Enjoying his birthday to the hilt!

It was Betu's birthday yesterday and he truly enjoyed it right from the morning till the late night. This is the birthday invite I had made. I took a pre-made design off the web but wrote the lines myself:

In the morning I had organised a small party at his school with cake and wafers and some return gifts for the kids. He was really excited about celebrating the birthday at school. Every time there would be a birthday celebration at the school for some kid, he would ask me "Mumma, mera bhi birthday manayenge school mein?" (Mumma, we will also celebrate my birthday at school?) and I would tell him "Of course yes Betu!"

So he cut up the cake at school with his class teacher and eagerly gave the return gifts to all the kids around. He was so excited that he is going to have 2 birthday parties and kept telling this to everyone at school :)

In the afternoon around 3:30 PM I put him to bed so that I could do the cooking with no distractions. Else he wants my attention all the time and then it gets difficult to cook. But the moment he woke up (around 6 PM), he asked me "Mumma party kahan hai?" (Mumma, where's the party?) I guess now you can imagine how excited he was :)

I had decorated the living room and the dining area with balloons while he was asleep. He went :O looking at the decorations when he woke up.

I had ordered "A Day In The Jungle" cake from Slice of Italy. Although it looked a little funny with so much cream and colors but it was yummmm! I was a little apprehensive about how it would taste looking at so much cream but everyone just raved about the cake - for its taste as well as its looks! The cream was not the oily kinds and the kids wanted to eat only the animals made of the cream. Anirudh had such a tough time deciding which one he wanted to eat. He changed his mind 4-5 times before deciding on one :D

With his friend Mitr

I cooked all the food at home. I was expecting around 24 guests and 17 of them actually turned up. I cooked Rajma, Dum Aloo, Shahi Paneer, Gobhi Aloo, Macaroni Salad, Zeera Rice, Boondi Raita and Spinach Pooris. For the starters I served butter popcorns (Act II Microwaveable ones) and diet oil free wafers. I had made Shikanji for the drink and had bought Tropicana Orange juice. We served Kesar Pista and Strawberry Crush ice creams from Mother Dairy as dessert.

I had called my cook early to help me out. However I trust no one but myself when the cooking needs to be done for parties. So her job was to only cut the vegetables (but for the macaroni salad, I diced all the veggies myself as I like them very thinly diced) and do other little little things like squeezing out lemon juice for the Shikanji etc.

Everyone raved about the food and that made me really happy. Its another story that no one would actually complain about the food even if they didn't like it in a party for sure :P

But I refuse to look at it that way. I would take it that they really loved it as much as they raved about it :D

So happy to get such a big gift from Nanu!

When the guests started to leave, I went to bring the return gifts for the kids but Anirudh took over that part from me completely. He was happily giving them away. And even if some adults would be saying byes, he would excitedly pipe in "Arre ruko! Aapka return gift to le le!" Stop. Take your return gift) and would run to get a return gift for them. And when they would say this is for kids he would wave his hands and say "Nahi nahi. Aap rakh lo!" (No. No. Keep it). He just won't let anyone leave without a return gift (Thank god I had that many in my stock). In the end when my Avi Bhaiyya (cousin bro), Rita Bhabhi (his wife) and Ayush (their younger son) were left and only 2 return gifts available, he gave one to Ayush and the other one to Bhabhi. Bhaiyya teased him "Mera kahan hai!" He promptly took the one he gave to Bhabhi and gave it to Bhaiyya. And when Bhabhi complained he tells them "Aap Mama ke saath share kar lena!" :D

By the time everyone left, it was 11:30 PM and I was totally pooped out. But very happy! Anirudh was still on a high and wasn't ready to call it quits and go to bed. After playing for a while with him we finally we got to sleep at 12:30 AM.

Today in the morning when he woke up and saw the maid clearing up the confetti from the party popper, he came to me and complained "Didi meri party kharab kar rahi hain!" I had such a laugh and had to tell him party is over but if he wants I can collect the confetti in a bag and give it to him. But obviously he said yes :)

Later in the morning he tells me "Thank you Mumma! Mujhe bahut mazaa aaya!" And I just melted at his statement, showered him with hugs and kisses. What more can a parent ask for? A child who appreciates what you do for them!