags were distributed as gifts. Return Gifts

Ben 10 toys- car, truck, phone, plane, remote car, remote boat for the younger kids. A pretty bead bracelet with a dry flower trapped within a square shaped plastic casing for the older girls and a whacky hound tooth shaped green plastic pendant with an insect trapped within for the older boys.

Cake Cutting

Notice how Donut has stuck to the black and green theme

With the family

The Grandfamily PhotoThe Snacks

Kid friendly Lays chips packet, Appy tetrapack, Samosa prepared by the Bihari caterer, cake - bare minimum with multiple repeat servings. The chips and juice were big hits as usual and kids were asking for the chips by colour of pack!

The Dinner for close friends and relatives

Starters- Fish fry, Daal vada, Samosa

Cold Drinks

Main course- roti, puloa, mixed veg, paneer, chicken curry, dahi vada

Dessert - cake, gulab-jamun

The Best part of the Day as per Ojas & Tejas- The spoils of the war- Ben 10 stationery, phonics based books(yay from both me and kids), scrabble (yay from me), lots of board games (yay from me), remote cars (yay from the kids), Puzzles (yay from kids).

Well, I can safely make an accurate trend report of- what to expect each year as birthday gifts for the first 5 years of your child.

Additional Notes on Logistics

1. Game bags- individual game bags prepared in advance

2. Return gifts- Life becomes a blur when you are distributing return gifts-with kids behind you asking where is my return gift, aunty I don't want this and all that. I tend to blank out on names even at the end of the party. Gift wrapping and writing individual names on each gift is an option that I did not exercise. Instead, I collected identical gifts in individual bags and either wrote names on each gift on the packing or stuck a piece of paper with the list of names to whom the particula set of gifts were to begiven. This way, anyone can distribute the gifts on yourbehalf.

3. The Helping Hands- the caterer did all the cutting, serving, cleaning and all. Photography was delegated to sis/ neighbour, my neighbour helped in the games and during the final wildvine game- it helped to appoint an adult to direct the kiddy team to strategise - all at the last moment so that even they are involved in the game and thinking on the spot rather than preparing and coming.

4. A roving eye- During such large parties, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all guests. Hubby & I were on our feet all the time, keeping an eye on all guests' needs, circulating, chatting, introducing them to other guests (well, some of them happened to find their company client in the midst of my guests is another matter altogether- small world eh!). We may have not done full justice to all guests but I guess we did ok. Since the parents were there, the relatives were taken care of and we took care of the friends

5. Gate Crashers - Since the party was in the building premises, I had to use all my tactical reserves to firmly prevent gate crashers as I did not want to fall short on food for guests who were eating in the end. Anyway, this is a topic for another post but yes gate crashers are bound to come and one has to play it by the ear, keep extra stuff/ gifts handy to avoid shortfall.

6. Gifts- Always keep a few extra stuff handy- you never know when someone loses their gift or wishes to change theirs or an extra guest turns up

Happy 5th

The first time in 5 years I have not been ready with a b'day post in advance. And here I type a quick wish to my babies in the midst of planning their b'day party- what else but a Ben 10 theme party.

As the day is going by, we have already cut a home made cake, distributed chocolates in school and received lots of gifts. Ben 10 toys, tiffin boxes, water bottles, crayons, color books and quite a few dresses to begin with.

The kids have been marking down one day at a time on the calendar put up for this very purpose. They have been heavily involved in the preparatory work- preparing games, looking at return gifts and looking forward to distributing them. They have decided to keep everything a secret because it is all a surprise for their friends.

They are eagerly looking forward to the Ben 10 cake and blow as many candles as possible.

Well, the last one year has been eventful. The kids are the senior-most in their school, are getting ready to leave this one and move on to the big school. To my delight, they are reading well, though they still look at me to read a story for them, they are even able to solve jigsaws with minimal assistance from us. They have showed an inclination to learn board games, but not yet really focused on it. They have become a big bhaiya to their cousin Donut and they are quite cutely holding the baby in the lap, feeding the bottle to him and gently playing with him, taking him around in the pram and trying to make him laugh.

