Hey Mickey!

September 16, 2013September 16, 2013 LagosMum14 Comments

So it’s all over…

I’ve been planning since about March – and this Saturday it came and went.

THANK GOD!

Oh sorry – I’m talking about V’s Mickey Mouse birthday party.

I bought Mickey ears for everyone to wear (the children weren’t happy about this and hardly any of them wore them!). I took a pair out for V about two or three weeks ago and started getting him used to wearing them.

V was ready to go downstairs and get the party started!

He wore them at the beginning of the party and for family photos (which was a relief). But then he’d had enough and took them off. He refused to put them back on AND he had a mini-tantrum each time I gave a pair to a friend of his! I told him that his friends were bringing him birthday presents, so he had to give them ears.

He was kind of ok about that.

V had one request for this party. He wanted a horse. Yes. A horse. We went to a party in March and the birthday girl had two horses to take the children for rides. V didn’t forget about it and he kept asking for one. And yes. We organised one for him.

He was SO happy! I can’t even begin to describe the look on his face when he saw it coming through our gate!

The thing is, he didn’t want any of his friends to sit on the horse. As far as he was concerned, it was his horse. In his garden. I suppose that’s logical? So he sat with almost ALL of them while they went on rides. After about twenty minutes he’d had enough – but he refused to get down. He lasted another twenty-five minutes or so and then went on to the next thing. It may have been the bouncy castle or playing games with the entertainer – I was inside on panic mode, so I have no idea!

It was finally time to cut the cake. He was thrilled with his Mickey cake. And he was drooling while looking at all the cupcakes! Again, I can’t describe the expression on his face while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and he blew out the candles. Once he cut the cake, all the children started reaching for the cupcakes. And V started crying. He told me to tell them to put all the cupcakes back because they were all for him. I don’t think he realised that he couldn’t eat 48 cupcakes all by himself!

I told him that if he didn’t share his cupcakes, his friends would take all their presents back home with them. This worked well. He calmed down and I got him to come and help me give out the return gifts.

However, just before that – when I told him about sharing the cupcakes, I overheard one of the mums telling someone else that I was really mean and that I didn’t handle the situation properly.

I felt a bit crap about it for awhile. And I’ve thought about it a lot. How else could I have handled the situation? And I came up with: I know my child. I know what works with him and I do the best I can.

As my friend Rosssa says: “Your kid, your rules.”

We gave out the return gifts and stopped children from taking helium balloons. Maybe selfish? But I paid a lot for them and for the helium. And V and I both love them. So I won’t apologise for not allowing them to take any home!

The photographer we hired said she’d get our pictures to us in two weeks – so I am eagerly awaiting them.

Meanwhile, my own pictures will just have to do!

V is Three!

September 11, 2013 LagosMum4 Comments

Last Saturday, V turned three!

I can’t quite believe it – but there you go. Someone told me that time goes faster when you have children. Whoever said that probably hasn’t experienced a nine week summer holiday with an almost-three-year-old!

Anyway – our day started with a treasure hunt. V had to follow the clues to find his presents. This was a fabulous idea – thanks tattooed_mummy! He LOVED it!

I was going to post a link to the video here, but then I realised you’d all see what a mess my house is – so I decided against it!

After the excitement of opening all his presents, lunch and a short nap – three or four of his friends (and some of their parents) came over to play and cut his cake.

He was a bit concerned about people touching his new toys, but he soon got over it!

The ‘big’ party is this Saturday on the 14th. *gulp*

The Party

September 14, 2011March 5, 2013 LagosMum4 Comments

This is the last you will hear of Vinay’s 1st birthday. Promise (I hope it’s a promise I can keep)! I just wanted to share who/what/where and quite a lot of some photos.

The party was last Saturday (10th September) and at our home. I had the invitations printed in April when I was in London – so I had to choose the date, time and place then and there!

I had 38 children on my list – but many had still not come back from summer holidays or were away for other reasons… So, there were 25 children that came. And most of their mums. And nannies. Some mums with more than one child brought two nannies! And, some dads came too. I also invited some of the aunts I grew up with and some friends who don’t have children.

I was very nervous – this was the first time (obviously, since it was a first birthday) that I was hosting a children’s party. A lot of the children were between 2 and 6 years old, so they (and their mums) had been to a lot of birthday parties already and I felt a bit under pressure to make sure that everything was perfect!

So, the day before the party, we moved all the furniture out of the living room and started blowing up balloons. My sister and I also started putting together the Little Tikes Crazy Coupe. Silly idea. (See previous post). I set up the table – with table cover, sorted out the plates and cups, etc.

The next morning I was up earlier than usual – I just couldn’t sleep because of how stressed out I was! I wanted to start decorating with the balloons – but knew it was too early and that they would all pop in the heat. So I waited. I sorted out the play area for the babies instead. The bouncy castle arrived, and the little tents were set up in the garden and I finally got to sort out the balloons!

The children loved the bouncy castle. Some of them had their faces painted and got to do some art and craft as well.

I was very worried that V would become a bit overwhelmed with all the activity going on around him – but he was brilliant. There were no tears – but he was a little ‘serious’ all day. He barely cracked a smile! Until, that is, Hub took him down the slide!

He loved the cake and was quite happy to eat as much of it as he was allowed (which wasn’t much).

Once the children started leaving, it was time to give them their return gifts. Everyone got a little animal back-pack and what they got with it depended on how old they were (see pictures below). Wrapping them all was a pain in the backside, and my gift-wrapping skills are atrocious!

AND – the ‘done’ thing over here (or so I’ve seen at the last 4 parties we’ve been to) is to have a ‘nanny bag’ as well. This is a gift bag for any nannies that come. The bag consists of chocolates and sweets. We made up 36 of these.

I was *so* relieved when everyone had left. I opened all of the presents (without Vinay. Bad?), wrote down who gave what and drank champagne. A lot of it!

All I said, all week, was that I’m never going to do this again. And I’m not. Not until my boy is old enough to choose if he wants to have a big party. Or even if he wants to have it at home (please God, no)!