Recuperating this morning after my bi-annual ladies and children Eid-party. Was great fun but am exhaaausted. Nursing my first hot chocolate for breakfast since Ramadan started. Hopefully will try to keep some control over my appetite and not revert to my pre-Ramadan gluttony. The more limited diet has meant I have lost a little weight, but better still it has given me tons of energy (which current situation being what it is I can never have enough of).
My intention behind the party was to give my children an alternative to occasions like Christmas to celebrate and a reason to love and look forward to Eid. It was also meant to be a chance for all of my family, friends and my sister’s friends who wear any kind of hijab to let their hair down and network.
I spent the day cooking and my sister’s shared the work and the cost so it worked out reasonably well. Made traditional Pakistani party fare of pakora’s, samosa’s and channa chaat and ordered in chips and spicy chicken wings (ordered in meant sent kooky little sister to Dixy on the corner). Also my beloved bestest friend and her sisters turned up with half of their local supermarket (two enormous tins of chocs, two boxes of shortbread, packets of cashews, peanuts and pistachios) so there was plenty of food. Another friend made chicken biryani and a sister’s friend brought beautiful heart-shaped homemade biscuits covered in pink icing and with jam in the middle (hungry yet?). Everyone else bought Indian sweets, chocolates and biscuits. Fashionista sister also took the opportunity to collect early birthday presents.
We played pass-the-parcel and musical chairs (ever seen a roomful of raucous ladies fighting over kids games - hysterical). The kids found a bag of party poppers and decided to let them off all over the house and then proceeded to try and get the balloons off the walls.
The best bit was the prizes: the mother of one of my daughter’s school friends had an amazing lime green outfit with the corresponding bling, so I awarded her the prize for best outfit to everyone’s applause (you should have seen her glow!). She also got one for passing her driving test after much effort. Everyone also got goody bags on the way home (cleared out my kids toy boxes for the kids one and added some sweets, balloons and poppers. This was good because now that Gorgeous has started crawling can’t have very small toys lying about). The ladies one were filled with make-up, soaps, stationary, sweets and candles and went down a treat.
It was also a nice occasion to meet my sister’s friends, especially one new Muslimah who wanted to meet more sisters and was able to make some good contacts (esp. bestest friend who is a darling).
Fashionista sisters raucous friends were the last to leave and the girls helped me with the big clean-up, as I was getting kids to bed, husbands newly-wed friend turns up with new wife. Whilst I was trying to take care of her and get kids to stay upstairs in bed, I could hear Gorgeous making strange noises - I whisked him upstairs to find he had exploded out of his nappy, by the time I cleaned him up, it was time for the new bride to go home (this is still before Isha, feeding baby, ironing work clothes, packing bags, checking lights and putting out Little Lady’s uniform). By the time I got to bed I was too tired to sleep.
So this morning, I am sharing the heart-shaped biscuits with my work colleagues and sitting very quietly at my desk with a bottle of panda pop drink left over by one of the kids.
My intention behind the party was to give my children an alternative to occasions like Christmas to celebrate and a reason to love and look forward to Eid. It was also meant to be a chance for all of my family, friends and my sister’s friends who wear any kind of hijab to let their hair down and network.
I spent the day cooking and my sister’s shared the work and the cost so it worked out reasonably well. Made traditional Pakistani party fare of pakora’s, samosa’s and channa chaat and ordered in chips and spicy chicken wings (ordered in meant sent kooky little sister to Dixy on the corner). Also my beloved bestest friend and her sisters turned up with half of their local supermarket (two enormous tins of chocs, two boxes of shortbread, packets of cashews, peanuts and pistachios) so there was plenty of food. Another friend made chicken biryani and a sister’s friend brought beautiful heart-shaped homemade biscuits covered in pink icing and with jam in the middle (hungry yet?). Everyone else bought Indian sweets, chocolates and biscuits. Fashionista sister also took the opportunity to collect early birthday presents.
We played pass-the-parcel and musical chairs (ever seen a roomful of raucous ladies fighting over kids games - hysterical). The kids found a bag of party poppers and decided to let them off all over the house and then proceeded to try and get the balloons off the walls.
The best bit was the prizes: the mother of one of my daughter’s school friends had an amazing lime green outfit with the corresponding bling, so I awarded her the prize for best outfit to everyone’s applause (you should have seen her glow!). She also got one for passing her driving test after much effort. Everyone also got goody bags on the way home (cleared out my kids toy boxes for the kids one and added some sweets, balloons and poppers. This was good because now that Gorgeous has started crawling can’t have very small toys lying about). The ladies one were filled with make-up, soaps, stationary, sweets and candles and went down a treat.
It was also a nice occasion to meet my sister’s friends, especially one new Muslimah who wanted to meet more sisters and was able to make some good contacts (esp. bestest friend who is a darling).
Fashionista sisters raucous friends were the last to leave and the girls helped me with the big clean-up, as I was getting kids to bed, husbands newly-wed friend turns up with new wife. Whilst I was trying to take care of her and get kids to stay upstairs in bed, I could hear Gorgeous making strange noises - I whisked him upstairs to find he had exploded out of his nappy, by the time I cleaned him up, it was time for the new bride to go home (this is still before Isha, feeding baby, ironing work clothes, packing bags, checking lights and putting out Little Lady’s uniform). By the time I got to bed I was too tired to sleep.
So this morning, I am sharing the heart-shaped biscuits with my work colleagues and sitting very quietly at my desk with a bottle of panda pop drink left over by one of the kids.
Look at the cute kiddlies!!
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