They have gone on their first holidays and are quite taken in by the hotel and the bubble bath particularly.

Their affinity towards animals is quite strong and I am glad they cherish and love nature.

Their swimming has improved- judging by the stars they get for swimming but they are yet to learn to finish their snack box completely.

And as I look at Baby Donut, I realize that one day Ojas and Tejas were also so small and dependent just 5 years ago, there were endless dirty nappies and feeds and I was so looking forward to them growing up just so much that they can talk to me, read with me and share their experiences with me.

And now, I savour each moment, wishing that time would fly just a little slowly, just a little bit...

Happy Birthday my Darling Babies

A Healthy Wealthy & Wise Birthday

Another birthday - this time it made me turn 35.
I assumed I turned wiser but not a moment went by when I did not anticipate what the Hubby had planned for me, how many people are going to call me and how many friends are going to wish me.
Didn't they say that age is just a number?
The hubby did not disappoint me - he arrived at the appointed hour of midnight with a bouquet of roses (not) and a cake (yes)! Yummy, gooey chocolate truffle cake which was demolished the next day by Ojas at breakfast, lunch and dinner and the rest of us were not too restrained either. The kids made a birthday card each with flower pots and garden and all.
And I became wealthier by a gold ring from the husband!
We planned to go for lunch after I would get home from half a day of slogging at work (not). But then on the way back from dropping the kids to school, I just took an impulsive turn that led me back to base.
Last month I had wrangled a gift from the husband in advance- a gym membership- we took a couple membership and utilized the gift with great enthusiasm during the mid morning hours, competing with each other, until it was time to pick the kids up.
Since we had expended with a lot of calories in advance, we hogged to our hearts' content at Kabab Factory and spend the rest of the evening shopping.
After another round of cake cutting and gifts from the dear neighbours we closed the day with another cake cutting as the husband's birthday arrived. The kids gave a mickey mouse birthday card.
The next day was bunked again with due dilligence and spent at Radisson's International food cuisine- Greek, Chinese, Indian etc etc... a total of 13 nonveggie dishes apart from the cold salads and a whole host of desserts.
We cut a brownie cake in the evening and had an impromptu assembled meal that included a tandoori chicken!

So the Party was a Mega Success

The theme was candies and I spent days planning the candy based games for the bunch of 45 kids & 35 adults I had managed to invite.

So first things first-

The decor- Balloons and Happy Birthday Streamers and candies stuck on the walls- coutsey Dadda

A giant lollypop fashioned out of a ball placed in a Stax pack- of -3 net bag secured with rubberbands and a red ribbon on a stick and covered with coloured paper.

This was pushed into the mud right at the door of the party hall. That's another matter than someone thought it is a mop covered with paper! grrr....

No I am not advertising- this is the pinata bag- a paper bag filled with lollypops and jelly toffees and decorated with candy wrappers and candy packet cutouts. The bag was sellotaped in the top.

The games-

The kids assembled at 5.30 pm and since most kids were from the complex it was easier to start on time.

We had the balance the jelly cup on your head race first. Offcourse all kids were winners as they got to keep their jelly cups.

Next was the spoon and coin chocolate race (chocolate instead of lemon on the spoon)- I named the race "can you save your money"

For the kids upto 5 age group I had an easy set of games like-

Search for money- chocolate coins inside a tub full of thermocol bits and 'fill your bag with chocolate race"- gave them plastic bags and asked them to fill it up with candies and run. Ojas & Tejas did exactly what their mausi did 28 years ago- just kept on collecting the toffees and never ran.

Then there was the candy marathon- The kids were divided into 5 groups and made to stand in a line.

