Wierd Eid Party

Threw the second of my bi-annual Eid parties yesterday…and I think I may have to re-think the whole idea. In a previous post (http://www.happymuslimmama.com/2007/10/eid-party.html) I wrote about how much I enjoyed the party for Eid al-Fitr. It was an opportunity for Hijabi’s to network and to let their hair down, and an alternative to Christmas for the children. This time round we had lots of the same games, plus my homemade piñata that wouldn’t break. The food was great and lots of people brought dishes so I had to do very little cooking. My best friend decided to bankrupt herself by buying my kids way too expensive clothes and I got really sweet pressies from Kooky Little Sister’s friends.

I invited my new sister-in-law to be (inshallah) so that my mum and sisters could meet with her mum and sisters. I think that that went ok, although I got very nervous and mum decided to re-organise the party (“ok – now find a table and move the buffet from the kitchen to in front of our [special] guests!!” – I really hope they didn’t think we were idiots!!).

My little cousins (6 and 8) decided they were going to entertain us with nasheeds, which Kooky Little Sister’s university friends were very gracious about (they tried not to laugh in the poor little mites faces). Little Man decided that he was going to throw a tantrum during the kids pass-the-parcel and rolled around over caste-off wrapping-paper, didn’t know whether to laugh my head off or be embarrassed.

As soon as the two mum’s left (mine and sis-in-law’s), the party got hijacked by Kooky Little Sisters friends, who decided it was one of the girls birthday party (we don’t celebrate birthdays at all, nor do many of my religious friends).Fashionista’s Sister’s friends were fashionably late (i.e. after everyone had eaten and played the games) and then refused to leave, so had to be thrown out. None of Long-Suffering Sisters friends turned up, but at least she did the dishes. Fashionista Sister is known for going into hiding as soon as the need for a pair of hands to do some work becomes apparent. Once Kooky Little Sister’s friends were gone, she came out of “neurotically cool ice-princess” mode and went back to being her grumpily sweet self.

But to be honest, my heart wasn’t in it, Eid seemed far away and the events in Pakistan have been uppermost in my family’s minds at the moment. So, a party felt extravagant, and made me feel very guilty when I thought of what some of my family are going through. I also didn’t really feel that I was gaining anything in my deen this time, but just engaging in excess.I think next time, if there is a next time, I will be inviting only a handful of people I really like (I do like a few of each of my sisters friends), and probably no relations. Will try doing a halaqah/circle together so that we do something to please Allah inshallah, and then just share some good food and enjoy the sweet company.