I had promised him a party when he finished and picking the theme with him was so easy: superhero's. I stuck to a simple colour scheme of yellow, blue and red and had a mixture of printables and home-made decorations like the banner below:
The kids and my lovely neighbour helped with the balloons and the wall art:
The night before we got the idea for this selfie-corner with a cityscape as the background. I think Shutterbug Sister must have had to put this back up about half a dozen times as it kept falling down:
On the day Harlequin Sister set up the dessert table as I was still busy cooking (I learned my lesson about using a paper table cloth, it got ruined).
The selfie accessories were printables with the little wooden skewers people use for barbeques attached to them. We had sooo much fun with these and I have some great pics of everyone doing silly poses with these.
For me, if I have guests, my number one priority is to feed them properly. I ended up making pilau rice, lamb curry, chicken pasta, macaroni salad, chicken sandwiches, and this baked chicken which always goes down a treat.
We had prizes for the most well-behaved, well-dressed and most helpful children as well as one for the one who recited Quran the most nicely.
We got Gorgeous to recite some Quran for everyone. Usually he is the loudest one in the room and likes to play the jester, but on this occassion he suddenly got very shy. Then all of the other kids had a turn to recite. Mash'Allah even the little ones had a go at reciting what they knew.
Gorgeous was quite happy with his gifts including this crazy one from my mum.
Baby enjoyed being let loose on the dessert table while I was busy.
The most fun was when I brought out the pinata's I had filled earlier:
The kids went slightly mental and screamed the house down, thankfully both of our neighbours were invited to the party and had a good laugh, although I don't think any of the mums were impressed with the amount of sweets the kids ended up with.
We are now back in the routine of him practising what he has learned, improving his tajweed (pronunciation) and memorising parts of the Quran. I make dua that my cheeky, beloved son has life-long relationship with the Quran and benefits from its wisdom and beauty in this life and the next insh'Allah.
Masha Allah soooo creative and fabulous party!
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the papers large enough to make the cityscape?
Thank you Sister!
DeleteThey were large sheets of sugar paper (also called construction paper I think). My uncle works at a warehouse and randomly turns up with things like rolls of paper or bundles of pens that no one needs because he knows my children will use them. He popped by on the way home from work a few days before the party and gave the blue and black paper to us.
Congrrrrats gorgeous. MA! May ALLAH s.w.t bless him and you, ur husband n the entire family. IA! Ameen. May ALLAH s.w.t always facilitate for him esp in the deen.
ReplyDeleteSince hr a professional, n you have been a team leader. I wanted to ask ur advice. I have done istikhara but its also advised to seek counsel as well.
If your boss asked you to be in a leadership position only as a substitute when other supervisors were unavailable, would you do it if you didnt feel you had what it took.
N if the decision rested betwen taking on that position or havinn to be transferred to a much farther location far from home.
What would you do, succumb to your insecuritiy or indecisiveness and transfer to a different location or try ur best to take on this new role despite the fact that ur coworkers and others felt u werent right for the role?
Sorry, i would reli appreciate ur advice. JAZAKALLAH khair :)
Salaam Sister, don't underestimate yourself. Don't let others dictate what you are capable of. I have responded to your question above more fully here:
Deletehttp://www.happymuslimah.com/2016/02/one-muslimahs-career-path-tales-of-work.html
Walaikum salam hmmm, thank you soooo much for ur response :)
DeleteI really appreciate that u wrote an article to address my question. Ur sooooo sweet mA! JAZAKALLAH khair :)
Salaam Hon, my pleasure, you inspired me sis
Delete:)
Congratulations, masha Allah! What a beautiful way of celebrating important milestones.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this before. Could you tell more about how the reading took place? When and where did he start, did you use certain methods, etc.? I'm very interested in these kind of examples, which show so beautifully how to incorporate qur'an and our deen in our children's lives. Insjallah, I would like to do the same with my children when they are a bit older (my son has the same name as yours, subhan Allah).
Jazakh'Allah-khairun Anonymous.
DeleteThe children all started reading at about age 5-6. We were lucky that my husband's friend is a Qari (reciter who has specialised in his tajweed) and would come home every day to teach the boys. It has been a long road, lots of complaints from the boys and their teacher and lots of encouraging and also expecting discipline from us as the parents.
"he thought this might mean he doesn't have to study Quran anymore"
ReplyDeleteHilarious!
Once in my school in India, the English teacher asked us to complete the sentence: "If I were the prime minister of India, ..."
One intelligent student said: "... I would close all the schools."
Everybody laughed, of course. Except the teacher, who was not pleased in the least! Waht would happen to his job, he might have wondered. It was such a plain articulation of the innermost desire of every innocent child. Who amongst the children doesn't want to continue sleeping in the loving embrace of dear mummy instead of getting punished for some carelessness in homework in the very first period? Which child would prefer learning the inane details of the grasslands of Savanna instead of playing in the neighborhood grassland with his friends? And to be honest, most of what we are force-fed in schools do us no good, neither in this world nor in the Hereafter. The back-breaking burden of books and the joy-sapping load of homeworks and the periodic terror of never-ending exams do however ensure that children get less time to interact with family, less time to socialize with friends, and less time to learn the moral values from grandma.
On the other hand, the holy Quran is always beneficial -- whether you understand it or not, whether you practice upon it or not, whether your field of view is blinkered to this lowly humble world, or is broad enough to take into account the vastness and eternity of the future world. You benefit from the Thawab of recitation. You benefit from the guidance it has for different aspects of your life. You benefit from the feeling of closeness to Allah. And above all, you pave your way towards eternal joy in the lovely brooks and pleasant gardens, relishing the delicious fruits and fragrant flowers, accompanied by a loving family that would never divorce, never part.
تو ہی ناداں چند کلیوں پر قناعت کر گیا
ورنہ گلشن میں علاجِ تنگیِ داماں بھی ہے
It was your ignorance that made you content with a few buds,
In fact the garden (of the Quran) even had solution for the lack of space in your flower-bag.