BIRTHDAY PARTIES OVER THE YEARS

I have seen 3 generations of birthday parties and how they have changed!! So, my birthday parties were all held in Manchester. We used to call about 15-20 friends to the house and we would play pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and a few other such games. If the weather was sunny we would run around in the garden and play blind man’s bluff,tag and rounders. If the invite was for 4 o’clock at lest five cars would be parked outside the house up to 15 minutes earlier and at exactly 4 pm the doorbell would ring and the parents would drop their children off….not a minute early or a minute late! Our tea never changed. There would never be jam sandwiches, cheese sandwiches,little cocktail sausages, crisps, popcorn, little homemade fairy cakes, rice krispy treats and jelly and ice cream for dessert. The birthday cake would be a sponge cake with jam and cream filling and after everyone sang Happy Birthday this would be cut into slices and wrapped in paper serviettes and given to each child with their going home present. The gift and the return gift were extremely nominal but we all used to be so excited one would think we had got the Crown Jewels!!

When I celebrated Vivek’s and Rashi’s birthdays things became a little grander in scale. First of all there used to be about 50 invitees and there was always a “theme” so of course everything from the decor to the cake to the outfit had to match the theme. If there were a lot of children we would venture all the way to Bagri Market to buy the going home presents, the chocolates and basically everything required. However this was quite a tedious project so other times we would just get everything from New Market. We had our pet shops. Merry Flower for the khoi bag, the sweet bags and the decorations. Little Johnny for the return gifts and there was a stationary shop just near Little Johnny where we used to get all the goodies to put into the khoi bag. I used to love going to New Market and knew it like the back of my hand. Crockery and glasses from Dream Palace…. Gifts from Chamba Lamba…all school related things from the stationary shop but my favourite used to be the book shops where I could browse for ages in search of new books to read. We would do everything ourselves other than maybe calling someone to blow up the balloons and decorate the hall on the day of the party. The biggest challenge used to be stopping the children from opening up  all the presents…. you had to save some for recirculating!!!

The next in line for celebrations were my grandchildren. These parties of course became larger in numbers and of course grander. A lot also depends on what time of the year the birthday is so if it is in the winter then it’s perfect as you can have a party in the garden. Monsoons become a bit more challenging as you need a covered area. We progressed from the Barbie Doll themes to the Superman to the action figures and to Pepper Pig. You name the latest children’s fictional characters  and between the four of them…Siya, Ayaan, Vivaan and Alia we pretty much covered them all. We finally settled on big garden parties with the hot star being a long zip line running from the tallest tree in the garden down to the ground. My heart used to be in my mouth watching the kids fly down this but they loved it. Vivek and Saurav always tried it first so I was always confident it would be able to take the children’s weight. Then of course we had the usual bouncy castles, the ball pits and the rides. Now as they have grown older they are happy to take a group of friends to a restaurant for lunch or dinner so things are a lot easier. 

Now I see my youngest grandchildren’s parties and things have reached another level. They are more like weddings than birthday parties. The mothers really think out of the box and dream up bigger and better ideas. I attended the birthday party of my two youngest Aryaveer aged 4 and Avaanya aged 2 and it was amazing the amount of attention and detail that went into each and every aspect of the party. For a start about 160 children were invited out of which about 130 came. Fine it was for two children but I don’t think I would be able to invite that many friends!!! It was held in a huge play area called Back Yard and the area was transformed into a huge Mickey and Minnie Mouse Den. There were all the rides one could possibly conceive of, activities for the kids just in case they got bored from jumping from ride to ride and then of course an entertainer and magician who both really kept the children engrossed. Now 130 little kids are fine but then remember you also have about 160 Nannie’s ( some children have 2 Nannie’s each!). I was quietly eavesdropping on some of the conversations these helpers were having and they actually grade the parties and compare who had what ride and what activity! Gosh it is actually scary!!! But the children all had an absolute blast so one feels that even though it is a lot of work it was worth it. The hilarious part is that before this party even got over Aradhana has already figured out what she is going to do next year and I am sure she will start her preparations in about six months time. Mind you, I must say that it is commendable that despite running a thriving business and working full time she has the energy and enthusiasm to conceptualise these parties and host them with such enthusiasm. 

Fortunately for me I no longer have to worry about the organising of the party.. I am invited and I go on time, watch all the children and hand out chocolates so I get to do the fun part! And I still love the typical children’s birthday party food….the chow, the dosa, the pasta and of course the popcorn and the fries!!! However fancy you go the kids gravitate to these items though nowadays even the kids have nut allergies,are lactose intolerant or have to have gluten free…and this is like 4 year old children!!! We hadn’t heard of all of this at that age but then I suppose I’m from another era so I should just take it with a pinch of salt or maybe a pinch of flour!!!!