Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Lovely Pressies

My favourite bit of this Eid was getting some lovely gifts from my sisters and sis-in-law, a mixture of the useful, the sensible, the pretty eye candy and the sublime.

Kooks had the smart idea of buying us all designer shoes (the sublime I mentioned above).  The satin peeptoe for me, the paptent peeptoe for Sis-in-law, the satin platform peeptoe for Fashionista and the high-heels pumps with flower embellishment for Shutterbug sister.  We loved them, but some swapping did ensue.

Kooks has pictures here and here, with plenty more to come.

Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Keeping the Kids Busy

We had great fun on the second day of Eid, helping the kids to test their new toys out.  They were in the garden for ages keeping out of both grandmothers' hair.

I loved that they had to pump this toy up first, kept them occuppied for a while.

Just about everyone had a go on this one.

Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - More Treats, Bling and Henna

We spent the second day of Eid skiving at my mum's, enjoying her amazing cooking and spending the day laughing and chatting with my sisters and testing the kids new toys for them.

I got to wear the abaya my friend bought back from Pakistan with the crystal pretzel design and the new suit my mum-in-law bought me from Pakistan too.

There were more cakes (I took home the blue and white one to take to work tomorrow)

New shoes for the boys

A pretty new purse for Little Lady from my sister-in-law filled with pretty jewellery.

Kook's friend kindly bought us homemade savoury treats.

Fashionista's friend made these very pretty fairy cakes for her and kindly offered to make us some for our Eid party next week.

My sister-in-law spent ages creating this beautiful hairstyle for Little Lady - right before bedtime!

Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Treats, Bling and Henna

What do you wear with a monochrome dress?



Red of course!

And your favourite shoes.

Pretty in pink

Spent the day cooking piles of food for extended family and my parents who joined us in the evening, so today it's my turn to get dolled up and relax as we are all heading over to my mums for yummy food and pressies and hopefully some henna (I didn't get the chance as I was busy making the yummiest kheer or rice pudding in the whole world!  Well I liked it...).

Hope everyone had a lovely day insh'Allah.

Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Eid Night Preparations

Despite various attempts to put her off till tomorrow, little lady followed me around all evening insisting I henna her hands.  She finally managed to nail me hours past her bedtime with "When are you going to do my henna?"

Oh, there was also one more cleanup after the kids had gone to bed, a few hours in the kitchen and a great pile-up of ironing, but that wasn't glamorous enough to warrant a picture.

Can't wait to see the kids reactions in the morning to the balloons and decorations insh'Allah or for my extended family to visit.

My local masjid has announced Eid whereas unfortunately my Dad's local masjid which is ten minutes further away have decided not to celebrate Eid tomorrow, which means I will have to wait a day to go and see my mum and sisters (although I have asked them to come to dinner tomorrow - they can't say their Eid hasn't started yet then!).  Little Lady is rather cross that her beloved grandparents won't be celebrating in the morning with her - Idecided to refrain from explaining moonsightings and theological differences to her and told her to ask her granddad (not passing the buck or anything...).

EID MUBARAK EVERYONE!!

Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Eid Banners

I managed to sneak in some time today between grocery shopping, freezing kebabs and marinating chicken legs to make some Eid banners/bunting.

The hardest bit is always getting the triangles for the banners right.  It took me a few attempts and lots of wrong pencil lines to figure it out.

Little Lady helped to choose colours and decorations for the lettering.  The lettering is usually a bit of work, but I found some good-sized glittery letters at Poundland this year.  The card used for the triangles is from DCWV's Blossoms & Butterflies Paperstack.  T e embellishments were whaterver the two of us could lay our hands on: gem body tattoos, craft gems, chipboard pieces and die-cut shapes (apologies to non-crafters, this must sound like another language).

Right, I'm off to prepare our last iftaar before I get a head-start on the Eid meal for tomorrow - Hubby called and said Eid would be tomorrow, much to the kids jubilation - and mine.  Hopefully hubby will get a moment to whisk me off outside to celebrate chand raaat (explanation of chand raat here).  It is absolutely crazy outside on the main road nera our house with shoppers packing the streets, henna stalls and jewellery stalls along the road and everything expected to be open to the early hours tonight.