So far in this series, topics ranging from venue hunting through beautification to the dress have been covered at length. I guess the next part should obviously cover the 'behind-the-scenes' of the birthday preparations. I do not know yet if there will be enough material to make this a good blog entry, but let's see how it will develop.
When I was a kid, birthday parties seemed simple. Invite friends, have balloons and some confetti, prepare some snacks, conduct some games, cut the cake and have a good time. I really have no idea how much work this meant for our parents, but if I just look at it from my angle, it seems quite direct and uncomplicated. Times have changed...now is the time of 'event managers'! I am not quoting any source or am not revealing any names...but one of my acquaintances recently went for a kid party with the theme "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Apart from the usual jumping castles and magicians and face painters, they actually got a chocolate fountain and had chocolate bars wrapped up in special 'tickets' as gifts for the kids. Every kid had to earn a bar cum ticket before being allowed inside (it wasn't as harsh as it sounds). And in the end, every kid was given a DVD of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Being the typical Indian that I am (!), I calculated that if I were to invite 50 kids to a party and have to give 50 DVDs, it would cost already more than my planned party!!!
A quick search on the internet suggests that all the 'good' parties nowadays require event managers. Since my kid is too young to actually appreciate what we do for her, we decided to do everything ourselves. My sister is already a veteran at children's first birthday parties (as she conducted two herself and attended couple of others herself). She advised us to decide on a theme first and then work from there. The reader may want to Google "First Birthday Party Themes" and will get "38,700,000" results! After a couple of brain storming sessions (with less brain activities and more of internet searching!), we finally unanimously decided on My little Pony as the theme. It seemed perfect...suited for a girl...very nice colours...and with options to develop (which means plenty of characters to use for theme related stuff).
My wife and I started 'designing' an invitation card after that, with the help of the theme. Wife took care of the text and I of the formatting. After a couple of drafts, we finally seem to have incorporated the theme with our joy of celebrating Jenny's birthday.
Once the card was ready, we decided to have it printed and we posted it (yes, via snail mail!), we sent it (via email) and we distributed them (via husband) and spread the word. I was particularly motivated to invite people from afar (since I was 100% sure they wouldn't come but would feel happy they got invited!).
Finally, the decorations. With 8 more days to go, I am a little embarrassed to say that we have not reached anywhere concretely yet. We want a backdrop (theme and baby combined) and I got couple of quotations already. We visited some 'party shops' and saw what they have to offer. I consulted a few 'artistic' friends and they are thinking about what to do. I have approached healthy friends to help with the balloons on that day! So, let's see how it turns out. I have learned from experience that 'last minute panic' sometimes works wonders in my case. I hope the same applies here.
This was the 4th entry in the birthday preparation series. I intend to write one more on 'final preps'...so I guess I will not be publishing anything on this topic for another week. But let's see...life is always full of surprises! :)
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