The finish line was scattered with toffees and at the blow of the whistle, they were supposed to run one by one, collect 2 candies and come back and the next one in the group would run to collect candies. The whistle blew to end the race at the end of a minute (correction- when the toffees started getting over)!

We had the grand breaking the pinata attempt- a shoehorn served as the pinata bat. The younger kids were picked up to hit and the older ones blind folded.

We then went inside the hall to have the "guess the number of candies in the jar". A paper was passed on for the kids to fill in their guesses and the closest guessers shared the candies.

The grand finale was the Candola- the tambola with candy names instead of numbers. I used this site to generate the tambola numbers , and this sheet to get a precalled set of numbers.

I pasted the generated numbers to an excel sheet, then assigned candy names to numbers from 1 to 59 in a separate sheet and sorted them alphabetically. Then I did a find replace command and replaced numbers on the bingo sheet with candy names. Instead of 15 numbers on a ticket, I had a cap of 12 numbers with 4 in each row since the numbers were not upto 99.

The next task was deletion of columns containing numbers from 60 to 99 in the sheet.

Finally the candy names were assigned to the precalled number sheet in similar manner and the tickets cut painstakingly the night before.

Kids & the parents of younger kids participated in the game and the prize was - yes- chocolate coins!

The cake was Tom & Jerry- their current favourite cartoon and not a hansel and gretel candy house as I originally planned as that would have not been understood by the kids.

Earlier I used to have lotus/ firecracker candles that did not require blowing. But I noticed that the kids wanted to blow candles and were embarassing me by blowing candles at other's birthday parties!

So I went overboard this time. We had the number 4 candles, the Happy Birthday Letter candle and a magic candle for luck that would relight even after blowing- the kids were maha thrilled at this one!

Notice that the table used for the cake cutting is their 2 study tables joined together and covered with a duppatta- I forgot to scatter the candies I wanted to before cake cutting as things got a bit rushed.

The cake was duly cut - Tom for Ojas - a choco scotch flavour and Jerry for Tejas- strawberry flavour- keeping in mind the candy and chocolate theme! (force fitting eh!)

The return gifts were either plastic binoculars (everybody across age group wanted them even though they would have broken after reaching home!), or rubik cube (nobody wanted them) or brainvita for the older kids and bubble maker & color book for the younger kids.

The snacks were a pre packed box of samosa, chips, macaroon & an appy tetrapack- less for adults but ok for kids - but that was not the key- the fun the kids had was the key!

I have been attempting to make parties for the kids more experiential than just cake and snacks and I think I did fairly ok.

A word on logistics-

1. Lists lists and lists- of invitees, return gifts, games and items needed to be arranged

2. the night before the party I packed separate game bags- each bag had the stuff needed for the game- like spoon & precounted candies packed together, thermocol and a pack of chocolates packed together, candola chits, toothpicks packed in a box etc. and the game list was placed in the game bag for easy access.

3. There was a separate bag for cake items- candles, knife, matchbox, candies to be scattered- which was kept in the shelf of the table that was to be used for the cake cutting so that there would be no searching at the time of cake cutting. Also on the size of cake- 1 kg gives about 15 good size pieces, so we did a 5kg cake for 80 pax

4. Dividing responsibility- for photography, videography, hall decor, lollypop making (Dadda's), helping me with the game (neighbour),

5. Volunteers- helping in snack distribution & cake cutting, neighbour ladies and AD

6. The one who would remind me of my responsibilities towards the end of the party when I got dazed and zombied and would take care of organising the gifts neatly- neighbour

Thank you all those who made the party fun.

Special thanks to R- the neighbour who was like a rock- she is a mother of twins too so she knows!

The dear friends & the enthu kids who came over t make my planning a success

The "blogger" friends - AD, Sunshine & Don, Art-Navy with Anush & yay- Aditi- (her first party?), IBH with kaju & camera!- the only problem being I could hardly interact with them and they missed all the games except candola- grrrrr